The Scientific Basis for the Bible, Part 3

We are covering this third part of the series, The Scientific Bases for the Bible.

We mentioned how some surveys have shown that young kids, especially in their teenage years, start getting turned off because of what they're being bombarded in schools, telling them that evolution is true, that the Bible's stories are not authentic, and they start sowing seeds in their minds, and some of these kids get turned off. And as we have brought forth and presented here, that we don't have to be apologetic about what the Bible says about history, about things that actually are ahead of our times. Scientists have had to admit that eventually scientific knowledge came to the point where they confirmed biblical truths like the origin of the universe, starting from nothing and all of a sudden just appearing. And what they call the Big Bang, but it's actually not a bang as much as an appearance. Matter appears, and it's moving outwardly from all places in space. And so in this third part, we want to go into a part that's usually not studied that much, where God actually answers Job. Now Job mentions in Job 1 that he was among the wisest men in his days. He was very prosperous. He was very knowledgeable.

But Job had a problem, and that is what is brought out in Job 31. If you want to go there for a moment, Job 31 verse 35, we find out that it wasn't that Job was a sinner that was doing so many wrong things, but actually he had a lot of pride over his own righteousness, and it became a problem. As it says in Job 31 verse 35, it says here, "...oh, that I had one to hear me, here in my mark, oh, that the Almighty would answer me, that my prosecutor had written a book." So Job is saying, oh, I just hope that God could come before me. I could tell him a couple of things. Like a prosecutor who's attacked me, well, I can defend myself pretty good if he would just appear. So it was actually a challenge that Job was setting before God. In verse 32, we see this problem, and that is, it says in 32 verse 1, so these three men ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. So this was a problem that Job had. God did not discipline him or cause things to happen to him because he was out there in the world doing wrong things. It was just that he was dedicated, but he was proudful, or he was, in a way, boasting about his righteousness. He felt that, and that had to be dealt with. In chapter 35 verses 1 and 2, it mentions here, Moreover, Elihu answered and said, do you think this is right? Do you say my righteousness is more than God's? So he's starting to feel, well, if I could just talk to God, I could show him how well I have done things. And so, of course, Job gets into trouble because of this. And he was struck by Satan with God's permission. He complains he is innocent. And so we are here in a unique situation where the God of the universe answers Job. So he actually presents himself to Job. And this is what we're going to cover today. Now we have here a slide that just shows Job. I know it can't be seen in the cybercast, but here in the bottom space you can see Job. And, of course, God begins speaking to him. This is in Job chapter 38 in verse 1. I'm going to be reading this from the New Living Bible translation. It's a bit more modern. It says, Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. So here we get a very unique glimpse into the God of the universe actually talking to a human being and asking him. And through these questions, we can learn a lot about nature and science and actually whether God knew his science or not. Because, of course, this was written some at least 2,600 years ago. And people would say, well, in those days, did they know a lot about what science knows today? Well, we're going to answer this. It's very interesting what we find about it. So the first question he asks is about the science called cosmology. Cosmosis is the universe, and ology means the study. So it's the study of the universe, and that includes the earth, especially the area of earth science, the origins of the earth, its formation, its place in the solar system. And so in verse 4, God asks Job, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you know so much. So Job said, well, I'd just like to face God. Have you ever met people that think they're almost smarter than God? Oh, if God was here, I could really grill him. I could really make him seem bad with my knowledge. Well, of course, Job was here. He thought he knew quite a bit, but in comparison to God, he didn't know anything. He was getting whittled down to size.

He says, how was the earth established where it is? Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations? Who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? So here we know that angels were created before the earth and what we see of the known universe was created. What supports its foundations and who laid its cornerstone? It says, have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth to bring an end to the night's wickedness? As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath the seal. It is robed in brilliant colors. The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that it raised in violence. Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me if you know, where does light come from and where does darkness go? Can you take each to its home? Do you know how to get there? But of course, you know all this. So God is using a bit of irony because Job was thinking he could really hold his weight before God. For you were born before it was all created, I guess. That's how you feel. And you are so very experienced. I'm sure that God feels that way many times when these scientists come up and, oh, this is billions of years, and sometimes they get it down to whittle it to, well, 2.7 billion years. And well, of course, they have some measurements, and you can measure radioactivity to a point, but these are all estimates. Nobody was there when that happened. So you have to take things with a grain of salt, and certainly science has progressed to the point you have 40 different types of indicators out there that the earth is quite old, but they could also be asked for you were born before it all was created. I remember a famous boast of Sir Julian Huxley, who was the grandson of Thomas Huxley, who was known as Darwin's bulldog. And so Julian Huxley comes up and he says to this big assembly, he says, the universe was not created, as with his British accent. It evolved, and everything evolved, and it's almost like God speaking. You know, here's this guy who got whittled down to size. He had made a mess of his life. He started taking hallucinogenic drugs. He ended up in a very liberal lifestyle, all kinds of things that he's coming out pontificating about the wonders of the universe. He just makes himself laughing stock when you find out how vain people can be.

