MEASUREMENTS
God asked Job another important question concerning the earth,
“Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath
stretched the line upon it?” (Job 38:5) Measurements are vital to
an architect when designing a building. Not only must the building
itself have proper proportionate measurements, but these must be
related to the surrounding objects and circumstances.
So it was in the design of the earth. The great Architect chose
measurements in every way suitable to the purpose of his design.
The diameter of the earth is approximately 8,000 miles. The
importance of this measurement is appreciated only when it is
compared with the smaller size of the moon, and with the much
larger sizes of Jupiter and Saturn.
Earth’s oceans, it is believed, resulted from water vapor thrown
out in earth’s early stages of formation when it was a hot mass.
The diameter of the earth would therefore determine the amount of
this vapor as related to its surface measurement. In the case of
the moon, being much smaller, the amount of water resulting from
its gases was so small that it was completely dried up as the moon
cooled, with the result that there is no water on the moon.
Scientists tell us, on the other hand, that planets the size of
Jupiter and Saturn gave off such huge quantities of water vapor
that their land masses are completely submerged under great depths
of either water or ice. If the earth was to be habitable for man,
it had to be the correct size, and the Divine Architect knew what
that measurement would need to be.
Also, the distance from the sun had to be just right in order
that the earth might be properly warmed, but not made too hot. The
sun is about 91 million miles from the earth. Scientists tell us
that should the sun be removed to 120 million miles away, we would
all freeze to death. Or, if the sun were brought to within 60
million miles of the earth, we would all be burned to death; that
even vegetation would be destroyed by the heat.
We see further in the Bible’s description of Earth as a
habitable home for man, the orderly, intelligent design of the
Father’s work. The six epoch days of Genesis are not twenty-four
hour days, but long epochs. In each period a goal is reached in
preparing earth for habitation.