Almost Unknown Bible Facts

Chapter 17

If you read the Bible from cover-to-cover there are certain items which simply reach out and grab your attention. These are not necessarily earth shattering items, but they can be used to reveal whether or not someone who claims to have read the Bible, actually has. Let me mention nine here. You can verify these scriptures to insure that I am not using a "trick" Bible. If and when you read the Bible from cover-to-cover you may discover others to add to this list.

1 -- Human Longevity

Sometime around 1976-1980 I was listening to the news while driving home from work. It was announced that a government funded group of scientists had concluded that humans can live to a maximum age of one hundred and twenty years. Around that age the process which causes body cells to reproduce stops, and the body then dies.

I bolted up out of my sleep that night as it suddenly occurred to me where I had read that information before. It was in the book of Genesis in the Bible. These scientists had been paid to discover something that was known three thousand years ago:

And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. (Genesis 6:3)

Incredibly, the scientists verified the same identical number of one hundred and twenty years. Chapter 19, Human Longevity, illustrates how this was accomplished.

2. Multiple Copies of the Ten Commandments

In the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones informs two government agents that Moses smashed into pieces the two stone tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments. He is correct thus far. He continues to explain that they "took the pieces and put them in the ark." Wrong! Why would they not place the unbroken identical second copy of the Ten Commandments into the ark? This is precisely what is reported in the Bible. Lets look at the history of the original stone tablets:

And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. (Exodus 24:12)

And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18)

And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. (Exodus 32:15)

And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. (Exodus 32:19)

The verses describing the creation of the second set of tables are separated in the book of Exodus. These verses are Exodus 34:1, 34:4, 34:28, and 40:20. Let me quote here the same story as described in the book of Deuteronomy, which are sequential verses:

At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me. (Deuteronomy 10:1-5)

So the second copy of the stone tables containing the Ten Commandments was placed into the ark. Each table had writing on both sides. Although many claim to have studied the Bible, few people know that two copies of the Ten Commandments were produced.

3. Both Thieves Reviled Jesus

The version of the crucifixion which you will hear from most Christian theologians is the one told in Luke. Luke states that one of the malefactors railed on Jesus, while the other said, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." However, four books of the Bible relate the crucifixion story and one should expect them to be basically the same. Two of these four books state that both thieves reviled Jesus:

And they that passed by reviled him... (Matthew 27:39)

The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. (Matthew 27:44)

And they that were crucified with him reviled him. (Mark 15:32)

The story in John simply mentions that there were two others crucified with Jesus in the middle:

Where they crucified him, and two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. (John 19:18)

The truth would seem to be that both men crucified with Jesus reviled Him. For a full explanation of this apparent contradiction, refer to chapter 20 entitled "Proofs" That Man Has An Immortal Soul?

4. Wise Men Not at the Manger

If you see a Christmas manger display with three wise men, that is an error. By the time the wise men arrived, Jesus was in a house:

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented him with gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)

In actuality, some mangers and homes were under the same roof of dwellings built during this period. The animals would be kept on the ground floor. Perhaps halfway back under the roof, steps led up to the family's living quarters. Crowding caused by the census taking may have resulted in the upper rooms being full when Mary and Joseph arrived. Finding no room at the inn, they probably stayed on the ground floor in the manger area of a house. By the time the wise men arrived, sufficient people had departed so that they moved into the upper rooms, or "into the house." This may also be the type of dwelling where the Lord's Supper occurred:

And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. (Mark 14:15)

Incidentally, the Bible never states the actual number of wise men who came to see the baby Jesus:

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. (Matthew 2:1)

We probably assume there were three wise men because there were three types of gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. That is, one brought gold, a second brought frankincense, and a third brought myrrh. This is not necessarily the case. All we know for a fact is that there was more than one wise man.

5. Why Adam and Eve Were Expelled from the Garden

Adam and Eve were not expelled from the Garden of Eden because they sinned. God would not care if they hung out there for awhile, except that the tree of life was in the garden. They were kicked out to prevent them from eating from the tree of life. Why? Because if they ate the fruit of the tree of life they would become spiritual bodies like God and the angels and live forever. That is exactly what your Bible states:

And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (Genesis 3:22-23)

These are very important verses because they prove that Adam and Eve did not posess eternal life when God sent them forth from the Garden of Eden. The Bible specifically states that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden to prevent them from eating fruit from the tree of life and thus living forever! Most churches simply ignore these verses as their theology is based on man's false immortality.

