Exhibit B - The Global Flood (2 Peter 2:5)

Most people don’t realize there’s a “half-life” to fame. Even the biggest athletes, actors, and leaders get swallowed by cultural forgetting faster than we expect, and the numbers are humbling. We start there, then follow the thread to a strange exception: Noah. Thousands of years later, his name still lands, and not because it’s cute or comforting, but because it’s tied to a warning the Bible refuses to let the world erase.

From 2 Peter chapter 2, we walk through Peter’s courtroom-style defense of God’s coming judgment, where the flood becomes Exhibit B. We talk about why flood accounts show up across cultures, why the Genesis text reads like a global event, and why attempts to shrink it into a regional disaster create bigger problems than they solve. We also tackle the practical objections people raise, from the ark’s size to the animals, and explain why “kind” is not the same as “species” in the argument being made.

Then we bring it home. The most haunting detail isn’t the rain, it’s the line that says the Lord shut the door. The ark becomes a picture of salvation, urgency, and trust when obedience looks ridiculous and evidence feels delayed. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re supposed to do with hard biblical claims about judgment and mercy, this is a clear, personal place to wrestle with it.

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Transcript

How Fast Fame Fades

SPEAKER_00 0:26

How long can a famous person expect to be remembered after they've died? You may have never wondered that. I read about it. Outside of family and friends, of course. How long can a famous athlete, movie star, world leader, how long would they be remembered by their culture, their society, their world after they have died? Well, uh, some professors at MIT had a little extra time, evidently, on their hands, so they developed a computer system to find that answer. They traced the decline of cultural awareness by measuring it towards songs, movies, patents, news items, publications. They drew on data from Billboard, Spotify, Wikipedia, the U.S. Patent Office, and a number of journals around the world. Here's what they discovered. And I quote: the universal decay of collective memory and attention, that is, on these individuals, lasts, on average, no more than 30 years after they've died. Thirty to forty max. Even the famous are forgotten. Kind of made me wonder, you know, who won the Olympic de Castellon 35 years ago? Considered the greatest all-around sporting event. Who won it 35 years ago? Robert Smelek of Czechoslovakia. Who won Wimbledon 35 years ago? Michael Stick from West Germany. Who won the Oscar for Best Actress 40 years ago? Geraldine Page. What was the top song on the radio 40 years ago? Dion Warwick and Stevie Wonder, that's what friends are for. If you know the answer to these questions, you're old. Like me. You can ride an elevator and sing along with the music, can't you? Imagine being remembered 300 years after you die. Imagine 3,000 a year. That would be rare. But certain events are indeed remembered for hundreds, for thousands of years. And they're well known around our world today, even outside of those who follow the Bible where events are recorded. Let me give you a pop quiz, another one. Just fill in the blanks out loud with the answer. I'll give you the first part, you give me the last part. Okay? If you get it wrong, your membership's not in question. Okay, just do your best. Ready? Here we go. Adam and E. Now I thought I'd start with something simple, and I heard three people. Let's try that one again. Adam and E. There you go. Now remembered for the best of things, but the world knows this. Samson and Delilah. Here's another Jonah and the whale. Here's one. Zephaniah and just kidding on that one, just kidding. One more. Noah and the Ark. Have you ever thought about the fact that God never wanted mankind to forget that one? Two thousand years after it happened, 2,360 years to be exact, the apostle Peter is going to use that event, that man, in his defense of God's coming, judgment. False teachers have taken Peter to court, so to speak. They've accused him of fabricating his message of God's judgment. So Peter begins his defense. Take your Bibles and turn again to 2 Peter chapter 2. We studied last Lord's Day, the judgment of God. This is Exhibit A from Peter, God's judgment on certain angels. He chained them in a dark abyss thousands of years ago, where they still are, awaiting their final judgment. That was Exhibit A. Now, the false teachers, and Peter would anticipate this, would have responded, well, you know, it's one thing for God to judge a few angels who cross the line, but certainly God would never judge a lot of people. And with that, Peter now offers Exhibit B, the judgment of God by means of a global flood. So take your copy of the court transcript, 2 Peter chapter 2, and let's get a running start at verse 4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell, literally Tartarus, the abyss, and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness, to be kept until the judgment. It's exhibit A, now exhibit B. And if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald, the preacher, of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. He's referring to the eight people in Noah's family, including Noah, who are saved in this ark. Only eight people out of all of humanity. Now remember, if you were with us last Lord's day, Peter uses that little word if several times in this long sentence that takes us all the way to verse 10 in chapter 2. It can be translated if and since this happened. Or if this happened and it did. That's how we would translate it woodly in the English language. Since this judgment happened in the past and it did, well, this judgment in the future