You need a little bit of humility before you start talking about the beginnings of the universe. Now here, God uses the analogy of constructing a building. He says, well, Job, the earth was created, and were you there? Did you set up the dimensions? Did you set up its foundation? What was it laid upon? Well, we know today that the earth is made up here of the mantle, the upper mantle, the lower mantle, the core, and then the sub-core, which from all indications is liquid iron.

And it just got compressed to the point where that's where we get the radioactivity and the heat is so tremendous that it fuels the earth and causes its rotation. And also, because of when iron spins, it creates an electric current. It actually protects the earth from a lot of the solar rays, the flares that come in. And I'll show that to you in a moment. It says in Job 26.7, he hangs the earth on nothing. So that's pretty scientific. It took somebody like Newton in the 17th century to realize that the earth is suspended through the force of gravity and that nothing causes it to hang. Now, all the other major religions of the world got it wrong. For instance, the Hindus believed that the earth was on top of the elephants and that when the elephants moved, that's why you got earthquakes.

They actually had it as their explanation. All of these mythologies, the Greeks talked about Atlas holding up the earth. See, it was impossible to conceive that something, this huge earth, could actually hang on nothing. And yet, the Bible tells you that 2,700 years ago, way before science discovered that the earth actually does hang on nothing. Does that show you a little bit about the inspiration of this book? Continuing on, it shows us here that the earth is exactly at the right distance from the sun and it's protected from its flares.

So you see here, as the solar flares come out, the earth is protected. It has this electromagnetic field that helps all of these harmful rays and too much ultraviolet heat coming in. It bounces off the earth because of this electromagnetic field. The mass and the size of the earth are just right. If the earth were 9,500 miles in diameter, just a little bit, 10 percent more than it is, which is 8,000 miles roughly in diameter, it would double the weight of the air.

If it was just 10% bigger, we would have twice as much air in the atmosphere. With twice as much oxygen, the amount of water would be greatly increased so much that the entire surface of the earth would be covered with an ocean. Nothing of land would appear. If the earth was just 10% bigger than it is, it would be the water world. There wouldn't be any continents. If the earth were a bit smaller, its gravitational pull would be less so that it would not be able to hold as much air and oxygen as we now have.

Conditions on the earth would begin to look like the moon. So we would have all of the valuable gases disappear because the gravitational pull wouldn't be strong enough. So the earth is just the right size for it. Also, the earth is just the right distance from the sun. If the earth were much closer, it would be too hot. If it were much farther away, it would be too cold.

So we have the exact size of the earth and the distance from the sun. Talking about the rotation, God asked him, do you know how the dawn appears and how we have this rotation of the earth going on? The earth's axis, which now points toward the north star, is tilted just right, 23.5 degrees. Because of this tilt, we have four seasons in the temperate zone. For the same reason, there is twice as much arable land that can be inhabited as there would be if the sun were always over the equator. In other words, if we didn't have that tilt, we would have half of the arable land that we have today.

And there wouldn't be any change of seasons. If the earth had been tilted as much as 45 degrees, the temperate zones would be intolerably hot. Instead of having the vacillations that we have, summer and winter, one place would be summer most of the time and the other place would just be winter. It would be horribly cold. If the axis is 90 degrees, if you multiply it some, it would be a crazy jumble of fierce heat and deadly cold with prolonged nights on half the earth and prolonged days on the other. The earth rotates at just the right speed. The result is the earth's crust is evenly heated like a chicken on a turning spit. You've seen those chickens? How they're heated evenly? That's the way the earth just the right velocity, the speed to heat it in a proper way. So nothing gets burnt and nothing is too cold. Next, he asked him about the oceans. In Psalm 95 verse 5, it says, the sea is His and He made it. So God asked Job in verse 8, who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from its womb? And as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness. Were you there when the oceans were formed, Job? Have any of us been there? But boy, we think we can sometimes have all the answers.

Like I mentioned, you compare an ant to a human being, it's the same way as a human being to God.

And we need a lot more humility when it comes to sometimes thinking, well, I would have done it differently. Well, God doesn't know what He's doing. I would have done it better. You hear that many times over the radio, television, other places as well. He says, for I locked the ocean behind barred gates, lippeting its shores. Verse 11, I said, this far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop. Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths? In other words, God is saying, look, if you know so little about physical science, how much do you know about spiritual things? About how I'm carrying my plan of salvation out?

