Alright well we’re there in Job Chapter 40. And we are towards the end of this series on the thought of Creation vs. Evolution. And for those of you that are visiting with us this morning, I want you to know that I’m going to be talking about and preaching about, “Did Men Walk with Dinosaurs” and dinosaurs and man co-existing together. And I want you to know that you’re coming in to the end of a series. We’ve been in this series together for a while. This is our 5th sermon in this series so if it seems a little random to you, kind of realize that there is some context going in to this. I think this should be interesting to all of us. And we will try to make some spiritual applications at the end. But like I said, we are in the 5th part of our series Creation vs. Evolution. If you remember the first week, we started with a sermon called The Fool Hath Said in His Heart. And we talked about the foolishness of atheism. And if you walk away from God, what that means and what will happen. In the 2nd week I preached a sermon called Science Falsely So Called. And how they use faulty science and that true science is something that you can observe, predict, you can perform experiments. And none of those things can be done with evolution or with science. And then we talked about in the 3rd week, “The Heavens Declare”. We looked at how nature points toward a Creator God. And then last week we asked the question, “Is the Earth Billions of Years Old”. And we looked at what the science says about that and what the evidence says. And we talked about the Gap Theory and the Day Age Theory.
Today we’re asking the question “Did Men Walk with Dinosaurs”. And I want you to understand that the evolutionary science teaches something different than what the Bible teaches. The evolutionary science teaches that the earth is 4.5 billion years old. And we talked about that last week and I don’t want to get too much in to that. And the same evolutionary science teaches that human beings have only been around for 200,000 years. So the earth has been around for 4.5 billion years. Humans have been around for 200,000 years. I’ll read to you a quote from the BBC. They write a lot about science and nature and history. In a section of their website they said “The earth is a little over 4.5 billion years old. Homosapiens only 200,000 years. So for humans have been around for a mere 0.004% of the earth’s history.”.
Universe Today wrote this “While our ancestors have been around for 6 million years” (talking about the ape like creatures that we came from) “The modern form of a human only evolved around 200,000 years ago”. So they teach that the way a humanist today when you look in the mirror or at whoever is looking next to you, that form of human has only been around for 200,000 years. That we’ve been in this state for 200,000 years. They also teach this, that dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. History.com in an article called “Why did the Dinosaurs Die Out” wrote this “The Crustaceous Tertiary Extinction Event or the KT event is the name given to the die off of the dinosaurs and other species that took place some 65.5 million years ago. Scholastic in their website teaching children said this “The last dinosaur died approximately 65 million years ago”. And here’s what I want you to understand, if evolutionary science is true which I don’t believe it is, and the earth is 4.5 billion years old, man has been around for 200,000 years but dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. If all of that is true, then we must come to the conclusion that no human being has ever seen a dinosaur. Because dinosaurs went extinct millions before man ever showed up.
In fact, in a website called Florit.org “Of course no human being has ever seen a living dinosaur. The dinosaurs have been extinct for about 63 million years before humans appeared on the earth”. So I want you to understand, evolution teaches and the evolutionary sciences teach that no human being has ever seen a dinosaur since they went extinct 65 million years ago or 63 million years ago before a human ever came on the earth. On the other hand, the Bible teaches that the earth is 6300 years old. According to the Bible, the earth is 6300 years old. If you believe what the Bible teaches, you will believe that dinosaurs mostly, not completely, but mostly died off during the flood which was about 4000 to 4500 years ago. And the Bible teaches that humans, that man was created, Adam and Eve were created in the beginning. So they were created 6300 years ago. And if the Bible is true, then we can make the conclusion that humans lived alongside dinosaurs. Here’s what you need to understand: Evolution teaches that no man has ever seen a living dinosaur. And the Bible teaches that man had to have lived alongside dinosaurs. And man had to have seen dinosaurs. And here’s what you need to understand, we get back to that tension were you can’t have both. One is right and one is wrong. One is true and one is false. One is a lie and one is telling the truth. And we’ve got to figure out what that is.
Now I believe that dinosaurs walked alongside of men and they did not go extinct millions of years ago and they were created 6300 years ago like everything else. But I want to explain to you that if humans and dinosaurs lived alongside each other, then we should expect to find some evidence of that. Wouldn’t you agree? I mean if humans and dinosaurs and co-existed together, we would expect to find some evidence of that. And some of that evidence would be:
#1 – Scriptural Evidence – Verses in the Bible teaching us since the Bible teaches us about all matters, the universe and science. So if man lived alongside dinosaurs then you would think there would be scriptural evidence that dinosaurs were alive when men were alive.
#2 Circumstantial Evidence – But even more than that or further than that then you would expect circumstantial evidence. I mean if dinosaurs lived. These huge, giant reptiles lived while man lived, you would think there would be some circumstantial evidence. And what I mean by that is evidence that wouldn’t necessarily give you a closed case. But it would kind of lean toward and make you think that maybe dinosaurs lived on the earth. You say what are you talking about? I’m talking about things like myths or stories of legends. There would be some sort of a story that was given down through history of these giant reptiles that lived with men. Not only would there be Scriptural Evidence but there would be Circumstantial Evidence.