will occur as well. And he refers to the flood. The word for flood here in Peter's defense is the original word cataclysmas. It gives us our word cataclysmic. Cataclysmic. A cataclysmic event is a reference to something devastating, something sudden, something violent. The global flood is all of that and more. The global flood happens to be Peter's favorite illustration of judgment. He will use it three times in these two letters. The interesting truth is the account of a global flood and a rescued man in a boat has literally traveled around the world and it exists to this day. Noah happens to be a household name. In fact, you go out there on the street, you ask anybody, they heard of Noah and the Ark, and they're going to say, of course we have. Now, for them, it's a little bedtime story. It's certainly not reality. But it's obvious, God does not want mankind to forget about it, as we'll learn again today. It's one of his chief examples of terrifying judgment in the past, as evidence of a terrifying judgment in the future. So no matter where you go in the world today, there are memories, there are legends, there are adaptations, bits and pieces, of this interesting account of a man rescued with his family in a flood. The Chinese Mandarin symbol for boat is the symbol of a vessel with eight people inside. The Peruvians believe a global flood killed everyone except a few people who became the forefathers of all of Earth's ethnicities. The Cubans have a legend of an old man who learned a flood was heading his way, so he built a boat and filled it with his family and their animals and survived. The Hindus tell the legend of a man who built a ship and with his family of eight survived a flood until they ran aground on a tall mountain. Alaskans believe their first ancestor dreamed a flood would destroy the earth. So a man built a raft, brought his family and all their animals on board, and were rescued. Animals, they add to their particular adaptation, during these days, could talk, and they complained for the entire journey. They kept asking, how long is this gonna last? Are we there yet? Finally, when they disembarked, the animals, according to their adaptation, were no longer able to talk as judgment for complaining. You might share that with your children in the future. That's free today. So around the world, these bits and pieces of this historical account are still being told. And people to this day ignore it as best they can, revise it, reinterpret it, belittle it. Tragically, even now within the evangelical community, so-called scholars are trying to minimize it and remove it at its face value. There's an ongoing fight today, even in the evangelical world, over the flood. Many would assume it was regional. Lennox and Collins are two scholars in the evangelical community who deny its global nature. It's limited to people living in Mesopotamia during the days of Noah. They lived in a valley, God flooded the valley and killed them. According to Genesis chapter 7, if you just take a look, I'll put it up on the screen to save time. The floodwater rose, the Bible says, until the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. He really can't say it any clearer than that. In case there's any doubt, God knew that experts would arise one day to doubt it. The next verse says, the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them 15 cubits deep. In other words, the water was 15 cubits higher than the tallest peak. That's 22 feet high. In other words, nobody reached high ground and then climbed a tree, but even if they'd climbed a tree that was 30 or 40 feet tall, the waters took months to recede. It was a year before Noah disembarked. And they would have died. And that water receded then to fill the oceans and lakes and rivers of planet earth according to God's perfect design. A literal interpretation of Genesis chapter 6 simply provides the full account of Noah and the Ark, and it provides some wonderful answers, by the way, to this judgment event. A local flood might make sense as long as you keep your Bible closed, or you don't take it seriously, or you try to fiddle with the meanings of clear words. Let me give you five different facts the Bible presents about this flood and why Peter can use it as an illustration of coming judgment. Number one, the need for an ark. Now, if you put the clues together, it took Noah around 100 to 120 years to build the ark. If the flood was local or regional, Noah could have loaded his family up in the family minivan and traveled over to the next region. Why spend 120 years building a boat? Secondly, the huge dimensions of the ark. The Bible gives us the dimensions. But for the sake of time and simplicity, let me just say it this way: the capacity of that ark was the capacity of 500 train cars. Its design was more like a barge than a yacht. We're told it had three decks, three stories high. If the flood was local, limited to a valley in Mesopotamia, God could have brought animals that lived in that region, and the ark could have been much smaller. That leads to another major issue that's debated hotly today. That is the accommodation of animals on the ark. Now, if the flood was local, there's plenty of time, while Noah built the ark for the animals to migrate to another region. Why accommodate them? The birds have plenty of time, they could fly around the world a few times in 120 years. Many people would argue for a regional flood because they don't believe Noah's Ark could have held a pair of animals from around the globe. Evidently, this is a little bit too much of a miracle for God to bring animals two by two to the ark. So this is again, you know, a cute bedtime story that shows little animals stuffed into a boat with a giraffe sticking his head out. Well, first of all, the Genesis record did not include water creatures. Thousands