Beyond the Light Years At present the farthest man has been able to vault himself into space is the moon, a very short distance indeed compared to the vast expanse of the cosmos. Sensitive instruments that have been conveyed to Mars and near other planets in our solar system have detected fascinating mysteries, but no signs of organic life as we know it. Man has an insatiable curiosity about other worlds and possible life forms which may exist there. If man finds a way to project himself beyond the moon into unexplored space, what will he find? Is there life on other worlds? If there is, what kind of life? Are beings on other worlds in possession of secrets of the universe that we do not have? Or is ours an empty universe? What would research in the far reaches of space do to our existing ideas about God? The careful student of Scripture is led to believe that there is life on other worlds. Could it be otherwise if these words of the ancient prophet Isaiah are true? “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited.” Isaiah 45:18. If this small world on which we live—for it is infinitesimally small compared with many of the giants in the sky—if the creation of this world would have been in vain, if it were not inhabited, then by any stretch of the imagination can we conceive of the Creator’s leaving the whole universe, except for our world, empty? Certainly not! Bob Considine, former N.B.C. commentator, said it this way: “We are only a remote satellite of an unimportant star in an obscure galaxy in God’s universe. Can it be that only upon this cinder God chose to put life?” According to Scripture there must be life on other worlds. And evidently, these other worlds are inhabited by beings who have never sinned, for we read in Nehemiah 9:6 that “the host of heaven worshippeth Thee.” Our little world must be the one lost sheep of the universe. Could it be that all our restless, disturbing questions could be answered if we would turn again to a neglected Book? Could it be that we could know now—without waiting to explore outer space—the vital secrets that the universe holds? If you have any lingering doubts about the credibility of Scripture, a careful study will soon dispel them. In fact, you may decide that the words of the ancient Book are as substantial as any information to be found the other side of light-years. The Bible, you see, is a scientific Book—more scientific than you may have thought. For instance, Isaiah 40:22 speaks about “the circle of the earth.” Did men in Isaiah’s day know that the earth is round? Hardly, for it is a comparatively new discovery. Yes, Isaiah, under inspiration, wrote the scientific facts that today’s knowledge confirms. In the ancient book of Job—Job 26:7—we read that the earth hangs on nothing. Yet it was only a few centuries ago that men learned that the earth is not held up by something or someone. The Bible, again, was far ahead. If we would turn to the field of Bible prediction, again we would find test tube accuracy of fulfillment. None but inspired writers have dared attempt to write history thousands of years in advance. Yet Bible writers have done it. And history has followed the schedule of the prophets as if it were a blueprint. If any man a century ago—before H-bombs or guided missiles or even blockbusters—had predicted the total destruction of New York City, we would have considered him daring, to say the least. But did you know that the prophet Ezekiel made such a prediction about the city of Tyre, as important a seaport in his day as New York is today, and that his prophecy is found in Ezekiel 26? Notice especially these words in verses 4, 5, 12, and 14: “They shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from me, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea.” “They shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.” “Thou shalt be built no more.” The facts affirm the accuracy of Ezekiel’s words. It is true that when Nebechadnezzar destroyed Tyre, soon after the prophecy was written, the city was not scraped like the top of a rock. But 250 years later, Alexander the Great came with his army to take the new city of Tyre built on an island half a mile offshore. In order to get his army out to the new Tyre, he ordered the timber and the stones and the dust literally scraped from the site of old Tyre and laid down in the water to make a causeway for his men. The site of the city of Tyre became like the top of a rock. And fishermen spread their nets there. What is the explanation of such accuracy? The Scriptures give their own answer. In 2 Timothy 3:16 is the claim, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” And 2 Peter 1:21 says, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” Either these claims are true or they are false. Through the centuries the critics have attacked the Bible’s claim of inspiration. Yet the centuries, and the critics, have gone and the Book stands only polished by their blows. The archaeologists—the men with the spade—have proved an