The Beaker Proves It

I. Hydrology

A. Did you know that the Bible describes the hydrological cycle of weather?

1. You know the process, it rains, then the water runs off into creeks and rivers which run to the seas and oceans, which then evaporate and rise to the clouds.

2. Then the cycle begins again.

3. Well the Bible describes this process and analogy:

Ecclesiastes 1:7, All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again.

Isaiah 55:10, For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater

B. What about the seas and the ability to navigate the waterways of the seas?

1. Matthew Maury undertook a research project based on Scripture, and once again confirmed the scientific accuracy of the Bible. Maury was in charge of the Charts and Instruments in the Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy from 1841-1861. He was a Christian who loved and respected the Word of God.

2. One day in the 8th Psalm, he read the following words

Psalm 8:6-8, You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

3. You and I probably could read that many times, and although we would understand much about the great truths expressed in this psalm, we might miss something highly significant, but which did not escape Maury's attention.

a. Being one who was familiar with some of the problems that beset the sailing industry of that day, Maury immediately recognized the significance of verse 8.

b. That verse tells us that, among other things, God has given man dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea. "The Bible says there are paths in the sea," Maury thought, "and if the Bible says it, I believe it."

4. He was also aware of Ecclesiastes 1:6-7, which states: " The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

5. Maury, on the basis of the Bible, concluded that there are well-established wind circuits, and that there are literally "paths in the sea" - that is, definite currents in the ocean.

a. He reasoned that if these wind currents and ocean currents could be located and plotted, this information would be of great value to marine navigators.

b. Utilizing this information, the sailing vessels could be directed along routes that would take advantage of these sea and air currents, reducing by many days the time required to traverse the seas.

6. Many of Maury's contemporaries, of course, would have scoffed at Maury. They would have said, "Maury, do you really mean that you are going to spend hour after hour on some wild goose chase searching through those dusty old logs and charts you have in your office just because the Bible says there are paths in the sea?"

7. That is precisely what Maury did, however, and the Biblical statements were precisely verified. Maury found and plotted the wind circuits and the ocean currents.

a. The ocean currents include, for example, the great Gulf Current - a "path in the sea" forty miles wide and 2000 feet deep flowing from the Gulf of Mexico up through the Atlantic.

b. This current has a tremendous influence on the climate of England, Ireland, Europe, and the Scandinavian countries.

c. The massive Gulf Stream carries more than five thousand times as much water as the great Mississippi River. This awesome current that warms the climate of the U.K. and Western Europe, carries more than twenty-five times as much water as all the rivers on the planet. Scientists have discovered that the Gulf Stream is only a small part of an enormous thirteen-thousand-mile current of water circling the Atlantic Ocean.

d. Other paths of the seas that come to mind are the California and the Japanese currents. The California current brings cold water from Alaska down along the California coast. If you’ve ever swam in the ocean – even in San Diego, you understand.. This cool water, furthermore, dissipates tropical storms that would otherwise push their way out of the south Pacific into the southern California area. As a result, California rarely receives rain in the summer months.

e. CNN ran a news report in May 1996, of marine scientists' discovery of a massive river of water flowing north beneath the Pacific Ocean, parallel to the coast of the western United States. However, they also found that another huge current ran under the surface of the ocean above the first current, only this higher current flowed south at a very fast flow rate. The turbulence produced by these opposing currents passing each other at different depths in the Pacific produced massive storms beneath the surface of the ocean. These massive currents not only warm the north of the planet but they are also essential to refreshing the otherwise stagnant waters of the ocean and constitute an essential part of the life system of the planet. How could King David have known thousands of years ago that there were huge currents or rivers that existed in the depths of the boundless oceans?[3]

f. Maury's native state, the State of Virginia, has acknowledged the great debt navigation owes him, having erected monuments to his memory. On these monuments may be found a plaque that reads as follows: "Matthew Fontaine Maury, Pathfinder of the Seas, the Genius Who First Snatched from the Ocean and Atmosphere the Secret of Their Laws. His Inspiration, Holy Writ, Psalm 8:8, Psalm 107:23,24, and Ecclesiastes 1:6."[4]

8. Was Matthew Maury really a genius, or was he simply one who trusted the Bible as the inerrant Word of God? Whether he was a genius or not, it was not his genius, but his faith in the Bible that directed his efforts into a scientific research project, the results of which fully vindicated that faith.

C. Jonah and the Great Fish[5]

1. Skeptics ridicule many portions of Scripture and let's face it—some of them are difficult to believe. Certainly one that has received a major dose of such ridicule deals with Jonah and the whale (or great fish). How could a whale or fish swallow a man whole? How could a man survive in such an environment for any length of time? As always, there are answers to the questions if we are willing to study and believe.

