THOUGH WE MAY THINK DIFFERENTLY, HE SHOWS THAT WE REALLY CAN DO NOTHING
Job 40:6-10 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: “Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty.
We opened this chapter with 1 Timothy 6:16 which tells us God dwells in “unapproachable light”. Self-glorification is the principle behind the fashion industry where only those who have the latest are considered to be of any value. When people wear shiny pieces of metal or colored stones that reflect light (jewelry) they are trying to create a light of their own to dwell in. It’s also the reason people pierce themselves and get tattoos. They’re not satisfied with what God gave them and think they’re improving upon their appearance when really it’s a form of mutilation. The whole idea of “he who dies with the most toys wins” is another attempt at self-glorification. Any form of elitism, whether through business, education or culture is an attempt to say “I’m better than you” and therefore keeps with the principles of self-glorification the Lord balks at here. It’s possible to be a corporate Vice-President and still be humble, if you don’t think you’re worth more as a person because you’re not a garbage collector.
Job 40:11-13 deals with this idea a little further: “Disperse the rage of your wrath; Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; Tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, Bind their faces in hidden darkness.”
There are many ways humans attempt to deal with pride. Every attempt to defeat another person, whether it’s in something small like cutting someone off in traffic or something grand like a great war, all have one thing in common. Each is an attempt to bring down others. The thing that humans can’t understand unless they have surrendered their hearts to Jesus is that you don’t bring down pride with more pride. That doesn’t help. In a war the side that wins may have had God’s blessing, but no one has ever won a war without casualties. That’s because war is also a punishment for a nation’s sins.
Job 40:14 contains the most important words in the Lord’s challenge to Job: “Then I will also confess to you That your own right hand can save you.”
Here’s the way the first great king of western civilization, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, put it in Daniel 4:34-37, “And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.”
This king actually wrote most of Daniel chapter 4. He was full of pride and took the credit for his achievements himself, so the Lord gave him seven years of insanity to teach him his real place in life. These words are the summary of the lesson he learned.
DO ANY OF US REALLY KNOW THE TRUE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS? LIKE NEBUCHADNEZZAR, JOB LEARNS WHAT WE ALL MUST!
Job 42:1-6 “Then Job answered the LORD and said: ‘I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘”Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?”’ ‘Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak;’ ‘You said, “I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”’ ‘I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.’”
There’s no other way to say it, we need God. We’re not as smart as we may think we are. Even though life has gotten much easier with technology, technology itself will not create a heaven on earth for us. Marvin Moore wrote in “The Coming Great Calamity”, page 11 “This secular, scientific mindset has dominated Western culture during my lifetime and the lifetime of my parents and grandparents. Most people would probably feel comfortable with the idea that it reached its peak during the middle of the twentieth century with the exploding of the atomic bomb over Japan in 1945 and the Apollo moon landing in 1969.”
After between 100 and 150 years of trying to create a heaven on earth through our own endeavours, the culmination of this was in those two great achievements. As discussed in chapter one, humanity thinks it can embrace the ultimate power of destruction and take its place in the universe back again. What’s fascinating is that many of the grandchildren of those who were adults at the time of the moon landing don’t even believe it really happened. There is also a great deal of significance to that fact. We’ll look at the issue next.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
THINGS MAY WE THINK WE KNOW BUT REALLY DON’T
Job 38:1-7: “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
We looked at some of this already and saw how the rest of the universe was here to watch God create this solar system. This issue of creation versus evolution is of course one of the greatest challenges modern man has ever made to the Lord Himself. Charles Darwin took a trip to the Galapagos Islands and saw how an isolated community of birds varied within its own species according to the needs each kind of bird had (microevolution, which does keep with Bible truth). From there the leap was made to all life forming out of other life (macroevolution, which is a fanciful guess). I ask you, although there was variation in these particular birds, why do we not see the same thing in every single lake in the world? Why are there so many of the exact same species of fish in lake after lake in a given area when these lakes are completely isolated form each other? God created one cat and it micro-evolved into the lion, ocelot, siamese housecat etc. He created one dog and it became the coyote, wolf, hound etc. However, cats have always been cats and dogs have always been dogs. Geologists went around saying “these are old rocks because they have old fossils in them”. At the same time biologists were saying “these fossils are old because they’re in old rocks”.
I once heard put it this way “Skepticism and that which is called science has to a large degree undermined the faith of the Christian world in their Bibles. Error and fables are gladly accepted, that they may pursue the path of self-indulgence and not be alarmed, for they are striving not to retain God in their knowledge. They say, ‘Tomorrow will be as this day and much more abundant.’ But in the midst of their unbelief and godless pleasure the shout of the archangel and the trump of God is heard.” And this way as well “The Bible Our Guide in Science.--We are dependent on the Bible for a knowledge of the early history of our world, of the creation of man, and of his fall. Remove the Word of God, and what can we expect but to be left to fables and conjectures and to that enfeebling of the intellect which is the sure result of entertaining error.”
In thinking of what the Lord asked Job … “who determined (the earth’s) measurements?” some other thoughts come to mind about this whole discourse. We may be able to identify the different types of cells in a blade of grass or the different organs in the human body. We may be able to determine what purpose they serve. But that does not mean we have the power to make them serve their purposes. It doesn’t mean we deserve credit for their existence. Neither does it mean that we’ll ever figure out how to make something so complicated out of nothing.
Once in a trivia book, I read that all the weeping willow trees in North America today are descended from a few seeds that fell out of Benjamin Franklin’s broom. Just three or four seeds that he planted spread out over the entire U.S. and Canada over the last two and a half centuries. What if we could genetically trace them back even farther? What if we could get back to the very first weeping willow tree that existed in the Garden of Eden? From that point on, with all our scientific knowledge, we still couldn’t prove whether this first tree was created by the Lord Himself or evolved from a previous tree. A geologist walking into the newly created garden would see things created in their mature state; therefore he would conclude that they are much older.
We cannot pierce the mysteries of what the Lord has chosen not to reveal to us. You can’t prove God was the creator by looking at his creation; you have to trust Him that He is.
Job 38:24 “By what way is light diffused, Or the east wind scattered over the earth?”
