When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun. | Amazing Grace
A few weeks ago, I preached the first sermon on a series in the book of Genesis. We only covered the first two verses, but in them, we see the starting point for everything that exists. In creation, we get a sense of the world as it was intended to be.
Last week, I had the privilege of giving the message at my mom’s memorial. This was confronting the issue of death – the result of sin – and the world as it was not designed to function.
While these two may seem like very different topics, they do overlap. The gospel tells us that Jesus defeated death. With this defeat, we are given eternal life. Jesus acts to conquer over sin and its consequences, bringing the world back to what it was intended to be. It is more than just a return to the beginning. In the plan of redemption, we see God working to reveal His character through the process of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Reconciliation. In the end, we arrive at a reality that could not have existed without all of these steps. The purpose for creation is not just to produce an ideal world, but to express the character of God.
When I preached on Genesis 1:1-2, I focused on the declaration of a single point origin of creation and the origination of all matter from nothing. I pointed out that while the Bible declared these things to ancient people, the scientific consensus had not reached these conclusions until very recently (or has not yet worked it out). The point is not to pit science against the Bible, but to show that the Biblical description of creation was well ahead of its time. God was showing Himself to us through all that He created.
After I sermon like this, I expect there to be some comments and critiques, and there were. One of the conversations I had was a challenge to me to recognize how much scientists have discovered, with the implication that simply given time, they will answer all of the questions of life. The problem with this is: scientific progress tends to create as many questions as it does give answers.
The fact that matter is made up of atoms was proven at the beginning of the 19th century. At the and of the century ot was determined that this smallest unit was actually made up of subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Now we know that these are made up of quarks and leptons, considered fundamental particles.
There will most likely be a day in the future when we realize that these are made up of a smaller unit, yet to be named. Discovery produces new fields of study.
Similarly, the discovery of dark matter revealed to us that 85-90% of all that exists has not yet been studied or understood. While this is a great revelation, it is one that simply points to what we do not know.
This leads me to the conclusion that we will keep discovering new things about the world we live in (and the God who designed it), while also realizing that we are far from truly understanding how it all works. It was intended to be this way. God gave us a universe to study that is not only expanding physically, but continually giving us new clues about who He is.
I don’t believe this learning stops when we die. My vision of heaven has been shaped by my understanding of creation (and of the Creator). I used to believe that when we were face to face with Jesus, we would understand everything; I no longer believe that. I do think that we will have some answers that we currently lack, but also that the earth and heavens will continue to declare His glory, as we see and understand new things about Him. And when we’ve been there ten thousand years, there will be no less days to experience God’s glory – as He continues to be greater and greater with everything we discover about Him.
My mom was a chemist. She loved studying the world and discovering new ways that God is reflected in His creation. I don’t think that this is over for her. I believe that she will have eternity to dig down into the depths that we have not yet begun to imagine to see the immensity of God’s intricate design. In heaven, all of it will lead to worship, because that is what it was created in the first place.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. |Romans 11:33–36