Verification Number Five

The book of Ecclesiastes was written about 3,000 years ago. Imagine yourself living in that time. What would you know about the wind? Only what you could see and feel, right? You would know it blows some days very strong, some days very little, or perhaps none at all. Sometimes from the north, then south, then east and west. In fact you could not predict tomorrow's wind.

All you would know are two things:

• The wind without any advance pattern to it can come from any direction.
• The velocity of the wind varies, from strong to weak to none at all.

How, then, could you possibly make this statement in Ecclesiastes 1:6?

"The wind goes toward the south, and turns about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again to its circuits."

This statement, against everything a human could observe and know, stood by itself for nearly three thousand years.

It took a French mathematician named Coeriolis, who died in 1843, to study and identify wind circuits. What Coeriolis discovered supported the Bible statement in Ecclesiastes, not just in one way, but in three ways.

First notice the Bible said wind goes south and turns about unto the north. Coeriolis found the wind goes clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, and then turns about and goes counter clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere! Named for him, the Coriolis effect is very important in understanding wind and ocean currents.

Second, are there in fact wind circuits? The World Book Encyclopedia has a diagram showing the known wind systems, or circuits. Their diagram is a map of the earth with little arrows showing the location and direction of each wind circuit. How many are there? Their diagram has plotted 28 circuits!

But there's more. You have heard your local TV weather personalities refer to the "jet stream" and how it affects your local weather. Jet streams do exist. They too have established circuits. The jet streams have winds at speeds of up to 200 mph. World War II pilots first discovered them.

Third, the Bible said the wind whirls about continually. How could an observer on the ground possibly know that? In fact at ground level the wind blows the very opposite of continually. But obviously the higher winds do. If they didn't, the encyclopedia could not diagram 28 of their circuits.

Ecclesiastes 1:6 made no sense in 1,000 BC, and no sense for 2,800 years until the research of Coeriolis in the early 1800s.

That Bible statement about the winds written 3,000 years ago, was against all logic, all that was known at the time. I submit to you that this correct knowledge, this scientifically accurate picture, came from something or someone higher than man; it was divinely inspired.

Verification Number Six

There is an another revealing section of the Bible found in Isaiah 40:12 :

"Behold the nations are like a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold, he [ the creator] takes up the coasts as a very little thing." (Isaiah 40:12)

How do you react to that verse?

Is it silly? Is it foolish? Is it folly to say that whole nations are like a "drop in a bucket"? How about saying the coasts are a very little thing? Isn’t that just as far-fetched?

We know those descriptions can’t possibly be literal, don’t we? What reason could Isaiah have had to write such nonsense?

Those reactions, or something like them, made perfect sense - until the twentieth century that is. For it was only during the past one hundred years that scientists were able to look into the atom, which is the building block of all the matter in the universe.

What did they find? They found as incredible as it sounds - that atoms are mostly empty space!

What does that mean? It means there is very little actual substance or mass in everything around us.

We first need to understand some basic scientific concepts in order to realize how scientifically accurate is the verse in Isaiah 40.

A Basic Foundation

Point One: The first point about the building blocks of all matter is that atoms are very tiny. I will let some science sources speak for themselves.

"Everything around us is made up of atoms. An atom is incredibly tiny - more than a million times smaller than the thickness of a human hair. (14)

The smallest speck that can be seen under a microscope contains more than 10 billion atoms. (15)

"Each of your fingertips, for instance, contains a trillion trillion atoms." (16)

So atoms are incredibly small.

Point Two: The second point about these "building blocks" is that most of their mass is in the tiny, tiny nucleus. Notice:

"At least 99.995% of the mass of each atom resides in a tiny nucleus composed of protons and neutrons." (17)

If most of the matter is contained in the nucleus, how big is the nucleus compared to the rest of the atom that contains only 0.005% of the mass? Here are some answers:

"If the typical atom were the size of a football field, the nucleus would be a grain of salt at midfield." (18)

"If a hydrogen atom were about 4 miles in diameter, its nucleus would be no bigger than a tennis ball." (19)

"If the atom were to be inflated until it filled an Olympic stadium, the nucleus would be the size of a pea lying alone in the center of the track." (20)

The Empty Atom

Since almost all of the mass of an atom is in an even tinier, tinier nucleus, what is the rest of an atom filled with? Let our experts confirm that an atom is mostly empty space:

From the source that told us our fingertips contain a trillion atoms, we have this,

"Surprisingly, there is still plenty of nothing in those fingertips." (21)

Writing about the rest of an atom outside of its nucleus, one author put it like this,

"A cloud of electrons marks the atom’s outer bounds. The rest is a void. " (22)

A recent issue of Discover magazine had an article about the emptiness of atoms and thus the emptiness of the matter that is made from atoms.

