Genesis xliv, 25—“The Almighty shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, and blessings of the deep that lieth under.”
Deut. xxxiii, 13—“Blessed be his land, for the precious things of heaven; for the dew; and for the deep which couched beneath.”
Deut. iv, 18—“Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, and make no similitude of anything on the Earth, or the likeness of anything that is in the waters beneath the Earth.”
The same idea prevailed among the ancients generally. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Jupiter, in an assembly of the gods, is made to say, “I swear by the infernal waves which glide under the Earth.”
If the earth is a distinct structure standing in and upon the waters of the “great deep,” it follows that, unless it can be shown that something else sustains the waters, that the depth is fathomless. As there is no evidence whatever of anything existing underneath the “great deep,” and as in many parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans no bottom has been found by the most scientific and efficient means which human ingenuity could invent, we are forced to the conclusion that the depth is boundless. This conclusion is again confirmed by the scriptures.
Jeremiah xxxi, 37—“Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar, the Lord of Hosts is His name. If these ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the Lord: if heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the Earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel.”
From the above it will be seen that God’s promises to his people could no more be broken than could the height of heaven, or the depths of the Earth’s foundations be searched out. The fathomless deep beneath—upon which the Earth is founded, and the infinitude of heaven above, are here given as emblems of the boundlessness of God’s power, and of the certainty that all his ordinances will be fulfilled. When God’s power can be limited, heaven above will no longer be infinite; and the mighty waters, the foundations of the earth may be fathomed. But the scriptures plainly teach us that the power and wisdom of God, the heights of Heaven, and the depths of the waters under the Earth are alike unfathomable; and no true philosophy ever avers, nor ever did nor ever can aver, a single fact to the contrary.
In all the religions of the Earth the words “up” and “above” are associated with a region of peace and happiness. Heaven is always spoken of as above the Earth. The scriptures invariable convey the same idea:—
Deut. xxvi., 15—“Look down from Thy holy habitation, from Heaven, and bless Thy people Israel.”
Exodus xix., 20—“And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai.”