#3 Testimonial Evidence – But how about this, there would probably be some eye-witness accounts. And I’m talking about credible, eye-witness sources that have given testimony to what we would today call a dinosaur.
#4 – Physical Evidence – Lastly there would be physical proof that could not be explained away. Physical proof that would prove that dinosaurs walked with men.
So what I want to do this morning is go through these 4 types of Evidence: Scriptural, Circumstantial, Testimonial and Physical. Let’s see if we can find evidence to prove or at least weigh in on the side of the Bible that man did walk with dinosaurs. So we’ll start here in Job 40. We’re going to look at a lot of different things today and I need you to pay attention because we will look at a lot.
Let’s start with scriptural evidence. Does the Bible mention dinosaurs? Are they mentioned in the Bible? Now, before we get started with that, you’ve got to understand a couple of things. The word dinosaur was evented in 1842 by a paleontologist named Sir Richard Owens. And here’s what I want you to understand, the word dinosaur had never been used before then. He’s the main who coined that term. So when we’re talking about dinosaurs, you have to understand that anything before 1842 will not use the word dinosaur. So you can’t say that dinosaurs aren’t mentioned in the Bible simply because the word doesn’t appear. So you have to understand that. We won’t find that word in scripture since our King James Bible was translated in 1611. Alright. So you’re not going to find the word dinosaur. But let’s look at what the Bible teaches here. Let’s look at Job 40. We’re going to come back and look at the first part of the chapter towards the end of the sermon. But let’s just jump in to verse 15.
Job 40:15 “15 Behold now behemoth,” Do you see that word behemoth? That word behemoth is not necessarily an English Word. It’s really just a transliteration from the Hebrew word. And what it means is – Basically a large beast. That’s what the word behemoth means. And this is God speaking to Job and notice what he says. He says Behold. The word behold means look at. So God is literally talking to Job and he’s saying, hey I want you to look at. I want you to behold now “behemoth which I made with thee;” Notice how behemoth is explained. He says “he eateth grass as an ox.” So here’s what we know about behemoth. He eats grass like an ox or cattle eats grass. Look at verse 16 “16 Lo now,” Notice this description “his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.” So we’re told that the strength of this animal comes from his loins and his belly. So we’re looking for an animal that not only eats grass but has a large belly. It’s strength coming from its belly or its loins.
Look at verse 17 “ 17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.” Now we get to see some indications of the size of this animal. Notice verse 17 it says “He moveth his tail like a cedar”. Now as cedar tree is a huge, thick tree. And here we’re told that this behemoth not only does he eat grass like an ox, not only does he have a huge belly and his strength comes from his loins and his belly but he has a huge tail that he move around. And when it moves around, it looks like a cedar tree. Now, before we go any further, I want you to understand this. Because at Verity Baptist Church we believe the King James Bible is God’s inspired, inerrant, perfect word of God. And today though, you’ve got a lot of translations of the Bible that are not new versions of scripture. If anything they are just a perversion of scripture. And I want you to notice what these new, modern Bible versions say about this behemoth.
I’m going to just give you a couple examples. I’ve got here with me the New International Version. Now if you’ve got a New International Version today, we’re not mad at you. But we want to show you that there are some major problems with this Bible. In fact there are some major doctrinal problems with this Bible. But today we’re just going to focus on the dinosaur aspect of it. But I want you to notice if you open your Bible in the New International Version in Job 40 and you read in the same verses that we’re reading there. In verse 15 it says this “Look at behemoth” Now it uses the word behemoth. But right next to it, and if you’ve got an NIV then you ought to look at yours, right next to the word behemoth you have a little letter A. And what that’s called is a reference. They are referring you to look down at a note that they’ve put in to scripture. This is not like a commentary. This is by the men who have translated it. Where they’re trying to explain to you how they translated the Bible and what they mean. So next to the word behemoth, they wrote the letter A. So if you go down to the bottom where you have the notes for the translators, next to the letter A it says this – “Verse 15 – possibly the hippopotamus or elephant”.
Now you’ve got these translators of the NIV telling you that behemoth is an animal that eats grass. You know, maybe an elephant. That he has the strength in his loins and the force is the navel of his belly. Maybe a hippopotamus. Maybe an elephant. His tail is like a cedar? I don’t know if you’ve ever looked at the backside of an elephant or the backside of a hippopotamus. But I don’t think we’d describe it as a cedar tree. Maybe a thin amount of skin. But the Bible translators tell us that it’s possibly a hippopotamus or an elephant. To add insult to energy, the reason we know it’s not a hippopotamus or elephant is because it moves its tail like a cedar. But they decided to add a note to that as well. They add a letter B to it and then we look down to the bottom at the letter B. They say, possible Trunk. So here’s what they’re saying. When the Bible says the tail, they realize it’s ridiculous to call the tail the cedar tree. So they say that this might be a reference to the trunk of the elephant. Now I don’t know how smart you need to be to get on the committee to translate the word of God. But I think any kid could tell you the difference between the backside and the face of an elephant. That’s pretty ridiculous and pretty stupid. So why do they say that in the NIV? Here’s why they say that, they don’t want to get mocked. Because they want to basically conform themselves to this world. And this world believes that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. And man never saw a dinosaur.
