SABBATH THOUGHT 2023-03-04—INSPIRED EVIDENCE

May God bless you on His Sabbath day!

We call the era in which we live in a “modern” world. But is it? Yes, if we only consider mathematics, science, engineering, and technology. This age fits perfectly as “… the time of the end: [when] many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Dan. 12:4). Knowledge has most definitely increased in these areas.

But there is an area where knowledge is but a shadow of times past—the Bible. Today, we like to believe that we understand much more than the ancient peoples; but that is, in most regards, utter nonsense. Compared with men such as Abraham, Moses, and David we certainly can say the Bible contains more about prophecy; however, many ancient cultures and practices; perspectives underpinning God’s Law, times and seasons, etc. are not detailed in the Bible and very little can be found in the scant historical references if it exists at all.

For example, apostles knew from childhood the details and meanings behind Temple sacrifices, how to determine the holydays, the observance of “no work” on the Sabbath and Atonement and how that differs from the other holydays in which “no servile work” shall be done. They understood the law, statutes, ordinances, precepts, judgments, and testimonies and had been taught from Torah, writings, and prophets in languages that were not only native to them (they knew both Hebrew and Greek) but they were the same ones used in the original biblical scrolls. This is particularly true of Paul who had a deep understanding of things because he was “… brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been instructed according to the exactness of the law of our fathers.” (Acts 22:3).

Knowledge of the Bible today cannot compare to what the apostles understood. This is true even though they did not have all the NT writings and not surprising since they were the ones who wrote them. No author writes about everything he knows. The apostles were like tenured professors while we are still in pre-kindergarten. Only an enormous amount of pride would allow someone today to claim that he or she is a biblical “scholar.” It is only by the grace of God if we are past nursing on “milk”.

Only in the areas of mathematics, science, engineering, and technology has the modern world exceeded that of the ancients. In that regard, there is a fun and easy to read book titled, Inspired Evidence—Only One Reality (listed on the Sabbath Reflections website here), which contains evidences from different areas of science, proving God exists. It is painfully obvious that it has taken mankind thousands of years to scientifically prove what God knew all along, especially in this faithless era. The following are only a few of them and I present them here for your inspiration and enjoyment.

Macro evolution as a theory for the development of life is utterly laughable because there is an unending supply of examples that demonstrate the impossibility on scales from the microscopic to the largest of creatures. One such case is the apheloria millipede that protects itself from predators by emitting hydrogen cyanide, a chemical that can kills others life forms. It would be interesting to know just how and when this insect “evolved” the ability to kill everything but not itself. It seems to me that evolutionary trial and error would have wiped out this millipede before it started.

Evolution requires millions of years to develop anything, but everything had to exist simultaneously in order for anything to survive. A case in point is birds and insects. If birds evolved before insects, many bird species would not have survived because they feed on vast numbers of insects. A warbler eats about 3,000 aphids per minute while the nighthawk can eat 500 mosquitoes in a single feeding. On the other hand, if insects evolved before birds, many plant species would not exist. A single pair of potato beetles will produce over 60 million offspring in a single season and a female fly will produce 140,000 bushels of offspring. Aphids can produce thirteen generations in a single season. Assuming 100 females per generation, there would be 10 sextillion (10 followed by 21 zeros) aphids. If that many aphids were in the continental USA, they would cover it to a depth of 6-1/2 feet. That many aphids would certainly devour most of the plant life. If everything on this earth was not created at about the same time, nothing would have survived because of the interdependency of plants, animals, reptiles, birds, fish, insects, bacteria, etc.

The story of a worldwide flood is recorded in over 200 stories in ancient writings found in countries around the world including Africa, North America, Mesoamerica (countries between the USA and South America), Mesopotamia, Iran, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Siberia. One interesting anecdote is that the Chinese character for a ship (船) is a composite of the symbol for a vessel (舟), the number 8 (八), and mouth (口). Mouth represents a person, so the character for a ship is a vessel with eight people. When Chinese language was first developed, Noah’s ark must have been the dominant example—it was a huge ship. Is there any doubt that the eight survivors who witnessed that worldwide flood passed it down to their children? Their children and grandchildren also had plenty of evidence of the flood with all of the physical evidence it left behind. They knew it happened.

Aside from the flood, there was something that they might not have understood. The events listed of the creation week in Genesis include a curiosity. On the fourth day, it was recorded that “God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.” (Gen. 1:16). Today, everyone knows that the sun is about 400 times larger than the moon; however, the moon actually appears larger than the sun to the unaided eye. In fact, several ancient peoples believed the moon was larger than the sun. The fact that the sun is larger had to come directly from God.