upon thousands of water species weren't on the ark. They're about to get a bigger pool to swim in. The record of Scripture says that only animals that breathed through their nostrils were included in the ark. Insects don't have lungs, they breathe through a system of tubes along their bodies called spiracles. So all of these different bugs and insects, mosquitoes, weren't brought on the ark. In fact, you only wonder why the mosquito was allowed to live to begin with. But all of these insects would have easily floated on debris from this global flood. Here's an important clue to keep in mind. Noah was told by God that God would bring two of every kind of land animal to the ark. The key word is the word kind. As God is giving instructions to Noah, the Genesis account records God saying in chapter 6 and verse 20, of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind. Two of every sort shall come into you to keep them alive. Now, if you remember 11th grade biology, which I did not, my studies resurfaced it, organisms are classified from the most general to the more specific as follows kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Noah was not told that he was going to receive two of every species, but two of every kind. The word kind relates to family. Members of the same family classification can breed with one another, creating all kinds of different animals, all these species, these sub-species from one family. God installed into his animal creation the ability within their DNA to produce all sorts of varieties, even to some degree, that we see within humans, within one family. For instance, there is one cat family that produced some 40 different species. I have no idea why that was necessary, but that's what happened, evidently. So from the leopard to the tiger to the cougar to your little house cat. All Noah needed to do was have God drive toward him a male and female within that family. The dog family, the wolf, and that little chihuahua you've got. They're all in the same dog family. If there was ever a family reunion, the chihuahua's not going to survive, but they're all related. The dinosaurs, they were on the ark as well. The fossil records reveal around 70 different families. The average size of the fossils discovered, it's about the size of a buffalo. Plenty of room on the ark for them. Keep in mind that all of the animals brought to Noah, the implication of the record is that they would have been young. And that would maximize their reproductive potential over a period of time because they're going to receive the same command as Noah, three sons, three sons-in-laws, received in Genesis chapter 8 that they are to now repopulate, they're to refill the earth. The scientific world today estimates there are around 550 mammal families, 280 bird families, 320 reptile families, and 250 amphibian families. All of these families of land animals were represented in the ark, a male and female of each family, which meant God brought into that ark less than 7,000 animals. Plenty of room. Put the shades down. Again, if we take Genesis literally, the terminology can't be any clearer. The Bible says in Genesis chapter 7, verses 21 to 23, the waters prevailed above the mountains. Now notice, and all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, everything outside the ark, of course. All swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Let me give you a literal translation of the Hebrew word translated all here. Get ready, write this down. It's the word all. It means all. If we didn't get the message, and God knows we're stubborn, and we have our fingers in our ears, and experts abound, he repeats himself a different way in the next verse. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground. Man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah, representing the human race, was left, and those who were with him in the ark. Over and over, God says the same thing. It's like Genesis chapter one. He can't say it any clearer in giving us the idea of a 24-hour day, evening and morning, the first day, the second day, the third day. There is a battle raging on the first 11 chapters. Of Genesis, and it's not going to go away. But over and over again, God just says the same thing here. All of humanity, every land creature outside the ark and around the world, died. Now let me point out one final reason for a global flood. I think this is the most significant one. God's promise has not been broken. You see, following the flood, God promised Noah with these words in chapter 9 of Genesis, I establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. Not a valley of Mesopotamia, but the earth. When I bring clouds, God says, over the earth, and the rainbow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. Now follow this. If the flood was a regional flood that caused the death of animals and humans, then God did not keep his promise. Regional floods take place around this planet every single year. In fact, in the last 12 months, there have been some devastating floods. You've read about or heard about the flooding of Pakistan Pakistan. Flood waters literally inundated entire villages, killing hundreds of people, displacing a million people. That's one of a hundred of regional floods that take place every year. If the flood in Genesis was a regional flood and God promised it would never happen again, then God is lying over and over again. But if Noah's flood was global, he's kept his word. There hasn't been another one. Since. Peter's going to use that later on in chapter three. When we arrive, we'll learn that that global flood is an illustration of the next judgment, which is global fire. Now let me wrap up Peter's exhibit B and make two observations. By the way, this is the reason that Noah is still remembered. Not 30 years later, not 300 years