+ Larger Font | - Smaller Font
"..the heavens shall pass away with a great noise"
Yes, the Bible's
Cosmology is Flawed!
Supporting the Doctrine of Hell
How Genesis was Modified
Daniel's Prophecy of 2,300 Years to the Scientific
Revolution
The Rise of Skepicism
The Windows of Heaven
References
FAQs
Links
The Apostle Peter exhorted his readers to take heed to prophecy, as it is through the fulfillment of prophecy that we find proof of the truth of the gospel and so we can have confidence in the promises of God. (2 Peter 1:19):
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.
The dawn that Peter refers to may be understood as the dawning of the "day of the Lord." It is not a literal day. Peter says a "day" is as a thousand years to God (2 Peter 3:8):
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Peter considered his time as a time of darkness or night preceding the dawning of the "day of the Lord" which he said would come as a "thief in the night", that is, it would occur without anyone being aware of it. He said the heavens will pass away with "great noise". (2 Peter 3:10):
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Was Peter's prophecy fulfilled without anyone being aware of it? Paradoxically, it was, including the "great noise"! But in heaven, there can be no noise, since there is no air to transmit the sound. The heaven that passed away was the ancient cosmology, with its rigid planetary spheres, and the firmament that revolved around the earth, and the "great noise" was the controversy over the reliability of the cosmology of the Bible and the credibility of the Church, that accompanied the scientific revolution, which continues to this day!
The quotation below is from Harper's Bible Dictionary, article 'firmament'.
firmament, God's division between cosmic waters on the second day of creation (Gen. 1:6-8), forming the sky. One must here imagine a flat earth and a domed expanse of heavens holding back celestial waters from terrestrial. The Hebrew term raqia suggests a thin sheet of beaten metal (cf. Exod. 39:3; Num. 17:3; Jer. 10:9; also Job 37:18). Similar metaphors for sky are found in Homer and Pindar. Job 26:13 depicts God's breath as the force that calmed (or 'spread', 'smoothed' or 'carpeted') the heavens. Luminaries were set in the firmament on the fourth day of creation (Gen. 1:14-19). Rains were believed to fall through sluices or windows in its surface (cf. Gen. 7:11). During the Flood, the upper waters joined with the waters of the primordial deep (Heb. tehom). In more pacific contexts, the firmament, or its pattern of luminaries, is said to declare the praises of God (Ps. 19:1; cf. 150:1). In Ezekiel's 'chariot' vision, a crystal firmament supports the divine throne (Ezek. 1:22, 25, 26), just as something resembling a pavement of lapis lazuli is said to lie at the feet of Yahweh's throne in Exod. 24:10. Dan. 12:3 alludes to the 'radiance' (Heb. zohar) of the firmament. Rabbinic sources regarded the firmament as the chief source of light for heavenly denizens.
The Hebrew universe. The ancient Hebrews imagined the world as flat and round, covered by the great solid dome of the firmament which was held up by mountain pillars, Job 26:11; 37:18, Above the firmament and under the earth was water, divided by God at creation, Gen. 1:6,7; cf. Pss 24:2;148:4, The upper waters were joined with the waters of the primordial deep during the Flood; the rains were believed to fall through windows in the firmament, Gen. 7:11; 8:2, The sun, moon, and stars moved across or were fixed in the firmament, Gen. 1:14-19; Ps. 19:4,6, Within the earth lay Sheol, the realm of the dead, Num. 16:30-33; Isa. 14:9,15).
The quotation above says there are 3 water layers:
Of course the idea of a universe having 3 water layers is flawed,
but how did these teachings get to be part of holy scripture?
Peter tells us men were "willingly ignorant" of the earth's formation "out of the water and in the water" by which I think he means it enclosed subterranean waters that gave rise to the flood. (2 Peter 3:5-6)
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
One of the reasons for this willingness to be ignorant about the subterranean waters appears to be that some Jews living in the time of Peter wanted to adapt the cosmology of the Bible to that of the Greeks and Romans. There were probably various editions of the scriptures in those days, as there are today. We have versions that say "expanse" in Genesis 1, where others say "dome" or "firmament". The Romans believed the earth had a fiery interior, and they promoted the belief in Hades as the place of infernal punishment for the souls of the wicked. According to Polybius this was a superstition promoted by the state as a means of controlling the people [Histories VI,56].
