This past Sunday night I sat in a lawn chair on a drive and watched the shadow of the earth spread across the moon. It was great to watch God’s creation putting on a show – and right on time!
How is it that science can declare such an event years before it happens and even tell the hours of its happening and the places it would be observable? I mean, if this universe is all chance and accident, what accounts for such precision? We all know the answer!
That hour gazing into the night sky was awe-inspiring pondering stars millions of light years away. It was also a reminder of past days for that friend of my youth is still there, the Big Dipper. The sky is a fascinating space!
A verse that recently caught my attention: Zechariah 12:1, The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.”
A prophecy is about to be uttered by a Being who made the heavens. What is somewhat intriguing is the declaration that He “stretches out the heavens.” Could it be that God pulled the stars out of a central mass – maybe the earth – and when doing so created the light trail that we see today in our night sky? Otherwise, God, when creating the stars, also created the light beam or we would not for thousands of years see those stars. Oh, and God did create with age for Adam, on the very day he was created, named the animals when they passed in front of him and also got married.
The balance of the self-description by God in Zechariah 12:1 is that He laid earth’s foundation and formed the human spirit. Sky, earth, and man – all God’s handiwork!
Then follows His declaration for a time yet ahead and maybe near: Zechariah 12:2-3, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.”
First, God “will make.” The God who created is a God who is still engaged. God – who made the great vastness and sprinkled it with “bodies” and made the superstructure that holds the earth’s mantle and made that aspect of life that science can’t bottle or control – the human spirit; has declared things future and “will make” them happen! God sees and deals.
The God of verse one is going to draw the nations to Jerusalem as liquor draws an alcoholic and the nations will come and they will drink. In their drunken state – in their illogical state of thinking there is no God or that they are greater than God – they will attempt to conquer Jerusalem but find it not only an insurmountable task but wind up hurting themselves in the attempt. Such is what happens to all who seek to thwart or overthrow God: defeat and destruction.
What a God, what a self-description and what an event on the horizon!
a PK Musing 
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