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by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached on Saturday Evening, April 24, 2004
at the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles

Many people think there is a conflict between science and the Bible. Teachers in secular high schools and colleges tend to promote this view. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Some of the greatest scientists of all time believed in God, and the Bible, such as Sir Isaac Newton, who discovered the law of gravity and developed calculus. Sir Isaac Newton said,


Lord Kelvin, who established thermodynamics as a science, said,

"With regard to the origin of life, science positively affirms creative power."

Dr. Wernher von Braun, space scientist, past director of NASA, who led in putting man on the moon, said,

"[It is] as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence [of God] as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science."

Here's one they won't tell you in a secular university - even Albert Einstein grudgingly admitted the probability of God.

Ralph O. Muncaster says,

The decline in a scientific belief in God can be traced to Darwin's theory of evolution, introduced in 1860. This alternative to creation, combined with the prevalent theory of an infinite universe, caused many scientists to turn away from God and the Bible. But even as early as 1916, Einstein's general relativity breakthrough contained ample evidence to refute evolution with pure mathematical probability (Einstein begrudgingly admitted the probability of a Creator). Unfortunately, the world is slow to recognize the new scientific evidence supporting the Bible - and much outdated information is still in the textbooks of students. Scientific evidence of God is now increasing extremely rapidly - and gradually the scientific world is becoming aware of the many new breakthroughs (Ralph O. Muncaster, Science: Was the Bible Ahead of Its Time? Harvest House, 2000, p. 18).

I want to take you through several scientific insights given in the Bible, thousands of years before science "discovered" them.

I. First, the earth "hangs on nothing" in space.

Please turn to Job 26:7.

"He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7).

Dr. Henry M. Morris points out that

The "empty place" (Hebrew tohu) to the…earth [which] received its spherical form, in response to the gravitational force systems…then the north direction was defined when the earth began rotating about its axis. The north was surely stretched out, without limit, far into the infinite heavens.

Not only was the earth rotating, but it also began orbiting in space, suspended from the sun by "nothing" except the mysterious force of gravity, acting at a distance. This verse was written at least 3,500 years before Isaac Newton identified and described this force (Henry M. Morris, Ph.D., The Defender's Study Bible, World, 1995, pp. 583-584).

The Book of Job said this over 1,500 years before Christ. This verse indicates that the earth is suspended in space, and "hangeth…upon nothing" (Job 26:7).

At this same period in history the ancient Greeks believed that the earth rested on the back of a man named Atlas. The ancient Chinese believed that the earth rested on the back of a turtle. But God's Word said, "He…hangeth the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7).

II. Second, the earth is a sphere.

As late as the fifteenth century, children were taught in school that the earth was flat. But Isaiah, writing in 700 B.C. gives the correct shape of the earth. Please turn to Isaiah 40:22.

"It is he [God] that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers…" (Isaiah 40:22).

The Hebrew word translated "circle" in the KJV is "khug." It means "sphere" or circle.

In his note on Proverbs 8:27, Dr. Henry M. Morris said,

"Compass" (Hebrew khug) is the same word as "circle" in Isaiah 40:22, as well as "compassed" in Job 26:10. All three clearly refer to the roundness of the earth, especially to the spherical nature of the sea level defining the global shape of the earth. The Bible never teaches a flat earth, though the charge is frequently made (Henry M. Morris, Ph.D., ibid, page 682).

Isaiah 40:22 was written a little over 700 years before Christ, two thousand seven hundred years ago. Yet it describes a round earth. At the same time, the Chinese thought that the world was square. Mesopotamians thought that the world was a floating boat, and people in the West thought the earth was flat. Yet all the time, the Bible declared that the earth is round!

III. Third, the earth is decaying, in accord with
the second law of thermodynamics.

The second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy, was discovered by Clausius in 1850. Entropy means that things run from order to disorder. Things decay over time. Energy is dissipated. Stars burn out. Springs unwind. The second law of thermodynamics is taught in the Bible. Please turn to Isaiah 51:6.

"Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax [grow] old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner…" (Isaiah 51:6).

This text clearly shows the second law of thermodynamics: "the earth shall grow old like a garment." Regardless of all the work done in support of ecology, the world is still growing old, "like a garment," like the clothes you wear. We are now witnessing some of the effects of the earth's aging. This is one of the Biblical references to the phenomenon we now call "the second law of thermodynamics." Energy runs down. Things get old and die.

The second law of thermodynamics presents a strong argument against evolution. The theory of evolution teaches that things become more complex, while the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy, shows that things fall apart and become less complex. Study the second law of thermodynamics and you will find that it is a strong weapon against the theory of evolution. Many scientists realize this. That is why so many of them are turning to forms of theism (belief in God).

So, the Bible teaches that we live on a round earth that is suspended in space, and that time is running out for our world. The law of entropy, brought on by man's sin, is aging our world - as it rushes toward decay and judgment.

Turn to II Peter 3:10.


When the Day of the Lord ends, the very atoms (elements from stoicheion, meaning fundamental constituents) will melt with fervent heat. Man learned to split the atom in the twentieth century, and produced nuclear bombs capable of doing that which we read about in II Peter 3:10. This verse seems right up to date, but the nuclear explosion described here will be triggered by God, not man.

Then read verse eleven,

"Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" (II Peter 3:11).

The Bible also says,


Since the whole world, and everything in it, will be burned in a nuclear fire, we ought to live as godly Christians. And since the end of this world is coming, you should make certain that you are in Christ, washed by His Blood, and converted.


Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan: I John 2:17.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:

"How Big Is God?" (by Stuart Hamblen, 1908-1989).




by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.


I.   The earth "hangs on nothing" in space, Job 26:7.

II.  The earth is a sphere, Isaiah 40:22.

III. The earth is decaying, in accord with the second law
of thermodynamics, Isaiah 51:6; II Peter 3:10-11;
I John 2:17.

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