Now, the question over the origin of water on the earth is one of the toughest, that scientists have still not been able to explain, why three-quarters of the earth is covered with water. Notice, now this is from the Wikipedia, the question of the origin of water on earth, or more accurately put, the question of why there is clearly more water on earth than on other planets of the solar system has not been clarified.

In other words, we don't know. Theory after theory has been dismissed about volcanoes producing them, or maybe comets hitting the earth. None of those have been proven to be enough to be able to produce the amount of water. Contrary, it says, in the universe, as a whole, liquid water of any kind, sweet or salt, is an exotic rarity. Contrary to common belief, the liquid state is exceptional in nature. Most matter in the universe consists of either flaming gases, as in stars, or frozen solids, only with a hairline band of immense temperature spectrum of the universe, ranging through millions of degrees. In other words, just this little area is where liquid water is formed in comparison to what could be the temperature. We know that life on earth would be utterly impossible without an abundance of water. No oceans, no rain, no rain, no life. Nearly three-fourths of the earth's surface is covered with water that has an average depth of two miles. That's the average depth of the ocean. The first miracle in light of what the rest of the universe is like is that there is an ocean there.

The second miracle in view of the vast quantity of water there is on our earth is that there is any land area at all, where we to level off completely the earth's present land surfaces. If we would level the mountains, raise the valleys and the oceans, the present continental masses would be about a mile and a half underwater. Remember, only 29% of the earth is above water level, although the oceans average two miles in depth. The land above the water averages only half a mile in height. How can we account this? It's just such a tiny little difference in comparison, but it makes life habitable on land. Just this very small degree. To be able to have water, as you know, it can easily freeze or it can easily evaporate.

And so just to be able to have the right conditions is a miracle in itself.

Next, it says, one authority says, every ocean bed has long ocean narrow chasms where the bottom falls away as though some taitamic force has sucked it inward or the crust inward toward the earth's core. Curiously, those great ocean trenches appear near the continental slopes or along the edge of island areas rather than in the mid-ocean. So is it just a coincidence? Here you have the areas where they have the trenches. As you know, this is the Pacific Plate. This is the Atlantic Plate. And the deepest place is by the Philippines. It's called the Mariana Trench. It's over 32,000 feet deep and you could actually drop Mount Everest on it and you couldn't even see the top. That's how deep it is. Notice here, this is the Caribbean area. Some of you might recognize this is going toward Florida. This is Puerto Rico. It's part of the area. Let's see. You have all of these Caribbean islands. Look at the trenches on either side. The Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on this side. And that is where God says the waves come to this point. If we had real shallow areas next to the coast, the waves would just pass it by. But here we've got these trenches that keep the water from just covering the continents. How about the springs of the deep that God asks Job? The circulation of the currents is the result of wind, the rotation of the earth, and the tides. Both the Atlantic and the Pacific currents form clockwise and counterclockwise patterns. Notice here. Very special. They're just constantly circulating. Just like you have a washing machine that's always moving the clothing. And this is the way it keeps aerating and keeping the water fresh and hot water filtering and going around. Right now, we're starting to experience the El Nino effect, which is the warm water, which usually goes toward Asia, is now coming this way toward the area of California. So they say probably we're going to have rains this coming winter, which we certainly need a lot. These currents show evidence that to keep the oceans in proper temperature balance and to keep the minerals, especially the phosphates and oxygen, in good supply. So this is just like turning over soil, aerating and bringing the nutrients to the surface. This is the way God produces it. Through the wind, the rotation of the earth, and the tides. So God asks, well, Job, do you know where all these springs come from? How the ocean currents work? We know some, but we certainly don't know how they were just created. We just can see, detect their patterns now. We know God created them, of course. Then He asks about, how do you know how the ocean can just come up to the shoreline and not go any further? Well, if the moon, as we see here, exerts a pull and it pulls the oceans back and forth. And so this churning is what keeps it also aerating. It keeps the oceans from getting stagnant. Can you imagine the oceans? If they became this lagoon, it would rot. All the fishes would eventually die. But you have this fresh water because God uses the moon as a pump, just like in an aquarium, which is circulating water back and forth. If the moon were half as far away, or twice as far as it is presently, great tides would flood our harbors. If the moon were smaller and farther away, it would not have sufficient pull on our tides to cleanse our harbors and oceans, or adequately rejuvenate with oxygen the waters of our oceans. So this is the handmaiden that God uses to sweep the oceans clean every month. You have low and you have high tides, all being done by God's handmaiden, the moon. Then God asks, and certainly this has to do with the sermonette, very fine sermonette given by Mr. Rod Thomas on how we should appreciate life.

