Majestic Splendor

Amazing new images from the Hubble telescope

O LORD, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
O LORD, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth! ( Psalm 8  )

(HT: Stand to Reason)

Filed under: Creation, God's Glory, The word of God

The Narnia Code

The BBC has produced an excellent documentary about Michael Ward’s discovery of a ’secret code’ hidden beneath the narrative of the Narnia Chronicles by CS Lewis. Ward’s book is called, Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis. The documentary is a fascinating story about Lewis’ love and expertise of  medieval cosmology and Ward’s tying this to the ultimate reason behind the Chronicles. The result is a God-glorifying testimony to the order and grandeur of creation. Lewis’ aim! There are some great interviews at the end with Christian scientists, and a wonderful conclusion centred on the resurrection of Jesus as the beginning of the new creation.

You can watch the BBC program here on BBCi, available for one week.

Filed under: Books, CS Lewis, Creation, God's Glory, Jesus Christ, Redemption, Resurrection of Christ, The Bible, The Cross

The regeneration of all creation

I’m off to Uganda in a few days for two weeks teaching ministry. This is the book I’m taking with me. Here’s a great quote from it:

“Our renewal is tied to the eschatological renewal of the creation. We cannot separate our present spiritual regeneration from cosmic regeneration because our present restoration to life is the first stage in the eschatological restoration of all creation to its proper vitality and relationship to God. We are the firstfruits.

The goal of redemption is nothing less the restoration of the entire cosmos. The scope of redemption is truly cosmic. Through Christ, God determined ‘to reconcile to himself all things’ (Col 1:20). Matthew 19:28 speaks of the renewal (the word is ‘regeneration’) of all things. Acts 3:21 also indicates a cosmic regeneration when it says that Jesus must remain in heaven ‘until the time comes for God to restore everything.’

Why must God regenerate, give new life and direction to, all things? Because the entire creation has been drawn into the mutiny of the human race (Rom. 8:19-24). Because man’s fall affected not only himself but also the rest of creation, redemption must involve God’s entire creation.”

—Michael D. Williams, Far as the Curse is Found (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2005), 275-276

(HT: Of First Importance)

Filed under: Creation, Eschatological renewal, Evangelical, Jesus Christ, Regeneration, Salvation, Sin, The Bible, The Cross, The Gospel, The word of God

The reason for the universe…

…That we might praise, for ever, the glory of God’s grace in Christ. Here’s John Piper at New Word Alive:

Filed under: Creation, Doctrine, Evangelical, God centredness, God's Glory, God's mercy, Grace, Heaven, Jesus Christ, John Piper, Providence, Substitutionary Atonement, Suffering, The Bible, The Cross, The Gospel, The glory of Christ, The word of God, Theology, Worship

The Heavens Declare God’s Infinity

By John Piper:

Sometimes I’m asked how I explain the disproportion between the size of the universe and the smallness of man created as the crown of God’s creation. The tension is felt in Psalm 8:3-5.

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”

My answer is that the magnitude of the universe is not meant to correlate with the image, but with the Original. The heavens are not designed to declare the glory of man. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalms 19:1). The point of the universe is that God is great and man is infinitely less great.

I did not say man is not great. Psalm 8 says man is great. “A little lower than the heavenly beings.” Now we are ready to see the point of the universe and why Psalm 8 begins and ends, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” It does not begin and end, “O Man, image of God, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”

Man is great. But compared to God’s greatness, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” The universe is designed to remind us of this distance between’s God’s infinite greatness, and man’s finite greatness. Man must reside on tiny planet earth in a seemingly infinite universe. And the universe must look infinite to be a fitting picture of what it cannot be: infinite. Only God is infinite. The universe is declaring that. Pretty well.

Filed under: Attributes of God, Creation, God's Glory, John Piper, The Bible, The Christian Life, The word of God, Worship

Christ and the Meaning of the Universe

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John Piper:

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Why did God create the universe and why is he governing it the way he is? What is God achieving? Is Jesus Christ a means to this achievement or the end of the achievement?Jesus Christ is the supreme revelation of God. He is God in human form. As such he is the end not a means. The manifestation of the glory of God is the meaning of the universe. This is what God is achieving. The heavens and the history of the world are “telling the glory of God.”

But Jesus Christ was sent to accomplish something that needed doing. He came to remedy the fall. He came to rescue sinners from inevitable destruction because of their sin. These rescued ones will see and savor and display the glory of God with everlasting joy. Others will continue to heap scorn on the glory of God. So Jesus Christ is the means to what God meant to achieve in the manifestation of his glory for the enjoyment of his people.

But in that accomplishment on the cross, as he died for sinners, Christ revealed the love and righteousness of the Father supremely. This was the apex of the revelation of the glory of God—the glory of his grace. Therefore, in the very moment of his perfect act as the means of God’s purpose, Jesus became the end of that purpose. He became, in his dying in the place of sinners and his resurrection for their life, the central and supreme revelation of the glory of God.

Christ crucified is therefore both the means and the end of God’s purpose in the universe. Without his work, that end to reveal the fullness of the glory of God for the enjoyment of God’s people would not have happened. And in that very means-work he became the end—the one who forever and ever will be the focus of our worship as we spend eternity seeing and savoring more and more of what he revealed of God when he became a curse for us. Jesus is the end for which the universe was made, and the means that makes that end possible to enjoy.

Filed under: Attributes of God, Creation, Easter, Evangelical, God the Father, God's Glory, God's mercy, Jesus Christ, John Piper, Resurrection of Christ, Sovereignty of God, Substitutionary Atonement, The Bible, The Cross, The Gospel, The Incarnation, The glory of Christ, Union with Christ, Worship

The Case Against Abortion: Medical Testimony

A New Human Being Comes Into Existence During the Process of Fertilization.

It is false to claim that no one knows when life begins and dishonest to argue that abortion does not kill a human being.

(HT: Desiring God blog)

Filed under: Creation, Culture, Death, God's Glory, News & Views, The Bible, The Christian Life, Truth

Indescribable!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”  John 1:1-4

Filed under: Attributes of God, Creation, God's Glory, Jesus Christ, Sovereignty of God, The Bible, The glory of Christ, The word of God, Worship