September 18, 2015
Mark 10:15
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
I have featured the full Markan scripture in the last three blogs. Here is only Mark 10:15: “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
Childlike Faith! While we need Childlike Faith to enter the kingdom – believing in and receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Savior – we are not to check our reason and logic at the gate upon entering!
In our last blog, we began investigating the effects of Noah’s flood on the earth’s topography. I directed us to Genesis 7:11, 12 and 19:
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seven-
teenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep
were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain
was on the earth forty days and forty nights….And the waters prevailed
exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven,
were covered.
This teaches us that the first event of the flood was worldwide volcanic eruptions! And these eruptions spewed vast amounts of water from underground to the surface of the earth. Also spewed forth was a tremendous amount of dust! Why is this important? As it says in the creation account of Genesis 1:7 and 8: “God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament….And God called the firmament Heaven.” Many biblical scientists believe “…the waters which were above the firmament…” refers to a layer of water vapor encircling the earth. And, according to Genesis 2:5 and 6, “…the LORD God had not cause it to rain upon the earth…but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.” Just as a greenhouse holds in heat and moisture, so the earth was enclosed and protected in a layer of water vapor, and kept in a tropical state.
But water vapor is a gas. And for water droplets to form, the vapor has to coalesce around a bit of dust or debris. Every raindrop has at its core a bit of dirt! So what would happen if tons of dust and debris from volcanos were thrown into an atmospheric layer of water vapor? It would rain! And if it hadn’t happened before, it would rain for the first time – perhaps even as it says in Genesis 7:12 (God’s Word): “…and rain came pouring down on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.” So water spewing from below the surface of the earth, and torrential rain pouring down from the sky could result in what Genesis 7:19 records: “…all the high hills under the whole heaven, were covered.”
By the way, the first mention of a rainbow appearing in the clouds is in Genesis 9:13, given as God’s sign that He would never again flood the earth. (See Genesis 9:11-17). The rainbow would only appear after the layer of water vapor was depleted and the sun would be refracted through suspended water droplets!
But what of the highest of the hills? After all, Mount Everest is 29,029 feet above sea level (almost 5 and a half miles!) How could there be enough water to cover Mount Everest and “…all [the rest of] the high hills…”?
Think of a balloon. If you blow it up to its limit without popping it and leave it a couple of days, and then let the air out, what does it look like? The surface of the balloon is stretched and wrinkled! If the earth was loaded with water below its surface, and much of the water was expelled, what would happen to the surface topography? It would look stretched and wrinkled – valleys and mountains! This is just what Psalm 104:5 through 9 (American Standard Version) says:
[God]…laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved for
ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a vesture; The waters stood
above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; At the voice of thy thunder
they hasted away (the mountains rose, the valleys sank down) unto the
place which thou hadst founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they
may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.
Apparently – and if you take the scientific data and view it from the biblical record – the mountains were not nearly as high nor the valleys as deep before the flood as they were after it! This also speaks in favor of a world-wide flood – enough water to cover the whole earth – and not a local event as some say.
There is much more that could be said about the flood of Noah and how it affected the earth. But the purpose of these last two blogs is to show that science, reason and logic do not have to be excluded from Childlike Faith! So put your faith in the Savior as a little child might believe his daddy! Then I challenge you to begin to put the scientific data together in a biblical framework.