Job asks, I mean God asks Job in verse 17, do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter doom? Do you know what happens after death? Do you know what happens after death? Since you're so smart, Job, tell me. How can you tell what happens? Are you smart enough to know what happens to a person after they die?

God knows. He's explaining to us in his word, but he's asking Job, if you're smart enough, you should tell me. Of course, Job can't tell. Even today, science cannot explain what happens after death. That's something that God reveals in his word, but it cannot be scientifically and empirically shown. But then he comes to the area of meteorology, meteorology, which has to do with climates. So he asks in verse 22, have you visited the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of hail? Tell me, Job, do you know how snow is formed? Do you know all of its formations and structures? Can you explain to me the whole process? He says, I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble for the day of battle and war. Certainly God has used snow and hail throughout history to cause certain interventions, and he also pummeled the Egyptians during the time of the Exodus, as other parts of the Bible also mentioned God using hail as a way of tearing out his will. He says, where is the path to the source of light? Tell me, do you know how light originates? Scientists still can't explain what light is. They call it photons, and it was Einstein that said, well, a photon is a particle, but it's also a wave. So, what is it? A particle wave?

It's not one thing or the other. He says it's both. Well, that's as close as they've gotten to the origin of light. He says, where is the home of the east wind? Who created a channel for the torrents of rain? Who made the rainfall on barren land in a desert where no one lives? Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground and make the tender grass spring up? Does the rain have a father? In other words, does it just come down on its own? Why does it rain? Who gives birth to the dew? Who is the mother of the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens? For the water turns to ice as hard as rock and the surface of the water freezes. So, all of these are scientific concepts. Water, and we have here mentioned this was the one about death, questioning death, and here we have snow falling and the snowflakes.

A snowflake is one of God's most beautiful architectural marbles. Snowflakes are infinite in variety and beauty, the great majority being six-sided crystals, each geometrically perfect and differing from all other in design. That's still true. They have never found two identical snowflakes. Who can watch the myriads of snowflakes filter down through the winter skies, pile up in fleckless beauty, and not know this is God's world? How many have seen snow fall like that? You can see? Yes, well, it is a wonder. I'll tell you, I lived in North Carolina for about seven years, and it's a phenomenon that all of a sudden it just gets stale and usually there's no wind, and it hits the temperature, freezing temperature, 32 degrees, and all of a sudden it starts coming down like cotton candy, just softly coming down. It's quite a phenomenon. It says, such miracles as snow could not just happen. No one but an infinite God can create trillions upon trillions of delicate snowflakes each winter, with no two of them identical. Of the earth's total water budget, not much more than one percent is in the solid form of ice or snow, and far less than that in the form of water vapor in the atmosphere. Yet these proportions are so vital to life.

Have the ice piled in glaciers exercise a vital control over sea levels, climate, and the continent's water supply. So just one percent of water on the earth is either ice or snow, and yet that percent is just what we need to get fresh water to be able to control climate control, which they talk about glaciers now starting to melt and affecting other things, and of course the water supply. Now we go into what God asks Job about astronomy, the study of the stars.

God asks Job, can you direct the movement of the stars binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the sequence of the seasons or guide the bear with her cubs across the heavens? The 19th century poet Alfred Lord Tennyson in his poem Locksley Hall says about the rising Pleiades. These are the seven sister stars that are so easily seen in the heavens. Many a night I saw the Pleiades rising through the mellow shade, glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid.

Yes, recent telescope observations have revealed that this most famous of open clusters is comprised of some 400 stars wreathed in complex nebula of dust and gas. You've never seen the Pleiades under a telescope. You've missed something. I've seen it many times and they just look like bright diamonds all together. You can actually get the telescope and you can see all seven main stars and they just shine like bright diamonds.

When studies were first made of the stars' proper motions, it was found that the Pleiades were all moving in the same direction across the sky, at the same rate further demonstrating that they were related. The Pleiades appear about the middle of April and hence are associated with the return of spring, the season of warmth and joy. The Pleiades and Orion are easily recognized groupings of stars seen in the night sky. The Pleiades are well known as the Seven Sisters. And Orion...

How many have seen Orion, the Constellation Orion? Well, just remember the three... they call them the Three Sisters? That's the belt of Orion, the Hunter. And this is the Constellation Orion. Up at the top is the famous star Betelgeuse, which is the largest star that can be seen with a visible eye. It's a red giant. If the sun were the size of Betelgeuse, the earth would still be part of the star itself. It would swallow up Mercury, Venus, the earth, and Mars. It's so huge.

