A Providential Wind | The Institute for Creation Research

A Providential Wind

The world before the Flood evidently enjoyed substantial equilibrium. Scripture doesn't provide all the details, but we get the impression that earth movements, ocean currents, and atmospheric circulation were at a minimum. Evaporation from one area fell that evening in the same general area, indicating a more gentle environment than today's, which is dominated by major weather fronts that are in turn fueled by a greater temperature differential between the oceans and the continents. The tides still operated, but these were due to the earth's rotation and the moon's gravity. Earth basked in God's created blessings, although sin and its resultant curse had caused the original Edenic "paradise" to be lost.

The Flood changed all that. On one eventful day, after Noah, his family, and the animals had entered the Ark, "were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened" (Genesis 7:11). This launched a period of unimaginable tectonic and meteorologic horror. "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth…and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark" |v. 21, 23|.

"And God remembered Noah…and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged" (Genesis 8:1), commencing a cascade of events that ended the Flood. The ICR research wing has several ongoing research projects that propose to delve more deeply into these processes, so more may soon be known about the Flood and its aftermath. We know about wind and its effect, but this supernaturally-caused wind is beyond our experience.

Such a wind would have several implications. For one thing, it would have played a part in draining the land. The continents today are, in places, several thousand miles in width. To get the water from the continents' interior to the shores and into the ocean would normally have taken some time. The wind would have aided this.

Remember also that the land surface was fully saturated at the Flood's end, and a strong, prolonged wind would have helped dry it out. By sending out the ravens and the dove, Noah was testing to see how far this evaporation had progressed. Eventually, "the face of the ground was dry" (Genesis 8:13), but not yet able to support life. A month later "was the earth dried" |v. 14| and Noah was able to free the animals.

This evaporation was necessary on another front as well. Evaporating water removes significant heat from the system, and abundant heat was everywhere. Heat from the earth's interior was introduced to the surface by the rising "fountains of the great deep," probably boiling the oceans above the subterranean vents. Rapid lateral movements of the continents, as proposed by the best creationist model, would have generated immense heat from the friction involved. So too would the vertical uplift of the mountains, virtually all of which rose at this time as the down-warped sedimentary basins sought to regain isostatic equilibrium. No doubt Noah would have measured the average ocean temperature as quite higher than today's value.

This would in turn have been a major factor in the "Ice Age" that followed in the centuries to come. A hot ocean (more evaporation)--coupled with cold continents (greater temperature differential, sending the moisture inland) and an atmosphere filled with volcanic debris (less snowmelt due to decreased sunlight)--would have triggered staggering storms and immense snow buildup.

It was God's gracious providence to send the "wind" as He did. The great Flood of Noah's day employed recognizable geologic processes throughout, but they operated at rates, scales, and intensities far beyond their modern counterparts. His sovereign grace pervaded it all. "The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever" (Psalm 29:10).

* Dr. Morris is President of the Institute for Creation Research.

Cite this article: Morris, J. 2008. A Providential Wind. Acts & Facts. 37 (4): 13.

The Latest
NEWS
Valued Longtime ICR Employee Mary Smith Retires
Mary Morris Smith, an employee of the Institute for Creation Research for many years, has retired. The second daughter of ICR founder Dr. Henry M. Morris...

NEWS
Man of Science, Man of God: George Washington Carver
Who:  George Washington Carver What: Father of Modern Agriculture When: 1864 or 1865 – January 5, 1943 Where: Diamond Grove,...

ACTS & FACTS
The Scopes Monkey Trial: A Battle of Worldviews
Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee, and its statue of William Jennings Bryan Image credit: M. Mueller The Scopes Monkey...

ACTS & FACTS
Long Non-Coding RNAs: The Unsung Heroes of the Genome
Evolutionary theory holds that all living things came about through random, natural processes. So conventional scientists believe the genome has developed...

ACTS & FACTS
Yosemite National Park, Part 1: Tiny Clues of a Grand Picture
Yosemite National Park in California is a sure source of stunning scenery. It’s no wonder that American naturalist John Muir persuaded President...

ACTS & FACTS
From Inference to Theory: A Common Design Case Study
Without a doubt, humans, chimpanzees, and other organisms share similar features. An early explanation was that these features reflect similar designs...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: T. rex
by Michael Stamp and Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover...

ACTS & FACTS
Entering By The Door
Recently, I hosted a visiting pastor from a large church at ICR’s Discovery Center. As I guided him through our Dallas museum, one conversation...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Mission in Fiji
Michele discusses pages from Explore the World with boys at an orphanage Image credit: Brian Thomas In 2024 my wife, Michele,...

NEWS
Distant Galaxies Continue to Challenge the Big Bang
Recently, a team of scientists released data collected from 800,000 galaxies at different distances from Earth, all lying within the same narrow slice...