In the book of 2 Timothy, Paul makes the bold claim that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). The English phrase “given by inspiration of God” in the King James Version was translated from one Greek word, theopneustos, which Strong’s Concordance defines as “divinely breathed”. A picture is painted in our mind’s eye of God figuratively exhaling out the words of Scripture – that is to say, that the Bible’s ultimate source is God Himself.
As with any other claim, we cannot blindly believe in this claim of Biblical divine inspiration unless we find persuasive evidence that supports it. Today, let us consider “Scientific Foreknowledge” as a piece of evidence that supports the claim that the Bible is God’s Word.
What do we mean by “Scientific Foreknowledge”? By “Science”, we mean “an organized body of knowledge on a particular subject. For example, the subset of science known as “Physics” involves knowledge about magnetism, electricity, energy, etc. By “Foreknowledge”, we are referring to one having knowledge about a particular topic or issue before it was commonly known. Putting the two together, when we refer to “Scientific Foreknowledge”, we are asserting that the Bible contains scientific facts that were unknown at the point of writing. This supports the claim that the Bible writers did not write of their own accord, but “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21).
Let us now consider a few examples of scientific foreknowledge in the Scriptures.
#1 – THE SUN – STATIONARY OR IN MOTION?
Is our Sun standing still, or is it constantly moving? Since antiquity until the time of the Middle Ages, ancient astronomers and scientists proposed that the Sun, Moon, other planets, and stars all orbited the Earth, which was thought to be the centre of the Universe. This was a model known as the Geocentric Model (Geo – Earth; Centric – centre). This belief spanned various cultures and civilizations, from Aristotle in Classical Greece (4th century B.C.), Ptolemy in Roman Egypt (2nd century A.D.), as well as the Islamic Golden Age (8th to 13th centuries A.D.).
The Geocentric Model was superseded from the 16th century A.D. by the work of astronomers such as Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler, who proposed a Heliocentric Model (Helios – Sun; Centric – centre). According to this model, it was the Sun that was stationary, and the centre of the Universe, with the Earth and other planets in motion around it on their respective orbits.
Today, modern scientific discoveries have shown that neither the Geocentric Model nor the Heliocentric Model are accurate. Although Earth does orbit the Sun, the Sun is itself in motion on an orbit around the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. It will take the Sun about 230 million years to make one complete orbit!
Consider the words of the Psalmist David who wrote the following words:
“…In them hath he set a tabernacle (a tent) for the Sun. Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His (the Sun’s) going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” (Psalm 19:4-6)
David wrote these words around 1,000 B.C., when the Geocentric Model still held sway, before people understood that the earth was in orbit around the Sun, before people realized that the Sun was itself moving on an orbit. How could David know all these things, unless God revealed them to him?
#2 – MASKS AND QUARANTINE
With the passage of time, the memories of Covid-19 and the lessons learned during the pandemic begin to fade into the recesses of our mind. When the next pandemic comes, it is almost inevitable that we will once again have people challenging preventive measures such as mask-wearing and quarantine (or “Stay-Home-Notices in the Singapore context), forgetting that these measures helped to blunt and retard the spread of disease in the community.
One of the contagious diseases that the world is still battling today is the disease of leprosy, with more than 200,000 new cases worldwide annually. Leprosy is a disease caused by bacteria known as Mycobacterium leprae. It is spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and a healthy person breathes in the droplets containing the bacteria. It affects the skin, nerves, and mucous membranes of the infected person, and if untreated, can even lead to paralysis, disfigurement, and burning pain.
Imagine a community of about 2 million people living in close proximity to each other in tents. They do not have modern sanitation like toilets or running water. In such a situation, a contagious disease like leprosy could spread like wildfire amongst the population. How should the leader of this community prevent a potential outbreak from happening?
Such a situation existed 3,400 years ago, when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. Moses instructed that those with leprosy were to wear a covering on their upper lip (i.e. a mask), and that he was to stay alone outside the camp as long as he was sick (i.e. quarantine) (Leviticus 13:45-46). By using mask-wearing and quarantine measures, the spread of leprosy among the Israelites could be contained.
How is it that Moses could have known these healthcare measures, when people in the 21st century are still unconvinced about their efficacy? How could Moses, who was not a physician or an infectious diseases specialist, have known these things, unless God revealed them to him?
CONCLUSION
Brethren, the Bible makes the bold claim that it is inspired of God. We cannot simply believe this claim blindly, but must put it to the test. We can be confident in the veracity of this claim, in part because of the scientific foreknowledge of the writers of the Bible, who wrote not of their own accord, but according to the revealed will of a God who knows all and sees all.