This is part of the Orion. The Orion is a great Hunter. Many people recognize the three stars known as Orion's belt, or the Three Sisters, which are seen here. Now, this is another, what they call cluster, which they cannot explain why they all move together. It says here, and astronomers say, that this form of a bound star cluster is a major unsolved problem in observational and theoretical astrophysics, because it seems like they were all designed to keep their shape, whereas many of the other stars are moving in relation to others. But these all move together, coordinated. And Orion, in particular, is a very important constellation to be able to gather information for directions. Orion is to the north of the equator, and they were guided. Many of the navigators out in sea, on the sea, once they see where Orion is, you can get your bearings. Also, besides the Pleiades and the constellation Orion, here in the Book of Job is mentioned the bear. Remember? It says, can you direct the sequence of the seasons or guide the bear with her cubs across the heavens? Well, the bear with her cubs is none other than the Big Dipper. Here we have the Big Dipper.

Here's the Big Dipper. Here's the Little Dipper. And the Big Dipper is also a key place to find your ways when you're navigating in the oceans or if you're lost in the woods. Once you are able to see the Big Dipper, you can actually find your ways because here we see the Big Dipper. The two, this is, of course, talking about like a pot with a handle. Well, if you look at the bottom of the pot, these two stars point directly to Polaris, which is the northern star. So, once you are able to see that you're going to find Polaris, you are also going to find Arcturus, which is another one of the stars. Arcturus was one of the key stars for the Polynesian Indians to be able to find the Hawaiian Islands. So, they could center their direction toward Arcturus and they were able to navigate that way. So, when God is saying, well, Job, were you able to place all of these constellations in a way to help mankind guide themselves? Are you that smart? Can you establish and form these star clusters that, thousands of years, they still are all together? They're moving and they show the different directions, north, south, east, and west, from the skies. So, he's asking him.

In verse 33, it says, do you know the laws of the universe?

Can you use them to regulate the earth? Well, we have scientists that are always talking about the laws of nature or the laws of the universe. Astronomer Dr. Hugh Ross, that lives up here in Pasadena, I've had a chance to talk with him, got many of his books. Hugh Ross, in his book about the cosmos and the book of Genesis, the cosmos and creation, astronomer Dr. Hugh Ross has summarized work done by him and others analyzing these laws of the universe. He has produced a list of 35 different laws or constants that must be set to be exact value in order to support a sustainable universe. So, here are 35 laws that have to be precisely calibrated to work together to be able to produce life as we see it here. These 35 different laws work like gears in a watch. They all have to be precisely adjusted just right for them to all work together. In other words, to tell the time accurately. These factors include many of the constants that we recognize from formulas in our science class, the gravitational force constant, electromagnetic force constant, the charge of electrons, the velocity of light, etc. Then he asks Job, can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct? Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven when the parts ground is dry and the soil has hardened into clods? So, God likens clouds to these water jugs. They can just tilt them and it waters the earth at the right time.

Here's another quote. I'm quoting a lot from different books, one of them. It's one that I particularly like. It's called, Why We Believe in Creation and Not Evolution.

It says here, the miracle of the lightning nitrogen cycle. There are about 16 million thunderstorms over the world every year. 16 million. These thunderstorms with the accompanying lightning produce about 100,000 tons of nitrogen compounds annually, dropped into the soil, thereby helping greatly to fertilize the ground. So, here we have lightning actually charging the ground, and it causes nitrogen compounds to form and to fertilize the soil. Now, if you notice, I have a map of the United States, and this shows the frequency. 16.9 million flashes in the year 1991, as an example, and here this green area, 0 to 0.5 percent. And we see California is one of the least places that gets the lightning and thunderstorms. As you go east, it gets progressively worse and worse. Guess where it's worse? This little red area here, Orlando, Florida, gets the most thunderstorms and lightning, and people are running around for shelter. I know when we visited Disney World, when the girls were quite small, and I had to come over to the different ministerial conferences, and sometimes we'd come and bring the kids so they could meet my grandparents in North Carolina, and we'd go to Disney World, and it would always be raining and many times thundering, as you know, because of the humidity, and it's very easy for warm air to hit cold air, and the humidity, it just charges the whole area. Just gets lightning all the time. But lightning has its purpose, because it helps the nitrogen cycle in the soil. Now, was that just an accident? So God asks, Job, can you make lightning? appear and cause it to strike as you direct? Now, Job had no idea.

