Dr. Carolyn Reeves
[Originally published as World History From Adam to Noah]
Is there a logical timeline of world history that fits into a roughly 6000-year span rather than millions and millions of years as taught in most history books? We think so…
In the beginning, the world, all living things, and humans were purposefully designed and created by God, along with everything needed to sustain life and the universe. This was approximately 4,000 years before the time of Jesus’s earthy ministry.
The first man and woman, Adam and Eve, appeared on earth fully formed and mature. They did not gradually evolve from ape-like animals. Nor did they need millions of years to learn a language or how to make and use tools. All of this was built-in knowledge, somewhat like a computer with built-in programs.
They were originally designed with immortal bodies, a superior intellect, and the ability to communicate with God. Their environment was perfect, and their needs were fully met. Then they sinned and rebelled against their Creator in their desire to have knowledge of good and evil.
The First Human Culture
As sin entered the perfect world, other changes came too. Adam and Eve, along with their descendants, retained their intellect, but they could no longer have unhindered fellowship with God because sin had separated them from a holy God. Their children were born with mortal bodies, even though they remained physically fit and lived long lives.
People learned to mine ores and work with metals. They expressed themselves artistically and musically. They developed mathematical systems and excelled in astronomy and other sciences. It is likely that they traveled around the world in ships and possibly by other means.
For approximately 1,700 years, men and women developed amazing technologies to make their work easier. There are only a few clues about the level of technology they achieved, but when we compare how quickly science and technology developed during and after the Scientific Revolution, this is a reasonable conclusion. We can only imagine how much a man like Einstein could have accomplished if he had lived hundreds of years.
Without a submissive relationship with God, man operated by his own intellect and will. Consequently, the knowledge and technical accomplishments of these first humans inevitably turned toward inventing weapons of violence and destruction to use against their fellow men. It is likely that powerful weapons were developed by some groups in an attempt to destroy or gain control over others.
A Major Reset Was Needed
Eventually, God put an end to the corrupt and violent people whose thoughts had become continuously evil. Out of this entire generation, God found one man, Noah, who found favor in the eyes of the Lord and walked with God. God communicated with Noah and warned him of a great flood that was coming that would destroy the earth. God gave Noah and his sons specific instructions about how to build an ark that could hold a large number of animals and birds.
Noah did as God had commanded. He built an ark on dry land, and it was filled with birds and animals. Then the flood came. The survivors were Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, and the animals and birds on the ark. Many ocean-dwelling plants and animals were destroyed by the flood, but some survived. Insects and plants may have survived in spores, cocoons, seeds, and other such means.
The Flood was worldwide. It was catastrophic in every sense of the word. First, water covered every place on earth, including the lower mountains that existed in Noah’s time. Sediment carried by the floodwaters was deposited as sedimentary layers that reached more than a mile deep in places. Each of the layers contained fossilized remains of once-living organisms The lower layers, which were made up primarily of shells and remains of other marine organisms, hardened and fossilized, making up 95% of all the fossils that exist.
Much of the still-soft upper sedimentary layers were likely eroded and pulverized by rushing water. They may have contained buried remains of non-marine plants and animals and humans at one time. While marine fossils are found in abundance all over the world, non-marine animal fossils are not nearly so abundant. Human fossils are found infrequently and in scattered pieces.
The conditions that existed as a result of the flood were optimal for the remains of trillions of once-living organisms to become fossilized. Fossil formation is rare today. Newly formed fossils are seldom found in modern flood sediments or ocean floor sediments.
As huge crustal plates shifted around after the flood, they pushed together, creating major geological changes, or pulled apart, releasing more magma. During these processes, high mountains formed. Volcanic eruptions, common at first, gradually became less frequent. Shallow seas became wider and deeper, providing enlarged basins to hold the receding waters. Eventually, balances of temperatures, chemicals, weights, and numerous other factors were gradually restored as the earth adjusted to the new conditions.
Post-Catastrophic Culture
The flood survivors emerged from the ark and began to rebuild communities, as animals and birds were released to restore their places in nature.
Behind all of these events, invisible spiritual battles were going on.
A powerful angel named Lucifer, or Satan, had led a rebellion in heaven against the Creator. He and his followers were cast out of heaven. Satan appeared to Eve as a beautiful creature and persuaded her to partake of the one thing God had forbidden — fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then Adam also partook of the forbidden fruit.
In God’s absolute purity and holiness, He can only dwell with those who are holy. Satan took advantage of God’s nature and laid claim to the earth. In this condition, sinful humanity had no hope of ever restoring a relationship with their holy Creator, but God was already preparing an amazing way to reclaim sinful humans and bring them back into His kingdom.