2. First, let me say that the historicity of this account is vital to the Christian. Believing it is not an option, for Jesus Christ Himself believed it and made it a model for the doctrine of His resurrection.

"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40).

3. What kind of animal swallowed Jonah? In the passage above, the Greek word translated "whale" actually means a huge fish or sea monster.

a. In the passage in Jonah (1:17; 2:1,10), the Hebrew word was the normal word for "fish," but here the word is modified by the word great.

b. Our modern taxonomic system places whales among the mammals, sharks, among the fish and plesiosaurs among the reptiles, but, the Bible uses a different system.

"All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds." ( I Corinthians 15:39).

4. Evidently any living thing other than the creeping things (Psalm 104:25) in the seas is placed in the category of "fishes".

a. In addition, there are several species of whale and of sharks alive today with gullets large enough to swallow a man whole.

b. Among extinct animals like the plesiosaurs, the same could be said, and perhaps this was a heretofore unknown fish of large size.

c. The point is, the story is not impossible.

5. However, most importantly, the Bible says that "the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah" (Jonah 1:17).

a. Clearly this event was miraculous and not a naturalistic phenomenon.

b. Thus we don’t have to give it an explanation limited by modern experience or knowledge.

6. Could a man survive in a fish’s belly?

a. The Hebrew idiom "three days and three nights" has been clearly shown both from Scripture and other sources to mean a period of time beginning on one day and ending on the day after the one following. It doesn't necessarily mean three full days and nights.

b. Furthermore, there have been several reported cases of modern sailors or other individuals swallowed by such an animal, only to be recovered many hours later.

7. But again, this story involves the miraculous.

a. It may be that Jonah actually died and was resurrected by God.

b. This is implied in his description of his experience especially Jonah 2:2.

c. Of course, resurrection is "impossible" but it clearly happened on several occasions in Scripture requiring miraculous input.

8. The point is nothing about the story is totally impossible: There are "fish" large enough to swallow a man; men have been known to survive inside a "fish"; the Bible says it really happened; Christ said Jonah’s experience was an analogy of His own death and resurrection; and God is alive and capable of this feat.

II. Astronomy

Edward Boyd said this to his son, Christian philosopher Gregory Boyd, “So if I want to avoid hell, I presumably have to believe that a snake talked to Eve, that a virgin got pregnant from God, that a whale swallowed a prophet, that the Red Sea was parted, and all sorts of other crazy things. Well, if God wants me so bad … why does He make believing in Him so … impossible? … It seems to me than an all-powerful God could do a much better job of convincing people of His existence than any evangelist ever does … Just write it in the sky, nice and big: “Here’s your proof, Ed. Believe in Me or go to hell! Sincerely, the Almighty.”[6]

He has Mr Boyd as recorded in, Psalm 19:1 [reference]

“In fact, it’s written across the heavens so vividly that more and more scientists who search the stars are becoming Christians.”[7]

The great cosmologist Allan Sandage, who won astronomy’s version of the Nobel Prize, concluded that God is ‘the explanation for the miracle of existence.’ Sir Fred Hoyle, who devised the steady state theory of the universe to avoid the existence of God eventually became a believer in an Intelligent Designer of the universe. Others like Hugh Ross and his research on quasars and galaxies, said scientific and historical evidence ‘deeply rooted my confidence in the veracity of the Bible.

A. The Lord challenged Abraham to count the stars to demonstrate the awesome number that He had created by His supernatural power.

Genesis 22:17, I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

1. “Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to be” (Genesis 15:50.)

2. The unaided human eye can see and can see and count about 1,029 stars.

a. With a pair of binoculars or an inexpensive telescope you can see over 3,300 stars.

b. So up until the last hundred years or so, people would read that scripture and say, HEY, THE BIBLE IS WRONG HERE.”

c. There are only a few thousand stars and certainly not as many stars as sand.

3. Since God spoke those words to Abraham, what has science discovered? Do those discoveries contradict the teachings of scripture?

4. In the last few years modern telescopes have allowed us to view over two hundred million stars in our own galaxy call the Milky Way. And many other galaxies beyond ours.

B. The Bible also says that each star is unique.

1 Corinthians 15:41, There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

1. All stars look alike to the naked eye.

a. Even when seen through a telescope, they seem to be just points of light.

b. However, analysis of their light spectra reveals that each is unique and different from all others

2. The King James Version translators confirmed that Amos’ original Hebrew statement about “the seven stars” referred to the constellation Pleiades and Orion” (Amos 5:8 [NKJV]).

a. Early translators were puzzled by this verse because there were only six stars that could be seen by the naked eye in the constellation Pleiades.

b. Now, however, modern telescopes have revealed the existence of a seventh star in Pleiades; it is so dim that only a telescope can detect it.

c. How else did Amos know that there were “seven stars” in the constellation unless God told him?

d. The bible was correct all along in its description of “seven stars” as recorded by the prophet Amos over twenty-five centuries ago.

