Under the Surface
In November of 2016, The Christian Science Monitor wrote an article titled Mt. Saint Helens’ Cold Stone Heart. The article went on to say that: The 1980 eruption of Washington’s Mount St. Helens was the deadliest volcanic event in the history of the United States. But contrary to popular belief, there is no lake of magma within the explosive peak. Instead, geologists say, Mount St. Helens has a cold stone center. In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers suggest that the volcano actually siphons magma from a distant source.
Another article from Earthscope.org entitled it: The Multi-Chambered Heart of Mt. Saint Helens in which it states that The most active volcano in Cascadia has a lot going on downstairs. Researchers at Mount St. Helens are working to gain a better understanding of the volcano’s innards. “A lot of people would have a cartoon of a volcano in their mind that has a balloon of liquid magma downstairs. Probably not too many volcanoes look like that,” says Dr. Brandon Schmandt, Assistant Professor of Geophysics at the University of New Mexico (UNM). Understanding the Mount St. Helens plumbing system has long been an objective of geologists. With enhanced imagery made possible through the considerable increase in seismometers near the volcano, they are starting to see that magma may occupy multiple chambers at various depths.
It’s interesting how a volcano can be compared to a heart, and that this “heart has a cold stone center.” How can something with a cold stone center spew molten lava, and turn everything in its wake into stone? Scientists describe the volcano as having a multi-chambered heart. We can discover a similar analogy in Exodus 34:1-4 The Lord said to Moses, Cut two tables of stone like the first, and I will write upon these tables the words that were on the first tables, which you broke. Be ready and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. 3 And no man shall come up with you, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let flocks or herds feed before that mountain.4 So Moses cut two tables of stone like the first, and he rose up early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone.
Following the worship of the golden calf Moses came down from his “mountain” meeting with God. When he saw what was happening he became enraged breaking the tablets into pieces. The Lord then instructs Moses to cut two new tablets – from stone. Why should this be of interest to us? Ezek. 36:26 compares our hearts to stone. It states, A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Jeremiah 31:33 states: But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law within them, and on their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. On both sets of tables of stone God had written the 10 Commandments. Even more interesting is the fact that Scientists and Doctors divide the heart into two main chambers: Upper and Lower Chambers. Moses was commanded by God to “cut” these stones. Jeremiah 4:3-4 states: For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: Break up your ground left uncultivated for a season, so that you may not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your hearts, …
I’ve never thought that my heart could be compared to a volcano. But aren’t the parallels interesting? In the wilderness Israel meets God at Mount Sinai, also known as Mt. Horeb. The etymology of both are quite interesting. One means piercing, or scourging, and the other means, sword. In the wilderness we are to ascend God’s Mountain to meet with God, ascending the flaming Sword of His Spirit and Truth. Which Mountain does your spiritual life resemble: Mt. St. Helens, or Mt. Sinai? Are you on fire with the Flaming Sword of Jesus and the Spirit? Do you want to be?
