Isaiah 40 (Part 16) – Isa 40:21-22 – The Earth is Not Flat

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Isa 40:21

1. “Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?”
2. Before the LORD declares Himself to them in verses 22-27, He asks some rhetorical questions.
3. When the LORD asks questions such as these, there is no answering back (Job 38:1-6).
4. Have ye not known?
5. Yes, they did.
6. They could not plead ignorance.
7. The creation itself declares the glory of God (Rom 1:19-20; Job 12:7-10).
8. Have ye not heard?
9. Yes, they had.
10. God had revealed Himself in the heavens (Psa 19:1-4 c/w Rom 10:18; Psa 97:6; Psa 50:6).
11. Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
12. Yes, they had.
13. God had begun revealing Himself to Adam and Eve from the beginning when He laid the foundations of the earth (Gen 2:15-17).
14. God continued to reveal Himself through His prophet Abel (Luk 11:50-51).
15. God spoke unto them at sundry times and in divers manners by the prophets (Heb 1:1).
16. They had no excuse for their idolatry.

Isa 41:22

1. “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,…”
2. If the earth is a sphere, why does God say He sits on the circle of the earth?
3. The flat-earthers use this verse to “prove” that the earth is flat.
4. They say that a circle is not a sphere, and therefore this proves that the earth is flat.

iii.    If there argument proves anything, it proves too much.

1. A circle is a two dimensional object.
2. The flat earth people teach that the earth is a cylinder with a much larger diameter than height (a puck or disc).
3. A circle is not a cylinder, therefore this verse doesn’t prove that the earth is flat.
4. What is the circle of the earth?
5. Circle – 1. a. A perfectly round plane figure. In Geom. defined as a plane figure bounded by a single curved line, called the circumference, which is everywhere equally distant from a point within, called the centre. But often applied to the circumference alone, without the included space. 2. b. Naut. great circle sailing: navigation along the arc of a great circle of the earth.
6. Equator – 2. Geog. A great circle of the earth, in the plane of the celestial equator, and equidistant from the two poles. 3. a. transf. A similarly situated circle on any heavenly (or, occasionally, any spherical) body.

iii.    Meridian n. – 4. [Ellipt. for meridian circle or line.]  a. Astr. (More explicitly celestial m.) The great circle (of the celestial sphere) which passes through the celestial poles and the zenith of any place on the earth’s surface.  b. (More explicitly terrestrial m.) The great circle (of the earth) which lies in the plane of the celestial meridian of a place, and which passes through the place and the poles; also often applied to that half of this circle that extends from pole to pole through the place.  c. transf.  (a) Geom. Occasionally applied to any great circle of a sphere that passes through the poles, or to a line, on a surface of revolution, that is in a plane with its axis.  (b) magnetic meridian: the great circle of the earth that passes through any point on its surface and the magnetic poles.

3. Mile – 3. geographical, geometrical, †maritime, nautic(al mile: a measure of length = one minute of a great circle of the earth. Owing to the fact that the earth is not a true sphere, the ‘mile’ as thus defined varies considerably, the difference between the extreme values being about 62 feet; when taken as a minute of the meridian, the value increases with the latitude, in consequence of the varying curvature. It has therefore been found convenient to assign a standard value for nautical use; the British Admiralty fixed it at 6,080 feet.
4. The “circle of the earth” is the equator, or any other circle of circumference, of the earth.
5. If a person is sitting on the equator, he is sitting on “the circle of the earth.”

vii.  If a person is sitting anywhere on the earth, he is sitting on “the circle of the earth.”

1. The earth is God’s footstool (Isa 66:1; Mat 5:35; Act 7:49).
2. Therefore God’s feet are sitting on “the circle of the earth.”
3. Therefore God is sitting on “the circle of the earth.”
4. The LORD sitting on the circle of the earth is a symbolic way of saying that the earth is under His authority (Mat 22:44; Heb 10:13; Eph 1:20-22; Heb 2:8; 1Co 15:25).
5. “…and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;…”
6. As He stated earlier in this chapter, God doesn’t think much of man (Isa 40:15,17).
7. Israel thought that they were grasshoppers in the sight of the giants in the land of Canaan (Num 13:33).
8. How much more so are men compared to God!
9. Grasshoppers are not the only pitiful creature that God likens man to. He also calls them or likens them to:
10. Worms (Job 25:6).
11. Beasts (Psa 49:12; 2Pe 2:12).

iii.    Ostriches (Lam 4:3).

1. Serpents (Mat 23:33).
2. “…that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:”
3. God created the universe and then stretched it out (Job 9:8; Job 26:7; Psa 104:2; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24; Zec 12:1).
4. This explains why the stars are at distances that would take their light millions of years to get to earth.
5. Another reason that the stars could be so far away (if they are) is that God created the universe mature with the light already in place.

iii.    This is not unreasonable given that he created Adam and Eve as mature adults, not as infants or embryos.

1. Whereas the earth is God’s footstool, heaven is His throne (Isa 66:1; Act 7:49).
2. The heavens are His tent (Isa 40:22).
3. Even with them stretched out, they cannot contain God (1Ki 8:27).