later, but 3,000 years later. Here's why. First, God wanted Noah to become a timeless warning of the temporary offer of salvation. There is an end to his mercy. The only people who will respond and follow Noah into that ark are his wife, the record of scripture tells us, his three sons and their wives. That was it. We read in Genesis chapter 7, they went into the ark with Noah. And two and two of all flesh, in which there was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded them. Now notice, and the Lord shut him in. In other words, when they were all safely inside, God Himself shut the door. There was no other door. There was no back door. There's no side door. There was one door. And after 100 years plus of an open invitation, God shut that door. This is an illustration of a timeless truth. It is never too early for you to accept the invitation of salvation in Christ Jesus, whom the New Testament pictures as the ark. But one day it will be forever too late. That's the day you die. The shutting of that lid on your coffin is the closing of the invitation to believe and follow Christ. It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment. Hebrews 9, 27. The offer of salvation lasts for you as long as you're alive. What have you done with it today? Don't ignore this warning. Secondly, God wanted Noah to become a timeless encouragement for every believer who obeys him. Don't underestimate this. We tend to gloss over it and not consider 120 years of ridicule. You having a tough time at work or school? It lasted 120 years. It did for him. I can imagine people, as I have imagined in my study, what it must have been like for people to come to Noah. What are you building, Noah? An ark. Well, what's an ark? I don't know. I'll see it when it's finished. Never seen one before. What's it for? There's going to be a worldwide flood. God told me. Have you ever seen a flood like that before? Never have. Well, why is the ark so big? Well, because it's going to hold a lot of wild animals. Oh, you're going to go catch them yourself? No, God's going to drive them in two by two. You're right. Well, let me see the plans to this boat you're building. Where are the sails? There aren't any. Well then, where are the oars to move this thing along? There aren't any. Where's the captain's wheel? There isn't one. Wait. Where's the rudder? There isn't one. How are you going to navigate this? I'm not. Who will? Evidently God. So when are you going to float away, Noah? Well, I guess sometime soon after it starts raining. One of the overlooked tests of obedience. What he no doubt endured. Chapter seven is often overlooked as well. They all enter the ark. The door's been shut. They're all inside. And then it says, seven days later. It happened. People have traveled from all over to see this thing. I mean, it is rather unusual to see pairs of animals that have been collecting. That got their attention. Maybe made them a little anxious. Maybe this thing's for real. Noah and his family are now inside. Maybe one last invitation. Anyone here want to join us? No. And the door is shut. And then what happened? Nothing. Day one came and went. What happened? Nothing. Day two came and went. What happened? Nothing. If I were Noah, I'd be listening for a little pitter patter. Lord. Two days. Third day, what happened? Nothing. Fourth day. By now the crowd's relaxing. It's not going to happen. After all. Fifth day. What happened? Nothing. Sixth day, what happened? Well, by now they've, you know, the people have put up a volleyball net and they're barbecuing outside the ark, you know, mocking. No, what you want on your hamburger? Jeering. He's got to be the most misguided man in the world, a hundred years plus, building this barge in his backyard. Because the rain's gonna come. Now seven days of silence. Has God been silent to you? Doesn't make any sense. You're obeying. A word. For Noah, does not underestimate the commitment that he's following the word of God without any evidence. He is ridiculed, he is friendless, he is rejected. He's shunned. One author I was reading told of visiting the Library of Congress several years ago when Daniel Borston served as the librarian. He took them into a special collections division. He opened a drawer and he pulled out a little blue case. And the case was labeled Items Carried by President Abraham Lincoln in his pockets on the night of April 4th, 1865. He pulled out each item that had been taken from Lincoln's pockets and showed them to his guests. There was a handkerchief embroidered A period Lincoln. There was a typical country boy's pocket knife. There was a case that carried Lincoln's eyeglasses, a case that had broken apart that he repaired with some string. There was money amounting in our economy today of five dollars. Then this final item, a well-worn newspaper clipping, folded and unfolded, folded and unfolded many times, implying Lincoln often read it, oiled by his fingers. It was an article from a newspaper of a speech delivered by a man named John Bright, who said in his speech that Lincoln was a fine man and a great leader. Lincoln kept that. That's because most of his world viewed him as an ignorant man. Half the country hated him. Most of the other half didn't understand him. He was lampooned in the newspapers often as a baboon. The village idiot. A fool. As far as the world was concerned, he would be a footnote in history. He wouldn't be remembered thirty years and goodridden. Unloved, mocked, considered wrong, until he was proven right. That emancipation proclamation was right. Keeping the country together was right. He was wrong until. He was right. Everyone in Noah's day thought he was wrong. A crazy man. Have you heard about him? Look at what he's building. He's a religious nut. He says he's heard from God. He's wrong. Until it started to rain.