Wind doesn’t blow, it sucks. It is a result of temperature differences - that’s the most basic Grade Eight Science. Light is something different. We don’t really know what it is. Sir Isaac Newton was the 17th Century scientist who theorized that light is a particle. He named those particles Photons. In the 19th century scientists had enough evidence from their experimentation to dispute this. They thought light was a wave. Today, there is experimental evidence to support both theories and scientists have simply resigned themselves to admit that they don’t really know what light is. It seems to be both a particle and a wave. This, like the mystery of the shower curtain, is something we have to accept. It’s the same with creation.
Job 38:34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That an abundance of water may cover you?”
Today we have public address systems with microphones, amplifiers and speakers that are capable of multiplying the sound of our voices to a much greater degree than we can normally speak. The music industry has various studio tricks to make a recorded voice sound much more full than is normal as well. One such trick is overdubbing, where a recording is made of music or singing and then re-recorded over itself a second time but slightly out of synchronization. If you are familiar with the group ABBA from the 1970’s, they used this technique and were quite popular. The story goes that their concerts could not duplicate the sound of their albums and fans were disappointed because of this.
Job 38:36 “Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart?”
When my wife Melissa spent a year and a half babysitting her friend’s child I watched that child learn to stand and speak it’s first words. I remember trying to describe concepts to him such as: one thing is under something else. I also remembered watching a documentary once in which people were trying to teach this concept of under to monkeys by sign language and the monkeys didn’t get it. To be able to make sense of what is at first gibberish to the point that you can think in a language is a miracle.
Job 38:1-7: “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
We looked at some of this already and saw how the rest of the universe was here to watch God create this solar system. This issue of creation versus evolution is of course one of the greatest challenges modern man has ever made to the Lord Himself. Charles Darwin took a trip to the Galapagos Islands and saw how an isolated community of birds varied within its own species according to the needs each kind of bird had (microevolution, which does keep with Bible truth). From there the leap was made to all life forming out of other life (macroevolution, which is a fanciful guess). I ask you, although there was variation in these particular birds, why do we not see the same thing in every single lake in the world? Why are there so many of the exact same species of fish in lake after lake in a given area when these lakes are completely isolated form each other? God created one cat and it micro-evolved into the lion, ocelot, siamese housecat etc. He created one dog and it became the coyote, wolf, hound etc. However, cats have always been cats and dogs have always been dogs. Geologists went around saying “these are old rocks because they have old fossils in them”. At the same time biologists were saying “these fossils are old because they’re in old rocks”.
I once heard put it this way “Skepticism and that which is called science has to a large degree undermined the faith of the Christian world in their Bibles. Error and fables are gladly accepted, that they may pursue the path of self-indulgence and not be alarmed, for they are striving not to retain God in their knowledge. They say, ‘Tomorrow will be as this day and much more abundant.’ But in the midst of their unbelief and godless pleasure the shout of the archangel and the trump of God is heard.” And this way as well “The Bible Our Guide in Science.--We are dependent on the Bible for a knowledge of the early history of our world, of the creation of man, and of his fall. Remove the Word of God, and what can we expect but to be left to fables and conjectures and to that enfeebling of the intellect which is the sure result of entertaining error.”
In thinking of what the Lord asked Job … “who determined (the earth’s) measurements?” some other thoughts come to mind about this whole discourse. We may be able to identify the different types of cells in a blade of grass or the different organs in the human body. We may be able to determine what purpose they serve. But that does not mean we have the power to make them serve their purposes. It doesn’t mean we deserve credit for their existence. Neither does it mean that we’ll ever figure out how to make something so complicated out of nothing.
Once in a trivia book, I read that all the weeping willow trees in North America today are descended from a few seeds that fell out of Benjamin Franklin’s broom. Just three or four seeds that he planted spread out over the entire U.S. and Canada over the last two and a half centuries. What if we could genetically trace them back even farther? What if we could get back to the very first weeping willow tree that existed in the Garden of Eden? From that point on, with all our scientific knowledge, we still couldn’t prove whether this first tree was created by the Lord Himself or evolved from a previous tree. A geologist walking into the newly created garden would see things created in their mature state; therefore he would conclude that they are much older.
We cannot pierce the mysteries of what the Lord has chosen not to reveal to us. You can’t prove God was the creator by looking at his creation; you have to trust Him that He is.
Job 38:24 “By what way is light diffused, Or the east wind scattered over the earth?”
Wind doesn’t blow, it sucks. It is a result of temperature differences - that’s the most basic Grade Eight Science. Light is something different. We don’t really know what it is. Sir Isaac Newton was the 17th Century scientist who theorized that light is a particle. He named those particles Photons. In the 19th century scientists had enough evidence from their experimentation to dispute this. They thought light was a wave. Today, there is experimental evidence to support both theories and scientists have simply resigned themselves to admit that they don’t really know what light is. It seems to be both a particle and a wave. This, like the mystery of the shower curtain, is something we have to accept. It’s the same with creation.
Job 38:34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That an abundance of water may cover you?”
Today we have public address systems with microphones, amplifiers and speakers that are capable of multiplying the sound of our voices to a much greater degree than we can normally speak. The music industry has various studio tricks to make a recorded voice sound much more full than is normal as well. One such trick is overdubbing, where a recording is made of music or singing and then re-recorded over itself a second time but slightly out of synchronization. If you are familiar with the group ABBA from the 1970’s, they used this technique and were quite popular. The story goes that their concerts could not duplicate the sound of their albums and fans were disappointed because of this.
Job 38:36 “Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart?”
When my wife Melissa spent a year and a half babysitting her friend’s child I watched that child learn to stand and speak it’s first words. I remember trying to describe concepts to him such as: one thing is under something else. I also remembered watching a documentary once in which people were trying to teach this concept of under to monkeys by sign language and the monkeys didn’t get it. To be able to make sense of what is at first gibberish to the point that you can think in a language is a miracle.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Job Learns What We All Must Post Two
No one knows for sure who Job was or when he lived. There is a “Jobab” listed in Genesis 10 and 1 Chronicles 1 that lived between Peleg and Abraham. Likely he’s the same person. If so, there is much significance to the timing of God’s challenge as this is the time when knowledge was decreasing on the earth. Let’s take a look at the various questions God asks to the one He calls “mortal man” and see if they still can inspire us today:
THINGS WE THINK WE’VE FIGURED OUT
Job 39:1, 2, 5, 10, 13, 14 “Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth? Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young? “Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you? “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s? For she leaves her eggs on the ground, And warms them in the dust;”
If you like to watch nature documentaries, or read magazine or encyclopedia articles, you can learn all kinds of things about the animal kingdom. With a little bit of searching here on the internet one could find information on the gestation period of the mountain goat, how to train a wild ox or learn about ostriches. Job 39:17 is fascinating when you consider how many birds much smaller than an ostrich can navigate by the stars, and yet why is the ostrich so foolish? “Because God deprived her of wisdom, And did not endow her with understanding.”