insurmountable problem to the critics. Year by year they dig up more evidence to support the Bible record. The critics said the city of Sodom never existed. But today, under the shallow waters of the southern end of the Dead Sea, ruins have been found that are generally believed to be those of Sodom. The critics said the Hittites never existed. Today we have quite extensive records of them. They said there was no Belshazzar. Historians today know him. And so it goes. Among the most spectacular finds of the 20th century are the Dead Sea scrolls discovered by a Bedouin boy looking for a goat. Looking for a goat—but when a stone tossed idly into a cave brought the sound of crashing pottery, it was too much for Bedouin curiosity. That curiosity gave us incontrovertible proof of the authenticity of the Scriptures as we have them today. Who wrote the Bible? There are two answers, both true. Forty men wrote it—forty men who lived separated by the centuries, with no opportunity to meet together around the committee table to discuss what they should write. Yet these forty men agree perfectly in every detail. The other answer, and the explanation of this complete agreement, is that God wrote the Scriptures. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” This explains it. The Bible has in reality one Author, not forty. Those forty men were but faithful penmen who recorded the Creator’s will. The Bible has one Author, and one central theme. That central theme is the Man Christ Jesus. The secret of its power, the thing that makes this Book different from any other, is the Man in the Book. They tell us that through all the rope in the British navy there runs a scarlet thread. That rope can be identified anywhere. Just so through all the Bible runs the scarlet thread of the story of a Man. Jesus invites us to verify the credibility of His claim to be the Saviour of the world by the fulfilled prophecies of His word. He said to His disciples, “Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.” John 13:19. Our time is too limited to discuss in all the detail we would like the prophecies found in Jeremiah, lsaiah and Ezekiel concerning Babylon, Tyre and other ancient civilizations, which all underwent exactly what the prophets predicted for them in the smallest detail. God does not ask for man’s blind belief. He appeals to us to consider His divine wisdom and legitimate authority on the objectively verifiable basis of His prophetic word. “I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of My mouth, and I showed them... I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass... I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.” Isaiah. 48:3,5,6. These Bible detractors grew bolder with the years, until in the eyes of professors and students, and even of some theologians, the Bible was nothing more nor less than a collection of mythological tales. However, a change came in 1799 when the famous Rosetta stone was discovered not far from the mouth of the Nile, and its Egyptian inscriptions were deciphered by the French scholar Champollion in 1822. Thus he provided a key which unlocked the secrets of the treasures of ancient Egypt and other oriental nations....Archeology was given a tremendous impetus. THE STONES BEGAN TO CRY OUT and their testimony was illuminating. Every document unearthed served but to vindicate the truths of the Bible, and incidentally, to put its critics to shame. Honest doubters cast aside their quibbles and instead became enthusiastic defenders of the infallibility of the Scriptures. We quote from a well-known scientist and archaeologist, Professor A. H. Sayce: “Recent discoveries have retorted the critic’s objections upon himself. It is not the Bible writer but the modern author who is proved to have been unacquainted with the contemporaneous history of the time.” Quoted from “The Hittites, the Story of a Forgotten People,” page 12. It has been truthfully said that the Scriptures are an anvil which has worn out many a hammer. “The Bible is a book which has been refuted, demolished, overthrown, and exploded more times than any other book you ever heard of....Every little while somebody starts up and upsets this book; and it is like upsetting a solid cube of granite. It is just as big one way as the other; and when you have upset it, it is right side up, and when you overturn it again, it is right side up still....For a book that has been exploded so many times, this book still shows considerable signs of life.” Will The Old Book Stand?, pp. 11,12. The Bible “tells us where we are today in the procession of the ages, and what may be expected in time to come. All that prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order.” Education, p. 178. Amid the constantly changing theories, speculations, and human opinions, the Bible alone knows no change. Like its divine Author, it is the same yesterday, today, and forever. “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth:....BUT THE WORD OF OUR GOD SHALL STAND FOREVER.” Isaiah 40:6,8.