The title of the article all by itself helped make my point because it was….Much ado about Nothing." (23)

The sub-title of the article reinforced my point nicely because it was….."Time to let go of Matter, Emptiness is what Rules the Universe".

Since the building blocks of all matter are themselves mostly empty space, are you starting to see how scientifically accurate Isaiah’s statement is? Remember, he said,

"The nations are like a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance, behold, he takes up the coasts as a very little thing."

Do modern scientists say much the same thing?

How about this one?

"All matter is like this [empty]. Take a man and squeeze the empty spaces out of him, like the holes in a sponge, and you are left with a little pile of solid substance, no larger than a flyspeck." (24)

The author added this observation,

"We are like hollow men and our insubstantial bodies are strung together with electromagnetic and nuclear forces that do no more than create the illusion of matter."

Source (25) puts it like this,

"The dimension at which compressed matter becomes a black hole is called the Radius. For Planet Earth, the radius would be the size of a pearl. Can anyone imagine this entire planet squeezed down to the size of a pearl?" (Well, yes, one did. Some 2,800 years ago.)

Another source (26) says this,

"Scientists describe a black hole as a single point in space that is infinitely dense. That is hard to grasp, but think about the head of a pin. Now imagine everything on the Earth, the trees, the houses, the beaches, the oceans, [we might say the nations] everything fitting into the head of that pin. The point in space where a black hole exists is infinitely smaller than the head of that pin, yet anything can be compressed and fit into it."

So it seems the latest scientific discoveries confirm that all of the matter that makes up a man, or makes up the whole earth, with the emptiness removed, would be the size of a flyspeck, or a pearl, or fit into the head of a pin!

For the skeptic, it gets even worse. You see Isaiah had more wording that sounds strangely like he knew about twentieth century physics. Writing about the creator, we find this,

"Who has measured…the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance"? (27)

Haven’t we just read that all the dust of the earth can fit into a measure, all the matter in the mountains can be compressed so as to fit on scales, and the hills can be compressed and their actual material would fit in a balance?

What do humans see as they look around at their physical world? Don’t we see objects that appear solid and substantial? Isn’t it the furthest thing from our minds that they are made up of atoms - atoms that are mostly empty space?

But if you were the creator of that physical matter, wouldn’t you see them for what they really are? Wouldn’t you see them as trillions and trillions of atoms - atoms that are mostly empty space?

I submit these verses in Isaiah came not from a mere man writing of his own very limited knowledge, but came from the Creator God. The creator who looks at the earth and everything on it and sees it for what modern science says it is - innumerable atoms that contain very little actual mass or substance.

In the final analysis, modern science confirms that the whole earth and everything on it are specks of dust.

There is no way a man writing two thousand eight hundred years ago would have had a clue about atoms and their emptiness. Those verses in Isaiah chapter 40 are verification number six that the Bible is true and accurate.

Verification Number Seven

The Encyclopedia Americana (28) tells us this about a flat earth,

"The earliest known image that men had of the earth was that it was a flat, rigid platform at the center of the universe".

So where did the knowledge in this Bible statement come from?

"It is he who sits upon the circle of the earth." (29)

That verse was written about two thousand eight hundred years ago, written when it was believed the earth is flat.

Not until 200 years after Isaiah’s writing did a man start to think the earth might not be flat after all.. Notice as we are told this,

"As early as the 6^th century B.C., however, some Greek thinkers such as Pythagoras had progressed far enough beyond this simple image to realize that the earth might be a sphere".

So it wasn’t until two hundred years after Isaiah that Pythagoras considered the earth might be a sphere. And his version was not accepted by many of the people living in his time.

When did the idea of a circular earth finally become accepted? We are told this,

"The concept of a spherical earth was not widely accepted until the Renaissance, however".

So it appears Isaiah’s scientifically correct Bible statement was written two thousand three hundred years before a round earth was widely accepted.

A skeptic might argue, "OK, so the general wisdom in Isaiah’s day was the earth was flat. There still could have been someone in Isaiah’s time who thought the earth was round, and that is where Isaiah got his idea".

Let’s take up a skeptic’s argument and see if it makes sense for Isaiah to have gone against the wisdom of his day.

First we have to acknowledge there are only two alternatives:

1. Either Isaiah was writing solely for himself, which means he lied when he said he was writing at God’s direction.

2. Or, it was written as claimed by a divine being communicating to his human creatures through Isaiah.

Logically, it has to be one or the other.

So let’s examine the first alternative. If it was written by a man entirely on his own, wouldn’t that man want his writings to be accepted by his peers? And for the man to receive that acceptance, wouldn’t the writer have had to follow the prevailing wisdom of his day?

There you have the vital crux of the matter.

It seems evident that the pre-dominant wisdom at the time of the writing, in the eighth century B.C., was that the earth was flat. Therefore for Isaiah to write otherwise would subject him to the disdain and ridicule of his peers.