Chapter 39:19, 25 “Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, The thunder of captains and shouting.”
In reading this I never thought before how all those centuries we fought wars with horses, they also had to be fearless as they went into battle just like their riders.
Job 38:39, 41 asks “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, Who provides food for the raven, When its young ones cry to God, And wander about for lack of food?”
The food chain and the circle of life is something taught early on in junior high school biology classes. Predators contribute to the health of a herd by preying on the sick and the old animals. Psalm 104:21gives us the real answer to this question. “The young lions roar after their prey, And seek their food from God.”
Job 40:15-18, 21-23 “Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox. See now, his strength is in his hips, And his power is in his stomach muscles. He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. His bones are like beams of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron. He lies under the lotus trees, In a covert of reeds and marsh. The lotus trees cover him with their shade; The willows by the brook surround him. Indeed the river may rage, Yet he is not disturbed; He is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth,”
Modern commentators believe this refers to the hippopotamus, but some believe this is a reference to a dinosaur like the brontosaurus because of the “tail like a cedar” text. Leviathan is also in controversy as some think it is a large crocodile, while others think it is the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Personally I do believe these are references to the dinosaurs. It seems so obvious as to almost be self-explanatory that the old legends of fire breathing dragons in so many world cultures referred to the dinosaurs. Now here is Old Testament proof such creatures existed. A great discussion of leviathan and behemoth can be found in Jim Pinkoski’s comic book “A Creationist’s View of Dinosaurs and the Theory of Evolution” available from the Amazing Facts ministry. Go to amazingfacts.org for more.
Job 41:1-4, 8-10: “Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower? Can you put a reed through his nose, Or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you? Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him as a servant forever? Lay your hand on him; Remember the battle—Never do it again! Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false; Shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him? No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me?”
Job 41:11, 13, 14, 18-20: “Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine. Who can remove his outer coat? Who can approach him with a double bridle? Who can open the doors of his face, With his terrible teeth all around? His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lights; Sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke goes out of his nostrils, As from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes out of his mouth.”
And what happened to the dinosaurs? Psalm 74:12-14 tells us “For God is my King from of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Job 38:22, 23: “Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, For the day of battle and war?”
Some who read this with doubt may just write most of this discourse of as flowery poems and not literal descriptions of anything. Is there really a storeroom in Heaven filled with hail and snow? We can describe what we see in the process of water vapor changing form from liquid to solid or gas. Indeed we have seen already in chapter two that Job 36: 27-29 does describe this cycle. However, look up Ezekiel 38:22 “And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”
Job 38:8-11, 16 “Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb; When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band; When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors; When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’ “Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths?”
We have mapped the sea floor and we do have the ability to go under water to the very bottom, but still it has been said that we know more about outer space than we do about the oceans.
THINGS WE THINK WE’VE FIGURED OUT
Job 39:1, 2, 5, 10, 13, 14 “Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth? Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young? “Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you? “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s? For she leaves her eggs on the ground, And warms them in the dust;”
If you like to watch nature documentaries, or read magazine or encyclopedia articles, you can learn all kinds of things about the animal kingdom. With a little bit of searching here on the internet one could find information on the gestation period of the mountain goat, how to train a wild ox or learn about ostriches. Job 39:17 is fascinating when you consider how many birds much smaller than an ostrich can navigate by the stars, and yet why is the ostrich so foolish? “Because God deprived her of wisdom, And did not endow her with understanding.”
Chapter 39:19, 25 “Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, The thunder of captains and shouting.”
In reading this I never thought before how all those centuries we fought wars with horses, they also had to be fearless as they went into battle just like their riders.
Job 38:39, 41 asks “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, Who provides food for the raven, When its young ones cry to God, And wander about for lack of food?”
The food chain and the circle of life is something taught early on in junior high school biology classes. Predators contribute to the health of a herd by preying on the sick and the old animals. Psalm 104:21gives us the real answer to this question. “The young lions roar after their prey, And seek their food from God.”
Job 40:15-18, 21-23 “Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox. See now, his strength is in his hips, And his power is in his stomach muscles. He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. His bones are like beams of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron. He lies under the lotus trees, In a covert of reeds and marsh. The lotus trees cover him with their shade; The willows by the brook surround him. Indeed the river may rage, Yet he is not disturbed; He is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth,”
Modern commentators believe this refers to the hippopotamus, but some believe this is a reference to a dinosaur like the brontosaurus because of the “tail like a cedar” text. Leviathan is also in controversy as some think it is a large crocodile, while others think it is the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Personally I do believe these are references to the dinosaurs. It seems so obvious as to almost be self-explanatory that the old legends of fire breathing dragons in so many world cultures referred to the dinosaurs. Now here is Old Testament proof such creatures existed. A great discussion of leviathan and behemoth can be found in Jim Pinkoski’s comic book “A Creationist’s View of Dinosaurs and the Theory of Evolution” available from the Amazing Facts ministry. Go to amazingfacts.org for more.
Job 41:1-4, 8-10: “Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower? Can you put a reed through his nose, Or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you? Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him as a servant forever? Lay your hand on him; Remember the battle—Never do it again! Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false; Shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him? No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me?”
Job 41:11, 13, 14, 18-20: “Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine. Who can remove his outer coat? Who can approach him with a double bridle? Who can open the doors of his face, With his terrible teeth all around? His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lights; Sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke goes out of his nostrils, As from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes out of his mouth.”
And what happened to the dinosaurs? Psalm 74:12-14 tells us “For God is my King from of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Job 38:22, 23: “Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, For the day of battle and war?”