Next one. He asks Job in verse 36, who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind?

In other words, Job, are you smart enough here to understand what consciousness is? To create consciousness? To create intuition in the heart? How people can feel certain things? Or the instinct that we have? The instinct to eat, to sleep, to drink, water, and all of these instincts that are self-programmed in our bodies? Did you do this, Job? That's what God is asking. Well, of course, we still cannot explain exactly what consciousness is.

It is not something that can be weighed or measured. The brain can be measured. Brain waves can be measured, but not consciousness. And one interesting thing in an experiment they did once, because a girl suffered a very serious accident, and she lost half of her brain. She only had half of her brain, but the brain has so many backup systems that actually she was a pretty normal person with half of the brain, and yet she had 100% consciousness. In other words, the brain's size and mass do not have to do with the consciousness of the person. You don't have half of the consciousness. You have total consciousness, which shows consciousness is something separate from the physical brain itself. Continuing on, now God asks Job about 12 of the different animals created on the earth. This is the science of zoology, the study of animals, and 12 animals are described here. Six animals, five birds, and an insect, all exhibiting the creative genius and providential care of God. Fittingly, the list begins with the lion, the king of the beasts, and ends with the word for eagle, the king of the birds.

Here in verse 39, he asks Job, Can you stalk, pray for a lioness, and satisfy the young lion's appetite as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket? In other words, Job, you want to get out there with the lion and see if you can help the lion grab its victim. Do you want to deal with that? If you think you're that smart, maybe you can stalk, pray with a lioness, and satisfy the young lion's appetite. A man still cannot bear-handed a lion or lioness. They're much stronger. He says, Well, if you go along, are you going to feel comfortable? Certainly not. But God created the lion and the lioness. Verse 41, Who provides food for the ravens when the young cry out to God and wander about in hunger? So the raven is an unclean bird. It's usually a bird that's not domesticated. It's kind of nasty. But he says, even so, who makes sure that those little ravens get fed? As Jesus Christ said, that not even a bird that falls on the ground is not known to God. He is aware of even the falling dead of a bird. So he says he takes care of this. Are you the one that provides? Do you go out and worry about where all the birds are going to be able to eat today?

Next, he asks about the wild goats. Do you know where the wild goats give birth? Have you watched as deer are born in the wild? Do you know how many months they carry their young? Are you aware of the time of their delivery? They crouch down to give birth to their young and deliver their offspring. Their young grow up in the open fields, then leave home and never return.

Now, mountain goats, they want to go here to the wild goats.

Mountain goats have a leader who keeps watch. And on any suspicious smell, sound, or object, they make a noise which is a signal to the flock to make their escape.

The world hinds, denotes the deer, the fawn, the most timid and defenseless, perhaps, of all animals. The idea seems to be that they do this without any of the care and attention which shepherds are obliged to show to their flocks at such seasons. In other words, how can these animals have their own young without anybody taking care of them like a shepherd has to go and take care of the domesticated sheep? But here, they do it all. You know how hard it is to give birth. Here, they have tremendous hospitals and all of the staff. And yet, these creatures, they're out there in the wild and they're able to produce. They're young without a problem.

Next slide. He asks, Who gives the wild donkey its freedom? Who untied its ropes? I have placed it in the wilderness. Its home is the wasteland. It hates the noise of the city and has no driver to shout at it. The mountains are its pasture land where it searches for every blade of grass. So the wild donkey was respected because it just had its freedom, its desire of independence. And so he says here, who gives the wild donkey its freedom? Have you given it that instinct? How about the wild ox? This is a very large animal, very fierce. It says, Will the wild ox consent to be tamed? They aren't. Will it spend the night in your stall? Can you just come and it's going to be tamed? Not at all. So if you're that wise and knowledgeable, why don't you try and tame one of these? See how far you're going to go. It says, Can you hitch a wild ox to a plow? Will it plow a field for you? Given its strength, can you trust it? Can you leave and trust the ox to do your work? Can you rely on it to bring home your grain and deliver it to your threshing floor? In other words, there are many things, Joe, that you can't do. You can't tame or domesticate one of these wild oxes. Then he asks about the ostrich, which in those days, still, there was an ostrich that lived in that area of the Middle East. Now it's mostly on the other side in Africa, but they were known. It says, The ostrich flaps her wings grandly, but they are no match for the feathers of the stork. So did you make this animal so huge? It flaps its wings, but it doesn't fly like the stork does. She lays her eggs on top of the earth, letting them be warmed in the dust. Have you ever seen some of those African movies where they have a big ostrich egg and it's just right there in the field? A very hard shell, of course. She doesn't worry that a foot might crush them or a wild animal might destroy them. She is harsh toward her young, as if they were not her own. She doesn't care if they die, for God has deprived her of wisdom, that hasn't given her that instinct. He has given her no understanding, but whenever she jumps up to run, she passes the swiftest horse with its rider. Hens may desert the nest. Here's the comment that some experts say, Hens may desert the nest if they are overfed or if impatient they may leave the nest before all the chicks are hatched. So they know its ostrich are not known to care very well for their young. If a human disturbs a nest, an ostrich may trample the eggs, or a hen may sit on eggs in another nest for getting her own. Those are common features seen today. Yet in spite of its stupidity, an ostrich can run 40 miles an hour faster than a horse. Would Job even think of making such a peculiar bird? Would you have come up with it? And then he asks about the horse. He says, Have you given the horse its strength or clothed its neck with a flowing mane? Did you give it the ability to leap like a locust? So here's a little insect. He says that you've seen some of these great equestrian contests where the horses can jump, and they can jump six feet or higher, jump just like a locust. Its majestic snorting is terrifying. It paws the earth and rejoices in its strength. When it charges out to battle, it laughs at fear and is unafraid. It does not run from the sword. And so you have had all of these mighty battles through history, mostly on horseback.

