In the Bible, they didn’t think
like this, since they didn’t have that bird’s eye view. This strikes us when we hear that Jesus went “up
to Jerusalem from Galilee.” Up? Galilee is north of Jerusalem. Isn’t that down to? Not if one is considering Jerusalem as being
on a mountain, so going up makes sense from the sea-level towns around the lake
of Galilee.
Mountains, of course, hold a
prominent place in the Scriptures: Abraham went up the Mount of Moriah to
sacrifice Isaac; Moses went up Mount Sinai to speak to the Lord; Elijah hid in
the cave on the mountain as he fled Jezebel, and then heard the Lord whispering
to him; Jesus ascended to heaven from the mountain near Bethany.
And so we are faced with the
situation of knowing that the sky is only a precursor to a broader space, and
outer space, that stretches beyond the solar system, into the galaxy, and
beyond to the universe of billions of galaxies. Jesus did not ascend to some
planetary system beyond our own, though to the eyes of the apostles He did go
up. The people of the Bible had no idea
of how the universe was composed, with its stars of immense size and number.
God accommodated Himself to them when He spoke “from heaven”, as when Ezekiel
saw the Lord enthroned in the “heavens” and Daniel saw the Son of Man coming on
the clouds of heaven. Heaven is not in the sky; though it is beyond our
reach. And isn’t that the point?
God certainly speaks from heaven,
but it is not a place like anything to which we can climb. It is a different state of existence beyond
this earth, and even beyond the multitude of galaxies and stars that bless us with
their lights at night. We could more
easily jump from earth to Polaris than make an effort that brought us to the
dwelling of God in Himself… without His help and grace. I would concede to non-believers and atheists
that the Bible is lacking in scientific accuracy; it is not designed to be a
science book. What it does do is use the ordinary images of those who wrote and
read the texts in the original books to explain a mystery that is different
than anything we might discover from our own investigations.
Isn’t this the way that Jesus used
ordinary, everyday images to reveal the profound truths of the Gospel? Consider
the man who finds a treasure in a field, re-buries it, goes and sells all he
has and buys that field. Is that strict
justice? There seems to be a bit of injustice involved were someone to do this.
An honest man might rather tell the owner of the field of the treasure, and perhaps
ask for a finder’s fee. To get caught up in that discussion misses the point,
just as gazing upon the discoveries of astronomy or any other science as proof
for the “errors” of religion misses the point. God’s revelations are above us
not in a physical sense, but in so far as they cannot be measured, calculated
or quantified like atoms, molecules or even the stars themselves.
When Moses was granted his prayer
to see God, the Lord only revealed His back, for directly viewing God in the
face is beyond our minds’ ability. Reason
brings us so far, but still can only get so far as the floor beneath the Lord’s
feet, or His back. Humble use of reason
is not afraid to delve into profound mysteries, but it accepts its own limitations.
Sure: Investigate study, question and seek, but acknowledge that at some point there
is a limit and conjecture is all we have left. And we do not have to lift our
thoughts to the heights of the stars to be humbled by what is lacking to our
intelligence. Ask any man who has tried to explain the way a woman thinks.
Science cannot answer that question. How
much greater is the mystery Who is God Almighty.
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