Jan. 18
Adult | Lesson 28

The Ice Age

The Bible explains the ice age.

Lesson Sections

Overview

Prepare

Studying God’s Word

Group Prayer

Lesson Media

Bryan Osborne Lesson 28 Teacher Video

Causes of the Ice Age (12:56)

Global Warming and a Biblical Worldview (5:13)

How Animals Spread Around the World (3:20)

How Many Ice Ages? (12:39)

Ice Ages through the Years (9:20)

Mysteries of the Ice Age (10:04)

The Flood and the Ice Age (2:07)

“The Ice Age” (28 minutes)

Where Are the Mammoths Now (12:31)

Overview

Prepare

Studying God’s Word

Group Prayer

Lesson Resources

History of Genesis Timeline

PowerPoint presentation

Highlight

Overview

Lesson Focus

Although the Bible does not directly speak of it, the physical evidence on the earth’s surface points to a period of time when ice covered a large portion of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The global flood of Noah’s day would have created the proper conditions for the ice age. We can apply our God-given reason to develop scientific explanations for how the evidence can be understood.

Key Passages

Genesis 8:20–22

Objectives

Students will be able to:

Describe the connection between the flood and the ice age.
Recognize God’s attributes displayed in the uniformity of his creation.

Memory Verse

John 10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

Prepare to Share

Scriptural Background

Prepare to teach by preparing your heart. Read the key passages for this lesson along with this background.

It has often been said that the Bible is not a science textbook. That is true in the sense that the Bible does not describe scientific details, such as that of genetic inheritance. However, the Bible is not silent on topics of scientific interest. One area that seems to get little attention in Scripture is the occurrence of an ice age. In fact, very little in the Bible would directly connect to the idea of an ice age. But this doesn’t mean that an ice age did not occur or that it is an unbiblical idea.

As we try to develop scientific descriptions to explain the physical evidence around us, we must always remember that the Bible must be the authority that we check everything against. The Flood provides a major historical point that we must first understand before forming any ideas about the occurrence of an ice age. Since the Flood was global, it would have removed the evidence for any ice age that occurred before the Flood. So, as we develop models to explain the evidence, they should explain the Ice Age after the Flood, since the earth contains abundant evidence for an Ice Age. (As a significant event, we capitalize Ice Age to differentiate it from the general idea of ice ages.)

After the Flood, God promised Noah and all of his descendants that the world they lived in would never be completely flooded again. In that same passage, God also promised that He would continue to uphold the earth in a relatively constant manner. The seasons, day and night, and cycles of hot and cold would continue under God’s control until the end of the earth (Genesis 8:20–22).

The Hebrew word translated as “ice” in the book of Job is found seven times in the Old Testament. Three of these seven references are found in Job 6:16, 37:10, and 38:29 (ESV). Job lived about 200 years after the Flood, and the references to the freezing of broad waters could refer to the Ice Age. In general, we wouldn’t expect to hear a lot about major snow storms in the Bible since it was written primarily within a subtropical climate. Snow was certainly known to the biblical writers, and it often gets used in Scripture as a metaphor for pure whiteness or purity. One of the most striking passages comes as God tells Isaiah that his sins of scarlet can be made as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).

Historical/Apologetics Background

From a secular perspective, there have been many ice ages spanning millions of years, the most recent reaching its maximum about 20,000 years ago, and the small ice sheets and pockets of glaciers are considered to be the remnants of that period.

From a biblical perspective, there is no reason to doubt that much of the earth was covered in ice sheets for a period of time. The physical evidence is consistent with a recent time where the advancing ice sheets carved the earth’s surface, leaving moraine valleys, kettle lakes, and other features characteristic of glaciation.

The events of the Flood can explain the Ice Age in a way that no other model from secular scientists can match. As the fountains of the great deep broke open, they would have released lava and hot water into the ocean. Clouds and ash would have filled the atmosphere as the continents shifted. The atmosphere would have been cooled as sunlight was reflected away from the earth, leading to a cooler climate over the continents.

This mixture of warm oceans with increased evaporation and cool climates caused massive amounts of snow to fall. The snow continued to accumulate into ice sheets that covered large portions of North America, Europe, and Asia in the Northern Hemisphere. Computer simulations of the conditions provided by the Flood support these ideas and are superior to models based on secular assumptions. As the oceans cooled and the atmosphere cleared, the snow decreased. The Ice Age reached its maximum approximately 500 years after the Flood and melted significantly within the next 200 years.