Some who read this with doubt may just write most of this discourse of as flowery poems and not literal descriptions of anything. Is there really a storeroom in Heaven filled with hail and snow? We can describe what we see in the process of water vapor changing form from liquid to solid or gas. Indeed we have seen already in chapter two that Job 36: 27-29 does describe this cycle. However, look up Ezekiel 38:22 “And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”
Job 38:8-11, 16 “Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb; When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band; When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors; When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’ “Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths?”
We have mapped the sea floor and we do have the ability to go under water to the very bottom, but still it has been said that we know more about outer space than we do about the oceans.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Chapter four post one
JOB LEARNED WHAT WE ALL MUST
1 Timothy 6:16 “who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.” This reference is to God the Father. What do you think of as you read it? I’m sure most people would imagine the Lord on His throne surrounded by some sort of mist or cloud that can’t be seen past. We can see He’s in there but can’t see Him, we can only hear His voice. Maybe there are flashes of colour in the background as we hear Him speak. I imagine that too. However! Would this verse not also apply to the concept of God dwelling in an intellectual light no man can approach unto?
A friend of mine once gave me an interesting factoid - apparently in ancient times, the knowledge base of a society like the Roman Empire would double every 150 years; while today our knowledge base doubles every eight years. With all the advances in technology in the last few generations we now think we dwell in a far greater intellectual light than we have before. Should we be surprised then that so many feel no need of Him today?
In the previous chapter we looked at some references to creation from Job chapter 38. We saw how the angels and the Adams from the rest of the universe watched as God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit made this world. In this chapter we’ll take a greater look at the last few chapters of the book of Job and examine the scientific statements they make. The book of Job is the very first book of the Bible ever written and tells the story of one man who suffers and how it affected his faith. Though the Lord never reprimands Job for complaining about his trials, God does not apologize for them either. (We have already briefly discussed the first 2 chapters of Job as well. If you haven’t already, I’d like to ask you to stop here, go to your Bible, and read them fully. Job’s problems ultimately are not God’s fault.) He goes on at the conclusion of the book to question this one “mortal man” about a great many things until Job sees his total and utter helplessness as a human being. What’s interesting to note is that some of those challenges God gave we have found answers to through all the progress we’ve made in the last 150 years.
Before we get to that, if our view of today’s modern age is not 100% accurate, who’s to say that what we believe about the past is? Jesus had this to say in Matthew 24:37 “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” For today’s time to be like that of the flood, they must have had technology! Could it be that the history of their increasingly bold rebellion against God was tied to a growth in technology then just as much as it is today?
This may be a hard thought for some to consider. Evolutionists and Bible critics believe the modern view that we all started as cavemen with no knowledge at all, have steadily grown over time until we have what we have now, and that this is the only time humanity has ever possessed this much knowledge. Any great achievement of a previous civilization that we can’t fathom is called a ‘mystery’. Many of these include things like the statues of Easter Island; the Nazca lines in Peru and of course the Pyramids. One of the most ridiculous and outlandish theories touted in the 1970’s to explain these mysteries was the book “Chariots of the Gods”, where space aliens are credited with the engineering achievements of ancient mankind. However the more rational theory is that the people who lived back then were smart, for a while smarter than we are.
Bible scholars don’t normally have much to say one way or the other because their focus is not on this aspect of history. But think about it, God made Adam and Eve perfect. That should mean as we previously discussed that they had perfect memories (they didn’t need to write things down) and much higher mental abilities than we have today. Since the first ten generations lived into the 900’s, they were healthier and stronger than we are, their brains must have matched their bodies then. Think also about how much time they had then to study the world around them. It took ten more generations for the lifespan to get down to Abraham’s 175. Moses was seven generations after that and he lived to be 120. We don’t have confirmation of 70 year lifespans until the time of David as shown by Psalm 90:10 “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” As we saw a decline in physical power and strength, there must have been a corresponding decline in mental ability as well. (On a side note, do you know the main reason for the decline in lifespan? God’s original diet is listed as fruits, nuts and grains in Genesis 1:29. In Genesis 3:18 vegetables were added after sin. With this their perfect bodies did not decay for nine centuries. It was after the flood that they were allowed to eat meat, see Genesis 9:3. Meat eating is what caused this great decline in lifespan.)
This is the view Rene Noorbergen takes in “Secrets of the Lost Races”, written in part to respond to Chariots of the Gods. On pages 10-14 he compares the Bible’s list of the pre-flood leaders, known as the Patriarchs, with that of ancient Egyptian and Babylonian history, identifying them to be the same. Page 11 says “Upon comparing the list of the prehistoric Chaldean kings with the pre-Flood patriarchs, we find a fascinating parallel that again supports our basic premise.” He then goes on to elaborate on the similar meanings of the various names given in both accounts. Page 19 also takes China’s history into account, “The Chinese have set 2250 B.C. as the beginning for their history, while traditional Bible chronology estimates 2248 B.C. as the year for the Flood occurrence.”
Noorbergen gives his book’s basic premise on pages 3-4: “According to the Genesis account, the antediluvian people were highly knowledgeable, being the first to develop agriculture, animal husbandry, construction, architecture, political organization, metal-working, the abstract arts, mathematics, chronology and astronomy. What’s more, while the Genesis record tells us that there were altogether only ten generations of antediluvians, they developed the majority, if not all, of the basic elements of civilization by the sixth generation. Now if the antediluvians, beginning with the raw earth, were able to master the arts of civilization in the first six generations their existence, we may well wonder to what degree they further developed and refined those arts in the remaining four prior to the Deluge.”
He then continues on page 21 with: “Is it possible that the few human survivors of the Flood, whether the leader was called Noah, Nu-u, or Nuwah, depending on the tradition, were not so primitive after all? Can we assume that they carried with them sufficient knowledge of the antediluvian era to enable them to give a rapid start to the new civilization that sprang up … in the years immediately following the Flood?”