So when the Bible describes an animal that only fits what we would consider a dinosaur today. They have to kind of explain it away by calling it a hippopotamus or calling it an elephant. And when you say, what about the tail being like a straight cedar tree. They say, that’s actually the trunk. Because God is so inept at writing scripture that he couldn’t even figure out what the backside of an elephant is according to this people. That ought to be enough of a reason right there to throw this NIV away. It’s really to see that this isn’t an elephant or hippopotamus. But it’s even worse when they say the tail is actually referring to the trunk of the animal. And look, these new Bibles, they’ll tell you that they translated them. They will say that they don’t have an agenda. They say they just want to update the English and make it easier to understand. #1 that’s a lie. These books attack the deity of Christ. They attack the Virgin Birth. They attack all sorts of major doctrines. The NIV removes 16 complete verses from the New Testament. It attacks the doctrine of hell.
But here’s the question I have for these people. If you really just want to update the English, (And I’m not saying they should do this) why not just change the word behemoth to dinosaur. If you are just updating the language and want to make it easier to understand, why not just say look at the dinosaur or brontosaurus or whatever you want to call it. But here’s the thing, they are not interested in upholding the Word of God. They are interested in explaining away the Word of God. And then you’ve got the New American Standard Version. What do they do? The same thing. They put a note where it says “behold Behemoth”. They have a little #2 next to that. When you go down to that number it says “or the hippopotamus”. Which again, I don’t understand unless you’ve never looked at one in your life. Here I’ve got a New World Translation which is the one that the Jehova’s Witnesses use. When you go down to the note for Behemoth, they say possibly the hippopotamus. So again, these Bibles are just lining themselves up with the evolutionary doctrine of the Bible. Trying to explain away man seeing dinosaurs. So this animal must be a hippopotamus or an elephant. Well I think in verse 17 when he says that he moveth his tail like a cedar, I think he’s referring to his tail.
Look at verse 18 “18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass;”. If you ever go to one of these natural history museums and see the dinosaur bones they’ve dug up, these bones are massive and thick and strong. Obviously you’ve got these huge animals and they need a strong skeletal structure to keep them up. And here he says “His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.” It compares the bones of this animal to brass and iron. Look at verse 19 “19 He is the chief of the ways of God:” What does that mean? He says this is the chief animal. He’s saying that this is probably the largest animal. This is the biggest animal. This is the crowning point of God’s creation. “He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. 20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. 21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
Notice verse 23 “23 Behold, he drinketh up a river,” Again, the reference is to a large animal. When he’s thirsty he drinks up the whole river. “and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.” Now it’s not saying that he can draw up Jordan but he’s large that he thinks he can. “24 He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.”. So here’s the thing, when you read that description, does it sound like an elephant or a hippopotamus to you? I think anyone who has some sort of intelligence would agree that this is not a hippopotamus. I’ve got a picture here of what they call a Brachiosaurus. And you know what you see, a huge belly. And a huge midsection. You see these strong, thick legs that probably have some strong bones attached to them. And then you see this big tail that kind of reminds you of a cedar tree. You know this animal we’re told would eat grass. And look, you can’t walk away from just realizing that what’s being described in Job 40 and what God is telling Job, hey look over there. “Behold the behemoth” is this animal. By the way, the bones of these dinosaurs were not even found until the 1800s when they first started using the word dinosaur. No one had seen, back before 1800, the people had not seen this animal or the bones of this animal. Yet Job is describing it for us perfectly. And again, does this not make more sense than an elephant with a little tiny rope as a tail or a hippopotamus with a flap of skin as a tail.
Go to Job 41. In Job 41, there’s another animal that’s described for us. So in Job 40 we have the behemoth. And we have to ask the question, is the behemoth a brachiosaurus. Just like the kids in school love to learn about. By the way, kids love dinosaurs. They love learning about dinosaurs, seeing pictures about dinosaurs. Was the behemoth a brachiosaurus? Was it a dinosaur? I think the answer is yes. So does the Bible talk about dinosaurs? No in the sense that it doesn’t use the word dinosaur. But when you read the description it looks like a dinosaur. Some of you think that’s stupid. Well, if I lost you there then I’ll lose you more in Job 41. Because in Job 41 we have an animal described called Leviathan.
Leviathan 41:1 “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?” When he says drawing him out with a hook, he’s insinuating he’s a water animal because he’s talking about drawing him out like fishing with a hook. “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? 2 Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? 3 Will he make many supplications unto thee?” And again, the idea there is look at how big and mighty and wonderful this huge leviathan is. Can you control it? This is what God is trying to explain to Job? Look at verse 3 “Will he make many supplications unto thee?”. Will you get leviathan to ask you permission? “will he speak soft words unto thee? 4 Will he make a covenant with thee?” Will you be able to make a covenant with him? “wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?” Will you be able to capture him and domestic him like a dog or like a horse? “5 Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?” Are you going to take it home for your daughter or for your wife? “6 Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?” Are you going to be able to catch him and cut him up and sell him for meat in the stores? “7 Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?”.
