The Bible as Science: Catching up with Scripture

People love to say the Bible is outdated the moment science speaks with confidence. We take that challenge head-on by laying Scripture next to the timeline of discovery and asking an uncomfortable question: why do so many “modern” scientific ideas show up in an ancient book first?

We start with the unseen world of matter and Hebrews 11:3, a statement that what we see is not made from what appears. From there we connect it to the story of atomic theory, the limits of what experts once claimed could never be observed, and why those claims did not age well. Then we move to Job 26:7 and its blunt line that God “hangeth the earth upon nothing,” contrasting it with the imaginative ancient myths people used to explain the earth’s support.

Next we trace the water cycle through Ecclesiastes 1:7, where rivers run to the sea without filling it because the water returns again, a simple description that fits evaporation and precipitation. We also look at Isaiah 60:8 and the language of humans flying and coming home, then close with practical public health as Leviticus 13:45 describes a cloth covering used to limit the spread of disease, echoing what modern prevention and germ awareness later formalize.

If you care about Bible and science, biblical accuracy, and faith that can take tough questions, listen through and weigh the pattern for yourself. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves debates, and leave a review with your take: coincidence or revelation?

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Transcript

Welcome And Why This Matters

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Welcome to the Preaching the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W. Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Deland, Florida. Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior. Now here's your host, Pastor James W. Knox. All right, now a very pleasant good day to each and every one of you. I'm Brother James, and I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And I welcome you to the Preaching of the Cross radio broadcast. I really believe with all my heart that God will use the program today to encourage you in the Christian faith. If you are not a believer, if you have just by God's planning, tuned into this radio broadcast today. You think by accident, you think by chance, but actually it was by coincidence, and you're not saved. You don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior. I believe that this broadcast will help you to see your need, will help you to see the reason, many reasons why you should believe

Why The Bible Outruns Science

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the Word of God. We began a series of broadcasts some time ago entitled The Bible as Science. The Bible as Science. And on these broadcasts, we are proving to you that in spite of the criticism raised against the Word of God by those who claim on the basis of science to have some greater or higher revelation, we are showing, as a matter of fact, that the Bible is a greater and superior superior revelation on science and matters of science than science itself. We began on the last broadcast to give you a number of scientific facts which were not known until this century that are written and recorded in the Word of God, having been written several thousand years ago. The

Hebrews And The Atomic World

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famous California scientist Dr. Robert Milliken was a Nobel Prize winner in physics for isolating the atom and making it ponderable to human vision. Dr. Milliken, of course, did not discover the atom, nor did he invent the atomic theory. Men had been familiar with the theoretical existence of the atom for many years before Dr. Milliken consummated his great work. Back in the days some twenty years before his discovery, it was being taught in the seminaries and classrooms of some of our great universities, that uh the dogmatic idea that the atom was the smallest divisible particle of matter that the human mind could conceive. Professors were assuring their students in science classrooms across the country that no eye would ever see the atom, as it was the ultimate division of matter, and man's ingenuity would never make it visible. These professors gave the idea that atoms were little solid globes of matter like ball bearings or marbles of solid rubber balls. Now, while it's true that the atom is infinitely small, it is not the ultimate division of matter. Might offer is the best description of an atom the statement that it is a skin full of nothing, with satellites of nothing revolving around a nucleus, except that it has no skin. Now it's been stated that if all the space were squeezed out of the atoms of a 200-pound man, enough solid material would be left to cover maybe the head of an ordinary pin. The man who realizes this is not apt to get angry when his wife accuses him of being full of hot air, but he he knows that she is she is also, and so this preserves a dignified silence among them about the matter. But it's found that even these tiny components of the atom, the proton, the neutron, the electron, and so forth, follow known mechanical laws and travel on prescribed orbits, exactly as do the satellites of a solar system. The infinite minuteness of the atom has been lost sight of in view of the comparatively enormous mass an atom is found to be in comparison with its component parts. Now, this is all kindergarten science now, well known to any of you that have graduated from high school or should be, but I'm citing this to call attention to the fact that the atomic theory was first discussed by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. The best statement of the atomic theory that literature contains is found in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Now I'm not going to debate with you whether Paul wrote Hebrews or whether he didn't. Today I feel he did, tomorrow I may not. Doesn't really matter. The writer of the Hebrews, in Hebrews 11, verse 3, says, In the magnificent record of the heroes of the faith, and the triumphs they wrought by the virtues of faith, these words. Now, if you take the conditions of time and space, and together with those conditions of time and space themselves, things which have actual being do not exist independently of God, but are themselves the work of his word. James Hope Moulton bears out this conclusion. Dean Alford deals with the text of the Bible, and they work with this thing and and fool with it and try and figure out how it could best be rendered. But the truth of the matter is, this statement, in the plain English of the King James Bible, that the things which are seen are not made of things which do appear, is as clear a statement of the atomic theory as it is possible for the human pen to write. Dr. Millican received the Nobel Prize of almost uh uh two score thousand dollars for proving this theory. The apostle who wrote the book of Hebrews didn't receive a dime. And yet he he wrote the atomic theory eighteen hundred years before Dr. Milliken received his Nobel Prize. Now, this is the point. How did the apostle know of the atom hundreds of years before men discovered it? Now, if you're looking for a way out, you could say it was coincidence. And we'll just smile and laugh at you and move on.