Page 124 gives a description of a model airplane found in an ancient Egyptian tomb. This finding is also discussed and pictured in “Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation, Premiere Edition, by Dennis R. Petersen, page 225. On pages 94-95 Noorbergen tells of an ancient map, the “Piri Reis chart of 1513”, which was drawn “from a composite of twenty older maps”, eight of which “were from the time of … Alexander the Great”. It “showed South America and Africa in correct relative longitude” when our modern map makers took “another two hundred years” to establish this as true. The map also “accurately showed the coastline of Queen Maud Land in Antarctica – even though the map was drawn in 1513, and the southern continent’s existence was not verified until 1819!” A picture of this map is in Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation, page 211. (This book like the other creation textbook I mentioned in the last chapter. It contains a great many things that are obviously true and gives a great many challenges to evolution. Unfortunately, the author clearly has the same earth centred, 14th century understanding of the events of day four of creation week as is shown by his statements on page 22.)
This information comes from chapter three of “Secrets of the Lost Races”, called “Following in the Tracks of Ancient Explorers”. There Noorbergen describes ancient records and evidence of post-Flood world exploration from several cultures. On page 99 we read: “In Genesis 10:25 we meet a descendant of Noah called Peleg who was given his name because ‘in his day was the earth divided’. The usual interpretation of this passage is that it refers to the division of nations; however, it could also mean division as in ‘allotment, marking off an area, a measurement.’ A more accurate translation of this historical passage could read, ‘Peleg, in his day was the earth measured, or surveyed.’”
I had previously heard two other interpretations of this verse. That the story following in chapter 11 of the Tower of Babel, when God confused the languages of the people to scatter them all over the earth, took place in Peleg’s time. And that the continents were originally one even after the flood and that this was the time in which they broke up into the geography we have today. Likely all these interpretations are correct.
In the same chapter Noorbergen discusses the story of Chinese world exploration with a focus on the “Shan Hai King”, a Chinese story from 2208 B.C. This “treatise on geography … for several hundred years … was regarded as a scientific work … but during the third century B.C., when many Chinese records were reevaluated and condensed, it was discovered that {it} did not correspond to any lands known at the time … {and} was reclassified as myth (page 103).” Rene shows on pages 103 and 104 that this work describes North America.
He also discusses “petroglyphs” ancient rock carvings found all over the world, one of which he mentions at Writing-on-Stone provincial park near Milk River, Alberta. That happens to be only a three and a half hour drive from my home, so after reading about them my wife and I went there and took the tour. I remember the very first set of carvings the tour guide took us to. When she asked us what we thought it was, two pictures came to both our minds. One was shaped very much like the animals in the famous cave paintings in France, which Rene discusses elsewhere in his book. The other was shaped like a brontosaurus. And all the information at the displays in the Visitor’s Centre clearly told how the Siksika First Nations, (formerly known as the Blackfoot Indian tribe) were not the ones who carved these stone pictures. They regarded them as sacred but had no idea who did carve them or how old they were.
“Secrets of the Lost Races” has greatly elaborated on my understanding of early world history. Though they likely did explore the earth, and built many of the great mystery monuments in those first five generations after the flood, by the time of Abraham five generations further on, we have an example of technology in his day. In Genesis 22:6 “he took the fire in his hand”. The way they traveled with fire back then was to coil up a very long rope, light one end and put it in a container. It would slowly burn over the course of days and could be taken out anytime it was needed to ignite a new fire. They didn’t even have flints, what we gave up when matches and lighters were invented! It’s clear that no matter what else may have been known or discovered in those first few generations after the Flood, as the people settled down in their respective regions of the earth and created the cultures we have today; it was all lost by Abraham’s time.
1 Timothy 6:16 “who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.” This reference is to God the Father. What do you think of as you read it? I’m sure most people would imagine the Lord on His throne surrounded by some sort of mist or cloud that can’t be seen past. We can see He’s in there but can’t see Him, we can only hear His voice. Maybe there are flashes of colour in the background as we hear Him speak. I imagine that too. However! Would this verse not also apply to the concept of God dwelling in an intellectual light no man can approach unto?
A friend of mine once gave me an interesting factoid - apparently in ancient times, the knowledge base of a society like the Roman Empire would double every 150 years; while today our knowledge base doubles every eight years. With all the advances in technology in the last few generations we now think we dwell in a far greater intellectual light than we have before. Should we be surprised then that so many feel no need of Him today?
In the previous chapter we looked at some references to creation from Job chapter 38. We saw how the angels and the Adams from the rest of the universe watched as God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit made this world. In this chapter we’ll take a greater look at the last few chapters of the book of Job and examine the scientific statements they make. The book of Job is the very first book of the Bible ever written and tells the story of one man who suffers and how it affected his faith. Though the Lord never reprimands Job for complaining about his trials, God does not apologize for them either. (We have already briefly discussed the first 2 chapters of Job as well. If you haven’t already, I’d like to ask you to stop here, go to your Bible, and read them fully. Job’s problems ultimately are not God’s fault.) He goes on at the conclusion of the book to question this one “mortal man” about a great many things until Job sees his total and utter helplessness as a human being. What’s interesting to note is that some of those challenges God gave we have found answers to through all the progress we’ve made in the last 150 years.
Before we get to that, if our view of today’s modern age is not 100% accurate, who’s to say that what we believe about the past is? Jesus had this to say in Matthew 24:37 “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” For today’s time to be like that of the flood, they must have had technology! Could it be that the history of their increasingly bold rebellion against God was tied to a growth in technology then just as much as it is today?
This may be a hard thought for some to consider. Evolutionists and Bible critics believe the modern view that we all started as cavemen with no knowledge at all, have steadily grown over time until we have what we have now, and that this is the only time humanity has ever possessed this much knowledge. Any great achievement of a previous civilization that we can’t fathom is called a ‘mystery’. Many of these include things like the statues of Easter Island; the Nazca lines in Peru and of course the Pyramids. One of the most ridiculous and outlandish theories touted in the 1970’s to explain these mysteries was the book “Chariots of the Gods”, where space aliens are credited with the engineering achievements of ancient mankind. However the more rational theory is that the people who lived back then were smart, for a while smarter than we are.