But among all the useful institutions, that demonstrate the superior excellence of the Roman government, the most considerable perhaps is the opinion which the people are taught to hold concerning the gods: and that, which other men regard as an object of disgrace, appears in my judgment to be the very thing by which this republic chiefly is sustained. I mean, superstition: which is impressed with all it terrors; and influences both the private actions of the citizens, and the public administration also of the state, in a degree that can scarcely be exceeded. This may appear astonishing to many. To me it is evident, that this contrivance was at first adopted for the sake of the multitude. For if it were possible that a state could be composed of wise men only, there would be no need, perhaps, of any such invention. But as the people universally are fickle and inconstant, filled with irregular desires, too precipitate in their passions, and prone to violence; there is no way left to restrain them, but by the dread of things unseen, and by the pageantry of terrifying fiction. The ancients, therefore, acted not absurdedly, nor without good reason, when they inculcated the notions concerning the gods, and the belief of infernal punishments; but much more those of the present age are to be charged with rashness and absurdity, in endeavoring to extirpate these opinions. For, not to mention effects that flow from such an institution, if, among the Greeks, for example, a single talent only be entrusted to those who have the management of any of the public money; though they give ten written sureties, with as many seals and twice as many witnesses, they are unable to discharge the trusts reposed in them with integrity. But the Romans, on the other hand, who in the course of their magistracies, and in embassies, disperse the greatest sums, are prevailed on by the single obligation of an oath to perform their duties with inviolable honesty. And as, in other states, a man is rarely found whose hands are pure from public robbery; so, among the Romans, it is no less rare to discover one that is tainted with this crime. But all things are subject to decay and change. This is a truth so evident, and so demonstrated by the perpetual and the necessary force of nature, that it needs no other proof.
There are elements of the hellenistic cosmology present in the Old Testament, but in an account of creation that was inspired by the Spirit of God, this seems rather surprising. However, there is a prophecy which indicates the cosmology of the scriptures was revised. Some of the odd features of the scriptural cosmology are due to a systematic corruption of the text, which began in the second century BC, by agents of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV, the "little horn" of the goat in Daniel 8, which grows very tall, up to the sky, and casts down stars, the host of heaven, the place of God's sanctuary, and the truth (Daniel 8:8-12).
Therefore the he
goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was
broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of
heaven.
And out of one
of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward
the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
And it waxed
great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host
and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
Yea, he
magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the
constant was taken away, and the
place of his sanctuary was cast down.
And an host
was given him against the constant
by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground;
and it practised, and prospered.
This prophecy can be explained if in the original account of creation, the earth's crust was made on day 2, and initially the word 'raqia' (or 'firmament') referred to the earth, and this was redefined by Antiochus and his agents to mean the rigid sky of the Greek cosmology.
The redefining of the 'raqia' was accomplished by the addition of the words "and God called the firmament heaven" in Genesis 1:8, which effectively changed the meaning of 'raqia', but also implied that there was a third layer of waters, above the sky. Previously the 'raqia' (or firmament, as this word is translated in the KJV) was the earth's crust, that was formed in the primeval waters on day 2. Numerous additional changes were made in Genesis 1 and elsewhere throughout the OT to support and disguise these changes to the text, for example there were names assigned to Day, Night, Earth, and Sea, all prominent deities of the hellenistic period. Josephus tells us Evening and Morning were also assigned names at the creation.
Daniel 8:14 says the "constant" or "continual" would be taken away. The rough goat in this chapter represents the Greek empire, and the little horn which grows tall is the Seleucid king Antiochus IV. Many scholars have assumed the prophecy foretells a time when the "daily sacrifice" would cease to be offered at the Jerusalem temple, but Daniel claims to have seen the vision of chapter 8 in the third year of Belshazzar, about 550 BC, when there were no priestly rituals, no temple, and when Jerusalem lay desolate. So any supposed reference to an obscure ritualistic sacrifice, that had presumably been part of the temple service under Moses, seems completely out of place, and of course that is not what the prophecy is about. The word tamiyd means "constant," and in this prophecy does not refer to a ritual sacrifice. Do scholars really think God was not aware that the entire temple service initiated under Moses was a mere shadow of the redemptive work of Jesus, and that it would be abolished? If so they are clearly mistaken.
Daniel's prophecy about the tamiyd being taken away, and the 2,300 days until the sanctuary would be cleansed, became notorious in the mid 19th century when a group of people in the USA, known as the Millerites after their leader, William Miller, used this prophecy to set a date for the return of Christ. Miller counted 2,300 years from the time of Ezra's return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, that he took to be 457 B.C. He and some 50,000 followers expected the end between 21 March 1843 and 21 March 1844. When it did not occur, the date was revised and set as 22 October 1844, but they were again disappointed. The group eventually developed into the Seventh Day Adventist church.
I suggest the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14 is actually a prophecy about
the period of time to one of the most signficant events in all history,
the scientific revolution. There is little doubt that the "evening
mornings" in the prophecy should be interpreted as years. Not
understanding what the prophecy meant,
Miller had assumed a wrong start date; the 2,300 years begin when the
prophecy was given, and there is no need to guess what the start date
should be, as Miller the Millerites had done. (Daniel 8:13-14):
Then I
heard one saint speaking, and another saint said
unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision
concerning the constant, and
the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the
host to be trodden under foot?
And
he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then
shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
The start date for the 2,300 years is when the angel spoke the words, as no other start date is mentioned, and Daniel 8:1 says this was in the third year of Belshazzar, which was in the mid sixth century BC.
In this prophecy, the rough goat represents the Greek empire; the little horn of the goat which grows tall is the Seleucid king Antiochus IV. The little horn grows up, very high, past the tree tops, past the clouds, up to the stars! It casts stars and the host of heaven down to the earth.