Unlike the frozen tundra that now exists in much of Siberia, Alaska, and Canada, these areas once supported communities of mammoths, giant beavers, antelope, and grasses. As the Ice Age ended and the climate shifted, giant storms covered some mammoths in sediments and trapped others on islands. The food supply decreased, and the animals either moved south or died of starvation. Today, we find their remains buried in the permafrost layer—some are amazingly well-preserved.

In terms of global warming, the earth has been warming gradually ever since the peak of the Ice Age (glacial maximum). Those temperatures have surely fluctuated, including the Little Ice Age from 1300 to 1880, but temperatures generally are rising. But this doesn’t mean that man is causing the warming or that the rise is a bad thing. God promised to maintain the earth, and we can trust that promise (Genesis 8:20–22). However, we do not have cause to exploit the earth; rather, we are to act as stewards of God’s good gifts to us.

As creation scientists continue to study these issues, they will refine models and resolve problems that exist today. More research is needed and more questions remain to be answered.

The secular view of multiple ice ages happening over millions of years does not make sense in light of the earth’s biblical history. Even the most recent ice age in the secular view would have occurred many thousands of years before God created the universe. This gives us a solid reason for rejecting such an interpretation of history. According to the biblical timeline, the Flood occurred about 4,400 years ago, so the Ice Age must have occurred more recently than that.

This also corresponds to the writing of the book of Job, in which we see references to ice and snow. The current models show the Ice Age peaking within a few hundred years after the Flood’s end. This places the Ice Age during the time of the dispersion from Babel.

As people were spreading to the north, they would have encountered ice sheets encroaching into Europe and Asia. Many of the cave-dwelling cultures would have lived in these areas and hunted animals like mammoths, mastodons, woolly rhinos, giant deer, and others that are often depicted on the walls of the caves that people used as shelter.

Another opportunity that resulted from the Ice Age was the creation of land bridges. As the water evaporated from the oceans, areas like the Bering Strait would have been passable. As people moved across Asia, they would have been able to travel to Alaska over dry land. Similarly, people could have passed from Indonesia into Australia aboard boats traveling relatively short distances.

Another recent area of research is the existence of large cities that have been found underwater off of many coastlines. If the water level had been lower, cities built along the coast during the period of the Ice Age would have been flooded as the ice sheets melted and the sea level rose. Regardless of what evidence we uncover, we must always strive to honor God and His Word as we seek to understand the world we live in and the past events that have literally shaped it.

Highlight

Prepare

Lesson Preparation

Come On In

Write on the board, “How many ice ages have there been?”

Studying God’s Word

Preview the video “The Ice Age” (28 minutes) to prepare for the lesson.

Optional Supplements

Video Clips

Preview the recommended video(s) before class. If appropriate, show to your class and discuss before, during, or after the lesson.

PowerPoint

You may want to use the PowerPoint presentation provided to enhance your teaching.

Highlight

Studying God’s Word

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Introduction

Write on the board, “How many ice ages have there been?”

Last week we looked at the biblical description of the ark and the cargo it carried.

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What did we learn about the size of the ark? The ark was a massive vessel that was 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high. God gave Noah the instructions for building the ark, so we have no reason to doubt that it was able to provide a safe haven for Noah, his family, and the animals God brought to him.
Did anyone have an opportunity to use the information we learned last week (to answer a skeptic or explain biblical truths to a believer)? Discuss various answers as you encourage the students to be putting what they are learning into practice, not just accumulating knowledge.
Today’s lesson will be a bit different. We are using today’s lesson to focus on an idea that is not presented clearly in Scripture. If you think back, we talked about how scientists who trust the Bible developed a model to explain how the continents might have split during the flood. It was consistent with what we find in the Bible, but it wasn’t described in the Bible. Today, we are going to talk about another scientific model—one that deals with the ice age.
As we think about these ideas, it is so important to remember that we must begin our thinking from the truths that Scripture reveals. If any of our scientific models runs contrary to what Scripture clearly teaches, we need to reexamine our models, not Scripture.
- Don’t forget! Review the Optional Supplements and determine where you can use them.
As we explore a biblical explanation for the ice age, we need to keep in mind that God has promised to uphold his creation. We must also remember that we must test everything against Scripture and hold fast to what is true (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

God Sustains His Creation

This is a passage that we have looked at before, but we are going to review part of it today to have this promise from God fresh in our minds.

