The Circle Of The Earth
By Pastor Mitch
April 28, 2017
THE CIRCLE OF THE EARTH
- Eratosthenes scientific discovery
According to Wikipedia.com, Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276 BC – 194 BC) was a Greek Scientific writer, geographer, astronomer and poet. He was the first to figure out how to measure the size of the earth. He observed one day that whenever the sun was overhead a standing pole at noon in Syene, Egypt during the summer solstice, no shadow was cast. But this was not so in Alexandria. At noon, a pole would still cast a shadow. Based on this, he made this scientific enquiry with regards to the shape of the earth. He began to do some experiments which led him to discovering the circumference of the earth (40,075 km). He also went on to discover longitudes and latitudes.
- Isaiah’s revelatory knowledge
About 600 years earlier, there was already the revelatory knowledge given to Isaiah the prophet, who started his ministry in 755 B.C., concerning the shape of the earth. He wrote these words in his book.
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,….” Isa. 40:22
Isaiah was referring to the equator of the earth. There was that revelatory knowledge that the earth is round. Scientific truths can be discovered both through scientific enquiry and through revelatory knowledge. The Scriptures does not clash with science. The word of God is sound and solid. It is the Lord who sits on His throne above the circumference of the earth. If only people would read the Scriptures a bit more closely, they would have discovered many scientific truths in it.
RE-DISCOVERING THE GOD WHO MADE US
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes to nothing, He makes the judges of the earth useless.” Isa. 40:21-23
Why did the Lord speak these words to the people? The rhetorical questions raised were meant to help Israel think about whether they had fully understood God. They needed to re-discover Him once again. They had forgotten what He was like. They had substituted Him for idols, hand-made from wood. The Lord God was helping them to see Him as the Creator of the universe. He was the One who made the earth what it is today. He was showing to them that He as God still sits sovereign over the earth. All the people in the world were like grasshoppers. The leaders of the earth were puny in comparison to Him. The challenge for the people was to re-discover the majesty and the power of the Lord. Let’s stand in awe once again at the majesty of our Creator and our Lord. Let’s seek to exercise greater faith in Him.
