The shape and makeup of the earth and heavens as described in the Bible are very different from the heliocentric-globe model we have been taught from infancy. If we use the Bible as our source of information, instead of theoretical astrophysics, we must set aside, at least for the moment, what we have always assumed to be the truth. Our goal is to discover what some call the “true earth” or “biblical earth.” In so doing, we also will learn more about the location of heaven and God’s throne, as well as Sheol or hell.
The Earth Is the Center of God’s Creation
One of the first things we learn from Genesis is that the earth is the center or focus of God’s creation. This is the last thing Satan wants us to know. The heliocentric view flatly contradicts what the Bible teaches, making the sun the center of everything, which we will see later is a form of sun worship. The Copernican Principle, a derivative of the evolutionary Big Bang theory, asserts that the earth, relatively speaking, is an infinitesimally small and insignificant part of an incomprehensibly large and expanding universe, having no special significance at all. This calls into question God’s existence and man’s significance and essential worth.
However, if the earth is the centerpiece of creation, just as the Bible says, God exists and man is the focus, making him extremely significant in God’s eyes.
If we know that the God who created and watches over us made us central to his purposes, it should motivate us to learn more about him and to serve him. If we believe the heliocentric lie, it will tend to demotivate us by making us feel alone, insignificant, and hopeless. Satan’s plan has always been to usurp the glory that belongs to the Creator and influence humans to transfer their allegiance away from God to him. It is apparent that he has achieved significant success.
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Psalm 19:1 (NKJV)
If Satan can distort our understanding of creation, he likely will hinder our ability to properly discern God’s glory.
The Central Importance of the Firmament
The firmament is the single most important aspect of the biblical or true earth in that its existence proves there is a Creator. This is why it had to be one of the first things to by removed by satanic astrophysics. I will cover the firmament in another article; so, for now, keep in mind its central importance. The firmament’s existence indicates the following:
- No Big Bang explosion could have created it; so, there must be a Creator. As King David wrote in Psalm 19, it shows his handiwork.
- The firmament provides a boundary for the earth and for heaven. It creates God-imposed limitations upon us. Being rebellious, we have tried to go beyond those boundaries from Babel to the present. We are not satisfied with what God provided. We always want more.
- The firmament is a divider between earth and God’s realm.
The Earth Is Part of a Three-Tiered Complex Enveloped by Water
The Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation that we live in a kind of giant “terrarium” created by God as a perfect environment for mankind. Waters envelop this three-tiered complex, which consists of a circular plane earth with edges set on foundations, above which is a domed crystalline firmament of unknown proportions. God’s throne is situated atop this firmament. Underneath are what Paul called the lower parts of the earth.
9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) Ephesians 4:9–10 (NKJV)
The Circle of the Earth
The Bible describes the earth as an inscribed circle.
When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle (Hebrew – chug: to draw round, to make a circle) on the face of the deep, 28 When He made firm the skies above, When the springs of the deep became fixed, 29 When He set for the sea its boundary So that the water would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth; Proverbs 8:27–29 (NASB95)
This amazing passage teaches us three things about the shape of the earth.
- It is a circle. (Not a ball or sphere.) Isaiah uses the word for “ball” in Isaiah 22:18; so, he was aware of the difference.
- God placed a boundary around its edge or limit.
- The Creator established the earth on foundations.
The Holy Spirit uses the same Hebrew word for circle (chug) in Isaiah 40:22.. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament composed in 200 BC, uses the Greek word gyros, meaning circle or ring.
It is He who sits above the circle (Hebrew – chug, Greek – gyros) of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22 (NASB95)
This tent is best understood as a circular yurt-like tent and is the firmament.
The Boundary of the Sea
God placed a boundary or edge for the waters. When water is enclosed, it remains level. That is why we call it “sea level.” The boundary God created is a wall of ice that modern globe makers have reduced to the continent of Antarctica at the southern “pole” by wrapping the flat earth map around a ball. Doing this elongates the southern “hemisphere” throwing sizes and distances out of proportion. Herve Riboni, a Swiss sailor who has circumnavigated the earth in a racing sailboat, noticed several anomalies that can be explained by replacing the globe with a flat earth map. He has produced several videos detailing his finds..
Below is another interesting video on the general topic of Antarctica from a
biblical cosmology perspective that illustrates the impossibility of a private mapping of the area. Antarctica is a very strange and interesting topic which, no doubt, has great relevance to gaining a proper understanding on the shape of the true earth. Another interesting fact is something you can test on your own. Use Google Earth to draw a ring around any particular area and observe how it calculates its area. Now do this for Antarctica and see what happens.
Below is a picture of a section of this ice wall.
Early explorers, such as Cook and Ross, spent years at sea exploring its limits. Both of them traveled over 60,000 miles doing so without completing their goal. This would agree with the biblical earth understanding of its being a circle of enormous size. Good luck on trying find this information, which was once easily accessible, but now seems to have been erased from the internet.
The Bible refers to this ice wall, or perhaps the place where the firmament contacts the surface of the earth, as the “ends of the earth.” Everything under heaven lies inside this boundary.
For He looks to the ends of the earth And sees everything under the heavens. Job 28:24 (NASB95)
Another verse in Job compares the creation of the earth to a seal being stamped in wax. 
The image to the right captures this idea in which a circular seal presses in the shape of the seal, leaving raised edges, which can be imagined as the boundaries of the waters on the earth.
Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? 14 As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors. Job 38:13–14 (NLT)
The Foundation of the Earth
Every structure needs a solid foundation. Proverbs 8:29, cited above, tell us that he “marked out the foundations of the earth.” Isaiah 48:13 informs us that the earth and heavens stand up together on the same foundation. The massive structure called the firmament, which contains the sun, moon, and stars and supports God’s throne above it, must rest upon a massive foundation.
Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, And My right hand has stretched out the heavens; When I call to them, They stand up together. Isaiah 48:13 (NKJV)
God tells us that he laid these foundations upon the waters.
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness of it, the inhabited world and all those who dwell within it. 2 He laid the foundation of it upon the sea. Upon rivers he prepared it. Psalm 23:1–2 (LES2)
How he did this is a mystery; although a recent discovery at the bottom of the ocean may give us a clue. Apparently there is a form of water that is very dense and could be suitable foundation material.
Mike deGruy discovered an underwater “sea” with a shoreline of mussels that was so dense his submarine could not penetrate its surface. Perhaps such water serves as the foundations of the earth and heavens, as the Bible teaches. Whatever the case, God’s Word is true.
At this point it might be appropriate to refute a commonly used rebuttal that employs the following passage.
7 He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. 8 He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it. 9 He covers the face of His throne, And spreads His cloud over it. 10 He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness. 11 The pillars of heaven tremble, And are astonished at His rebuke. Job 26:7–11 (NKJV)
Globe proponents point out this verse to support their belief that the earth is “suspended” in the void of “outer space” upon “nothing,” with gravity holding it in place in an elliptical orbit around the sun. While this might seem plausible, if we take verse seven by itself without reference to any other scriptures, it cannot mean what globe believers say it does. When we compare it to other verses, including the passage in which it is found in Job, we see the truth. In verse 10 we are told God inscribed a circle on the face of the waters, which supports what is written in Proverbs 8:27. As previously said, circle and ball or globe are different Hebrew words. Next heaven is said to have pillars. So the heavens are supported by a foundation, as is the earth. Therefore, this mysterious verse does not undo what is clearly stated elsewhere. It could be reasonably interpreted as meaning God does not hang the earth on anything. Rather he set it on foundations. However, those foundations are upon the waters, which to us may seem to be “nothing” suitable to support such a massive weight.
The heavens, God’s upper chambers, are also founded upon the waters.
Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, 2 Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. 3 He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind, 4 Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire. 5 You who laid the foundations of the earth, So that it should not be moved forever, Psalm 104:1–5 (NKJV)
As we will see in our study of the firmament, God’s upper chambers are above the firmament, where his throne sits.
The Plane of the Earth
God refers to the earth as a plane in Revelation.
And they came up on the broad plain (Greek: platos) of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. Revelation 20:9 (NASB95)
It is significant that God calls the entire earth a platos or broad plain. This word is also used to describe the New Jerusalem that will descend from heaven.
The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width [platos]; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. Revelation 21:16 (NASB95)
The enormous size of this city could not fit anywhere on a globe due to the required curvature of the surface. Over a distance of 1500 miles, the earth must curve a total of 281 miles or 140.5 miles all the way around from the center point. Therefore, the city could only be set on a flat surface.
In more than one place, God says the earth has a face. This term only makes sense on a flat surface. A ball or globe, especially one that rotates, has no portion that we would all a face. Other verses that indicate the earth is a plane rather than a globe are found in Daniel and Matthew, where it is said the the entire earth can be viewed from a great height.
The tree grew large and became strong And its height reached to the sky, And it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Daniel 4:11 (NASB95) Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; Matthew 4:8 (NASB95)
If we accept that God’s Word is absolutely true and accurate and that the Lord would not lie or mislead us, then we must grant that these two events are possible and, in the verse from Matthew, actually took place. It would only be possible to view the ends of the earth from an extremely high vantage point on a plane surface, and never on a globe. In our experience, however, our vision is severely curtailed by how we see due to perspective limitations that stem from the way our eyes are made. Another vision limiting factor are atmosplane conditions, such as particulates and water vapor in the air. Likewise, it would be impossible for the return of our Lord to be seen by everyone on the earth unless we live on a plane.
BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. Revelation 1:7 (NASB95)
There is a reason flying machines are called airplanes. They fly straight and level. Their noses do not have to drop to account for the curvature of the earth.
Likewise, the reason the horizon has that name is because it does not curve. It is a horizontal line. In the same way, sea level describes the proven law that water does not curve, but always seeks its own level. The testimony of the Bible and our senses is that we live on a stationary plane. We are not moving.
Celestial navigation has been used for thousands of years and is based on triangulation over a flat surface using a sextant.
This cannot work on a curved surface.
We also see much too far for there to be any curvature.
The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The LORD is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved. Psalm 93:1 (NKJV)
Scripture says that the heavens and earth teach us about God. Therefore, properly understanding its shape and composition is important.
They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Romans 1:19–20 (NLT)
How can we possibly “be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) if we live on a water ball spinning at around 1000 mph at the equator, hurtling around the sun at an incomprehensible 66,600 mph, zooming through the galaxy at 500,000 mph, and traveling with the galaxy through the vastness of “space” at around a million miles per hour? God’s stillness and peace cannot be known on such a unstable and haphazard platform! The earth is still and we know it.
Becoming still like the earth God made helps us to know the Creator.
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Psalm 19:1 (NKJV)
