Carla Estell
[Originally published on Stone’s True Story]
The Flood was a gruesome, destructive, global event. Earth’s foundation was pulverized into sand, clay, and silt; every animal, bird, and man was drowned — that is not the kind of story we often tell kids today. Furthermore, the only way it could have possibly happened is if there was an all-powerful, all-controlling God who caused it to happen. This is a very scary thought.
Just take a moment and really think about it. If everything is here because some powerful Being wanted it to be here, and so He created it. But then He decided to destroy what He had created along with all life, and so He did. Nothing or no one could stop Him from doing whatever He decided to do. Could a Being that destroyed so much life really be good? What if He were evil but claimed to be good? This is a thought that can drive a person insane.
It is no wonder a lot of people wish there was no God. It is no wonder secular scientists try so hard to disprove the historicity of the Flood and the reality of God. Yet, the evidence is undeniable to anyone willing to look at it with an open mind. The death and destruction recorded in that history are sealed in earth’s rock layers. God wrote it in stone.
But why.
Why would a good God destroy life?
Is there any justification for a good God to destroy His creation? That is the question that needs to be asked and answered.
What if it was God’s creation that had become evil, and the only way to stop the evil was to destroy His creation and start again? But wait, if God created everything, then did God create evil? Wouldn’t that make God evil if He created evil? Is reality the most horrid dystopia imaginable? Is our miserable existence just for an evil god’s amusement?
This is the message being pushed on young people today. But just as cold is the absence of heat, and darkness is the absence of light, so evil is the absence of good. Evil is not an essence that had to be created; evil is the vacuum that results when all goodness is removed. You can’t bring in the darkness; you can only remove the light. As man turned from God, he simultaneously became evil.
God explained his justification for causing the Flood. Genesis 6:5–7 records the words which God inspired Moses to write:
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth;
both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air;
for it repenteth me that I have made them.Advertisement Below:
There have been many times throughout history that man’s wickedness has grieved God to the point that He has been moved to destroy them. When the Canaanites became so wicked that they sacrificed their children by throwing them into the fire of Baal, God sent the Israelites to destroy them and take over their land. Centuries later, when the Israelites became just as wicked, God sent the Assyrians to destroy their nation and bring them into slavery. There are other instances when we can assume God has directed and enabled the wicked to be overthrown: the Roman Empire, the Aztecs, the Axis Powers, and the list could go on. It is not evil to stop evil.
The recorded history of Nineveh clearly shows the true heart of God. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. They were so wicked that God said He was going to destroy them. God sent Jonah to foretell the destruction. But when the people repented of their evil ways, God refrained His judging hand.
Jonah 4:1–2 tells us Jonah’s response:
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
And he prayed unto the Lord, and said,
I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country?
Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish:
for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,
and repentest thee of the evil.
God also revealed His heart in the words He spoke to Jeremiah, as recorded in Jeremiah 18:7–8:
At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom,
to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil,
I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
It is not that God desires to send judgment; it is that man refuses to repent. It is not God that is evil; man becomes evil when he turns his back on God. It is not God who is the amused dictator watching over his dystopia; it is Satan who is the wicked one seeking whom he can destroy.
When Adam and Eve decided to listen to Satan instead of obeying God, they surrendered themselves and all their future descendants to Satan. God had every right to just walk away from His creation and leave it in Satan’s power. But God did not do that. He rescued us from Satan’s grasp by allowing the death of His own beloved son, Jesus.
Jesus willingly left the throne room of Heaven and came to this earth as a baby born to a poor family. He grew up and lived a sinless life, always obeying God. He obeyed even to the point of death on the cross. But, what Satan counted as the ultimate victory was, in reality, his ultimate defeat. For — unbeknown to Satan — God had the power to bring Jesus back to life. It was God’s plan all along to do so.
Jesus’s shed blood frees us from Satan’s grasp. God redeemed us back. God loves us. He gives us laws to obey because He knows how life works best. His laws are good, but He knows we can’t fully obey, and that is okay because when we repent, God forgives. Jesus has already paid the price.
The Flood is the ultimate example of God’s controlling power over His creation. He told Noah ahead of time that He was going to flood the world. The historical facts are recorded in Genesis chapters 6–8. The evidence is recorded in the rock layers, the vast canyons, the bones turned to stone. and the sea shells found on mountaintops. Even though God has judged and will judge sin, He still loves mankind and forgives when man repents.
Maybe it is a story kids need to hear, so long as it is told in a way that makes it very clear that it was not that God enjoyed causing all the death and destruction, but rather it was the only way to rescue Noah from the evil and give mankind a second chance.