The arrows rattle against it, and the spear and the javelin flash. It paws the ground fiercely and rushes forward into battle when the ram's horn blows. It snorts at the sound of the horn. It senses the battle in the distance. It quivers at the captain's commands and the noise of battle. Hardly any other animal is that way than how noble the horse is to obey, to submit. If it has to die, it will, but it will follow through on the orders and the commands.

Then he asks about the hawk. Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar and spread its wings toward the south?

Now, it just happens that the hawk is the fastest bird on earth, especially what is called the duck hawk. It says here the duck hawk or a pair of green falcons. Sometimes different types of hawks are called falcons, but they're part of the same family. It says the duck hawk is the fastest living creature, reaching speeds of at least 124 miles per hour and possibly as much as 168 miles per hour when swooping from great heights during territorial displays or while catching prey birds in midair. Now, God says, did you give it that speed? Could you come up with a hawk like that? So, you see, we're not talking here about some old book that's full of myths. We're talking about a superior intelligence that is asking a human being about the most wonderful things in nature. And man has not created, even in all the laboratories of the world, they have not been able to come up with one human hair, not even one cell they have been able to create. And God has created all these wonders. And sometimes people think, oh, I don't know what God is doing. I'm not sure if I can trust God. It's very insulting to sometimes hear those things. And I know it is to God, and yet he's very patient with us. Then he goes to the eagle. He says, is it your command that the eagle rises to the heights to make its nest? It lives on the cliffs, making its home on a distant rocky crag. From there it hunts its prey, keeping watch with piercing eyes, its young gulped-down blood, where there's a carcass. There you'll find it, because it kills, and then it rips it apart. On the other hand, the eagle soars and builds its nest at high altitudes on a cliff, a rocky crag, where the keen vision mentioned here spies food at great distances. And science has found out that the eagle's eye is one of the most incredibly designed features. It can see such enormous distances. And who created it? The same one who's talking to Job. The same one that we worship that said that the Sabbath day was made for him. He is the Lord of the Sabbath day.

Then we come to verse 40. I mean Job 40. Then the Lord said to Job, do you still want to argue with the Almighty? Let's see, have you done in your test? Have you been able to figure out? Have you been able to answer some of these? Can you ponder these answers?

Then Job replied to the Lord, I am nothing. How could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say than the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you and you must answer. He says, Job, I'm not through with you yet. Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove that you are right? So here God is saying, well, Job, you thought you were quite righteous. Even your righteousness was better than mine. Are you as strong as God? Can you thunder with a voice like his? All right, put on your glory and splendor of your honor and majesty. Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. Humiliate the proud with a glance. Walk on the wicked where they stand. Burry them in the dust. Imprison them in the world of the dead. Then even I would praise you for your own strength would save you. If you could do all of those things, then I could be impressed by you. Of course, Job can't do any of those. Then we talked about the 10 creatures before, and then God says, hold on, Job. I want to focus on two other creatures to see how much you know what kind of strength do you have. And so in verse 15, he says, take a look at the behemoth, at the behemoth, which I made just as I made you. Now the word behemoth is a plural of beast.