When Judgment Finally Arrives

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It rained.

Christ As The Only Door

Prayer And Personal Invitation

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And then it poured. And then the subterranean caverns of water, the Bible tells us, under the surface of the earth just erupted. And then that huge arc heaved and creaked and groaned. And then floated. Mocking now turns to screaming. They're clawing at that door. They're rushing to the side of that ark. They're in panic. He was right. And everyone outside that door died. And everyone inside the door was saved. The coming judgment of God is going to be the same thing for you as it was for them in that water erupted. Are you inside the ark of Christ? Or are you on the outside? How do you get in? What Jesus Christ said, recorded in John chapter 9, I am the door. I'm the door. There's no side door. There's no back door. I am the door. It's open. If any man enter by me, he will be saved. This is the only way in. I am the door. Whoever enters by me will be forever. Safe. Father, thank you for the record of this event. We only understand its significance when we take it literally. You did not stutter, you did not hesitate, you told us. Noah banked his life on it. A hundred years plus. Help us to stand as believers. On the truth of your word, which includes the terror of a coming judgment. You want us to tell the world that. Give us the courage, the opportunity, the joy of doing that. If you've come by faith to Jesus Christ, you're inside the ark. Right where you sit. Would you just thank him for that? You're saved forever from the wrath of God. While you're thanking the Lord of you here today, and you've never settled it with the Lord. You're outside the ark. Knowing that you could die today. I urge you, right where you're seated. Change your disbelief to belief. Go from the outside to the inside. Walk through the gospel of Christ who is the door and give him your life. If I can help you after this service, I'll be in the visitor's reception room to my left. Greeting those who are new here, but also answering questions and perhaps beginning a conversation with you. Thank you for your word that's clear. It's true, it's right. Though we today might be viewed as on the wrong side of history. Independently of evidence.