Job Says Earth Hangs On Nothing

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How about another example? In the day when the prophet Job walked the face of the earth, all men believed that the earth had some kind of solid foundations. Many varied and ingenious tales were told by the ancients, accounting for the suspension of the earth in space. The Egyptians believed, for instance, that the earth was supported by five great pillars, one at each corner and one in the middle. In your youth, as in mine, you probably studied this Egyptian mythology, probably in the fifth grade, that's when we learned it. And it's kind of a strange idea, isn't it? I can understand if the earth had been flat and square that someone might have peered over the edge and viewed the pillars. But that one in the middle, uh how do you know it was there? Somebody put some super glue on their hands and feet and crawl around on the bottom of the side of the earth or what? You've probably all heard the Greek legend of Atlas. He stood with his head bowed, bearing the earth on his neck and shoulders. Well, what did Atlas stand on? Now the only myth from antiquity that seems at all satisfactory is the ancient Hindu legend that states that the earth is balanced on the back of a gigantic elephant. This elephant in turn is standing on an immense turtle. The turtle is swimming in a cosmic sea. That's the most satisfactory theory of all. It gives something for everything else to rest on, but in that day, when men were dreaming their weird explanations of how the earth was held in place, Job picked up his pen to write about the greatness and wonder of God. In the course of his description of the st the might of the Heavenly Father, he wrote, and I quote from the book of Job now, he stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing Now tell me something. You that look to science for your answers, how in the world do you explain that? How do you account for Job's knowledge of the fact that the earth was hung upon nothing when when no people of his day, no scientific doctrine or theory of his day, set forth that principle and that idea? Here's a typical debate between a Christian and a scientist. Doctor, what is it that holds the earth in place? It's gravity that holds the earth in place. Thank you, Doctor. What is gravity? Gravity, my boy, is what holds the earth in place. Now that's clear, isn't it? That's scientific and conclusive. What holds the earth in place is gravity, and gravity is what holds the earth in place. That's what your brilliant scientists will come up with. But Job said that. Job said that over four thousand years ago. So what'd the scientists say? He said nothing. He said absolutely nothing. What did Job say the earth was supported by? Nothing. The scientists used a handful of words where Job only used one. Now put the modern nebulous term gravity in the place, and hear this man saying, some four thousand years ago, God stretcheth out the north over an empty place and hangeth the earth upon gravity. You say, well, gravity? W that's scientific. What's gravity? It's nothing, it's just a word you made up. Now how did Job know that the earth was not resting upon anything, not hanging attached to anything above it, not braced by anything to the side of it? How did he know that by nothing but the word of God's power was the earth in its proper position and orbit in the universe? He wrote it down. You say, but that's just a coincidence. Well, the coincidences are are piling up, aren't they?