Genesis 8:20–22

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Let’s read Genesis 8:20–22 together. Have someone read the passage aloud.

Why was Noah offering a sacrifice to the Lord? Noah’s sacrifice was in response to God’s preserving him and his family during the flood.
How did God view Noah’s sacrifice? He considered it a pleasing aroma.
What do we learn about the condition of the heart of man? The intention of his heart is evil from youth.
What did God promise in verse 21? He would never again destroy every living thing with a flood.
How did God confirm the promise in verse 22? He described how he would uphold the creation.
What cycles are described in verse 22? Seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.
When will these cycles end? They will remain in effect while the earth exists.
What is the context (biblical, historical, geographical, chronological) of the passage? Only eight people remained on earth after the flood; God was in essence “restarting” his creation and gave Noah and his descendants the mandate to be fruitful and fill the earth. This event took place about 2349 BC.
What does the passage tell us about God? God has promised to uphold his creation in an orderly manner despite mankind’s constant depravity.

Discover the Truth

This passage, along with many others, reminds us that God has designed the universe we live in to function according to certain laws and patterns. We see a glimpse of his character through his creation. Just as Romans 1:20 tells us that God’s attributes are revealed in what he has made, we see several attributes in the way God sustains the created order.

Refer to Attributes poster. From the list on the Attributes of God poster, which attributes can we see in the orderliness of creation? Immutability as the laws are constant; sovereignty as he is in control of all things; faithful as he continues to do as he has promised.

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Knowing that God upholds the universe in an orderly way is what gives us confidence that we can study things in a scientific manner. As we look at the uniformity in God’s creation, science becomes reasonable. Apart from God, there is no foundational reason to think that the universe should behave in an orderly manner.

Uniformity: God’s creation follows laws that allow us to perform scientific inquiry.
Those who reject God still believe in uniformity, but they have no explanation for why the universe behaves in predictable ways—it just does. As Christians, we have a reason for this consistency, not just a blind faith that tomorrow things will operate like they did today. This is why what we think of as the modern scientific method was actually developed in the West by men who believed in God and his orderly creation. They were seeking to understand how God normally upholds the universe and to describe his thoughts in formulas and laws. They were “thinking God’s thoughts after him” as Kepler put it.

To say that we believe in uniformity in God’s creation does not mean that we believe in uniformitarianism. Uniformitarianism is the idea that the processes we see today have been constant in the past. This view says that millions of years ago, things were happening in the same way they are today—slow and gradual processes with a few catastrophes here and there, much as today.

From a biblical perspective, we must reject uniformitarianism and embrace catastrophism. We understand that the flood was a global event that greatly impacted the earth. Nothing like that is happening today—it was a unique event. And we must consider the flood, and other factors described in Scripture, as we think about the ice age.

Biblical Ice Age Model

Rather than listening to me teach about the ice age, today you are going to watch some video segments by an expert that describe a biblical view of the ice age. Keep in mind that God has given us the ability to reason and examine the world we live in. Science, rightly done, should seek to glorify the Creator of the universe, not exalt the creature or the creation (Romans 1:21–23).

Today’s video is part of a lecture given by Michael Oard, a meteorologist and researcher who has studied the idea of an ice age from a biblical and scientific perspective. You will hear some of the basic information about a scientific model to explain how the flood can help us understand the ice age. What we will be watching today is excerpted from a longer lecture, so the arguments are much more involved than what we will see here. You can take notes in your Student Guides.

Play the video for the class. The video is about 28 minutes, so you may need to stop it early to discuss the ideas.

Connect to the Truth

So, that briefly explains some of the support, both biblical and scientific, of an ice age occurring after the flood. Certainly many questions remain unanswered, so more work needs to be done. But the same is the case for secular models of multiple ice ages. It seems clear from the evidence we have, viewed in light of Scripture, that the ice age must have been a post-flood event. However, there are other biblical creationists who would suggest that the ice age happened in a shorter timeframe. These are two competing models (and there are others) that both attempt to explain the evidence we see for an extensive ice age based on the biblical explanation of the flood. These models can change, they can be discredited with new information, or they can be validated by useful predictions, but the Bible never changes. We must hold loosely to our models and cling tightly to Scripture. Our scientific understanding can change, but God’s Word never will.

Application

The cycles of nature, as God described them to Noah, are part of the earth we live on. We can trust that they will not change because God has made that promise. We also see God’s character—his immutability, sovereignty, and faithfulness—in the way he upholds his creation.