So what it means here is this is a creature par and salons. This is the most impressive of the creatures that God wants to show him. Some, of course, don't know what this behemoth is. Scholars differ in their views as to who these creatures are, against the view that they are mythological figures, are these facts. This is why it is very indicative that they were actual animals. They weren't something that God just is creating out of a myth. Number one, God told Job to look at the behemoth. So it was something that Job could see in his area of the world. He says, look at the behemoth. God said he made the behemoth as he had made Job. So it was a creature made by God. Three, the detailed descriptions of both animals, anatomies, befit real, not mythological, be. So the way the anatomy is, it's describing a creature that has a stomach, that it has a head, it has all kinds of different anatomies. Animals and myths were based on real creatures, but were given exaggerated features. The 12 animals mentioned were real, which would cause one to expect these two. So actually, he did cover the 12. Now he's covering two more. So why would he come up with something that couldn't be verified? Though sometimes elsewhere in Scripture, the Leviathan may be mythological because they are used as symbols. It is also spoken of elsewhere as a created being. Psalms 104, verses 24 and 26, and the plural Hebrew word for behemoth is used in Joel 120, where it is rendered wild animals. So it's a wild animal of some type. Now the common view is that this huge creature is a hippopotamus. Now a lot of people say, hippopotamus? Well, we've seen them in Walt Disney films, and we think hippos are cute. We've seen them sometimes in zoos. That's not the way the hippopotamus was in Job's day in that area of the Middle East, going into Africa. The hippos were the most feared animals, more feared than even the lions. Let me read to you a little bit. Now notice, first it says about this behemoth, it feeds on grass like ox. So it's a vegetarian. It's a herbivore. It says, therefore, wild animals do not fear being attacked by it. So it's not a meat eater. So whatever it was, it was a herbivore. It ate grass. It had massive strength in its loins, which means the stomach muscles.

The tail, the thighs, it says it had kind of metal-like bones and limbs. Verse 16 through 18. Unlike the elephant, the hippopotamus, stomach, muscles, let's look at here some pictures of it. Now we are not 100% sure, but this is the most indicative of the creatures being described here because it's a herbivore. It lives in the water, but it's a type of an amphibious creature. It comes into water. It comes out of the water. It says that hippopotamus' stomach muscles, unlike the elephants, are particularly strong and thick, as it's described here. The rendering that his tail sways like a cedar, which suggests that some tail means a trunk. Some people think it's a trunk of an elephant. However, some of the parallel words in the Middle East at that time, the Ugaritic parallels, indicates a verb sways means stiffens. And in the case of the hippopotamus tail, though it's smaller, but it's pretty thick, it's got a quite a... it's not as small as a lot of people think. It's short, but it's thick. It says that the tail stiffens when the animal is frightened or is running. The hippopotamus was the largest of the animals known in the ancient Near East, because of course elephants were more in Africa or India. So in maintenance here he ranks first among the works of God because of the area. The adult hippo of today weighs up to 8,000 pounds, more than an automobile. The hippo is difficult, if not impossible, to kill with a mere hand sword. The word his maker can approach him with a sword suggests that only God dare approach the beast for hand combat, nor can he be captured or harpooned. And when his ears or nose, as it mentions, are above the water. As the hippopotamus lies hidden in the marsh, the stream, and the river, its sustenance floats down from the hills. Hippos have a reputation as man killers. Along with hippos and lions, crocodiles account for perhaps a few hundred deaths and disappearances every year. And hippos have killed human beings, they knock down the boats, and they're really killers. The other animal talks about the Labaiathan, and again, there was an animal that has a very similar description, and that is the Nile crocodile. We don't know 100% of it, but I'll just mention, because I'm running out of time, that when it comes up for air and sneezes the water from its nostrils, the spray looks like flashes of light in the sun, as the account says here. When this reptile emerges from the water, its small eyes, which are described here, are seen first, like the dawn's rays.

The hide of this animal's undersides is so jagged that when he walks in the mud, he leaves marks that look like a threshing sledge, which is described here. So it could be, but the point is that God is showing Job that he knows nothing in comparison to the Creator God, and it's a good lesson for all of us. Well, Job, in chapter 42, he answered God, and he says, I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance? It is I, and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, listen, and I will speak. I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance. So one of the lessons of the book of Job is the need to marvel at God's great creation, have humility, look in the long term. God had more purposes than Job could have imagined. In James 5.11, I want to end because, as you know, God blessed Job after he recognized his self-righteousness. He realized how he had been out of place to do what he did. And in James 5.11, I will end with this. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and seen the end intended by the Lord. So God had an end, a purpose for having tried Job, for having shown him many things. He says that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful, and he was to Job, and he is to us. So for those who doubt the scientific basis of the Bible, I say God is greater than any scientist, that we are just puny human beings, and yet he is our Father, he is our Creator, and he is our Maker.