Where Did All That Water Come From?

By Craig von Buseck
CBN.com Contributing Writer

CBN.com – In Genesis, chapter 7, the Bible tells us specifically where the water came from for Noah's flood:

10 After seven days, the waters of the flood came and covered the earth.

11 When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. 12 The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.

17 For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. 18 As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. 19 Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, 20 rising more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks.

24 And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.

Genesis 7, verse 11 gives us a picture of this cataclysmic event. The New American Standard version presents this verse as "the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened."

The phrase "fountains of the great deep" is used only in Genesis 7:11. A similar phrase, "fountains of the deep" is used in Genesis 8:2, obviously referring to the same thing. The "fountains of the great deep" most likely refer to subterranean sources of water. Some theologians and scientists believe that on the third day of creation, when God made dry land emerge, some of the water that covered the earth may have been trapped underneath and inside the dry land.

We don't know the natural cause, but the Bible makes it clear that these subterranean waters that had been trapped below the surface of the earth erupted with catastrophic consequences.

According to www.ChristianAnswers.net, "There are many volcanic rocks interspersed between the fossil layers in the rock record -- layers that were obviously deposited during Noah's flood. So it is quite plausible that these fountains of the great deep involved a series of volcanic eruptions with prodigious amounts of water bursting up through the ground. It is interesting that up to 70 percent or more of what comes out of volcanoes today is water, often in the form of steam."

"In their catastrophic plate tectonics model for the flood, Austin et al. have proposed that at the onset of the flood, the ocean floor rapidly lifted up to 6,500 feet (2,000 meters) due to an increase in temperature as horizontal movement of the tectonic plates accelerated. This would spill the seawater onto the land and cause massive flooding -- perhaps what is aptly described as the breaking up of the 'fountains of the great deep.'"

The other source of the water for Noah's flood was torrential rainfall from "the windows of heaven." It rained without stop for 40 days and 40 nights. The expression "windows of heaven" is used twice in reference to the flood in Genesis 7:11 and 8:2.

This phrase is used three times in the Old Testament. It is used twice in 2 Kings 7:2 and 19, referring to God's miraculous intervention to save his people through a tremendous miracle. It is also used once in Malachi 3:10, where God promises to pour out an abundant blessing on his people in response to their obedience to give. The phrase used in Genesis similarly refers to the extraordinary nature of the rainfall that fell from the skies during the flood.

Read more about Noah's Ark

Craig von Buseck is a published author, popular speaker and a contributing writer for CBN.com. He holds a Doctor of Ministry and an MA in Religious Journalism from Regent University. His most recent book by Regal Publishers, Praying the News, was co-written by CBN News anchor Wendy Griffith.

Craig is also the author of NetCasters: Using the Internet to Make Fishers of Men and Seven Keys to Hearing God's Voice. Craig has extensive ministry and speaking experience. He travels often to minister in churches and speak at writers conferences and professional events. Find other articles and interviews by Craig von Buseck on CBN.com or at www.vonbuseck.com.

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