He’s saying look, can you take weapons and hill this animal? Now, let’s go back to our Bible perversions. What do they say about leviathan? Here’s what they say about leviathan. Possibly the crocodile. That’s what they say in the New World Translation. Here’s what they say in the New American Standard Version. Leviathan the Crocodile. What do they say about Leviathan in the New International Version. They say Leviathan, possible the crocodile. Now I don’t know about you but don’t humans kill crocodiles? Don’t they eat them and make boots out of them or whatever? But here God is describing an animal and he says you can’t control this animal. You’re not going to get a hold of this animal. Look at verse 8: “8 Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more. 9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? 10 None is so fierce that dare stir him up:” Is that true about crocodiles? “who then is able to stand before me? 11 Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. 12 I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.”
Here’s what he’s saying. This is a big animal. You can’t control him. “13 Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? 14 Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. 15 His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.” He’s saying that his scales are so close together that you can’t even pull them apart. “16 One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. 17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.” And here’s where it goes crazy. Look at verse 18. “18 By his neesings”. Do you see that word neesings. You say what does that word mean? You see how similar that is to the word sneezing? Sneezing is when you blow out of your nose snot. Neesings is like blowing out of your nose without snot. You know how horses and stuff will often huff and blow out their nostrils.
Here the Bible is telling us that this Leviathan will do that. But notice what happens when he does that “By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.” Look at verse 19. “19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.” Please understand what the Bible is telling us here. This animal breathes fire. Look at verse 20 “20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. 21 His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.” Now I’ve never seen a crocodile sneeze and just catch something on fire. Ok, so I think we lost the crocodile a while ago when it says in verse 21 that a flame goeth out of his mouth. “22 In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him. 23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved. 24 His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. 25 When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves. 26 The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.”.
You can take a spear and probably pierce a crocodile. You can take a sword and probably cut a crocodile. But the Bible is telling us here that none of these weapons work against this animal. Verse 27, “27 He esteemeth iron as straw,”. When he comes across iron, he just treats it like it’s straw. “and brass as rotten wood. 28 The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble. 29 Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. 30 Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. 31 He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. 32 He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33 Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. 34 He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.”
This is not the only place that the Bible describes this leviathan for us. Go to the book of Psalms. Psalm 74. And let me read for you from BBCearth.com. And I’m not telling you that leviathan is this animal that I’m about to read to you but I just want to make a comparison. “The plesiosaurus is often mistakenly referred to as a dinosaur”. They make a big deal about the fact that a dinosaur is an animal on the earth and when they’re in the sea they are no longer dinosaurs. Whatever. I’m fine with that. “When in fact it is a prehistoric marine reptile that lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. It had a long neck, 4 paddle like flippers and a tail. Plesiosaurus would have owned the vast seas of the Jurassics. Some say that Plesiosaurus looked like the legendary Lochness Monster. Plesiosaurus looks something like a swimming Brachiosaurus. A big animal with a long neck, tiny skull, a barrel shaped chest. Both of these unusual animals probably used their long necks to reach otherwise inaccessible food items.”.
Now I’m not saying leviathan is this plesiosaurus. Here is what I’m saying. If there are animals that we know of. We’ve dug up the bone structure of animals that look like this. Then why is it do ridiculous to think that there could be a large reptile looking animal in the ocean or in the seas? But you say, ya but you lost us when it talked about this animal breathing fire. Ok, but here’s the thing. Several weeks ago when we were in the sermon called “The Heavens Declare”. Remember we talked about the Bombardier Beetle. Remember the Bombardier Beetle has the ability to combine chemicals in its body and shoot out an explosion. Or the electric eel that produces electricity. I mean there are animals today that spit out acid. That spit out explosions. That spit out fire. That create electricity. So is it really that absurd that there is an animal that went extinct that used to be able to do this same thing? And you say, well we’ve never heard of these animals. You know, why has no one ever talked about them? Why does just the Bible talk about them? Here’s what I want you to understand. Remember the word dinosaur was invented in 1842. So before 1842, any reference to this type of animal would not be using the word dinosaur. The Bible uses the word leviathan. But there is another word that basically describes this same animal in the book of Psalms.
Psalm 74:13-14 “13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the” Notice this word “dragons in the waters. 14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.” By the way this is talking about God. God did this to this dragon, leviathan. Psalm 104:25 “25 So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.” And by the way, did you know that we don’t even know the extinct of all the different types of creatures in the ocean. I mean we haven’t even explored everything that can be find in the oceans today. Look at verse 26 “26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.” Go to Isaiah 27.
And people mock us about dragons. Here’s what’s funny. In almost every culture that ever existed talked about dragons. That were these huge reptiles. These giant reptiles that lived on earth but people say, they are mythical. They never existed. Then in the 1800s they began to dig up bones of these huge reptiles. And instead of saying, these are the dragons that the Bible is talking about. The Bible is true. They said, these are dinosaurs and they disprove the Bible. You see how these people have an agenda. Doesn’t matter what you show them. Doesn’t matter what proof you come up with. It’s always going to be this scientific view that the Bible is wrong no matter what evidence there is. The Bible talks about these giant huge lizards. And you find bones of giant huge lizards and you can’t make the connection. “They weren’t called dinosaurs”. The word dinosaur didn’t exist. They just called them dragons. And in that day they didn’t use the word brachiosaurus. They just saw big lizards in a cave somewhere or serpent in the sea that was bringing fire and they just called them dragons.
