the universe, the world to come, I could only imange..
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. …
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host
of them by the breath ofHis mouth. … For He spoke, and it was
done; He commanded, and it stood fast”(Genesis 1:1; Psalm 33:6, 9
I believe there is a chronological gap—of probably millions or billions of years—
between the spectacular creation event described in Genesis 1:1
and the state of disorder and decay (Hebrew tohu and bohu) described in Genesis 1:2
(which preceded the rest of Genesis 1,in which God renewed the face of the Earth—Psalm 104:30).
In Isaiah 45:18,God says He did not create the Earth in vain (Hebrew tohu)
the cause of this Genesis 1:2 desolation: the angelic rebellion led by Lucifer,
which caused a violent war in heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15 ,Ezekiel 28:11-19)
that God “stretched out” or “spreads out” the heavens.
God “created the heavens, and stretched them out” (Isaiah 42:5).
“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place,
and hangeth the earth upon nothing”(Job 26:7).
The phrase spreadeth out comes from the Hebrew natah,
which means to stretch or spread;it can mean to extend in every direction.
Scripture refers to the heavens in this way a total of 11 times, by the pen of
five different biblical writers: Job, David,Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah.
Four verses (Isaiah 45:12; 48:13; Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15)
use a form of natah that literally means the action was completed
some time ago. Seven instances use a form of the verb natah
that implies continual or ongoing stretching (Job 9:8;
Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22; 42:5; 44:24;
51:13; Zechariah 12:1).
Both of these aspects of this stretching can be seen
in Isaiah 40:22, which says that God “stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.”
Stretches out comes from natah and implies something continuing today,
while spreadeth comes from the Hebrew mathach (this word’s only use in
the Old Testament)—meaning to stretch out and implying something
that God has already done and completed.
Job 9:8 tells us that “[God] alone spreadeth out the heavens.”
“Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,and ye waters that be above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of the Lord:for he commanded, and they were created.
… He telleth the number of thestars; he calleth them all by their names”
(Psalm 148:4-5; 147:4).
“By faith we understand that the world was created
by the word of God, so that what is seen [physical matter] was made
out of things which do not appear” (Hebrews 11:3, rsv).
“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things,” God says,
“that bringeth out their host by number:he calleth them all by names by the greatness
of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth” (Isaiah 40:26).
What is dark matter? No one knows. We can register its
effects, but we cannot see it or measure it. He asked Job,
“Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness,
where is the place thereof, that thou shouldest take it
to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the
paths to the house thereof?” (Job 38:19-20).
The Living Bible renders this, “[T]ell me about the darkness.
Where does it come from? Can you find its boundaries, or go to its source?”
Romans 1:20 says “the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by
the things that are made ….” The visible universe shows
that there must be this invisible matter or force holding
it all together. We can see the invisible power of God by
seeing the visible.
Perhaps “dark matter” is actually the invisible power of
God holding the universe together. By the power of God
“were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all thing were created
by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and
by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17).
“By himnall things consist” or are held together. Hebrews 1:3 says
that Jesus Christ is “upholding the universe by his word of
power” (rsv). Upholding comes from a Greek word meaning
to bear or carry. God says in Psalm 75:3 that “When the
earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady
its pillars” (rsv). God holds together and sustains the universe by His power.
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