Prophecies of Scientific Findings
As science has continued to make discoveries about the transformation of the earth and life on the earth in eons past, it has become more clear that there are strong parallels between the descriptions of science and the descriptions in the Bible. These descriptions in the Bible have strong parallels with the scientific findings. But the Bible does not use the same types of descriptions that modern science uses for describing events. The descriptions in the Bible seem to use a more prophetic tone, mixing facts with metaphors.
As an example of how prophecy is used in the Bible, we can look at Psalm 22, as shown below (using the NIV translation).
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.
19 But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver me from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
Psalm 22 is a Psalm of David that no doubt reflects some of David’s suffering as he fled from his oppressors. But it is also prophetic in describing the horrors of crucifixion and so became prophetic of Jesus’ death on the cross. Jesus even quoted Psalm 22:1 as He hung on the cross. There are verses like 14-16 that describe the piercing of hands and feet and heart turning to wax and bones out of joint that explicitly and thus prophetically describe a crucifixion centuries before the crucifixion was even invented. But Psalm 22 also mentions that “strong bulls of Bashan encircle me” and “Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me”. Those events concerning bulls and lions did not literally happen at the crucifixion of Jesus, but they were metaphors of the injustice and violence that was done against Jesus in His crucifixion. So, this prophecy, like many other prophecies of the Messiah, are filled with both explicit descriptions as well as metaphors. Similar things could be said about historical prophecies, like those found in the book of Daniel.
In a similar way that metaphors have been used in messianic or historical prophecies in the Bible, then metaphors seem to be used in Genesis 1 as well. The “prophecies” in Genesis 1, however, are somewhat like the historical prophecies but the “history” goes even further back for billions of years. So, the accuracy of these prophecies cannot be verified by historical or even archaeological records, but only from scientific observations and forensic science about what has happened in the past. A main purpose of this website is to document the parallels between the scientific observations and forensic science and the descriptions in Genesis 1.
However, the Bible seems to still use metaphorical language when describing these events from eons ago that can only be verified from science. For example, the phrase, “and there was evening and there was morning, the first day” (or second day, etc.), can be seen as a metaphor for a time of ending and beginning – a new phase, a new period. On the other hand, there are also many descriptions in Genesis 1 and other Biblical passages (e.g., Job 38-39) that clearly parallel scientific findings. So, instead of messianic or historical prophecies in the Bible, we now have prophecies that we determine (in our age of science) to closely parallel our scientific findings. And again, this mixture of fact and metaphor in these passages concerning science is why it seems appropriate to group these passages from Genesis 1 in a similar way with other Biblical prophecies.