Share This Article
Table of Contents
The waters have boundaries
In this article we are going to consider the fact that the waters on the earth have boundaries and the earth is a plain.
“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed? Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.” Job 38:8-14.
Like clay under a seal
Did you notice how the earth is compared to clay under a seal? In the Genesis account, we read:
“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.” Gen. 1:9.
“He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.” Ps. 33:7.
Interesting! How does water that is on a (supposed) globe get collected together? And how does it take shape if it is spinning around at an enormous speed?
The borders of the earth
The Bible clearly testifies that the waters have boundaries – they have their set places:
“Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.” Ps. 104:9.
The earth is also encompassed by boundaries, and the solid heavenly Firmament is spread to the ends of it.
“Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.” Ps. 74:17.
The earth is spread abroad by God’s might and it testifies, along with the Firmament, of His creative power.
“Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself…” Isa. 44:24.
See also Isaiah 42:5.
The width of the earth
The earth has a definite width:
“Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.” Job. 38:18.
In a prophecy about the wicked who are going to encompass the city of the saints round about in the day of vengeance, it is said:
“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city…” Rev. 18:9.
The word used for “breadth” here is Platos (G4114) which means “a broad plain”, “width”, and “breadth”.
“To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.” Ps. 136:6.
“Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it…” Isa. 42:5.
There are boundaries which encircle the waters of the earth:
“He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.” Job 26:10.
Beneath the Firmament
Nature of the bounds that bind up the water beneath the Firmament:
Some ask what the nature of these bounds is, that they are so fixed. We find the answer in the Bible:
“The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.” Job 38:30.
From these verses, we can rightly conclude the bounds that are fixed by the Lord are the everlasting mountains of ice. He has covered the waters, “the face of the deep” (on which He founded the earth), with an impregnable wall of ice.
An eyewitness account
Here we must include an excerpt from an eyewitness account of surviving navigators who have gone on expeditions and seen this wall. Here is how Capt. Wilkes who traveled the South Seas describes it:
“On the 16th of January, 1840, our vessels were in longitude 150° 4 6 ‘ E., latitude 65° 8 ‘ S. This night we were beating with frequent tacks, in order to gain as much southing as possible. Previous to it becoming broad daylight, the fog rendered everything obscure, even at a short distance from the ship.
I knew that we were in close proximity to icebergs and field ice, but from the report of the lookout at sunset, I believed that there was an opening or large bay leading to the southward. The ship had rapid way on her, and was much tossed about when in an instant all was still and quiet; the transaction was so sudden that many were awakened from a sound sleep, and all well knew from the short experience we had had, that the sensation of sound and motion usual at sea, was proof that we had run within the walls of ice — an occurence from which the feeling of great danger is inseparable…
The ship, which a moment before seemed as if unpeopled, from the stillness of all on board, was instantly alive with the bustle of performing the evolution necessary to bring her to the wind, which was unfavorable to return on the same tack by which we had entered. After a quarter of an hour, the ice was again made ahead, and the full danger of our situation was realized.
The last two days we had very many beautiful snow-white petrels about. The character of the ice and snow became entirely changed; the tabular formed icebergs prevailed, and there was comparatively little field ice. Some of the bergs were of magnificent dimensions, one-third of a mile in length, and from 150 to 200 feet high, with sides perfectly smoothed as though they had been chiseled, others again, exhibiting lofty arches of many colored tints, leading into deep caverns, open to the swell of the sea, which rushing in, produced loud and distant thunderings.
A little further onward would be seen a vast fissure, as if some valuable force had rent in twain these mighty masses. Every noise on board, even our own voices, reverberated from the massive and pure white walls. The tabular bergs are like masses of beautiful alabaster; a verbal description of them can do little to convey the reality to the imagination of one who has not been among them. The time and circumstances under which we were viewing them, threading our way through these vast bergs, we knew not to what end, left an impression on me of these icy and desolate regions that can never be forgotten.” — by Charles Wilkes, “Arctic Cruise”, chap. 17, pp. 134-198.