The most recent issue of National Geographic magazine has an article with the latest photos from the Hubble telescope. Included is one shot taken of an area of the universe once thought to be relatively empty. The author of the article stated the area observed was equivalent to viewing a grain of sand at arm’s length. The telescope had to be aimed there for several days to gather enough light so that it would register on the highly sensitive film.
The photo is covered with hazy blobs of light interspersed with white pinpoints. The pinpoints are individual stars. And the “blobs”? Those are galaxies, each one containing tens of billions of stars. Empty space, you say?
The photo is entitled “Worlds Without End.” That sounds familiar. Let’s see. Ephesians 3:20-21, isn’t it? “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
The apostle Paul tells us that creation is one of God’s preachers: “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20).
God continues to speak to His creatures through creation. How eloquently He declares Himself to the human race. From the quarks and neutrinos in the subatomic world to megastars large enough to swallow our solar system, the Lord declares that His power is sufficient to do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” according to the power that works in us.
God not only thunders His power but whispers His Godhead through creation as it progressively unfolds around us. What kind of a God is He? He is a generous God. Who else would give us 90,000 different butterflies and moths? Who but our God would paint a different sunset every night and spread a thousand foods before us? Who else would decorate the ocean floor and the farthest reaches of deep space, unseen by man until our generation? Surely God is speaking!
God speaks as well today through conscience for His Spirit has been sent out to the darkest hiding places of humanity to “…reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (Jn. 16:8). He speaks as well–in no uncertain terms–to the believer, and we must not “quench” His holy influence in our lives.
Heaven also speaks through circumstances. This chapter in the book of God is often the most largely written but the most difficult to decipher. As in Job’s case, that God is speaking may be obvious; what God is saying is often an enigma.
The Lord sometimes speaks by being silent. Some of His most eloquent declarations are given when He says nothing. Think of the 400 years of silence, broken only when the Word became flesh. Try to understand, if you will, the silence of the three hours of darkness at the cross, pierced by that unanswered cry torn from the Saviour’s heart. Think of the silence of God in this present day, when His longsuffering grace holds back His wrath, soon to break on a world that defies Him to His face and spurns His love. And what of that agonizing half-hour of silence ushered in by the breaking of the seventh seal (Rev. 8:1)? It seems there is nothing left to say.
Although heaven is silent in mercy today, heaven’s ambassadors are not. God speaks through His people: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). Then be careful! says Peter. “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Pet. 4:11).
Are there prophets today? Not in the primary sense. If prophesy is meant as it is used in 1 Corinthians 14:3–proclaiming the Word so that it ministers to present need and thus edifies, exhorts, and comforts–then of course it is still exercised and we need it as never before. But the church is built on the foundation of the prophets. Their work was done when the Bible was complete. Now the teachers utilize the prophets’ written ministry to point us to our Saviour, God’s only complete revelation of Himself (see 2 Pet. 1:21-2:1).