We then have to consider, why would a man write a book entirely of his own making, while at the same time claiming what he wrote came from God?

Wouldn’t it be to elevate himself in the eyes of others? Wouldn’t it be to advance his own glory and edification? Wouldn’t it be to gain a measure of prestige for himself?

Yes, yes, yes to all of those.

So if Isaiah was a man writing for his own glory and edification, surely the last thing he would do in his writings would be to go against the conventional beliefs of his day!

So it took courage for Isaiah to write about a circular earth. It went against everything at the time. Doesn’t it seem what Isaiah wrote came from a being who knew the earth was circular, and not flat?

I submit that Isaiah writing about a circular earth two thousand three hundred years before a round earth was widely accepted is verification number seven.

What is the Significance of These Verifications of the Bible?

As pointed out in previous articles we are not to use the Bible to prove the existence of the creator. Instead we are told to look at the things that have been made; they prove the creator.

Why is the Bible so important then? Why is it important to have the credibility and authority of the Bible verified? Because the Bible serves these major purposes:

• It explains life and death.
• It gives history humans should know about.
• It reveals Jesus as personal savior who voluntarily died a very humiliating and painful death that his human creatures might have eternal life.
• It explains God's plan and purpose for his human creatures.
• It contains instructions from the creator advising humans how to live their physical lives to obtain the most fulfillment and happiness.

The Creator in other Religions

The aspect of creation makes Christianity different from all other religions. Before we look at the differences, however, let's first acknowledge that many other religions and cultures recognize a CREATOR.

Hinduism believes in Brahma the creator. Then Hindus proceed to worship hundreds of other gods. Just as warned in the Bible, Hindus worship the creatures instead of the creator.

Surprising to me Islam teaches a creator of the cosmos. But Muslims then proceed to follow the teachings of Muhammad, a mere human being. In that sense they, too, worship a created being instead of the creator.

A previous article (13) article showed that a creator is a common belief around the world. But like the others, their worship generally ends up being the creatures and not the creator.

What are the Ways Christianity is Different?

The first way Christianity is different is that Christians worship the creator, not the creatures.

The second way Christianity is different from the others is that in the Christian religion, Jesus the Christ, the one who did the creating, is revealed and worshipped as personal savior.

The third way Christianity is different from all other religions is the Bible. How? Because it is the only religion where the creator claims to communicate to His human creatures. That communication is through the Bible. Verifying the accuracy of Bible statements helps establish the credibility of the creator's communication.

A Review

Let's review the scientific discoveries that verified the accuracy of statements found in the Bible:

1. The earth is hung on nothing. Just as today's space photos so clearly show.

2. There are springs in the oceans. They were discovered even though only 5% of the ocean bottom has so far been explored. The problem for Bible scoffers is they were not discovered until 1977.

3. The scientific study of cells, not done until 1855, shows we came from our parents cells, they from their parents, and so on. Our first cell was in the loins of our parents before we were born.

4. After centuries of skeptics taunting the accuracy of the Bible, the city of Ur was found in 1854. And what a marvelous city it had been!

5. Coriolis discovered that the winds do turn about at the equator; going clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, and going counter clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
   
   

   • There are wind circuits - 28 of them as diagrammed in the World Book Encyclopedia.

   • Although the wind blows intermittently with different velocities near ground level, it does blow almost continuously in the atmosphere; thus the jet streams and the diagram of 28 circuits.

   • The problem for Bible scoffers is these wind characteristics were not discovered until the early 1800s.

6. Twentieth century discoveries into the atom reveal that all matter is mostly empty space, and can be compressed into mere specks of mass, just as the Bible said.

7. The Bible talked about a circular earth while mankind still believed the earth was flat.

So there you have it. Seven scientific discoveries that support the Bible's authority and credibility.

Footnotes:

(13) For more details see the article How Important is Creation for Today's Christian?.

(14) World Book Encyclopedia 2004 edition, article "Atoms".

(15) ibid.

(16) Discover magazine, columnist Bob Berman in his column, "Sky Lights".

(17) ibid.

(18) ibid.

(19) World Book Encyclopedia 2004 edition, article "Atoms".

(20) "Super Nature"  by Lyall Watson, Bantam Books edition published 1974.

(21) Discover magazine, columnist Bob Berman in his column, "Sky Lights".

(22) ibid.

(23) ibid.

(24) "Super Nature"  by Lyall Watson, Bantam Books edition published 1974.

(25) Isaiah 40:12

(26) "Science News" Oct. 24, 1998, article by Sarah Simpson.

(27) Isaiah 40:12

(28) Encyclopedia Americana 2002 edition, article "Earth".

(29) Isaiah 40:22. According to Strong’s Concordance, the Hebrew word for circle means just that, a circle

Written by: C. Frazier Spencer
Mr. Spencer's attends services with: terrehautecog.org