Have you seen the images coming back from the Webb Telescope? If not, Google https://webbtelescope.org/resource-gallery/images and prepare to be awed. My favorite is the Cosmic Cliffs, but the Tarantula Nebula is a close 2nd. When I saw them, I burst into applause and exclaimed to God, “Well done, Your Majesty, well done!” In the middle of my praise, I felt/heard something inside me say, “That was just day one.”
In the beginning, God said, “Let there be light,” and the universe came out of His mouth in a big bang of power. As it says in Psalm 33, “The heavens were made by the word of the Lord, and all the stars, by the breath of His mouth.” Genesis says God looked at it all, including the Cosmic Cliffs and the Tarantula Nebula, and said, “It is good.” And so concluded the first day.
Back in my old party days, I used to go to music festivals, and they always put the warmup bands on the first days. As I read the Creation Story, I think God laid it out like a music festival because it’s all building to a finale. And as impressive as the cosmos is, it was God’s warmup band. I can almost picture Him yawning, stretching, cracking His holy knuckles, and saying, “Light Be!” Then maybe He blew His breath about until He liked how the stars were arranged. Then He chuckled and said, “Not too shabby for a first act.”
After He created the Cosmic Cliffs and the Tarantula Nebula on day 1, He turned His attention to this little blue orb we call home. He began shaping it and creating life in the form of plants and animals, all leading to the finale. Of course, the finale, the festival’s last day, was when He created us. That’s when He got His hands in the dirt, bent down with His lips touching His creation, and breathed life into a human being. He then said we were “very good.” Ta-da! We were/are God’s headline act. But as impressive as it all was, even the best action at a music festival has a curtain call.
We know from reading Genesis that the Creation Jam went on indefinitely until it hit a discordant note. We used our free will to turn away from our Creator. Paradise was lost, and mankind was plunged into spiritual darkness. At that point, He could have let the story end, but He still had an encore up His sleeve. In a stunning turn of events, Jesus came, and “He initiated the reconciliation of all things to Himself. Through the blood of the cross, God restored the original harmony. His reign of peace now extends to every visible thing upon earth and those invisible things in the heavenly realm (Col 1:20 Mirror).”
Restated, the encore is this, Christ is in you, and you are reconciled to God. Ta-da! He’s not mad at you. In fact, as Francois du Toit says, Jesus is God’s mind made up about us! “His love for His Son is His love for us!” We are God’s idea of the grand finale and the encore! He is so smitten with us that when He looks at the Cosmic Cliffs and the Tarantula Nebula, He knows He hung them there for us. He knew that someday, some telescope would go out there and send pictures back that would delight His children. Because, as it says in Romans, the stars are there to let you know He exists. That’s it. Just His calling card to remind you of His love. Now, go Google those images and see them for what they really are, a small wonder compared to the wonder of you.
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