Our canon of Scripture opens with the God of Heaven and Earth creating His said heavens and earth. We are given but glimpses to the working process of the Master Craftsman,[1] and yet time and telescopes to explore His creation. Lives and centuries have been dedicated to space exploration, and we’re still just getting to know the galaxy we’re in—not to mention hardly wrapping our minds around how many more there might be. We will literally still be scratching our heads and sending our satellites out till kingdom come. Space is meant to blow our minds. It’s also meant to reassure us.
We know the sun will rise tomorrow, because it rises every morning. His word is just as sure, and His mercies are as renewable as the day. Just because we understand the mechanics of orbit doesn’t mean we have any less to rest in. The waves will stop where He tells them to, never before nor breaching the boundaries He sets by His word. The clouds will wrap the waters like a garment just the way He tells them to.[2] He escorts every star, remembering every name He has given them, no matter the condescension required of Him to do so.[3] The sun, moon and stars are His. The ever-expanding cosmos is but a decree of His command, yet they are too small to contain Him.[4] Every burning light in the night sky marks His mercy, a submissive possession in His hand. Every rotating planet, every soaring meteor, every growing galaxy is a testimony to His word.[5]
When He told Abraham about his sons who would carry the covenant for generations to come, He told the man to walk outside at night and try to count the stars.[6] When He confirmed His commitment to give that man from Ur the seed, land and blessing He first promised, He pointed to the universe.[7] When challenged by Job’s buddies and Jacob’s accusers, He invited them to figure out exactly how He made the worlds work.[8] When Jerusalem’s sins had stained the world with scarlet, He illustrated her covenantal security in the cosmos.[9] When His people began to wonder if He’d forgotten about His promises, He cited Genesis 1 in His résumé to prove His reliability.[10]
What we see through the Hubble, a humble telescope and our naked eye in the middle of the night is there to move our hearts to wonder. All of created order is.[11] It’s also there to serve as a witness to His word, to worship when we fail to.[12] The existence of every sun, star, moon and planet is knit to the veracity of the Everlasting Covenant, the surety of His Word, and His commitment to everything He began in Hebron.[13] When we suggest we may know more than He does, the stars burn in the black sky. When we wonder if He has perhaps let injustices go unpunished, the sun rises the next morning to remind us He isn’t finished yet. When we count the sins of our brother, He asks us to count the stars and compare our tally marks to His. When we remind him of Israel’s guilt and folly for the new millennia she’s rejected her Messiah, He points us to His servants in the heavens for a cross-check.
Nothing in the skies will move nor shake till He tells them to. No black hole is going to absorb the sun until His covenant is confirmed. The cosmos won’t roll into a scroll until He’s fulfilled every word He’s ever spoken to us. Abraham will see the city he sought; his seed will inhabit the land and lie down in safety; Jerusalem will shine something like jasper and the glory of the LORD Himself will put both the sun and moon to shame.[14] But not until He says, and never too late.
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[1] See Proverbs 8:22-31; Colossians 1:16-17
[2] Job 38:9
[3] Psalm 147:4
[4] See I Kings 8:27; II Chronicles 6:18; Isaiah 40:22; 66:1-2; Acts 17:24; I Timothy 6:16
[5] See Genesis 1:1-19; John 1:1-5,10
[6] Genesis 15:5; 22:17
[7] Jeremiah 31:31-37
[8] Job 38:1-7
[9] Jeremiah 31:31-37
[10] See Isaiah 41
[11] Psalm 121:2; 146:6; Isaiah 51:13
[12] Job 38:7; Luke 19:40
[13] See Genesis 15
[14] Isaiah 24:23; Revelation 6:22-23