Bible scholars don’t normally have much to say one way or the other because their focus is not on this aspect of history. But think about it, God made Adam and Eve perfect. That should mean as we previously discussed that they had perfect memories (they didn’t need to write things down) and much higher mental abilities than we have today. Since the first ten generations lived into the 900’s, they were healthier and stronger than we are, their brains must have matched their bodies then. Think also about how much time they had then to study the world around them. It took ten more generations for the lifespan to get down to Abraham’s 175. Moses was seven generations after that and he lived to be 120. We don’t have confirmation of 70 year lifespans until the time of David as shown by Psalm 90:10 “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” As we saw a decline in physical power and strength, there must have been a corresponding decline in mental ability as well. (On a side note, do you know the main reason for the decline in lifespan? God’s original diet is listed as fruits, nuts and grains in Genesis 1:29. In Genesis 3:18 vegetables were added after sin. With this their perfect bodies did not decay for nine centuries. It was after the flood that they were allowed to eat meat, see Genesis 9:3. Meat eating is what caused this great decline in lifespan.)
This is the view Rene Noorbergen takes in “Secrets of the Lost Races”, written in part to respond to Chariots of the Gods. On pages 10-14 he compares the Bible’s list of the pre-flood leaders, known as the Patriarchs, with that of ancient Egyptian and Babylonian history, identifying them to be the same. Page 11 says “Upon comparing the list of the prehistoric Chaldean kings with the pre-Flood patriarchs, we find a fascinating parallel that again supports our basic premise.” He then goes on to elaborate on the similar meanings of the various names given in both accounts. Page 19 also takes China’s history into account, “The Chinese have set 2250 B.C. as the beginning for their history, while traditional Bible chronology estimates 2248 B.C. as the year for the Flood occurrence.”
Noorbergen gives his book’s basic premise on pages 3-4: “According to the Genesis account, the antediluvian people were highly knowledgeable, being the first to develop agriculture, animal husbandry, construction, architecture, political organization, metal-working, the abstract arts, mathematics, chronology and astronomy. What’s more, while the Genesis record tells us that there were altogether only ten generations of antediluvians, they developed the majority, if not all, of the basic elements of civilization by the sixth generation. Now if the antediluvians, beginning with the raw earth, were able to master the arts of civilization in the first six generations their existence, we may well wonder to what degree they further developed and refined those arts in the remaining four prior to the Deluge.”
He then continues on page 21 with: “Is it possible that the few human survivors of the Flood, whether the leader was called Noah, Nu-u, or Nuwah, depending on the tradition, were not so primitive after all? Can we assume that they carried with them sufficient knowledge of the antediluvian era to enable them to give a rapid start to the new civilization that sprang up … in the years immediately following the Flood?”
Page 124 gives a description of a model airplane found in an ancient Egyptian tomb. This finding is also discussed and pictured in “Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation, Premiere Edition, by Dennis R. Petersen, page 225. On pages 94-95 Noorbergen tells of an ancient map, the “Piri Reis chart of 1513”, which was drawn “from a composite of twenty older maps”, eight of which “were from the time of … Alexander the Great”. It “showed South America and Africa in correct relative longitude” when our modern map makers took “another two hundred years” to establish this as true. The map also “accurately showed the coastline of Queen Maud Land in Antarctica – even though the map was drawn in 1513, and the southern continent’s existence was not verified until 1819!” A picture of this map is in Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation, page 211. (This book like the other creation textbook I mentioned in the last chapter. It contains a great many things that are obviously true and gives a great many challenges to evolution. Unfortunately, the author clearly has the same earth centred, 14th century understanding of the events of day four of creation week as is shown by his statements on page 22.)
This information comes from chapter three of “Secrets of the Lost Races”, called “Following in the Tracks of Ancient Explorers”. There Noorbergen describes ancient records and evidence of post-Flood world exploration from several cultures. On page 99 we read: “In Genesis 10:25 we meet a descendant of Noah called Peleg who was given his name because ‘in his day was the earth divided’. The usual interpretation of this passage is that it refers to the division of nations; however, it could also mean division as in ‘allotment, marking off an area, a measurement.’ A more accurate translation of this historical passage could read, ‘Peleg, in his day was the earth measured, or surveyed.’”
I had previously heard two other interpretations of this verse. That the story following in chapter 11 of the Tower of Babel, when God confused the languages of the people to scatter them all over the earth, took place in Peleg’s time. And that the continents were originally one even after the flood and that this was the time in which they broke up into the geography we have today. Likely all these interpretations are correct.
In the same chapter Noorbergen discusses the story of Chinese world exploration with a focus on the “Shan Hai King”, a Chinese story from 2208 B.C. This “treatise on geography … for several hundred years … was regarded as a scientific work … but during the third century B.C., when many Chinese records were reevaluated and condensed, it was discovered that {it} did not correspond to any lands known at the time … {and} was reclassified as myth (page 103).” Rene shows on pages 103 and 104 that this work describes North America.
He also discusses “petroglyphs” ancient rock carvings found all over the world, one of which he mentions at Writing-on-Stone provincial park near Milk River, Alberta. That happens to be only a three and a half hour drive from my home, so after reading about them my wife and I went there and took the tour. I remember the very first set of carvings the tour guide took us to. When she asked us what we thought it was, two pictures came to both our minds. One was shaped very much like the animals in the famous cave paintings in France, which Rene discusses elsewhere in his book. The other was shaped like a brontosaurus. And all the information at the displays in the Visitor’s Centre clearly told how the Siksika First Nations, (formerly known as the Blackfoot Indian tribe) were not the ones who carved these stone pictures. They regarded them as sacred but had no idea who did carve them or how old they were.
“Secrets of the Lost Races” has greatly elaborated on my understanding of early world history. Though they likely did explore the earth, and built many of the great mystery monuments in those first five generations after the flood, by the time of Abraham five generations further on, we have an example of technology in his day. In Genesis 22:6 “he took the fire in his hand”. The way they traveled with fire back then was to coil up a very long rope, light one end and put it in a container. It would slowly burn over the course of days and could be taken out anytime it was needed to ignite a new fire. They didn’t even have flints, what we gave up when matches and lighters were invented! It’s clear that no matter what else may have been known or discovered in those first few generations after the Flood, as the people settled down in their respective regions of the earth and created the cultures we have today; it was all lost by Abraham’s time.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Bible Proof There's Life on Other Planets post three
One of the biggest reasons for the confusion people have when they contrast science and the Bible is because the creation story in Genesis 1 seems to suggest an earth centered view. You have to know how to read it. It is simply told from the point of reference of someone standing on this new planet like a reporter might have covered it for CNN. Job 38:4-7 has the creation from the point of view of the Angels and others watching in heaven. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars (note: these are the angels) sang together, And all the sons of God (these are the Adam type leaders) shouted for joy?”
