The Bible: Light Years Ahead (5)
Global warming is just one of the world’s many troubles. Others include failing governments, political and religious turmoil, crumbling economies and societies, extreme poverty and hunger, natural disasters, extreme weather, wars, and terrible diseases. There is also the ever-present threat of “mutually assured destruction” through nuclear warfare. Science is a great thing and has contributed much to humanity, but isn’t it curious that despite our claims of increasing knowledge and advancement, global problems only seem to worsen?
How are some seemingly smart folks responding to these global threats? They say that man’s “future lies in space” and dream of escaping Earth to live on other planets. Space exploration and research have been ongoing for decades, and now enormous resources are being invested in the development of civilian space travel and habitats. One such proposition is the “Stanford Torus,” a space colony that could house as many as 140,000 permanent residents. No, it is not what you may be thinking of. This is not John 14:2–3, nor is it Revelation 21:2–4, which is the “real deal” solution to Earth’s troubles.
Nevertheless, our immediate interest in all this is how the Bible, rather than being the Bronze Age book critics call it, is light years ahead and accurately foresaw and predicted these scientific inventions and aspirations. Here’s what Scripture says to those who imagine escaping to space to evade the earthly consequences of their rebellion: “Though you ascend as high as the eagle, And though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down,” says the LORD” (Obadiah 1:4).
Wow! This was declared about 2,500 years ago, when human travel was firmly earthbound and the fastest you could go was perhaps on horseback. Through the eyes of divine revelation, Obadiah looked, saw, and predicted space travel. Possibly, when he suggested this future enterprise, his thoughts were discarded as “delusion,” just as critics do other biblical forecasts today.
Still on aerospace, Isaiah likewise peered into the future and testified 2,800 years ago: “Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows?” Here, in not-so-cryptic language, is another unmistakable depiction of spaceships approaching space stations and diverse aircraft moving like clouds through the atmosphere. In fact, there are present designs of the ”flying home of tomorrow” that literally look like a cloud.
Whatever inspired these thousand-year-old biblical writings, it is indisputably superior to any scientific predictive capability we have today. Science can only make predictions based on what is known, but here is another fountain of knowledge with a predictive ability beyond what is humanly known. It is the power of divine revelation, which is the basis of authentic faith. “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done” (Isaiah 46:10; see also Isaiah 42:9; Jeremiah 33:3).
That’s why when an unbeliever scoffs at believers claiming to know the future, it may simply be an issue of ignorance. If Scripture accurately foretold things we see today thousands of years before such were humanly probable or conceivable, on what rational basis could we mock its ability to predict tomorrow? This is why Christianity is not “blind faith” as some critics claim, but based on an incomparable testimony (Romans 10:17). Knowledge of these things is what enables the believer to overcome severe challenges that test his faith (Romans 8:35–39; 2 Peter 1:5).
There are many things we presently don’t understand, but we understand and have seen enough to know that nothing out there compares with the Bible. And we intend to wait out all its claims. Truly, “those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
(To be continued.)
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