INTRODUCTION
1. Open your bible please to Psalm 8:8.
2. How many of you like science as your favorite class in school?
3. Science can be a hard class.
4. Science can also be a fun class when you cut up frogs and insects or when you mix up different things and cause explosions.
5. In this lesson and other similar lessons we are going to look at statements in our bibles that relate to scientific information that the bible writers would not have known based upon scientific discoveries that had already been made by men.
6. Most of the statements refer to information that was not made know through scientific discoveries until a few hundred years after the bible writers wrote them.
7. How could these bible writers have written scientific statements before men and women knew anything about those scientific facts?
8. What do you think is the explanation?
9. Could the explanation be that God (the number one and chief scientist) told them what to write in the bible? Is that a possibility? I think it has to be the correct answer, don’t you?
10. Since finding scientific accuracy in the bible proves that the bible originally came from God; doesn’t that prove that the bible is more important and superior than all other books?
11. The bible itself is not necessarily a book of science. However, in this lesson and others similar in the future, we are going to read some scientific statements from the bible.
(1) Finding these scientific statements in the bible and written hundreds of years before men discovered them will give proof that the bible is from God.
(2) These scientific statements should cause us to appreciate and obey the bible, with great respect and sincerity.
DISCUSSION
I. FIRST, TURN TO PSALM 8:8. PSALM 8:8 TEACHES THAT THERE ARE “PATHS IN THE SEAS”. THIS IS A SCIENTIFIC FACT THAT MEN DID NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT UNTIL THE MID 1800’s.
1. Let’s read Psalm 8:8, “The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas.”
2. To appreciate what it means to learn that there are “paths in the seas” it is important to get well acquainted with a man named Matthew Fontaine Maury. Matthew Maury was born 1806.
(1) Mr. Maury entered the US Navy in 1825 at age 19. In 1839 he experienced an accident that partially disabled him, so he left active sea duty. He remained in the navy.
(2) Three years later, still with the Navy, he was appointed superintendent of the US Naval Observatory in Washington, and also of the US Depot of Charts and Instruments.
(3) Over the next 19 years Mr. Maury devoted himself to studying the winds, clouds, weather, and ocean features ... as well as the Bible.
(4) On one occasion, Mr. Maury was sick and in bed.
(1) Mr. Maury asked one of his daughters to read to him from the bible. She began reading to her father from the eighth chapter of Psalm.
(2) As Mr. Maury’s daughter read the words “whatsoever walketh through the paths of the sea,” her father interrupted and repeated “the paths of the sea, the paths of the sea, if God says the paths of the sea, they are there, and if I ever get out of this bed I will find them.”
3. After Mr. Maury recovered, he took God at his word and began his efforts looking for the paths of the sea.
(1) Mr. Maury studied old ships’ logs and documentation from those sailing naval and commercial ships. From these he compiled charts of ocean-wind and sea currents.
(2) To study the speed and direction of the ocean currents Mr. Maury placed out in the ocean weighted bottles known as ‘drift bottles’. These floated slightly below the surface of the water, and thus were not affected by wind.
(3) Instructions were sealed in each bottle directing anyone who found one washed ashore to return it. From the location and date on which the bottles were found, Mr. Maury was able to develop his charts of the ocean currents—the ‘paths’ of the seas—which greatly aided the science of marine navigation.
(4) Turn to Psalm 62:11 and hold your place for a moment.
4. In 1855, Mr. Maury wrote the first textbook on modern oceanography, The Physical Geography of the Sea and Its Meteorology.
(1) In this work, Maury presented oceanography from a Christian viewpoint.
(2) Mr. Maury, during this same period of time prepared charts of the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Europe, which showed the practicability of laying undersea cables.
5. Mr. Maury made charts of the North Atlantic; and as time passed he made other charts-of the South Atlantic, the North Pacific, the South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean.
6. Let’s read Psalm 62:11, “God has spoken once, Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God.”
(1) God didn’t have to make the statement “the paths of the seas” but only once for him to act upon it and search and make documentation for many years. Mr. Maury’s actions demonstrate that he heard the one statement even more than twice. Yes, even 1,000’s of times.
(2) This demonstrates how that each and every word and each and every verse should motivate Christians toward faithful obedience.
7. In 1851 President Fillmore of the U. S., stated in his annual message that by means of Maury's wind and current charts the passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific ports of our country had been shortened by about forty days.
8. In 1854 the Secretary of the Navy asserted that Maury's work had promoted commerce trading across the oceans by Mr. Maury pointing out to the mariners new paths in the great deep where favorable winds and currents provided assistance to the ocean liners.
(1) The secretary of the Navy additional pointed out that Mr. Maury’s charts and sailing directions, by shortening the voyages of merchant vessels, were saving millions of dollars.
(2) Before Maury charted the best paths from the Atlantic to the Pacific, it usually took a ship about 180 days to sail from New York to San Francisco, fifteen thousand miles, around Cape Horn;
1) but by the year 1855, after his charts had been in use for seven or eight years, the average time had been reduced to about 133 days.