Because of this, we have reason to trust that our scientific endeavors can help us understand the truth, but only in light of what is clearly revealed in Scripture. From a secular viewpoint, there is no foundational reason to trust that the future should be like the past, or that “nature” should behave the same today as it did yesterday. Yet, secular scientists trust science to give them the answers they are seeking and wrongly apply to their interpretation the idea that the present is the key to the past (uniformitarianism). Their faulty starting point leads to a faulty conclusion that is not compatible with the Bible.

Because we know there was a global flood, we can use that to understand how it would have naturally caused an ice age. We see the presence of features on the surface layers that look like they were made by glaciers in the same way that we see glaciers operating today. But what could have caused these layers of ice to build up? The fact that hot oceans and cold continents were present following the flood makes perfect sense. We have a model to test that is based on the truth of God’s revealed history. The dates and exact mechanisms might change, but we have a sound model based on a sound foundation.

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It might be a little hard to think about this topic from the perspective of the gospel, but the ice age is a part of history. How might the ice age be a part of discussions about the truth of the gospel? Many topics are intellectual stumbling blocks to people, even those listening to the truths of the Bible. In that sense, answering questions about the existence of an ice age from a biblical perspective might be helpful in certain situations. As we tell people that the Bible is the starting point for thinking about everything, we should be willing to live and think that way ourselves.
Is it important for each of you to know the details and inner workings of the latest ice age models as you seek to share the gospel with others? No! As the body of Christ, certain individuals can be trained in and focused on such topics, but not everyone needs to know everything about everything. However, being able to respond to basic questions is part of defending the faith and giving a reason for our hope in Christ (1 Peter 3:15). Hopefully, the training you are getting from this Sunday school class will be part of the equipping of the saints (Ephesians 4:11–13).
How could you respond to someone who asks you a question about the ice age, or any other topic, that you are unable to answer? There is no shame in not knowing the answer to a question, especially a specific question on a specific topic. Be humble, and admit you do not know the answer. Then, be willing to find an answer and report back to the person asking the question. This will also show them that you are sincere and desire to learn and answer their questions. You can find answers to many difficult questions on the Answers in Genesis website: AnswersInGenesis.org.
Many people are afraid of the effects of global warming. How does Genesis 8:20–22 give you assurance of the future? God is faithful to his promises, and he has promised to maintain the earth.
How does understanding that God is faithful give you assurance as his child? God can be trusted to fulfill all he has promised, so we can take great comfort in knowing and trusting him.
Are you aware of any models from biblical creationists that have changed over time? Does this mean the Bible is not true? One example some may be familiar with is the canopy theory. This scientific model suggested that there was a canopy of water (or ice or water vapor) around the earth based on Genesis 1:6–8. This canopy gave the earth a more pleasant environment that made the pre-flood world like a tropical paradise. This canopy collapsing was supposed to provide the source of rain for the flood. Since the 1960s when this model was proposed, many scientific problems with it have been found, and it has fallen out of favor with most biblical creationists. Another model would be the hydroplate model of the flood, which has also been shown to be scientifically problematic. Because these are scientific models based on the Bible, we should be willing to lay aside faulty models while still clinging to the truth of the Bible.
How can you use God’s creation to offer him praise for his attributes? While taking a walk and watching the animals in the woods, watching the sunset, or simply watching the clouds move across the sky, you can see God’s power demonstrated and his design present in all creation. Thanking him for upholding his creation should be easy in light of the amazing world around us.

Highlight

Group Prayer

Be sure to pray with your class and take requests if time allows.

Praise God for his sovereignty, faithfulness, and immutability.
Ask God to help each person understand him more.
Thank God for giving us such an amazing creation to live in.

The Ice Age

The Bible explains the ice age.

Lesson Sections

Lesson Media

Overview

Prepare

Studying God’s Word

Group Prayer

Lesson Resources

Overview

Lesson Focus

Key Passages

Objectives

Memory Verse

Prepare to Share

Scriptural Background

Historical/Apologetics Background

Prepare

Lesson Preparation

CCome On In

Come On In

AStudying God’s Word

Studying God’s Word

Optional Supplements

Video Clips

Video Clips

PowerPoint

PowerPoint

Studying God’s Word

Introduction

God Sustains His Creation

Biblical Ice Age Model

Application

Group Prayer