Long ago, at many times and in many ways,
God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken
to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also
he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact
imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has
inherited is more excellent than theirs.
For to which of the angels did God
ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten
you”?
Or again,
“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a
son”?
(Hebrews 1:1-5 ESV)
Do you remember the opening credits to the 1977 movie Star Wars? The words, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far,
far away…” appear on a silent, black, void.
Suddenly the audience is translated into the midst of an alternative
universe filled with strange beings, superior technology, and amazing universal
conflicts. For a moment, older audience
members will think, Flash Gordon. But this universe goes far beyond Buster
Crabbe’s galaxy of the 1930s art deco, and we immediately forget that all this
happened eons ago and not in some far distant future.
The distant, long ago world of Hebrews 1:1 was itself
preceded by an even more distant world and one before that. How well we humans can know God has not been
getting better over time, it has been getting worse. Doesn’t that seem to be backward? We talk about “salvation history” in the
church and about the progressive revelation of God through the Old
Testament. But what we forget is that if
Genesis 2 can be trusted (and I believe it can), the earliest human beings who
knew they were people at all had ultimate
knowledge of God. Genesis is quite clear
that the man also had ultimate knowledge of the creation around him. It was built into him. Thus, he was able to name every bird, animal,
and plant. Even Einstein wouldn’t have
been up to that task. The man did not need to discover
anything. That knowledge was innate in
him. He also did not need to discover
anything about God. All that could be
known about God was known to him.
The introduction of sin into the world began a rather quick
slide down a reverse “bell curve,” where
with each succeeding generation less of the knowledge of God was available
until by the 300s BC prophecy had ceased altogether, and the world was plunged
into a deep spiritual darkness similar to what happened in “our” western
history during the Dark Ages. Onto that
blank canvass, God wrote “A long time ago…”
as the only light in that vast darkness.
“This is what light is like. This
is what knowing me is like.”
What did Adam and Eve experience? The language of belonging was there from the
beginning. Total trust, complete
honesty. But the Sons of Adam and the
Daughters of Eve (to borrow from C.S. Lewis) broke with their parent and chose
not to know what could be known. They
wanted to know on their own. Broken relationship is always the beginning
of darkness. One, searching for truth
instead of basking in knowledge.
And so it became necessary for God to speak more and more
loudly into our self-imposed deafness.
Stars in the heavens (Psalm 19), a voice whispered in the wind, a
burning bush, prophets, angels, and finally, a son.
As long as it is called “today,” God will have yet more to
speak. But he has spoken as loudly as he
will about how we may know him.
Singer-songwriter Michael Card told us, “his final word was Jesus, he
needed no other one.” And on the last
day of history God will speak once more and set things right. For now, you can reverse the bell curve and
know Jesus. But you don’t need to go
searching. The knowledge of God covers
the earth, the prophet Habakkuk says, as the waters cover the seas.
Jon
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