C. Circle of the earth

1. Listen to Isaiah 40:22

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

a. This expression “the circle of the earth” clearly describes the earth as a sphere or globe. The actual word means sphere.

b. Now let me ask you something. When Isaiah wrote the Bible, did people believe the world was round? No, it was written in the 7^TH century BC. Even in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue – people still believed the world was flat.

D. The Earth is suspended in nothing

"He spreads out the northern [skies] over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing" Job 26:7

1. Greeks taught held up by Atlas. – on back of elephant – back of turtle – “no use, it’s turtles all the way down.” TO WHAT?

2. Jewish scholars in Israel have calculated that the Torah describes the exact duration of the time that passes between the appearance of new moons as precisely 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 5 seconds or 29.53059 days. With billions of dollars of research and sophisticated observation through telescopes NASA has only recently calculated that a new moon appears every 29.530588 days! [reference]

E. Intelligent design

1. After examining the complexity of the variables that govern this solar system and our planet earth many scientists have declared that this solar system is "anthropic." This word simply means, that this earth bears evidence that it was designed by a superior intelligence to allow human life to exist. The scientists use this word "anthropic" to indicate that they have discovered an astonishing number of scientific variables that fit within a very narrow range that allows human life to exist on this planet. Let me explain.

a. If our earth were located much farther away from our sun we would freeze like the planet Mars.

b. If it were much closer to the sun then we would be burned up like the hot surface of Mercury or the 860-degree temperature on Venus.

c. If the magnetic forces within our planet were stronger or weaker, life could not exist.

d. If our earth did not revolve every twenty-four hours then one-half of the planet would be in permanent darkness without vegetation. NO VEGGIES – SOME OF YOU WOULD LIKE THAT.

e. Meanwhile, if the earth did not revolve, the other side of the planet would be an uninhabitable desert as it suffered from the overwhelming heat of permanent exposure to the sun. If out earth were not tilted at twenty-three degrees, we would not have the seasonal variation that produces the incredible abundance of crops that feed our planet's huge population.

f. The moon produces the tides that continually replenish the oceans with oxygen allowing the fish to breathe. If the earth were significantly smaller, the lessened gravity would be incapable of holding the atmosphere that is essential for breathing. A much thinner atmosphere would provide no protection from the 25,000 meteors that burn up in the atmosphere over the earth every day. In addition, a thinner atmosphere would be incapable of retaining the higher temperatures required for human and animal life to exist. If our planet earth were twice as large, the effect of increased gravity would make everything on the planet's surface weigh eight times what it weighs today. . GREAT FOR JENNY CRAIG BUT BAD FOR US . This increased weight would destroy many forms of animal and human life

2. In other words, if the universe was changed in the slightest way, no human life could exist. The ultimate conclusion of these scientists is that our universe, solar system and, especially, our earth was purposely constructed by a very powerful intelligence within very narrow scientific parameters to allow human life to flourish. The prophet Nehemiah wrote the following declaration centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ:

"You alone are the Lord; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The Seas and all that is in them. And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You" (Nehemiah 9:6).

3. SO, if we can fully appreciate the truth that has been carried out in scripture, we can trust it’s true.

III. Medical Proofs

A. The ignorant past

1. “To cure pinkeye apply the urine of a faithful wife.” This prescription comes from the famous Ebers Papyrus, a medical book from 1500 BC. Of course this treatment was useless and dangerous. But if the pinkeye did not get better fast, the poor woman probably had to explain herself. The Ebers Papyrus gives us a picture of medicine in ancient Egypt, that day’s most advanced civilization. To cure baldness, doctors applied, “a mixture of six fats … [from] the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the snake, and the [wild goat]. All that grease grew few hairs, but at least it shined the hairless dome. The Ebers Papyrus lists hundreds of prescriptions, with an amazing array of ingredients: statue dust, beetle shells, mouse tails, cat hair, pig eyes, dog toes, breast milk, human semen, eel eyes, and goose guts. The best one can say about these medications is that at least they were “100 percent natural.”

2. Some remedies were harmless, but others created greater problems. “To splinters, the ancient Egyptian doctors applied a salve of worm blood and donkey dung. Since dung is loaded with tetanus spores, a simple splinter often resulted in a gruesome death from lockjaw.