We looked at Genesis 1:1-3 in the previous chapter, let’s look at it again for some further clarification. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” That does not mean that the earth was an empty rock and actually has been here for 4 billion years and that the Lord simply added an atmosphere and ocean. To be without form means it did not exist.
Today most people just can’t wrap their heads around such an idea because they have been so completely indoctrinated with evolution. A lot of people try to blend the two conflicting ideas on our origins. You will hear things like “maybe they weren’t seven of our days, maybe they represent longer time periods”. Theories like this come from a desire to make sense of what we can’t make sense of. To blend creation and evolution in this way always ends up making creation serve evolution because people just can’t believe the Lord can cause something to exist where there was nothing before. Even the big bang theory is based on this same false premise that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. (We can now destroy small amounts of uranium or plutonium can’t we?) The observations scientists have made of an expanding universe led them to conclude that all the matter in the universe was once concentrated in one place and exploded in this bang. Some scientists have now abandoned the theory because they realized someone would have to have been there to set off the explosion, i.e. God. It’s entirely possible the universe is 28 billion years old just like scientists have estimated based on their observations. If so, then each and every solar system within the universe was created by God Himself in a process of seven literal days. The Father, Son and Spirit spoke together and where there was once nothing, behold new planets came into existence complete with eco-systems and first parents for every species. This is the only way to blend the truths of the bible with what we can clearly see in our telescopes that neither downgrades God nor goes against known fact.
What makes God “God” is three things that simply cannot be explained and have to be accepted. 1. He is all-seeing, all-knowing, 2. He has always been and always will be, and 3. He has the power of creation, of life and death. He can cause matter to come into existence simply by speaking.
God does not have to serve man’s limited ability to comprehend Him. “He works in mysterious ways”, is a common catch-phrase. Often the reason His ways are mysterious to us is because we are not willing to surrender our preconceived notions. As Peter said in Acts 11:17 when the Lord worked in a way beyond his understanding, “who was I that I could withstand God?” The science minded person may think this cannot be accepted, but yet science has to do this all the time. A good example is the history of our study of light, which will be discussed in the next chapter. For now, take the example of the simple act of having a shower. When you turn on the water, by all known laws of physics (motion, heat, and air pressure) the shower curtain should push out from the bathtub. Yet it sucks in to the tub every time. We can’t explain it. Do we ignore this fact and repeat a lie over and over telling everyone to believe that the shower curtain does push out or do we surrender to a truth beyond our ability to comprehend because it is plain and obvious? God can only help us when we surrender to the truth that He is God.
We have already looked at one spiritual proof of the Lord’s creative power. If you will repent of your sins and accept Jesus’ death on the cross in your place, the Holy Spirit will bring Him into your heart and make you into a new person. From that point on, He wants you to live out the new life He has in store for you. In Galatians 2:20 we read, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” We get a second spiritual proof from the creation week. THINK ABOUT IT! The calendar has days, marked by the rotation of the earth; months, marked by the phases of the moon; and years, marked by the earth’s orbit around the sun. There is no astronomical reason for the week! The seven literal days of creation are where we got our week form. The Lord’s final act in that week was to mark it off with an anniversary as described in Genesis 2:1, 2 “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”
God made the Seventh day of the week Holy as a memorial of creation. The best way to prove creation is in fact to give Sabbath keeping a try and honour Him on His Holy day. He blessed the day. He is there in a special way each week from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, the original Bible Sabbath. There’s a connection there you’ll make with Him when as a born-again believer with a living faith you keep His day His way. Once you see just how much Jesus has done for you and you experience His love anew through the Sabbath, you will know the truth beyond all doubt. No evolutionary science will ever sway you again. Genesis 2:1, 2 is a declaration that creation is finished as well. In other words, Earth is the last planet the Lord made. (This also gives us the only possible explanation for Satan’s rebellion. It’s been said sin can never really be explained; to have lived for eons of time in peace and harmony and then to want something more? It does make no sense. However, after all that time seeing new wonders continually unfold as creation grew and grew, maybe when God said it was done, they said to themselves, “that’s it?”)
This understanding then clearly explains what really happened on day 4 in the creation account. ‘Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; “and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19.
According to the 14th century view, which most people think is what the Bible says; the rest of the universe was created solely for the benefit of earth. This of course makes no room for other planets, nor does it make room for all that we’ve seen so far. How could Satan’s fall and the war in Heaven have happened if he was only two days older than Adam and Eve? The Lord did create the sun and the moon and the planets in our solar system on day 4 because they were created for our benefit. That does not mean this is when He created the whole rest of His dominion though. It just means He made it possible for us to see what‘s out there. Those lights were put into the firmament, which is our atmosphere. In reference to the stars, which are light-years away, it simply says He made them “also”. There is no indication then that He actually did make them the same day.
A few verses sum up our discussion. 1 Corinthians 4:9, “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” Ephesians 3:10 “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,” The word “spectacle” could be replaced with “reality show” couldn’t it? A very short time after Paul wrote these words the spectacle came to its fullest meaning as Christians were fed to the lions in the Roman Coliseum. Yet Paul obviously understood that there was more going on than could be seen with human eyes. The progress of the gospel was not just for the benefit of the people of this world, it was also for everyone else watching us from far away in space.
Our final proof there is life on other planets comes from the parable in Luke 15:4-6. It is normally understood as applying to individual persons that Jesus came to save, but can it not, in light of this study, also apply to our one isolated little world? “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ Jesus sought you out and is rejoicing now with the angels that you have turned from your sins and come to Him. He has also sought out the whole world. When He returns, takes us to Heaven and then after the millennium establishes His kingdom on earth (more on this to come), this parable will be completely fulfilled. Our lost planet will once again be in its rightful place in God’s universe.
