From: tcc@sentex.net (Douglas Cox)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Peter's prophecies about modern science
Date: 4 Nov 1995 03:14:29 -0500
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The coming "Day of the Lord"

The apostle Peter, in 2 Peter 3:10, said the "day of the Lord" will
come, as a thief in the night. It would be unexpected by many.

The "day of the Lord" is a day that is much spoken of in Bible
prophecy. It is the day that the prophet Joel wrote about; he called
it "a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness." [Joel 2:2] 

As with the days of creation, the "day of the Lord" would consist of
an evening, or a period of darkness, followed by a morning, or light.
But it is referring to spiritual light here; it is the kind of "light"
Jesus referred to when he said, "I am come a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness" [John
12:46]. This light is the light of God's word, and the understanding
that God gives to his people, and to all men, that reveals the true,
spiritual condition of mankind. Joel's reference to "clouds and thick
darkness" meant the state of mental "darkness", or confusion, and the
deception of men, such as there is today. In spite of technological
knowledge, men today are "in the dark" about the things of God, and
what God is doing. 

In 2 Peter 3:8, Peter said a "day" in prophecy, such as the "day of
the Lord" that he refers to two verses down, does not refer to an
ordinary 24-hour day. It could span as much as a thousand years:

   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.

Could the "day of the Lord" be upon us already? Certainly it could! It
may be, we just have not recognized how the prophecies of scripture
describe our time, and the world in which we live today.


Peter's prophecies relating to modern science

Here are three things Peter said would happen, "like a thief in the
night," in the Day of the Lord [2 Peter 3:10]:

(1) "The heavens shall pass away with great noise"

How could the heavens make such a noise? There is no air in space.
Noise cannot propagate there. Who would hear such a noise? And how
could the heavens pass away "like a thief in the night"? It would be
fairly obvious, if the stars were all to suddenly disappear, wouldn't
it?

The answer is, the cosmology of Peter's time has "passed away", and
this was done with great commotion; it was the rise of astronomical
science. Everyone knows, the celestial spheres that were imagined by
men in Peter's day have disappeared. The system of hypothetical
planetary spheres that were said to cause the motions of the planets,
and the rigid sky, that whirled around the earth each day, have all
passed away. This was the scientific revolution; the "great noise"
associated with it, was the rise of science, and the growth of
skepticism that accompanied it, and all the controversy over the
authority of the scriptures, and the collapse of the Church that
supported the geocentric cosmology, that continues to this day. 

Peter may have been referring to another prophecy about the heavens
passing away, or being dissolved, that is found in Isaiah 34:4:

   all the host of heaven shall be dissolved

The "host of heaven" being the imaginary spheres of the ancient
Ptolemaic cosmology, and the mythical heavenly [Olympian] gods that
populated the heavens in pagan thought, such as those associated with
all the constellations; these have all passed away, and have been
dissolved, and are gone. The celestial spheres, and the rigid
firmament, were abandoned about the mid eighteenth century. No one
believes in them any more. 

Again, in Isaiah 34:4:

   the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll

Why does the prophet say the heavens are "rolled together" like a
scroll? Consider, what happens when a scroll is rolled together? It
suddenly stops, right? It no longer rotates, in other words. So, if
the idea here is to suggest that the heavens somehow, in some fashion,
suddenly "stopped rotating," this suggests the discovery that it was
the earth, not the heavens, that moves; since it is the earth that
rotates on its axis, the heavens are no longer believed to rotate, as
was once believed. This could be a prophecy, then, about the
scientific revolution. 

There is another way this can be interpreted, if the figure is
considered a little differently. In the past, the message that men
read from the sky was one of awe and wonder; the heavens declared the
glory of God, as David said in Psalm 19:1. Now, after the rise of
science, and because men do not know the true God, much of that
mystery has gone. The message of God's glory is not read from the
beauty of stars and galaxies, and the solar system. Now, men see only
bits of matter out there, and no evidence of God. The scroll of the
heavens, on which is written "Glory to God!" has been rolled up; it is
not read by men, because, you see, they now understand Newton's laws.
Divine creation has become a strange notion to man. 

Again, in Isaiah 34:4:

   all their host shall fall down, as the leaf 
   falleth off from the vine, and as a falling 
   fig from a fig tree.

The idea of universal gravitation, that all stars are actually
"falling", just like a fig from a fig tree, could be referred to here.
Isaac Newton is said to have noticed an apple fall, that suggested the
idea of gravity to him; the story is probably due to Voltaire. The
Bible has it that stars and planets fall like figs, rather than
apples.

(2) "The elements shall melt with fervent heat"

Again, there are two possible ways this prophecy could be related to
science. In nuclear reactions, the elements, as they are understood in
terms of modern physical theory, are changed; one element may change
to another, or an isotope of one element changes to another isotope of
the same element, with the release of enormous amounts of energy; it
is this energy that creates the devastation of a nuclear blast, and
generates the heat that is used in the prodcution of nuclear power.
Interpreted this way, Peter's prophecy predicts the nuclear age.

Alternatively, the 'elements' that Peter may have had in mind could be
fire, air, earth, and water, from which ancient science said
everything was made. These concepts have "melted" under the "fervent
heat" of scientific investigation. These 'elements' has been replaced
by physics, chemistry, atmospheric science, etc. The old "elements" of
Aristotle are gone; no one refers to them any more.

(3) "The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up."

Perhaps the "works" that are in the earth refers to geology; their
being burnt up suggests a coming revolution in the earth sciences.
There are several prophecies that deal with geology, one that seems to
apply is Isaiah 40:4; 

   Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and 
   hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made 
   straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of 
   the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it 
   together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

This probably refers to discoveries in geology; valleys reveal the
structure of the geologic strata, showing the true structure of the
earth, mountains would be "made low" when the secrets of their
formation were discovered; the glory of the Lord is revealed when the
the scale of the flood and its role in the earth's history is
understood.

The prophecy of Revelation 12:16, which says the "earth opened her
mouth" could refer to geology; discoveries from geology swallow up
"the flood from the mouth of the serpent," that threatens to carry
away the woman, who is the Church. This helps the woman; the satanic
flood, which pictures incorrect geologic theories, such as the
geologic time scale, and uniformitarian dogma that denies the reality
of the flood, is swallowed up. The earth provides the evidence for the
flood of the Bible. The prophecy shows we should expect geologic
evidence to show up that will tend to support the flood theory.

Another prophecy that suggests this is Psalm 85:11:

   truth shall spring out of the earth.

Jesus said to "watch." What is it one must watch for? Isa 29:14 says,

   Behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among 
   this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for 
   the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the 
   understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

The world's wisdom will fade away; God's word will remain. Isa 29:18:

   The deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the 
   eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and 
   out of darkness.

Isa 29:24:

   They also that erred in spirit shall come to
   understanding, and they that murmured shall learn
   doctrine.

--
Douglas Cox