My wife and I recently visited our youngest daughter and her family in the greater Vancouver area of British Columbia. One evening, returning from an outing, my son-in-law mentioned what a clear night it was and how we could see many planets with the naked eye.
I am not a stargazer, so I asked what he meant. He pulled out his phone and pointed it toward a specific section of the sky. His special app identified two lights in the sky by name; they were nearby planets. Then he turned another way, and the app identified more planets and stars.
That night, as I reread Genesis Chapters 1 and 2, I began to reflect anew on the greatness of our Creator God. I believe a humble humility grips the honest soul who even begins to grasp our great God’s unfathomable majesty and might.
The Majesty of Our Mighty God
The psalmist David tried to express this celestial reality in Psalm 8:
When I look up into the night skies and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you have made—I cannot understand how you can bother with mere puny man, to pay any attention to him! And yet you have made him only a little lower than the angels and placed a crown of glory and honor upon his head. You have put him in charge of everything you made; everything is put under his authority: all sheep and oxen, and wild animals too, the birds and fish, and all the life in the sea. O Jehovah, our Lord, the majesty and glory of your name fills the earth (Ps. 8:3-9, TLB).
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The apostle Paul approached the religious pagans of Athens (Acts 17:16-26, NKJV) with a short treatise about their “unknown god” who “made the world and everything in it since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything since He gives to all life, breath and all things” (vv. 24-25). There are only two classes of mankind: the saved and the unsaved, who need the forgiveness and favor we have found in our great God.
Prophetic Implications
Have you ever noticed that, in the initial week of creation, God called light into existence on Day 1 (Gen. 1:3)? The sun, moon and stars were not formed and set in the heavens until the fourth day. What would have been the source of that initial light if the sun had not already been created?
I suggest that it may have been the glory of the supernatural presence of our mighty Creator God! Was that also the supernatural pillar of fire that was with the Hebrews in their exodus from Egypt? Was this supernatural light also encapsulated in the holy of holies in the tabernacle and temple? Was that what Ezekiel saw depart Jerusalem’s temple due to the persistent faithlessness and rebellion of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ezek. 10)? What is not explicitly revealed in the Scriptures are only private assumptions.
Jesus used prophetic and symbolic language to describe His glorious return. In Matthew 24:29-31, we read of the “sign of the Son of Man” at His Second Coming. He will return “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30b) as the angels harvest His elect “from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:31b). (See also Revelation 6:12-17, 14:14-16 and 19:11-16.)
Could this observable “power and great glory” be the future manifestation of creation’s shekinah glory? Cosmic disturbances are described with the sixth seal of John’s Revelation. The sun, moon and stars will not give their light (Rev. 6:12-13), but Jesus said this end-times supernatural “power and great glory” will be evident to all, and “all of the tribes of the earth will mourn” (Matt. 24:30b). While we are uncertain if this period involves God’s shekinah presence, the prophetic implications are certainly there.
‘How Great Thou Art‘
The great Christian hymn “How Great Thou Art” began as a Swedish poem and was later added to a Swedish folk tune in 1885 by Carl Boberg. In 1949, it was loosely translated into English by a British missionary and songwriter, Stuart K. Hine.
The song soon became a well-known Christian hymn and popular secular hit. George Beverly Shae presented it in worship at many Billy Graham Crusades, and even Elvis Presley sang it to close his concerts. In more recent years, it has been recorded by various artists, including Johnny Cash, Pentatonix and Carrie Underwood. The lyrics speak of nature, creation’s God and our hope of transformative redemption and eternity with our Savior in heaven. The closing chorus of each meaningful verse captures repentant mankind’s honest humility.
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Gary Curtis served for 27 years as part of the pastoral staff of The Church on The Way, the First Foursquare Church of Van Nuys, California. Since retirement in 2016, he has continued to blog at worshipontheway.wordpress.com. Gary and his wife live in Southern California and have two married daughters and five grandchildren.