2) Turn to Rom. 11:33-36. Hold your place for a few moments.
9. Another long voyage for the sailing ships of those days was the trip from England to Australia and New Zealand.
(1) They went down by the coasts of Spain and Portugal and the long shores of Africa, turned eastward close around the Cape of Good Hope, and then crossed the wide Indian Ocean.
Homeward bound, they came back over the same route, often fighting against adverse winds. It took them about one hundred and twenty days each way.
(2) Mr. Maury proposed a new route for them. Following his directions, they made a wide circle around the Cape of Good Hope going eastward,
and then instead of turning back for the homeward voyage they continued eastward ' the winds strong behind them, circled the globe, and came up into the Atlantic around Cape Horn.
(3) By this new route they saved about forty-eight days on the round trip. It is estimated that following the paths mapped out by Mr. Maury saved the merchants
and ship owners of the United States over two million dollars a year, and those of Great Britain about ten millions each year.
10. Numerous other routes began to be much shorter and quicker due to Mr. Maury’s charting and mapping that was inspired by his challenge from bible passages.
11. The world is also indebted to Mr. Maury’s discovery of the warm and cold continental currents.
12. Now, to introduce Rom. 11:33-36. This passage points out that the true source for Mr. Maury’s discoveries was based, first and foremost upon the wisdom of God and the fact that God created “the paths of the seas” for the benefit of man, as man would need these in sailing upon the seas.
(1) “The paths of the seas” and the coal and the oil and the natural gas and the gold and the silver are all blessings that God has provided for man.
(2) We need to have gratitude for our great and wonderful God, for Him having the wisdom to provide multitudes of blessings for man.
(3) Let’s read Rom. 11:33-36, “33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
34 “ For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?”
35 “ Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?”36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
13. Mr. Maury’s book on oceanography is still considered a basic text on the subject and is still used in universities.
14. Mr. Maury used the Bible (God’s word) as a guide to scientific discovery.
(1) It would be so wonderful if everyone who has a bible would use it as a guide for their soul and their day to day life.
(2) “The paths of the sea” provide another convincing reason as to why we know that the bible originated from God and that the bible is more important and superior to all other books.
15. In 1923 the state of Virginia built a monument to Mr. Maury at Goshen Pass, Virigina.
(1) The state of Virginia put this inscription on it: "HIS INSPIRATION HOLY WRIT Psalms 8 and 107, Verses 8, 23 and 24 Ecclesiastes Chap. 1, Verse 8".
(2) Let’s read Psalm 107:23&24, “23 Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters, 24 They see the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep.”
(3) Let’s read Ecclesiastes 1:7&8, .” [Even though verse 8 is on the statute, it appears that they might should have put verse 7. We’ll go ahead and read both of them.]
“7 All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. 8All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.”
(4) Mr. Maury was strongly motivated from the words of those three passages and as a result he found many paths in the seas that the bible makes reference to.
16. In 1929 the U. S. Naval Academy erected another large and extremely beautiful monument with a statue of Mr. Maury seated on it, in Richmond, Virginia.
(1) Besides Mr. Maury being a part of that monument, the words “Pathfinder of the Seas” are inscribed on the monument.
(2) Also, a bible is placed near the left foot of Mr. Maury.
17. Mr. Maury died in 1873. He was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
CONCLUSION
1. It is often claimed that the Bible is not a scientific textbook.
2. Yet the Bible’s accuracy when touching on scientific subjects has led many great scientists, including Matthew Maury, to some outstanding scientific discoveries.
3. Turn to John 3:22-24. These verses report that Jesus and His disciples came into the same area that John the Baptist and his disciples were teaching and baptizing others.
(1) The statement is made that John had chosen that particular place because that there was much water there. Not sea water, but just water for baptizing others in.
(2) In our lesson we have been discussing things about “much water” – “much sea water” and “paths within the seas” that make for faster and better routes for the ships.
(3) We make reference to John 3:22-24 for the purpose of pointing out that the bible teaches that waters of baptism are part of the route that one has to take if they are going to get ready for heaven. John the Baptist, Jesus and all the apostles commanded for others to be baptized, in order to receive remission of sins.
(4) Let’s read John 3:22-24, “22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. 24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison.”
4. Matthew Maury believed and trusted in what the bible said about the “paths of the seas”.
5. We encourage you to believe and trust in the many, many passages in the New Testament that teach that salvation comes, not before, but after baptism.
6. Mr. Matthew Maury, because he was motivated by the bible, to discover the paths of the seas, was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. We want you to trust in the bible and obey what it teaches so that you go to heaven.
7. If for any reason you need to respond to the gospel, please come as we stand and sing!
Acknowledgements for thoughts and facts pertaining to this lesson go to:
(1) http://www.bibleschools.com/courses/discov/guide02/2sec3.htm (2) http://www.apologeticspress.org
(3) the above and other sources paraphrased into my wording.
