I was laying back in our hot tub on a particularly clear night. There were stars scattered all over the dark sky.
MY FIRST THOUGHT – Nothing has changed!
I was viewing the same magnificent splendor that the shepherds on the hillside looked at in amazement the night Jesus was born, 2,000 years ago. And thousands of years before that, my more primitive ancestors came out of their cave and looked up at the very same stars. From ancient drawings we can see that these stars have all appeared in their assigned locations at a given time each year. But then . . . .
MY SECOND THOUGHT – Everything has changed!
Science has discovered that the entire universe is expanding outward, and the space between each pair of stars in the night sky has grown bigger and bigger. Meanwhile, life on earth has become more and more complex. Civilizations and empires have come and gone. We’ve sent astronauts to visit the moon and satellites to orbit other planets. Meanwhile, we seem to be destroying our own planet as a place where future generations can live.
AND THEN, I HAD A THIRD THOUGHT…
I seemed to hear the voice of God from the midst of the stars in the night sky. He was speaking in a loud whisper,
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
“Do you think I created this awesome universe just to have you destroy it? Do you think I made you in my image for you to mess up by doing things your own stupid way, so that I could toss you away at the time of your death? No, no, no. I’ve got plans. Boy, do I have plans!”
The last chapter of the Bible anticipates the climax of God’s creation in its ultimate fulfillment:
“See, I am coming soon . . . I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
(Revelation 22:12-13)
Looking at the stars in the night sky, I am reminded of how magnificent the beginning was; I can only imagine the end he has in mind. I can see with my own eyes his wonderful first creation; he promises a far greater last creation. I have come to know him as the Alpha, the first letter in the universe’s history; what will it be like to meet him as the Omega, the last letter of the Reality he is in the process of creating?
Again, I hear the loud whisper,
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
— Pastor George Van Alstine