There are several things cast down to the earth by the horn which grows great: the stars, the place of God's sanctuary (heaven), the host of heaven (sun and moon, constellations, planets, etc.), and the truth. The "constant" which was taken away refers to the diurnal rotation of the earth, the knowledge of which was stamped out in the time of Antiochus IV.
Antiochus actively promoted the worship of Zeus Olympus, the sky god of the Greeks. Greek religion was very much tied to cosmology. The main gods were the 12 Olympians of Homer. The Greek cosmology was geocentric, and assumed the sky revolved around the earth. Zeus was identified with the rigid sky, (also called Olympus) which held up all the stars, sun and moon, planets, etc.
In the second century BC some astronomers questioned the reality of a rigid sky revolving around the earth. Plutarch says the astronomer Seleucus of Seleucia supported the heliocentric theory of Aristarchus (310-230 BC), and claimed it was "not just a hypothesis, but a fact." Aristarchus had 'supposed that the heavens stand still and the earth moves in an oblique circle at the same time as it turns round its axis' according to Plutarch in his book "On the Face in the Moon". Such a claim would threaten the fundamental axioms of Greek religion and cosmology which Antiochus supported. Plutarch's reference to Seleucus is as follows:
Did Plato put the Earth in motion as he did the sun, the moon and the five planets which he called 'the instruments of time' on account of their turnings, and was it necessary to conceive that the Earth ... was not represented as being (merely) held together and at rest but as turning and revolving, as Aristarchus and Seleucus afterwards maintained that it did, the former of whom stated this as only a hypothesis, the latter as a definite opinion?
Antiochus financed the construction of a huge temple of Zeus in Athens, the ruins of which are still there; it was said to be the largest temple in all of Greece. He built a temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Antioch, and had a statue of Zeus made for the temple of Apollo at Daphne, a copy of the one at Olympia in Elis. He had several temples converted to temples of Zeus including the Jerusalem temple and the one in Samaria.
Antiochus and his agents stamped out the knowledge of the earth's diurnal rotation, and established the supremacy of the geocentric cosmology of the Greeks, with its system of rigid spheres. Daniel's prophecy said the heavenly sanctuary would be "cleansed" after 2,300 evening-mornings. This can be interpreted as 2,300 years, so the prophecy indicates the heavens would be cleansed 23 centuries after it was given.
After 2,300 years, in the mid 18th century, the old cosmology was abandoned, and men realised it is the earth that moves, not the sky. The rigid heavenly firmament and the planetary spheres were swept away like old cobwebs, when the discoveries of Newton and Galileo and Copernicus and Kepler and others were finally accepted. It was the scientific revolution that Daniel foretold.
Around 1750 AD is an excellent date for the fulfillment of the 2,300 days prophecy because at that time the world really did become aware of the Newtonian system. Andrew Motte published an English translation of the Principia in 1729. Both French and English editions of Voltaire's "Elements of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy" were published in 1738. Emilie de Breteuil, Marquise du Chastelet (1706-1749) translated Newton's Principia into French. Newton's theory was confirmed in a spectacular way by the reappearance of Halley's comet in 1758 which Edmond Halley had predicted in 1705 on the basis of Newton's Principia.
When Peter wrote his epistle, the heavens were thought to be a series of concentric spheres, one for each of the planets, one each for the sun and moon, and one for the fixed stars. The cosmology of the first century AD was the geocentric cosmology of the Greeks. The work of Claudius Ptolemy dominated the thinking of astronomers for centuries. Eventually, when the discoveries of Isaac Newton were publicized, the old Ptolemaic system of rigid shells collapsed. This was the scientific revolution, and the enlightenment. The old idea of a rigid heaven was abandoned, when men realized the earth rotated. The planetary spheres, equants, and deferents, were abolished, fulfilling Peter's prophecy.
Because the Old Testament seemed to support the old geocentric cosmology, both the Bible and Christianity were discredited. Many like Voltaire abandoned the Christian faith, and became atheists or skeptics. The rising tide of skepticism, and the commotion that accompanied the demise of the geocentric theory was the "great noise" that Peter had foretold.
A favourite argument of those who wish to ridicule the Bible is the reference to "windows of heaven" in Genesis, that when opened, provided rain that contributed to the flood waters in the time of Noah. But these "windows of heaven" seem to have been unknown before the time of the prophet Elisha. (2 Kings 7:2):
Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
How could a leader of Israel, one closely associated with the king, not be aware of the windows in heaven mentioned in Genesis 7:11? Perhaps because the "windows of heaven" mentioned in Genesis were added later, in the hellenistic age, to support the corruptions that Daniel foretold in his propehcy! It was intended to support the idea of a rigid sky with waters above, which were introduced when the 'raqia' was redefined as the rigid heaven of the Greek cosmology.
Harper's Bible dictionary (1985). Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. Includes index. (1st ed.). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
Copyright © 2007 by
Douglas E. Cox
All Rights Reserved.