Isaiah 27:1 “In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” Now, when we started this sermon, I talked about this. If dinosaurs lived with man, we would think that we would find some scriptural evidence about that fact. I think we found it. I think we could say that the Bible talks about dinosaurs living alongside man. And by the way, go back to Job 40 just real quickly. Job 40:15 “15 Behold” Look at. “Behold now behemoth,” Notice what God says “which I made with thee;” So according to the Bible, was behemoth created millions of years ago and then man? No, they were created on the same day. In the same week. The same day of creation week. But it’s funny. You say “God, why would you even mention that”. I think God mentions that because he knew the stupidity of mankind. How they would try to say that there is no God and believe in evolution. And he says look, behemoth was made with thee Job. They were made on the same day that mankind was made. Now, we said if man walked with animals then you think we would find some scriptural evidence. But we also said that we would find some circumstantial evidence. I mean if dragons really existed. And when I say dragons, just think dinosaur. If these huge, giant reptiles existed, you would think that there would be some sort of circumstantial evidence in the world that would say yes they did.
Let me read to you from a website called History evidence of dinosaurs and man. And I just want to read this excerpt to you because I like the way they say it. They wrote this “Dragon history is nearly universal throughout the world’s ancient cultures. Where did this global concept originate? How did societies throughout the world describe, record, draw, etch, sow and carve such creatures in such uniformity if they did not witness these creatures during their lifetime.”. Here’s what they are saying, if there was 1 place in the world they talk about dragons. But they weren’t the only ones. If no other culture or country talked about them then we could say it’s just a myth. But here’s the thing, we find dragon legends in every country, every continent since man has been alive. I mean the Native American Indians talked about these large dragons. You’ve got them in Europe and Asia and Africa.
So here’s the thing, if these are made up creatures then how do all these cultures spanning all this time, then how did they just all come up with the same mythical animal. And of course some of these legends have been embellished. But the general characteristics of that it looks like a reptile, it’s huge. They are all there. Basically a dragon. So isn’t that kind of circumstantial. Maybe if the Africans in Africa are talking about it and the Chinese are talking about it. And they are talking about them in South America and North America. And they’ve got all these myths and legends. Maybe they are there because there was actually an animal that looked like that. And people have just been talking about it. I’ll keep reading “Chinese history, the longest continuous secular history of any nation is full of dragons. Ancient Chinese books even talk about a family that kept dragons and raised dragons. It’s said that Chinese Kings used dragons for pulling royal chariots on special occasions.
The Chinese calendar pictures 12 different animals. 11 of those animals are normal living animals that we see today. You’ve got the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, the pig. Nothing mythical about any of them. But they also have the dragon”. Why would they just throw in 1 mythical creature when all the other animals are just normal animals. No, I think whoever made up the Chinese Calendar just looked at the dragon as a normal animal that existed beside these other animals. And here’s the thing, you have these legends all throughout. Let me just give you a couple examples. The Epic of Gilgamesh. It’s a Sumerian story dating back to 3000 BC or more. It tells of a hero named Gilgamesh who went in to a remote forest to cut down cedar trees and encounters a huge vicious dragon which he slew cutting off his head as a trophy.
Beowulf. I think it’s the oldest English poem or story or whatever. Beowulf was the legendary, heroic dragon slayer who lived from 495 to 583 AD. His exploits include killing several sea reptiles and a terrestrial dragon called a Grendo. Beowulf eventually lost his life at the age of 88 from wounds he received from fighting a flying reptile which made have been a giant Pterosaur. And there are so many legends and I don’t want to spend all my time on this. But here’s the thing, if man lived with dinosaur then you would think we would find some biblical evidence. Oh wait, we did. And you think we would find some circumstantial evidence. I mean if these giant reptiles walking around then someone would tell their kids who would tell their kids and they would tell their kids….And you would think that we would find some sort of myth or legend or story being told about these giant reptiles. And if they’re true and they really lived with man then we would find them in all cultures and continents and all time. Oh wait a minute. We did. “Well they’re not called dinosaurs”. The word dinosaur is a modern word. They’re called dragons.
But how about some eyewitness accounts. How about testimonial evidence. Don’t you think we would find some eyewitness accounts from credible, reliable sources that would tell us about these animals? Deuteronomy 19:15 “15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth:” Notice what the Bible says. “at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.”. The Bible says that if you’ve got 2 or 3 witnesses, you can establish the matter. So here’s the question I have. Is there any reliable, eyewitness testimony, some credible eyewitness testimony to the fact that these dinosaurs lived alongside man. And maybe they were called something different like dragons. Let me read to you some testimonies.
