Noah’s taking God’s warning seriously saved him, his family, and the whole human race.
I believe the worldwide Genesis Flood literally occurred, and produced a geological record showing catastrophe. Massive, worldwide coal, oil, and natural gas deposits are carbon-based byproducts of compressed and decaying organic matter.
It is a known fact that the poles were once warm, even tropical, and that they suddenly became cold, and flooded with water at the same time.
As to the argument that the Flood was a local event, there are sedimentary (water-laid) layers all over the earth, and those sediments contain the buried remains of billions of creatures. The fossilization of living things is evidence that they were buried rapidly, not slowly, since they did not simply decompose.
Layers of sedimentation from the floodwaters have been erroneously labeled as geological ages separated by vast quantities of time. There is a spiritual aspect to this scientific misinterpretation.
Peter acknowledges that the Flood was a literal event:
(However, as you know, I believe Peter was incorrect in not assigning responsibility for this violence to Satan. However I don’t throw out everything Peter says because of this disagreement, any more than I throw out futurism because I now recognize God is nonviolent.)
Peter later associates unbelief about the literal, physical worldwide Flood with unbelief about the literal, physical Second Coming of Christ:
And we observe that in the Olivet Discourse, Jesus links the conditions before the Flood of Noah with the conditions characterizing the earth at the time of the coming [first] Rapture:
There is nothing wrong with eating and drinking, or in marrying and giving in marriage. The point is the people were so carried away with the pleasures of the world that they were indifferent to Noah’s prophetic warnings. God always tries to warn people of Satan’s schemes, and to provide a way of escape.
In distinction to other futurists, I do NOT believe the Rapture is imminent.
Perhaps a fourth of the Bible is prophecy, and I would argue that the bulk of that must yet be fulfilled during a short period of time in the relatively near future, just a “generation” in length (Mt. 24:34).
Regarding the sign of the fig tree, I believe the tree will begin to leaf when the Antichrist comes on the world stage. Prior to the Pre-Trib Rapture, some global crisis will come, and be resolved militarily by the Antichrist; his uprooting three horns signifies defeating three countries:
Again, please allow me to quote Professor Bloomfield, from *Signs Of His Coming: A Study Of The Olivet Discourse *(1962):
In addition to evangelism, and acts of charity, the church needs to be prayerfully reconsidering the prophetic Scriptures.
I would further argue that today we need to be earnestly pursuing the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:31), for example, the gift of the discerning of spirits (1 Cor. 12:10).
Blessings.