Ecclesiastes Maps The Water Cycle

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Let's try another one. Centuries upon centuries before Jesus Christ was born, multiplying themselves into a thousand years, the writer of Ecclesiastes picked up his pen and wrote, All the rivers run into the sea, and yet the sea is not full. Onto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. Now, of course, many men have pondered this problem. All the rivers do run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. Have you ever thought that through? Every year the continents and islands of this earth pour down into the ocean a stupendous volume of water. Now you think for a minute. A cubic one cubic mile of water. That'd be a mile long, a mile square, a mile deep, one lake with a cubic mile of water. The weight of a cubic mile of water would stagger the imagination of a man. Yet every year the land pours into the sea more than two hundred and eighty-six thousand cubic miles of water for century upon century, and millennium after millennium, this has been going on. And the sea has not increased its level by so much as one inch. How can this be? Well, we call it the cycle of evaporation and precipitation. The rite of Ecclesiastes said that the ocean maintains its level in spite of the stupendous annual influx, because the rivers go back to the place from whence they came. And indeed they do. As the hurrying, singing, cheerful beads of water go slipping down the toboggan slide of the mountain slope, they hasten impatiently to the sea. There they climb upon the creator's elevator of evaporation to form themselves into fleece clouds of H two O dust, and ride back to the head of their toboggan slide and there begin their happy tumbling journey over again as the rain falls upon the mountaintop. In the modern science of meteorology, all of this is understood, and its laws are comprehended. Modern science has fathomed the mystery of this cycle. But how did the writer of Ecclesiastes find it out a thousand years before Christ? You say it's coincidence. Now you know something? Sooner or later you've got to realize that the people that told you that the Bible is not accurate scientifically, and the people that told you to reject the Word of God because it's not up to date with modern science, sooner or later you've got to come to the conclusion that it's science that is going to have to catch up to the Bible, not the Bible that needs to catch up to science. Some

When Coincidence Stops Explaining

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of these arguments uh are kind of like an Irishman who didn't believe in miracles. So the local pastor was much concerned with the infidelity of the parishioner and sought to re to reason with him as to the reality of the miraculous. So the pastor opened the conversation by saying, Now, Pat, you don't believe in miracles. But supposing that on Monday morning, as you were carrying to the hod, the carrying the hod to the tenth story of a great building, at just ten o'clock you slipped and fell and landed on your head on the sidewalk far below. If you arose utterly unhurt, that would be a miracle. No, said Pat with a shake of the head, that would be an accident. Well the pastor smiled and said, Alright, that's an accident. But supposing the second morning, the same hour of ten o'clock, you fell from the same place, and again struck the sidewalk to arise uninjured. Wouldn't that be a miracle? The Irishman pondered a moment and he said, No, sir, that would be a coincidence. Pressing the attack, the pastor said, Alright, now we have an accident and a coincidence, but suppose it happened again the third morning. Wouldn't that be a miracle? With a twinkle in his eye, the Irishman said, No, by that time it would be a habit. Well, you know, I'd be willing to concede about six or eight or a dozen of these coincidences in the Bible, where thousands of years before science discovered something to be true, it was already written about in the Bible, and what was written in the Bible is absolutely true scientifically. But when they begin to multiply by the twenties, some other explanation has got to be found. Now, I'm not exaggerating. When I say scores, when I say twenties, there are in the Word of God literally scores of these anticipations of our so-called modern science.

Isaiah Foresees Human Flight

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There have been various attempts, I interested students of the Bible, to show here and there in the ancient prophecies an indication of the fact that men would someday take to themselves wings like a bird and cleave their way through the air. Well, I wouldn't add to the far-fetched and strained interpretations of the scripture, but there seems to be one place at least where the modern phenomenon of flight was anticipated by the prophetic scripture. In Isaiah chapter 60 in verse 8, we read, Who are these that fly as a cloud and as the doves to their windows? Now, the old King James Bible here is speaking about people flying through the air like a cloud, and flying through the air and landing as doves. It's utterly impossible for any modern man to say who was the first of our race to dream of the possibility and prospect of flying. There are legends and traditions going far back into the Mossy antiquity that carry this long frustrated hope of the human heart. It may even be that as Adam walked out of Eden's garden watching the birds glide from tree to tree and soar high into the air, he said in his heart, I wish that I could do that. But at any rate, Isaiah anticipated by the spirit of prophecy the fulfillment of that great hope. If Isaiah were alive today and were to express this question, namely, who are these that fly through the clouds? He would answer, These are they of the twentieth century. That much of the anticipation, at least, is established, and we are well on the way toward the climax of his prophecy is obvious. The same writer who said that a company of men would fly through the clouds, also said they would land like doves at their windows. One of the great drawbacks of aviation is the high land speed of airplanes or landing speed, because of the necessity for a vast area to form an airport. Much of the time that is saved by air travel is lost in getting from cities to the airports and back again. The same ingenious generation who fly will learn to land at private openings, their own homes. Where I'm sitting right now, where I'm sitting right now, uh, let's see, six, eight, eight miles from where I'm sitting right now is a fly-in community. Homes built along the runways of an airport that was used to train pilots during the Second World War. The owners of these homes also own airplanes. They have two garages, one on either side of their home. One is for their automobile, the other is much larger, it is for their private airplane. And these men, these women, these rich and wealthy people who live in this community, actually fly directly to their homes. And fly their winged craft right into their very own dwelling places. You say that's amazing. Not nearly as amazing as Isaiah writing about it several hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Now I'm just calling attention to the fact that among the weighty and mighty words of Isaiah, who was the voice of God in his generation, who spoke of the redemption of Calvary, the coming of the Savior by whose stripes we are healed, the one who wrote of the restoration of Israel, the one who wrote of the coming kingdom of peace on earth. In the middle of all this prophecy, he gave a preview of an age when the air would be vibrant with man-made wings carrying a generation of human beings on their flight through the atmosphere. How do you explain that?

