What is the significance of the flood?

from the old testament

• When God created the world, He specially created humanity, Adam and Eve, in His image and to rule over the rest of creation (Genesis 1:26–27). To them He gave one command: they were not to eat from one specific tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). However, desiring to be like God, they disobeyed Him and ate it (Genesis 3:1–7). The result was God’s judgment of corruption and death upon all of creation (Genesis 3:16–19), which inflicted humanity with a sin nature such that death spread to all people (cf. Romans 5:12).
• Starting with Adam’s and Eve’s first children, Cain and Abel, we see humanity’s sinfulness in the first murder (Genesis 4:8). Sinfulness continued from generation to generation such that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (Genesis 6:5a) and “the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 4:11).
• God looked and saw “that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5b). Because the earth was filled with sin, “the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Genesis 4:6).
• Because God is Holy (e.g., Isaiah 6:3), God determined to bring judgment on the earth by destroying humanity. He said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them” (Genesis 6:7). Had God carried out that decree, humanity would not exist today.
• However, the test added this: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8). We then learn that “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). He was not saying that Noah was perfect, but that he displayed a righteousness that was uncharacteristic of the rest of humanity. Noah continued to follow God while the rest of the earth had rejected Him.
• God thus extended mercy by rescuing Noah, his wife, three sons, and their three wives from the judgment. Genesis 6:13–8:19 details how God saved them by using an ark even when the rest of humanity drowned around them.

from the new testament

• The flood is what we can call a “type.” It was an example of God’s judgment that pointed toward a future, final judgment. Jesus used the flood to show how judgment in Noah’s day came swiftly and unexpectedly because the world was indifferent to Noah’s warnings, just as God’s final judgment will come. In the days of Noah, “they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:38–39).
• Peter also uses the flood to compare it to the final day of judgment. Speaking of those who mock believers for believing God will judge humanity, he said, “For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the … earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished” (2 Peter 3:5–6). God created by His word, and He also destroyed by His word. Thus, “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Peter 3:7).
• But, just as God brought Noah’s family, “a few, that is, eight persons, .. safely through water” (1 Peter 3:20), so also are believers saved “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” from God’s final judgment (v 21). God provided salvation out of His love for humanity (John 3:16), “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9)
• This is why Paul could say, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:9). The flood was God’s judgment. It was massive, worldwide. But it paled in comparison to God’s final, future judgment.

implications for today

God's judgment is sure. Because He is holy, righteous, and just, He cannot let sin go unpunished. This may seem unfair to some, but we all ultimately know it is true—and we want it to be true. If someone steals your car or even just cuts in front of you in line, you want justice. We see children who are not disciplined and know they should have been to grow their character. We all instinctively know that wrongdoing should have consequences. We long for justice because we were created in the image of a just God.

The problem is that we often want justice for everyone else's sins while hoping for mercy for our own. Scripture reminds us that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). If God were only just, none of us could stand before Him. Yet the same God who judged the world in Noah's day is also "patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Rather than giving us the judgment we deserve, He sent His Son to bear that judgment in our place. God's patience is an invitation to repent, trust in Christ, and receive the mercy He freely offers before the day of judgment comes.

But just like Noah entered the ark to escape the flood, one must “enter the boat.” Noah preached righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), but everyone ignored Him and was lost. Jesus has come likewise to preach, “Repent or perish” (Luke 13:3). Hear His call, repent of your sin, and trust Him as your Savior. He is your only hope of escape!