Seeing in Light Years
In the beginning of time, before the earth was formed from chaos and darkness, light was introduced to the earth. And however you believe that happened, astrological findings unveil for us the fact that sources of light in the universe have beginnings and endings. What we see in the sky is a story of linear time beyond our understanding and capacity to see. The Bible tells us that when God created the great lights in the sky on the fourth day to govern rhythms and seasons (Gen. 1:14-16), he made them lightbearers - a word in the text that is comparative to the lamp used in the Temple Courts for worship, and then later to the children of God carrying the very glory of God. All of these illuminated elements point to a source greater than themselves, and encapsulate a glory that isn’t limited by the now. For human beings who rely almost completely on understanding, it is these created lights in the vault above us that have a way of stretching our minds and reorienting our souls to a way of faith.
The age of a star is measured through light years - which is how far it takes light to travel in a year, or how many years it takes for a star’s light to reach our eyeballs. And just in case you are wondering, one light year is about 9.5 trillion km - so, a lot. The nearest star system to earth is Alpha Centauri, which is 4.37 light years - or 41 trillion km - away. According to NASA, the farthest star system that they have ever observed, Icarus, is about 9 billion light years old, meaning that it is about 9 billion trillion km away. Can you imagine it? It took 9 billion years for that light to reach us. When I sit and think about it for long enough, it ignites a Holy fear and reverence of just how small I am, and just how short my lifespan really it in the fabric of creation. It also ignites a gratitude in my innermost parts of just how far God was filling to travel to find me right where I am.
One of my cousins is an aerospace engineer - an actual rocket scientist. She trains astronauts for NASA and is a part of the team that carries out important projects for the International Space Station and Kennedy Space Centre. She is also a person of faith in Jesus Christ - a faith that gets stronger the deeper she dives into the universe. When we lived together years ago, we would sit at the dinner table and marvel at the wonders of God. When she talked about her projects, I mostly stared blankly, trying to grasp even a sentence or two of the complex scientific concepts she worked with (nothing quite humbles a young person like a casual conversation with a rocket scientist). But when talking about the realm of space and the impact it has on her worldview she said, “Every time I think of God creating the universe, it’s like His capacity and presence is just so huge that my tiny human brain can’t even begin to fathom it…(it reminds me that) even though we might be insignificant when compared to the universe, we are infinitely significant to God.”
One of the Fathers of our faith, Abraham, was also someone who was faced with the now and not yet. He met with the God of the universe under the canopy of His night sky - this childless father received the promise of God that set in motion our own journey through the galaxy.
“I will surely bless you and make your children as numerous as the stars in the sky” - Gen 22:17
Now Abraham had no concept of modern astronomical findings like we do today. He had no idea that the Milky Way has approximately 100 billion solar masses in it. I always wonder if it was a clear night, and if he tried to count what he could see with his human eyes. I wonder if God smiled in delight as he attempted such an impossible feat. This great man of faith didn’t have the whole picture, and he didn’t need to know it. In fact, even if God had told him the whole picture, how would he have begun to comprehend it? How could he have imagined that what God was talking about was beyond his nuclear family, and even the small group of people he would live among in his lifetime? How could he have imagined that God would redefine family entirely through his own heavenly blood and perfect seed? How could he comprehend that each of those stars had a beginning billions of years ago in the heart of God, just like we do (Eph 1:4)? How could he have imagined that God himself was planning to open the heavens thousands of years later to give birth to children from every tribe, nation and language through Jesus Christ? How could he see that far into the past or ahead into the future? Quite simply, he couldn’t. The stars Abraham saw in that moment in the desert included us - you and me: “Children of God in a warped generation, among who you shine as stars in the dark world” (Phil 2:15). Before any of us could see God clearly, He saw us.
Abraham chose faith when He couldn’t understand the promise right before his eyes, and when he wouldn’t see it pass this side of heaven. His yes transformed the lives and eternity of people thousands of years later - mine included. Your yes has the very same power.
What a fitting picture the galaxy is for us as we link arms with the saints behind and before us - one body of the living Jesus Christ - moving the Kingdom of God forward on earth as it is in heaven. Though we are present, our presence is the light of a promise from years past - a promise still travelling through time and space. And one day, the True Light will appear again, and we won’t need the brilliance of the sun, moon or stars anymore, because the face of the One all creation reflects will be seen in full (Rev. 21:23).
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” - 1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT
There is more to come. It’s just that our current human frame of view is limited. There is more to come for you in this life, for the generations coming after you, for people you haven’t yet met that your faithfulness is impacting, and for the hope of glory that awaits us in Christ. We must say yes to what’s next even when we don’t have the whole picture, because it matters in an infinite way. The hope we have is that Heaven, beyond the farthest star in the galaxy, is now right before our eyes. When we begin to see in light years, we see Jesus Christ. We also see His body, made up of lightbearers that are together too numerous to count, and of which we are included. The many still to come that we cannot yet see shining brightly, are in clear view of the Alpha & Omega.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your hands - the moon and the stars you set in place, what are human beings that you would care for them?” - Psalm 8:3-4
Choosing to have faith in God isn’t a blind leap into the dark. It’s saying yes with the light that is before you, knowing that that light has travelled a long way to get to you. Knowing that that very same light will lead you - and billions more - back home.