Worldview

The movement of the heavenly bodies has long been a fascinating object of mankind’s attention. Ancient astronomers, such as the magi of the East, charted the courses of the sun, moon, stars, and even the comets. Some civilizations, such as the Mayans of South America or the Egyptians of North Africa, were able to accurately predict eclipses and the summer and winter solstice.

Not only did John assert that Jesus is the self-existent Maker of all things, he asserted in Hebraic contrasting form (the literary device of saying the same thing the opposite way) that nothing can exist without Him! No other reality exists in all the universe that can have any being apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, the first Cause.

When we say that Jehovah is “self-existent,” we are implying that the God of the Bible does not need to prove or explain His existence. In the witness of the prophets, the Lord often undergirds His statements, not with evidence nor with logic, but with a self-sufficient statement of the presuppositional authority of His Word: “for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 40:5 and Micah 4:4).

The Lord answered Moses with an assertion of His own self-existence. “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). God’s response must have come as a shock to Moses. God did not explain Himself. He did not set about to prove His existence by rational arguments. On the surface, the statement seems to repel inquiry and to have an air of aloofness, giving distance between the Israelites and God. Let’s take a moment to look a little deeper and consider the grammatical form of God’s revelation of Himself.

Finally! The mail had arrived. The elderly lady opened her front door to find the package the postman had placed there. The package was from her son; she had been praying and waiting for this box for many long years. With trembling excitement, she opened the box to find a bound book with the simple title, The Virgin Birth of Christ.

The wondrous mystery of the Triune God was on full display in the unique miracle of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the archangel Gabriel brought news to a young maiden named Mary in the village of Nazareth, the messenger of Jehovah gave witness to the wonder of the Trinity. This special birth is unique in all of human history.

The world has tried in vain to establish a one-world government. The prophet Zechariah declared, “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one” (Zechariah 14:9). Unity is an attribute of God. He is one, and His name is One. Thus, it follows that God brings unity to all that He governs.

The Hebrew word Elohim, generally translated “God” in the Bible, is plural in its grammatical number. This plurality reflects the divine Trinity—that one God exists in three Persons. In Genesis 1:26, the plural number is used when Elohim spoke: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

“God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.” This simple prayer is the first one that many children are taught to say in their formative years. Some may casually dismiss this prayer as trite and obvious, but the profound Biblical truth that it contains should be firmly rooted in the heart of every child of God. Over and over in the Book of Psalms, we read a statement of praise that ascribes the quality of goodness to Jehovah.

God is not “mixed with” heaven and earth. He “fills,” as in wholly occupies and possesses, heaven and earth! This is not a statement of pantheism, where a bit of the divine is infused in created animals, plants, birds, and trees. Rather, He is distinct and separate from it. Just as the light of the sun fills the air but it is not mixed with the air, so God fills all the universe without mixture.

The word eclipse is not found in Scripture, nor is there any record of an eclipse occurring anywhere in the Bible, but a Biblical commentary on anything, or a theology of anything, starts at one place: Creation.

On October 6, 1918, World War I—the greatest and most devastating war that the world had as yet known—was only a month away from the cessation of hostilities. But on that day, a baby was born in Dallas, Texas. That baby, Henry Madison Morris, was destined to grow up and serve as a soldier in a much greater spiritual battle, a battle that spans every age and every generation and which later would be referred to as the “long war against God.”

It is increasingly apparent that we are living in a reprobate culture, a culture that has “changed the truth of God into a lie” (Romans 1:25). Ever since his insidious lies to Eve in the Garden of Eden, Satan has been seeking to turn men from truth to error. Jesus called Satan “a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44).

The sheep grazed quietly as the sun slowly sank behind the Scottish hills. The sixteen-year old shepherd boy named John gazed at the sunset. His eyes brightened as he thought about the mission that lay before him that night. He would leave his flock in the care of a friend so he could embark on his mission. The lad slipped his hand into his homespun knapsack and felt his hard-earned money. With his funds that had been carefully saved up for a long time, soon he would set out on his long overnight hike.

Florence was a center of art and culture. Here lived Michelangelo and other famous artists of the Renaissance. The powerful Medici family ruled this opulent city, and their palace was stunningly adorned with all that money could buy. Silks, jewels, paintings, art, theater, and literature made this one of the preeminent cities in all of Europe. Into this city Savonarola had arrived in the plain black robe of a Dominican friar.

Can we say with confidence that Christianity is true and that all other religions are false? Our society today professes that such a view is extremely bigoted and fanatically arrogant. The social elite assure us that there are “many ways to God” and that different religions across the world are all different cultural manifestations of the same inner quest of man for the divine—that all religions are merely different paths to the same goal.

We live in a day of many uncertainties. In fact, our modern culture denies the reality of certainty altogether. In the thinking of many people, there are no absolutes. Uncertainty exists as to whether anything can be considered right or wrong. Truth is relative to these people, and they consider that what is true to you may or may not be true for someone else. Our modern society cannot even define male and female. This confusion is a symptom of a relativistic culture where the foundation of absolute truth is removed. In our generation, evil is called good, and good is called evil.

Our dating system in Western Civilization is undeniably linked to the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. As much as modern scholars may try to deny or belittle the fact, B.C. stands for “before Christ” and certainly does not merely mean “before the common era.” A.D. is the abbreviation of the Latin phrase “anno Domini,” which is translated “in the year of our Lord.”

Even as a young boy, Kepler loved gazing at the heavens. In later life, he recalled distinctly the day that his mother took him to a high hilltop to observe a great comet in 1577. When he was nine years old, he also observed a lunar eclipse. Despite physical weakness and impaired vision, young Kepler showed signs of great intellectual power. He studied Latin as well as philosophy and theology. As a young man, he was a strong advocate for the Copernican system of interpreting the heavenly bodies. He saw no contradiction between a heliocentric universe and the Bible. He almost became a Lutheran pastor but became convinced that he could serve God faithfully as a mathematician and astronomer.

The Book of Revelation has variously intrigued, baffled, alarmed, and comforted millions of Christians over the centuries since it was written by John the Apostle on the Isle of Patmos. It has been interpreted in many different ways from many different perspectives. For some, the prophecy is disturbing, containing terrifying visions of armed horsemen, winged scorpions, a dragon, and beasts. For others, the words are comforting, for they assure us of Christ’s final victory, His presence with His people, and the day when God Himself will wipe the tears from every eye.