We have seen so far that the two conflicting worldviews from the 21st and 14th centuries both contain some errors and some similarities to the real truth. Science has questioned God, and just like other prophetic references to His foreknowledge that this would happen, He also has some answers you may be surprised to see. They are in the last four chapters of the book of Job. We will look at them next.
We looked at Genesis 1:1-3 in the previous chapter, let’s look at it again for some further clarification. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” That does not mean that the earth was an empty rock and actually has been here for 4 billion years and that the Lord simply added an atmosphere and ocean. To be without form means it did not exist.
Today most people just can’t wrap their heads around such an idea because they have been so completely indoctrinated with evolution. A lot of people try to blend the two conflicting ideas on our origins. You will hear things like “maybe they weren’t seven of our days, maybe they represent longer time periods”. Theories like this come from a desire to make sense of what we can’t make sense of. To blend creation and evolution in this way always ends up making creation serve evolution because people just can’t believe the Lord can cause something to exist where there was nothing before. Even the big bang theory is based on this same false premise that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. (We can now destroy small amounts of uranium or plutonium can’t we?) The observations scientists have made of an expanding universe led them to conclude that all the matter in the universe was once concentrated in one place and exploded in this bang. Some scientists have now abandoned the theory because they realized someone would have to have been there to set off the explosion, i.e. God. It’s entirely possible the universe is 28 billion years old just like scientists have estimated based on their observations. If so, then each and every solar system within the universe was created by God Himself in a process of seven literal days. The Father, Son and Spirit spoke together and where there was once nothing, behold new planets came into existence complete with eco-systems and first parents for every species. This is the only way to blend the truths of the bible with what we can clearly see in our telescopes that neither downgrades God nor goes against known fact.
What makes God “God” is three things that simply cannot be explained and have to be accepted. 1. He is all-seeing, all-knowing, 2. He has always been and always will be, and 3. He has the power of creation, of life and death. He can cause matter to come into existence simply by speaking.
God does not have to serve man’s limited ability to comprehend Him. “He works in mysterious ways”, is a common catch-phrase. Often the reason His ways are mysterious to us is because we are not willing to surrender our preconceived notions. As Peter said in Acts 11:17 when the Lord worked in a way beyond his understanding, “who was I that I could withstand God?” The science minded person may think this cannot be accepted, but yet science has to do this all the time. A good example is the history of our study of light, which will be discussed in the next chapter. For now, take the example of the simple act of having a shower. When you turn on the water, by all known laws of physics (motion, heat, and air pressure) the shower curtain should push out from the bathtub. Yet it sucks in to the tub every time. We can’t explain it. Do we ignore this fact and repeat a lie over and over telling everyone to believe that the shower curtain does push out or do we surrender to a truth beyond our ability to comprehend because it is plain and obvious? God can only help us when we surrender to the truth that He is God.
We have already looked at one spiritual proof of the Lord’s creative power. If you will repent of your sins and accept Jesus’ death on the cross in your place, the Holy Spirit will bring Him into your heart and make you into a new person. From that point on, He wants you to live out the new life He has in store for you. In Galatians 2:20 we read, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” We get a second spiritual proof from the creation week. THINK ABOUT IT! The calendar has days, marked by the rotation of the earth; months, marked by the phases of the moon; and years, marked by the earth’s orbit around the sun. There is no astronomical reason for the week! The seven literal days of creation are where we got our week form. The Lord’s final act in that week was to mark it off with an anniversary as described in Genesis 2:1, 2 “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”
God made the Seventh day of the week Holy as a memorial of creation. The best way to prove creation is in fact to give Sabbath keeping a try and honour Him on His Holy day. He blessed the day. He is there in a special way each week from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, the original Bible Sabbath. There’s a connection there you’ll make with Him when as a born-again believer with a living faith you keep His day His way. Once you see just how much Jesus has done for you and you experience His love anew through the Sabbath, you will know the truth beyond all doubt. No evolutionary science will ever sway you again. Genesis 2:1, 2 is a declaration that creation is finished as well. In other words, Earth is the last planet the Lord made. (This also gives us the only possible explanation for Satan’s rebellion. It’s been said sin can never really be explained; to have lived for eons of time in peace and harmony and then to want something more? It does make no sense. However, after all that time seeing new wonders continually unfold as creation grew and grew, maybe when God said it was done, they said to themselves, “that’s it?”)
This understanding then clearly explains what really happened on day 4 in the creation account. ‘Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; “and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19.
According to the 14th century view, which most people think is what the Bible says; the rest of the universe was created solely for the benefit of earth. This of course makes no room for other planets, nor does it make room for all that we’ve seen so far. How could Satan’s fall and the war in Heaven have happened if he was only two days older than Adam and Eve? The Lord did create the sun and the moon and the planets in our solar system on day 4 because they were created for our benefit. That does not mean this is when He created the whole rest of His dominion though. It just means He made it possible for us to see what‘s out there. Those lights were put into the firmament, which is our atmosphere. In reference to the stars, which are light-years away, it simply says He made them “also”. There is no indication then that He actually did make them the same day.
A few verses sum up our discussion. 1 Corinthians 4:9, “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” Ephesians 3:10 “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,” The word “spectacle” could be replaced with “reality show” couldn’t it? A very short time after Paul wrote these words the spectacle came to its fullest meaning as Christians were fed to the lions in the Roman Coliseum. Yet Paul obviously understood that there was more going on than could be seen with human eyes. The progress of the gospel was not just for the benefit of the people of this world, it was also for everyone else watching us from far away in space.
Our final proof there is life on other planets comes from the parable in Luke 15:4-6. It is normally understood as applying to individual persons that Jesus came to save, but can it not, in light of this study, also apply to our one isolated little world? “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ Jesus sought you out and is rejoicing now with the angels that you have turned from your sins and come to Him. He has also sought out the whole world. When He returns, takes us to Heaven and then after the millennium establishes His kingdom on earth (more on this to come), this parable will be completely fulfilled. Our lost planet will once again be in its rightful place in God’s universe.
We have seen so far that the two conflicting worldviews from the 21st and 14th centuries both contain some errors and some similarities to the real truth. Science has questioned God, and just like other prophetic references to His foreknowledge that this would happen, He also has some answers you may be surprised to see. They are in the last four chapters of the book of Job. We will look at them next.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
