The Earth In The Universe

We live on a planet called earth. It’s not particularly large as far as planets go, but it would still take a Boeing 747 43 hours to fly around it; the Helios 2 probe, the fastest man made objects, would take less than 10 minutes[1]; light would take 0.13 seconds.

Earth is in the Solar System which is 100 astronomical units (au) across. That means it would take a Boeing 747 1,856 years to cross it; the Helios 2 would take nearly 7 years; light takes less than 14 hours.

The Solar System is in the Milky Way galaxy, which is 100,000 light years across, or 6.3 billion au; Helios 2 would take over 420 million years to cross it. There are over 100 billion starts here and over 160 billion planets.

Earth as viewed from Voyager 1 from the edge of the Solar System.

The universe, that we can see, has over 170 billion galaxies and it would take light 93 billion years to get from one side to the other.

We are one planet in one solar system in one galaxy in the universe. In the universe, the earth is insignificant, even our galaxy is insignificant. In our solar system, the earth is so very small.

The Universe & Why Gods Don’t Matter

The universe had a beginning, a point of creation. We can get that much from science. Throughout all of history, pretty much everyone in every society has held that something divine happened at that point[2]. Some God or gods or something transcendent was at the point of creation.

The idea that God or some gods created the universe doesn’t matter. It matters less than the idea that there’s a black hole 4.1 million times the size of the sun 26,000 light years away. Our galaxy is too big and we’re too remote for that black hole to matter. The universe is too big and we’re far, far too small for gods to matter.

Unless they care about us, unless they come down to where we are. But that seems absurd[3]. Because the universe is so vast, it seems more likely that I would care about a particular speck of dust than that any god would care about people on this particular speck of a planet.

Fantastical Condescension

But there is a story of a god caring and coming down. It’s surprising and absurd; god has billions of galaxies, why would god come to earth? What’s more, this story claims[4] that this condescension happened within recorded history. It claims that there are places on the earth where you can walk where god walked; there are people whom you can talk to who talk to god; there are people whom you can love who are loved by god.

This is the Christian story. It admits its absurdity with statements like “when I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalms 8:3-4 ESV). And “all the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness” (Isaiah 40:17 ESV).

And it admits its history with statements like “and when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery’” (Exodus 13:14 ESV). And “for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2nd Peter 1:16 ESV).

If God[5] came down, that would be the most fantastically surprising and important event in all of history. But God comes down more than once.

When God Came Down

The Bush & Bondage

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. ~ Exodus 3:1-2 ESV

Here God comes down in fire in a bush[6] and speaks to Moses. Coming down in fire seems like an odd thing to do. But one thing this does is demonstrate God’s independence because fire always needs fuel to consume, but when God is in the fire, He[7] needs no fuel.

But God didn’t come down to say that He didn’t need us. He came down because He heard us (Exodus 2:27-25). If you find it fantastical that God would hear let alone listen to you, the Hebrews felt the same way (cf Exodus 4:31). God came down because His people were hurting and bound in slavery and because He had made a promise.

God coming down means that God hears and God cares and God rescues from slavery and teaches us how to live.

The Word & the World

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:14 ESV

Here God comes down not as fire, but as man. This is the man called Jesus Christ, this is “the Word.” God not only came down to us, He became us[8]. God becoming man means that God knows what it’s like to be human in more than just theoretical terms. So God understands our human desires and our human struggles. God is not remote in hearing, and He’s not remote in sympathizing (Hebrews 4:15-16).

But God didn’t come down to figure out what it’s like to be human. God came down to save humans, He came down to love and save sinners (1st Timothy 1:15-16). He came down so that we could see what He is like. He came down because we’re bound to our bad habits and sins and He sets people free. He came down because, in all the problems in the world, He’s the only hope. He came down because when everything else fails, He never fails.

God coming down means that God not only knows you, He understands you. It means that you’re forgiven and given strength to sin no more. It means that you can know God.

A Painless Planet

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” ~ Revelation 21:3-4 ESV

Here God comes down not as man, but as God. The majestic sovereign. This is the end. God condescends to dwell with us. Of all the places in the universe, God dwells with us.

For the Church, God coming down means that there will be a day when there’s no reason to fear anymore. There will be no sadness anymore, no one will die anymore and no one will get sick anymore. There will be nothing to cry about anymore and there will be no pain. And what you’ve believed in your heart, you will see with your eyes. And you will never sleep anymore and God will be your light. God coming down means seeing God.

What of The Condescensions?

God came down. That statement is hard to take and hard to appreciate. But God came down. To free and to teach and to forgive and to guide and to comfort and to love.

God came down and He wasn’t a tyrant, instead He left us loved and forgiven and understood. This is a God worth trusting because His love is more powerful than my reason. This is a God worth serving because His forgiveness is stronger than death. This is a God worth praying to because He knows me and understands.