Moses And Early Disease Prevention

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The modern science of medicine sets a high value upon prophylaxis, and to us of this generation, prevention means more than cure. It would be mere folly to even suggest that Moses in the fifteenth century before Christ knew anything of the germ theory of disease. I don't believe he did. In our generation, however, this so-called germ theory is no longer a theory, it's an established fact. Teeming in the atmosphere, found on dust, in water, permeating all foods and contaminating every physical substance on the planet Earth, there are uncountable myriads of pathogenic organisms that cause suffering and sickness in the human body. These tiny creatures that are classified as germs, bacteria, or bacilli, are so infinitely microscopic that the human eye cannot possibly apprehend them unless they are magnified by the lens of a high-powered microscope. In fact, most of them are visible only through an oil immersion lens, which increases their magnitude by many diameters. It is utterly impossible that any human being could have known the presence of these disease-causing organisms until the great Louis Pasteur established their reality in the face of the opposition of almost every man of science of his generation. These organisms are visible only through the microscope. And until this aid demand's research was invented and well nigh perfected, the bacteria remained unknown. But now that we know of their existence and have the science of bacteriology that studies their very nature, substance, structure, and organization, physicians almost make a fetish of prophylaxis. Undoubtedly, the reader has seen surgeons preparing to enter the operating theater. You've seen pictures in books that you read. As you read your books, you look there and you see this. And they have a gown, a white gown, white robe. They've covered the hair with a surgical cap. They spend twenty minutes washing their hands from fingertips to elbows, with that old green soap, with a scrubbing brush, hot water, this slimy substance, the surgeon scrubs and works and rinses and scrubs again, till his hands are nearly as sterile as they can be. These clean hands are then wrapped in a sterile towel. They might not be contaminated by the air. And the nurse binds over the doctor's mouth and nose a sterile gauze pad. The patient having been made ready for the incision, the sterilized instruments are taken out of the sterilizing machine, and the doctor bends to Make his incision of mercy. Perhaps the most important step in all this prophylaxis is the gauze pad that the nurse has bound over his mouth and nose. Many of these pathogenic organisms ride invisibly on the human breath, and the doctor who is operating upon some patient whose life he hopes to save might breathe infection into the open wound without the aid of that pad. These tiny organisms, however, cannot pass through the numbers of layers of dry and filmy gauze that constitute the pad but are trapped and rendered innocuous. There was an element of intelligence, at least, in the sanitation law that caused all of people to walk around during the dread epidemic of influenza wearing what was commonly called a flu mask. Some of you may remember that. Someday an intelligent generation will force all who have that weird contagion called the common cold to wear such a public protective measure, if they don't all die of AIDS first, but this custom of protecting the innocent from infection by the use of the white cloth is a highly modern method of preventive medicine. It is based upon the certainty that pathogenic organisms do cause disease in the human body. How then do you account, on purely human grounds, for the use of this same method for the prevention of infection in the days of Moses? In Leviticus chapter 13, verse 45, we have a record of contagious disease particularly repulsive to the people of that time. Among other methods for the prevention and spread of this infection, the law of God is given through Moses contained the injunction that the infected man must bind a cloth across his upper lip, exactly as the physician in the hospital wears the mask today. Could Moses have known the germ theory? Did he have a microscope? Did he talk with Louis Pasteur? Or did he speak by the inspiration of the Spirit of God and transmit to us only those things which he in turn had received? If you believe that, you have the only sensible explanation for the marvelous anticipations of modern science contained in the ancient old book called the Bible.

Next Broadcast And Where To Listen

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And we're not through yet. We've got plenty more examples to give you. On the next radio broadcast, we'll continue this study of the Bible as science, and we'll continue to show you that science has not outpaced the Bible, but as a matter of fact, science has yet to catch up to the Bible. My friends, you you need to put your faith and trust in in the ancient of days. God Almighty, not some modern discovery of science, falsely so called. Thanks for tuning in today. Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W. Knox Sermons, our sermon audio page, Bible Baptistland, or our website, Bible Baptisttoland.com. Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.