Romans 1.20 tells us "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:". Paul reminds us here that the work of God, which surrounds us is a testimony to His existence. Atheistic scientists and skeptics of the Bible many times use the discoveries and achievements of technology as "proof" that there are natural forces and events which have shaped our world and ultimately created life as we know it. The Bible has a different perspective on this and tells us that it was God who created all things. The significance of this is that if the Bible is true, then we are obligated to believe and practice what it says. That of course interferes with what folks want to do for themselves. There are statements in the scriptures that reveal that the source of the knowledge that brought us the Bible was of a divine origin. There are things revealed that even those who received the revelation did not understand. Here are a couple of those things that stand out in my mind when I read them.
Psalm 8.8 states, speaking of man's role in God's creation, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." The last statement here is one that might escape our notice. In the mid 1800's however, Matthew Maury, an officer took this verse and compared it to writings about the oceans that had been collected between the 15th to the 19th centuries. Using Psalm 8.8 as a guide he was able to identify and map the major ocean currents. David was not a sailor, nor were the Hebrews known as a seagoing people. Other nations also lacked this knowledge of the seas. It is incredible that in the pages of a book that is held with such skepticism that a simple statement such s this was able to teach us something about the world that man had not realized.
In our day and time we know of the hydrologic cycle, or water cycle. The process by which water evaporates, forms clouds and then falls back to the earth as rain, snow etc. Once again there are statements in the Bible that describe this in detail for those who wish to understand. Solomon writes, "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again." (Eccl 1.6-7). In the book of Job we find more about this cycle. "For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof: Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly. (Job 36.27-28). The oceans do not fill up and yet remain the same. Water cycles as God intended, keeping a balance upon the Earth.
Amos, writing about a constellation of seven stars, the Pleiades, mentions a fact that was not observed until many years later when telescopes revealed the seventh star. "Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:" (Amos 5.8).
The list could go on for quite some time. There are very good books available on Biblical Evidences which point out these facts and observations. One thing that we need to realize is that the Bible reveled things hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years in advance. Some of those things are verifiable facts about the planet upon which we live. The Bible has also been used to find historical sites, guiding archaeologists to their locations using descriptions found in the scriptures. If we can find physical locations and come to valid conclusions about the world based on the scriptures, then we can also trust the Bible to tell us about God, what he wants us to do, and where we will go when life is over.
TLC