There is a Greek Historian named Herodotus. Let me read from encyclopedia.com about him. He lived in the 5th century BC. He was a Greek historian. I want you to notice who Herodotus was. He was know as the Father of History. The fact that we in the secular world, not obviously the Bible, in the secular world we have people who study history, write history, account for history all goes back to this man, Herodotus. The father of history. He was the first historian to collect his material systematically and test their accuracy to a certain extinct and to arrange them in a well-constructed way. This man goes down in history for being the first one who not only systematically organized materials in a well-constructed, vivid narrative. He’s also known for testing the accuracy of those materials. He’s known as the Father of History. We’re not talking about some guy in the backwoods who is talking about seeing Sasquatch. We’re not talking about some hillbilly who saw Bigfoot. This guy went down in history as the guy who invented the idea of collecting materials systematically and testing them for accuracy.
And this guy wrote this “There is a place in Arabia situated very near the city of Bhutto to which I went on hearing of some winged serpents. And when I arrived there, I saw” (eyewitness account) “bones and spines of serpents in such quantity that it would be impossible to describe. The form of the serpent is like that of the water snake. But he has wings without feathers. And has like as possible to the wings of a bat”. So here we’ve got the Father of History giving us his eyewitness account saying “I saw winged serpents. They looked like water snakes but they had wings like a bat”. So we’ve got 1 witness. So would you say he’s a credible and reliable witness? I’m not saying by Christian Standards. I’m saying by the world’s standards. Everything else this guy said they took as true and accurate. Everything else this guy said they say he wouldn’t make up. But this part they would say, “oh you know he’s just telling us a story.” The guy is known for the accuracy of the things he says. And he says that he saw winged serpents. They had wings like bats. They looked like water snakes.
Let me give you another testimony. We have Alexander the Great. The king of Ancient Greece. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. Wikipedia.org says this about Alexander the Great. “Alexander the III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was the king of the Ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argid Dynasty. In 330 BC, after Alexander the Great invaded India, he brought back reports of seeing a great hissing dragon living in a cave which people were worshipping as gods.”. Now look, everything else that Alexander the Great did we take for fact. Everything else he wrote or said we take for fact. He comes back and says oh you know when I was in India I also saw this great hissing dragon living in a cave which people were worshipping like a god. People say, oh that’s ridiculous. He’s just pulling our leg. Look, wouldn’t you say that Alexander the Great by the world’s standard is a credible, reliable source.
How about Aristotle? I mean if you go to a college that is teaching you the stupidity of evolution, they are probably also teaching you the philosophy of Aristotle. And I’m not defending Aristotle. I don’t think his philosophy is godly or Christian. But by the world’s standards, Aristotle is a very credible, reliable source. History.com says about Aristotle, “The Greek Philosopher Aristotle made a significant and lasting contribution to nearly every essence of human knowledge from logic to biology to ethics to aesthetics.”. And here’s what Aristotle wrote. “The eagle and the dragon are enemies. For the eagle feeds on serpents. The glados in shallow water is often destroyed by the dragon serpent”. Everything else this guy said is true. You’ve got entire degrees where they’re studying the books that this man wrote. Everything else they say is true, credible, reliable. Well let me tell you something, he also believed that there were dragon serpents. He said he saw them. Alexander the Great said he saw them. Herodotus said he saw them.
How about another reliable source that we look at and say this guy knows what he’s talking about. A man by the name of Marco Polo. Lifescience.com says Marco Polo is one of the first and most famous Europeans to travel to Asia. During the Middle Ages he traveled farther than any of his predecessors during a twenty four year journey along the silk road reaching China and Mongolia where he became the confidant of the Kublai Khan. Marco Polo wrote these words. He said this “Leaving the city of Yaki and traveling 10 days in a westerly direction, you reach the providence of Carazon which is also the name of the chief city. Here are seen huge serpents. 10 paces in length. (That’s about 30 feet) and 10 span (That’s about 8 feet) gird up the body. At the four part near the head they have 2 short legs having 3 claws like those of a tiger with eyes larger than a four penny loaf and very glaring. The jaws are wide enough to swallow a man. The teeth are large and sharp. And their whole appearance is so formidable that neither man nor any kind of animal can approach them without terror. Others are met with a smaller size being 8, 6 or 5 paces long.”. And again, everything else that Marco Polo writes or tells us about. All of his adventures and all those things. Everything else we say, that’s credible, reliable. This guy knows what he’s talking about and then he gives us an account of these huge serpents that he’s seen in his travel. And we say, “he’s just telling a story. He’s just pulling our leg.” Look, we’re not talking about hicks in the backwoods. We’re talking about Aristotle. We’re talking about Alexander the Great. We’re talking about Marco Polo.
