The World’s Greatest Flood

Illus: Guinness Book of Records gives this information about floods:

(1) THE WORST FLOOD DAMAGE in the United States was caused by the flood of August 10, 1993. This flood affected nine states and covered an area estimated to be twice the size of New Jersey.

(2) THE DEADLIEST FLOOD in the United States took place May 31, 1889, in Johnstown, Pa. That flood formed a wall of water 20 to 30 feet high that rushed through the town killing 2,000 people.

Illus: We often hear about floods in certain regions of the country. We have seen:

• Complete cities covered by water.

• Complete counties covered by water.

But, never has the whole world been covered by water as it was during Noah’s time.

You can check back in history and will find that no flood has even come close to covering the whole earth as the flood God sent when Noah was alive.

Let’s look at the world’s -

I. GREATEST DISASTER.

That was, without a doubt, the GREATEST DISASTER to ever occur on this earth.

There has been a lot of disasters but nothing can come close to the flood of Noah!!!

Preacher are you saying that every hill on the earth was covered by water?

No, I am not saying that--the Word of God says that!!!

Look at Genesis 7:18-20. We read, “And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

”Notice, the word “prevailed” appears twice in these verses.

The word “prevail” relates to competition.

Illus: This is the same as when two boxers get into a boxing ring to box. They compete until one prevails over the other.

We get the picture, in these verses, that the EARTH and the FLOOD were in competition.

• The flood said to the earth, “I am going to cover you and drown everything on you.”

• But the earth said back, “No, I am much too great and strong. You can not do that!”

Yet when all was said and done, the FLOOD PREVAILED.

Verse 20 tells us that the highest mountains were covered fifteen cubits. That is approximately twenty-five feet above the highest mountains.

The flood waters stood triumphant over the earth.

This was not only the WORST FLOOD. It was the WORST DISASTER that has ever occurred on this earth.

We have seen some disasters in this country. For example:

(1)The deadliest TORNADO on record in the United States occurred in March 18, 1925.

When it was over: 695 had been killed in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. This tornado holds the record of having the longest track on ground...219 miles of sucking people up from the earth and smashing their bodies into buildings and trees.

(2) The deadliest HURRICANE occurred in Galveston Island, Texas, in 1900, taking the lives of an estimated 6,000.

But you can search the history books of DISASTERS in this country, and around the world, and you will not find such a disaster as we find in Noah’s flood.

The flood did not take-

• 10,000 lives

• 15,000 lives

• 20,000 lives

It wiped out the whole human race, and animal race except for Noah’s family and the animals on the ark with them.

Look at verse 21. We read, “And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man.

Never in the history of mankind has there been a national, or world-wide disaster like the one Noah and his family faced.

• The Bible said, “And all flesh died that moved upon the earth...”

• If it was alive before the flood, it was dead after the flood!

That was THE GREATEST DISASTER ever!

Noah’s family was the only family that survived of the human race!

Illus: When it was all over with, only Noah and his family could wear T-shirts that stated, “We survived the worst flood ever in the world.”

Why? Because no one else survived!

Why was Noah’s family the only family spared?

There are two reasons wehy they survived:

(1) Genesis 6:9 We read, “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”

Noah did not walk with God one day and then walk with Satan the next. The Bible tells us that Noah walked with God.

(2)In Genesis 7:1 we see another clue as to why he and his family were spared. We read, “And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation”