SPACE & TIME

Space & Time

The title sequence of the old Star Trek television series began with the words, ‘Space, the final frontier.’ The Starship Enterprise’s Captain James T. Kirk was to be to outer-space as were Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett to the American frontier! But what is space, this ‘final frontier’?

The Bible refers to space as ‘the heavens’, e.g. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ and ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork’ Genesis 1:1 & Psalm 19:1. We see then that space is something that God made and we see that He made it in the beginning of time. Thus, both time and space are creatures that God created. Unlike God, neither is eternal. Time began the very moment God created space into which He placed matter.

Vincent van Gogh putting his The Starry Night on canvas is a faint reflection of God creating the heavens and the earth in space and time. ‘He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name’ Psalm 147:4. Truly the heavens do declare the glory of God, ‘“To whom will you compare Me? Or who is My equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing’ Isaiah 40:25-26. But why did God create space and time?

We’ve already seen that God created the heavens for His own glory. However, Scripture reveals that God is also the great ‘Watchmaker’. ‘Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years…”’ Genesis 1:14. Therefore to explore outer-space is to explore the inner-workings of God’s great cosmic clock! Is the ‘final frontier’ a cuckoo clock then? Or is it like William Paley’s old fob-watch with Roman numerals on its face? Or a LED (Light Emitting Diode) digital watch perhaps? As you trek the starry night does the ‘final frontier’ contain other planets capable of sustaining alien life-forms? On your happy trails will you wrestle a ‘Martian’ as Davy Crockett wrestled a bear?

As you ride the ridges of space keep the following verse in mind, ‘The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth He has given to mankind’ Psalm 115:16. Plant a flag on the moon, on Mars, and fly ‘to infinity and beyond’, but always remember who made the ‘final frontier’ and who owns it. Joseph said, ‘Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me’ Genesis 37:9b. One greater than Joseph is here! Everything bows before Him. ‘Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’ Philippians 2:9-11. ‘But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman’ Galatians 4:4. Jesus is the ‘heavenly Man’ 1 Corinthians 15:48.  He said, ‘I am from above … I am not of this world’ John 8:23.

Space and time belong to Jesus. Nay, Jesus is space and time! He is the ‘final frontier’. Explore Him!