How about this, Noah Webster. Have you ever heard of the Webster’s Dictionary. The famous American Christian educator Noah Webster published his American Dictionary in 1828 (13 years before the word dinosaur was used). “This work defines the noun dragon under 2 separate headings. The 2nd gives reference to dragons in scripture as a long marine fish or serpent called Leviathan. A venomous land serpent as in Psalm 91. And the devil who is called the Old Serpent in the New Testament. Webster’s next heading for dragons has the single definition – a genus of animal, the Draco. They have 4 legs, a cylinder tail and a membranous wings radiated like the fins of a flying fish”. Here’s the question I have for you, did Noah Webster go down in history as a smart, intelligent individual? Did he go down in history as a reliable source? I mean don’t we all use his dictionary. And in his first dictionary under dragon, he’s writing about it like it’s an animal that is alive. It’s real. It’s true. You say, does this prove dinosaurs? I can’t prove dinosaurs to you. Unless we all just go spend a year in Lochness or something. I can’t prove dinosaurs to you. And I’m not trying to you. They can’t prove they lived millions of years ago and I can’t prove they lived recently. All I’m saying is this, if they lived by men then you would think the Bible would talk about it. And it does. If dinosaurs lived beside men then you would think there would be legends and stories and myths in all cultures, in all time, in all continents and there are. If dinosaurs lived along men then you would think we could find some reliable, credible sources by the world standards that would give us not just stories and myths but eye witness accounts where they’ll tell you that this is what I saw. And oh by the way, there are. More than 2. More than 3. Which the Bible says is enough to establish a matter.
But you know what, if dinosaurs lived beside man, not only would we find scriptural, circumstantial and testimonial evidence but I bet you that if dinosaurs actually lived along side men then we would also find physical evidence. Physical proof that could not be explained away about the fact that dinosaurs lived along with men. So let me give you some examples. I’ll read to you from a website called Apologeticspress.org. They wrote this “In approximately 1186, King Jarrah Varman the 7th undertook the building on top of a stone monastery temple. The ruins of Tuffram that stand today in the jungles of Cambodia were chosen by one of the major preservationist societies to be left in its natural state as an example of how most of Angkor looked on its discovery in the 19th century.”
You say what’s so important about this temple. What’s important about this temple is this, there is a column on this temple where they have designs with circles with animals engraved in to the stone on this temple. And it’s a column and it has all sorts of animals that we know of today that are alive today. It has deer and horses and normal animals. But on that column, you also find this in this picture. For the longest time people thought it was just a made up animal. Then one day they dug up a Stegosaurus. And if you look at this picture, it looks like a Stegosaurus. And here’s all I’m saying, if no one had ever seen that animal, why would someone carve something that looked just like it? You say, oh no I think they messed up. They were trying to draw a bat. What do you mean? It looks like a stegosaurus. You can’t explain it away. You put it next to a picture of a stegosaurus, that’s what it looks like. Here’s all I’m saying. If they are carving an ox, a rabbit and these animals they have seen and then they carve this in this column. Don’t you think someone saw something that looked like that? Here’s all I’m saying, if dinosaurs walked with man then we would probably find some physical evidence that can’t just be dismissed. That they were actually around when men were around.
Let me read to you another one. “On the other side of the 3rd largest natural bridge in the world called the Ketchna Bridge, several petroglyphs and pictographs exist which rock art experts believe to be anywhere from 500 to 1500 years old. The carvings are believed to be the work of a the Aussie Indians who once lived in that area of Southeastern Utah. A mountain goat, a human figure, multiply handprints and many other carvings and drawings can be seen quite easily underneath the bridge on the sides of the span. The most fascinating piece of rock is at Cage Kuitina Bridge is the petroglyph of a dinosaur. This figure which was carved in to the rock has a long, thick tail, a long neck, a wide midsection and a small head. Any unbiased visitor to this bridge would have to admit that this particular petroglyph looks like a dinosaur. Specifically the Apatosaurus or more probably known as the brontosaurus.
Here’s the picture of what they drew. Next to this you’ve got other animals that are just normal animals that are alive today. And when you look at that, you think it looks like a dragon to me. Looks like a dinosaur to me. Now the person that drew this didn’t call it a dinosaur. But they drew it because they saw it. They saw it and one day they decided they wanted to draw and they drew a mountain goat and a human figure. They drew their handprint. And then they drew this. Why would they do that? Isn’t that kind of physical evidence. If no human has ever seen them since they supposedly died off 63 million years ago, why would a human just imagine something. And by the way, they tell us that these are 500 to 1500 year old carvings. Dinosaurs were found in the 1800s. These Indians according to their evolutionary theory never saw that animal yet they drew it.
Let me read for you another one “On 2 occasions in the late 1800s, Dr. Samuel Hubbard, curator of archaeology of the Oakland Museum, visited an area of the Grand Canyon known as the Havasupai Canyon. Hubbard observed many curious inspections of the canyon walls during these trips. On a particular rock wall on the Havasupai Canyon just above the group if ibex inscriptions is a carving of an elephant. The remains of the elephant are very common all over North America from Alaska to Mexico. Furthermore as noted earlier in our discussion of the Natural Bridge Rock Art, inscriptions that resemble elephants or mammoths are not unusual in the west. Undoubtedly elephants once roamed North America. Considering however the implications of elephants and mammoth rock art. For the ancients to have drawn images of these native creatures with long trunks, it is reasonable to conclude that with the ibex that Native Americans must have seen elephants.”
