In Prov 24:3-4 Solomon writes, “Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” There are three things needed for this house: wisdom, understanding and knowledge. You need wisdom to build it, understanding to establish it and knowledge to fill it. This house is:
Builded by wisdom – There have been many houses built that weren’t built by wisdom. For instance, in Nicaragua, before the 1972 earthquake, many concrete buildings and block homes were built without steel reinforcing. The destruction and devastation were severe and the death toll was enormous. Much later, in Costa Rica, on the other hand, we saw many homes which were built with very light weight collapsable interior walls so that, in the event of an earthquake, the walls wouldn’t crush the inhabitants. That’s wise. Many older homes in our area have experienced foundation problems. The foundations couldn’t tolerate the movement of our soil’s high plasticity. Our soil is expansive. Yet, our church buildings are built on carton form slabs to prevent damage to the foundations. That’s wise. It takes much wisdom to properly build a house that can withstand high winds, rising water, earthquakes, and the like. You don’t just pick a place at random and slap up a structure like that.
Established by understanding – to establish, in this verse, is to bring into existence, create, make, start, originate, found, or build usually as permanent or with permanence in view, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary. When a person builds a house that’s going to last, he or she must properly locate, design, and engineer it. That requires the understanding provided by a civil engineer, a structural engineer, a mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer, an architect, a contractor, sub contractors, inspectors, and the like. There’s a tremendous amount of understanding required to establish a house. When that kind of understanding didn’t go into the design and construction of a house, you can tell it easily in just a few years.
Filled by knowledge – in this proverb, the house is filled with all precious and pleasant riches. That takes knowledge. I have seen houses that were filled with junk. But I have also visited old plantation homes in Louisiana and old estates in Rhode Island and castles in Europe and it took lots of knowledge to fill the chambers of those houses with those precious and pleasant riches. Those things didn’t end up there, carelessly. The people who filled those chambers knew very well what they were doing and the value of what they were buying. Some of them traveled the world to accumulate the riches that fill their homes.
Now, whether you’re looking at a house that is a multi-million dollar mansion or a dilapidated shack of random material, you know that somebody had to put it there. It didn’t just show up by accident. The better the structure and the more valuable its contents, the more wisdom, understanding and knowledge it took to put it there. You know that just by looking at it.
So, how is it possible when men behold the universe that they cannot see the wisdom, understanding and knowledge it took to put it there? I can’t imagine how anybody can look at the heavens and the earth and conclude that they just happened by accident. I mean the same people who recognize the wisdom, understanding and knowledge it takes to build, establish and fill a house can’t see the hand of our creator when they look at the world. That’s mind boggling.
Look at Prov 3:19-20, “The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.” The same three things that are required to build, establish and fill a house are the identical things God used to found the earth, establish the heavens and fill the earth with the water and dew. Think about it. The three things God used when he created the heavens and the earth are the same three things he gave men to build, establish and fill our houses. Remarkable. In creation:
The earth was founded by wisdom – to found means to take the first steps or measures in building: build for the first time, Webster’s New Third International Dictionary. Read Prov 8:22-26. This earth did not have an accidental, slow, gradual beginning after a big bang, as speculative skeptics who call themselves scientists [1 Tim 6:20] propose. It had a very carefully designed beginning. In much the same way as it takes wisdom to build a house, it took wisdom for the Lord to create the earth. Even in its cursed state it is a remarkable place. To found can also mean to lay the base or foundation of: set on something solid for support. The earth has a foundation [Ps 102:25; Is 48:13], which is undoubtedly a great mystery to Bible rejecting skeptics. The foundation of the earth, like the foundation of our church building, is made of pillars [1 Sam 2:8]. The foundations of the world won’t be discovered until the Lord Jesus returns [Ps 18:15].
The heavens were established by understanding – remember that to establish means to bring into existence, create, make, start, originate, found, or build usually as permanent or with permanence in view. The heavens were built to last until the Lord decides to make them anew [Jer 31:35-37; 2 Pet 3:4, 10-13]. They work like clock work. That’s funny since we set our clocks by the heavens. They didn’t just show up accidentally. You can tell when you look at them that they were designed by a creator [Rom 1:20-22] unless you are a fool. Look at Ps 19:1. If you can tell the great understanding, engineering and design that went into the construction of house, how can you not discern the great understanding that went into the establishment of the heavens? I would say that the only way is that you hate the one who made it and refuse to give him glory for what he made. Read Is 40:21-28, Is 45:9a.
The depths were broken up by knowledge – did you ever figure out where the water came from? Oh yeah. God had to make that, too. It’s already there in Gen 1:2 and the waters are called the deep. God took a great quantity of water off the earth in Gen 1:6-9 and left the seas. The water that was removed is above the heavens [Ps 148:4] enclosing the universe. Later, he broke up the deep in Gen 7:11-12 and rained enough water on the earth to flood it entirely. Now water evaporates [Ecc 1:7] and saturates the air, condensing into clouds in the sky and into dew on the earth. And you say that was an accident? You are too smart for your own good. It took knowledge to devise that system. That’s the only reasonable explanation.
Conclusion: Listen, your theory of evolution is founded on nonscientific conjecture. Science has demonstrated and proved the law of biogenesis, which says that life comes from life. Your theory defies that science and says that life came from inorganic matter. Science has demonstrated and proved the second law of thermodynamics, which says that there is entropy in a closed system. Your theory defies that science. Therefore, your theory is nonscientific. The Bible, on the other hand, is completely scientific and explains why those two scientific laws are true. Your life came from God [Gen 2:7]. And our universe is a closed system.
You are looking at a carefully designed creation that required wisdom, understanding and knowledge to build. You can see it when you build your house and you are blind to it when you look at the earth and heavens. What monumental arrogance. That is remarkable, indeed.