There is so much we do not know. Of the approximately 128 questions that God asked Job in chapters 38-42, how many could Job answer? None, including this one: the Lord asked Job, “Can you bind the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?” (Job 38:31). This portrays Pleiades as bound together and Orion as loosened or spreading. It turns out that astronomers have actually proven that the seven stars of Pleiades (the Seven Sisters) are indeed gravitationally bound together while the stars that make up Orion are moving apart. Only God could have known this thousands of years ago.

How many of the questions the Lord asked Job could we answer in this “modern” age? Perhaps a few, but no one can answer them all—even today. Ancient peoples believed there is a god simply because the creation is a monument to the power and intelligence of a creator. It is so vast and complex that all of the knowledge of today still cannot answer how most things function, what is life, what is time, what is gravity, and on and on. The universe is a small token of the great and unimaginable power of God—it should humble us and produce a healthy amount of fear. But that is why God made it:

ROMANS 1:19-22 Because that which may be known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested it to them; 20 For the invisible things of Him are perceived from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that were made—both His eternal power and Godhead—so that they are without excuse; 21 Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but they became vain in their own reasonings, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 While professing themselves to be the wise ones, they became fools.

God created everything to be a witness of His greatness but it is also the temporary womb for one of the smallest of creations—people. That, too, should impress us because as insignificant as we are, He desires us above all else in His creation. When David realized this, he asked, “What is man that You are mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:4). His concern for people and His purpose for us is the reason the Bible exists. Remember the story of the blind man who Jesus healed? He took the time to care for people, one person at a time:

MARK 8:22-25 And He came to Bethsaida, and they brought to Him a blind man and besought Him that He might touch him. 23 Then He took hold of the blind man’s hand and led him out of the village, and He spit on his eyes and laid His hands on him, and then He asked him if he saw anything. 24 And when he looked up, he said, “I see men as trees walking.” 25 Then He again laid His hands on his eyes and made him look up. And he was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

Ever wonder why the man’s vision was not completely healed the first time? One possible explanation is that the man’s eyes were capable of perfect vision after Jesus first laid hands upon him, but his brain could not process what he saw. This is called agnosia, a condition where the mind develops without any visual input from the eyes. Even though his vision was restored, his brain was not capable of properly interpreting the signals from the optic nerve. It normally takes time to train the mind to work with the eyes. So, the first time Jesus laid hands upon the man, his eyes were physically restored. The second time Jesus healed the neurological processing in his brain. The fact that the account in Mark recorded both of these healing steps adds legitimacy to the story because he could not have known about agnosia although it is now a fact of modern times.

However, instead of being awed by the Most High, people spend decades trying to explain the Bible away. Perhaps this is because they have not figured out how to explain the universe. One particular story that many in this “modern” age have wasted time trying to refute occurred at Passover. While Jesus Christ was on the cross, there was this miraculous event:

LUKE 23:44-45 Now it was about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land [earth] until the ninth hour. 45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was split down the middle.

Some try to explain this as a solar eclipse instead a of the miracle it was. The problem they face is that the death of Jesus Christ occurred at Passover, which occurs when the moon is full. It is not possible to have a solar eclipse during a full moon because it is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun. A solar eclipse requires the moon to come between the earth and sun. When the moon is full (or approximately so), the only possibility is a lunar eclipse, when the earth comes between the sun and moon. More evidence that a solar eclipse was not responsible is the fact that no eclipse (solar or lunar) lasts three hours. The longest theoretically possible eclipse is less than 7.5 minutes and the longest recorded one was 7.46 minutes. Scripture also mentions that darkness was upon the whole earth but that would not be possible during either a solar or lunar eclipse. Any eclipse only covers about 0.01% of the earth (a circle about 160 miles in diameter). It was here that the authors of the book make an astute point: “People had seen many solar eclipses. Although eclipses were common and may have caused some to be fearful, … it would hardly cause a Roman soldier to [be filled with fear and say ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’[1]]”

But the greatest miracle is yet to come—changing flesh and blood into spirit:

2 CORINTHIANS 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 And all things are from God, Who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

And that is what Passover is all about—“bringing many sons unto glory” (Heb. 2:10).

ROMANS 8:22-23 For we know that all the creation is groaning together and travailing together until now. 23 And not only that, but even we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, also groan within ourselves, awaiting the sonship—the redemption of our bodies.

May God’s grace and peace be upon you!

Steven Greene

https://sabbathreflections.org

sabbathreflections@gmail.com