Let me stop and explain. What they’re saying is this, the fact that we find drawings of elephants all over North America (although elephants don’t live in North America today) but the fact that these elephants and mammoths are drawn proves they lived here at some point and these Indian people saw them and drew them. Now that’s logical. They go on to say this “Although ancient American elephants in ibex art is fascinating in and of itself, as is the American rhino carved on a rock wall near Moab, Utah, what caught Hubbard’s attention more than anything at the Havasupai was a figure cut in to the sandstone must more deeply than the elephant. It’s height was 11.2 inches, had a neck approximately 5.1 inches in length and a tail right at 9.1 inches. Hubbard photographed the petroglyph. What kind of animal is it? What kind of animal had a long neck, long tail and once roamed northern Arizona. Dr. Hubbard believed that he had found an ancient drawing of a dinosaur. And I’ve got a picture here of what he found. And you know the New King James translators and the NIV translators and say, well it’s obviously a hippopotamus. But I don’t think so. It’s got a long neck, long tail and big belly. Sounds like Behemoth.
“The fact that some pre-historic man made a pictograph of a dinosaur on the wall of this canyon upsets completely all of our theories of the antiquity of man. The fact that the animal is upright and balanced on its tail would seem to indicate that the pre-historic artist must have seen it alive. Evidence that dinosaurs were in the vicinity is proved by the tracks which were identified by Mr. Gilmore a vertebrae paleontologist and renowned dinosaur fossil hunter as belonging to one of the carnivorous dinosaurs. According to Hubbard, these tracks were in the painted desert not over 100 miles from the picture.”. Here’s what he’s saying. We know that a dinosaur that looked like this roamed in that area. And then they find a drawing of one that a native American did 1,000 years ago. Once again we have a carving of an animal that looks more like a dinosaur than any other animal. What’s more, all of the evidence points toward the carving being genuine. Finally, fossil footprints prove that dinosaurs once lived in the same general area of the dinosaur like rock art. Yet again we ask how can a man draw such an accurate picture of an animal that he supposedly had never seen. The answer to that question is that the Indians that drew this picture did see that. Because dinosaurs lived alongside men just like the Bible says.
I’m out of time but I’ve got articles here about the fact that they have found soft tissue on dinosaur bones. Go back to Job 40 and you can look that up or I can talk to you about it after the service if you like. They’ve actually found soft tissue in bones they dug up. Look, if they found soft tissue then that tells you it’s not millions of years old. And there are articles about that and you can look at that if you want. You say, what’s the point of the sermon? The Bible can be trusted. The word of God can be trusted. “Are you trying to prove to us that dinosaurs lived with man?”. I can’t prove that but all I’m telling is that if dinosaurs lived with men then the Bible would talk about it. And it does. If dinosaurs lived with men then there would be stories about it. And there are. If dinosaurs lived with men, we could find eye-witness testimony accounts from reliable, credible sources. And we have those. And if dinosaurs lived with man then we would find physical evidence that cannot be refuted and we have. There are ancient Indians that drew elephants and mammoths and we know those lived here in North America. And they also drew dinosaurs. And we see them in Cambodia. And I just gave you a few examples. There are tons of examples. Do your own research.
You say what can we learn from this? Are you in Job 40? Job 40:1 “Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said, 2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. 3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. 5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. 6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 8 Wilt thou also disannul” The word disannul means to make void or invalidate. “Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? 9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? 10 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
11 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. 12 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. 13 Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret. 14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.”
Look at verse 19 real quickly “19 He is the chief of the ways of God:” Talking about behemoth “he that made him” He that made who? Behemoth “he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.” See, why did God give us Job 40? He didn’t give us Job 40 to prove dinosaurs. It’s a secondary thing that we learn from the passage. What God is saying to Job is this, look at behemoth. Look at leviathan. Can you whoop that animal? Because I can. Do you understand what he’s saying. Look at verse 19. “He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.”. He’s saying that you can’t beat him. You can’t kill him. You can’t go toe to toe with him. But I can. That’s what God is saying. I can. Because I created him.
Go to Isaiah 27. Isaiah 27:1 “In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan” Remember he said, leviathan can’t be fished out. You can’t harm him with your sword. You can’t destroy him. But God says that he can. “In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.”. Go to Revelation. It’s funny because leviathan was a real animal that lived on earth. But leviathan is often used as a representation of none other than Satan. Revelation 12:9 says this, “9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”.
Here’s what God is saying, if I created such a great animal. And I can destroy such a great animal. Who are you to argue with me? You know what, as Bible believing Christians, you say “I believe the Bible. I believe the Bible talks about a creature named leviathan and behemoth. I believe the Bible testifies that animals walked with man and dragons really did exist and breathe fire”. Then look, if you believe it about that then why don’t you believe it about the way you dress. Or the way you raise your children. Or the way you have your marriage. Or you how you run your finances, or how you spend your time or how you steward the talents that God has given you. Here’s what God is saying, if I can control leviathan. If I can control leviathan then you should quit trying to disannul my judgment. You should just step in line. If leviathan respects me. If Behemoth respects me. If they do what I tell them to do, you should too. That’s what he’s telling Job. And that’s what he’s telling us. So if all of this is true then just step in line and say God, you’re in charge. I can’t beat up this thing but if you can then yes sir. I can’t beat up Satan but if you can then you’re in charge. I’ll do what you tell me to do.
Let’s pray.