6. In the day of the great slaughter when the towers fall

No one who reads the Bible after September 11, 2001 will fail to notice the following scripture:

And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of water in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. (Isaiah 30:25)

Isaiah is a book of prophecy, predicting what will happen in the future. "In the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall," almost shouts World Trade Center. The World Trade Center contained twin towers and it was a great slaughter of at least 2,823 innocent people.

The entire chapter thirty of Isaiah describes the futility of relying on strong allies and not God. Israel's ally today is the United States, which is considered to be the world's last superpower. Putting their faith in human power instead of God causes Israel to dwindle down to a few, as a beacon on a hill. Regarding the children of Israel, Isaiah prophesies:

One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill. (Isaiah 30:17)

Then following the cycle described so often in the history of the children of Israel, they repent and turn to God and He blesses and rescues them. In what period does this occur?

...in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. (Isaiah 30:25)

"The day of the great slaughter" could refer to the coming battle of Armageddon. "When the towers fall" could place the time of this event as present time if the towers refer to the World Trade Center. Notice that towers is plural. Notice the phrase, "at the rebuke of five." There were five hijackers planned to be aboard each of the four hijacked aircraft. Events could get exciting soon. Watch the news!

7. The earth is round

Americans are taught that Christopher Columbus discovered the earth was round. However, did someone know that fact thousands of years before Columbus sailed?

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth... (Isaiah 40:22)

These verses which relate facts that man in all his wisdom only discovered many years later, lend credence that the scriptures are truly the inspired words of God. That is, the Bible contains facts which mankind only discovered thousands of years after they were written down in the scriptures. Men wrote the scriptures under the inspiration of God. Since men did not even scientifically discover these facts until hundreds or thousands of years later, these facts written down in the scriptures could not have come from the minds of men at the time they were written! Therefore, men had to have been inspired by God to write these facts since they did not know them as facts at the time. One of these is that the earth's shape is round. Another is the fact that man's physical life has an upper limit of one hundred and twenty years. Some claim to have studied the scriptures for years, yet have not detected these simple truths. This proves the following scripture to be true:

And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. (Daniel 12:9)

8. Life on other planets?

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:14-16)

Jesus was relating a parable to the Jews when He made this statement. So the sheep referred to could be the Jews. If that is the case, then the sheep not of this Jewish fold would be the gentiles. Remember that Jesus came first to the Jews, then to the gentiles.

However, the entire flock of earthly sheep for which Jesus gave His life is every human on the Earth, both Jews and gentiles. If this is the meaning of the verse, then where are the sheep which are not of this fold? That is, if Jesus died for all the sheep in the fold of the Earth, and He has sheep which are not of the fold of the Earth, then where are these other sheep which He must bring together into this fold?

Jesus could be referring to the angels which revolted on the earth and are currently imprisoned in hell. These sheep would certainly not be of this fold. That is, on the earth:

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (Jude 1:6)

These angels are no longer in the fold of the earth, so it's possible that Jesus is speaking of them. Otherwise, the sheep not in this fold could be on another planet or planets. That is, the earth may not be the only inhabited planet. If the earth is not the only planet with intelligent life, it is a very special planet, because God sent His only Son to die for the sins of earthlings. Can you imagine God the Father calling Jesus in and asking, "How often does your Father asks you to do something? We have another rebellious planet and I would like for you to go there as a mortal, live a sinless life, you know...

9. More than two of some animals aboard Noah's ark

Some question the truth of the Noah's ark story due to the logistics involved. Could the ark which he built adequately house two of every animal species on the earth? In actuality, it had to house more that two of every animal species on the earth:

Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 7:2-3)

Clean beasts are those that have cloven hooves and chew their cud:

And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. (Deuteronomy 14:6)

Some examples of clean animals are all species of sheep, cattle, goats, and deer. Seven pairs of each clean animal species and fowl were aboard the ark. When the ark finally came to rest on dry ground, Noah sacrificed some of the clean animals to the Lord:

And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (Genesis 8:20)

Noah could not have sacrificed animals and fowl without making them extinct if only one pair of each clean animal was onboard.

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