3. Moses lived in Egypt while the Egyptian doctors were writing this medical text. No doubt he knew and used the Egyptian remedies in his early life. Moses had been steeped in these infection-spreading practices. Who would expect Moses to make breakthrough in epidemic prevention. Yet it was Moses who recorded an unlikely promise to the ancient Hebrews: Ex 15:26

4. Here God made a fantastic promise – freedom from disease. God gave Moses many health rules, filling a whole section of the Bible. Here is the clincher, Moses recorded hundreds of health regulations but not a single current medical misconception.[8]

B. In the book of Genesis God specifically directed Abraham to circumcise all newborn males on the eighth day (Genesis 17:12). For thousands of years this tradition has been faithfully exercised by Orthodox Jews. Why the eighth day?

1. A remarkable discovery by twentieth-century scientists has shed light on a possible reason for circumcision on the eighth day. When an infant is born the blood clotting mechanism is immature. Any cut or injury in the first few days of life can result in excessive bleeding. After several days of life, the vitamin K in the infants diet allows an important blood clotting factor, called prothrombin, to be produced in sufficient amounts to effect efficient clotting of the blood.

2. Today infants are given an injection of vitamin K at birth. Consequently, efficient blood clotting is established within hours. Without such therapy, it turns out that the prothrombin concentration reaches its peak on the eighth day of life! What a coincidence.

3. Gen. 17:12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which [is] not of thy seed.

4. The command to circumcise Jewish boys on the eighth day was no accident. The important blood clotting vitamin K2 in blood is not manufactured in a baby's intestinal tract in normal amounts until the 5th to 7th day of their lives. A second element necessary for blood clotting is prothrombin . The presence of this element decreases in an infant for the first 3 days of its life, then suddenly spurts to a maximum level on the eighth day, after which it settles to its norm for the rest of the child's life. [9]

5. The skeptic might argue that the Jews deciphered the correct day by trial and error. However, there are many cultures that circumcise their young on the first, fourth, sixth, seventh and twentieth days of life. If the Jews determined by trial and error that the eighth day was best, why did these cultures come to such different conclusions? Could it be that Abraham was given "inside information" from the One that created the clotting mechanism in the first place?

C. There are dozens of additional examples of advanced Bio-medical knowledge in the Bible.

1. In the book of Deuteronomy 23:12-14, Moses instructed the Israelites to bury human waste products for hygienic purposes. While the merits of this procedure seem obvious to us now, during the Middle Ages Europe was nearly wiped out because they failed to heed this advice. As a direct result of dumping human waste into the streets, millions of people died from the "Black Plague," a disease caused by the microscopic organism Yersinia Pestis. These organisms thrived in the human waste and were carried into the homes by fleas on the backs of rats! Had they simply followed the biblical teaching these horrible plagues would never have occurred.

2. In Leviticus 17:11 God stated that "…the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." This statement, "the life of the flesh is in the blood," implies that the blood contains vital ingredients that sustain the life of animals and man.

3. Though this statement may seem obvious to us now, this has not always been the case. In recent times it was believed that the blood needed to be "let out" when people fell ill. Consequently, for centuries physicians practiced "blood letting" (draining the blood out of an individual) in an attempt to rid the body of unwanted poisons. As you might guess many of these people died from the procedure. In fact, George Washington was a victim of this very procedure at the end of his life!

4. In the twentieth century, medical science has proven true this statement of Moses. The blood of man and animals carries all of the necessary nutrients for the maintenance and repair of living systems. Without a functioning cardiovascular system and an adequate supply of blood, there can be no life–something that Moses understood nearly 3,500 years ago!

5. http://www.marshill.org/Apologetics%20Pages/science_and_the_Bible.htm

D. Where the Bible speaks on scientific subjects, it is accurate centuries ahead of its time.

1. For example, in a book entitled None of These Diseases by S.I. McMillen, M.D. ¹, the doctor cites various hygiene laws God gave to Israel. These were far ahead of the knowledge of the scientific world of that time. Here are a few examples.

2. Deut. 23:12-13. Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee.

3. We may be prone to laugh at something like this in our day. However, in the eighteenth century in Europe, human excrement was cast into the streets of cities in ignorance, giving rise to epidemics of typhoid, cholera and dysentery.

4. We will cite just one more example. In relatively recent years the medical professions have been warning against the build up of cholesterol in our veins since it may cause clogging and a heart attack. A large source of cholesterol is animal fat. Hear what God told Moses centuries ago ⁴.

5. Lev 3:17. [It shall be] a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.

6. http://www.bibletruths.org/christ1s/wordgod.html