Tag: faith

There is a powerful account in Scripture that has always gripped me. The full story is found in Numbers 16 and 17, but here is the heart of it.

Korah, along with 250 leaders of Israel, men of reputation, respected and influential, rose up to challenge Aaron’s God appointed priesthood. Their argument sounded reasonable on the surface: “All the congregation is holy. The Lord is among us too. Why then do Moses and Aaron exalt themselves above the people?”

But this was not merely a question of leadership. It was a challenge to God’s order.

To settle the matter once and for all, the Lord gave a simple yet profound test. Each tribe was to bring a rod, a staff representing their house, and the man whom God had chosen would be revealed unmistakably. His rod would blossom.

Think about that for a moment.

These rods were nothing more than dry, lifeless sticks, cut from trees and completely dead. Yet God declared that the one He chose would come alive, bursting forth with buds, blossoms, and fruit. Life from death. A divine signature no man could imitate.

So each leader brought his rod. Aaron brought his. They were laid before the Lord.

By the next morning, something extraordinary had happened.

Out of all the rods, only one had changed. Aaron’s rod had come to life. It budded, blossomed, and even produced almonds. In a single night, what was once dead wood became a living testimony.

And with that, the matter was settled.

God had spoken, not with words alone, but with life itself.

Many centuries later, mankind still questions God’s chosen. The Lord Jesus Christ, in obedience to the will of the Father, came down to bear the punishment of sinners and bring reconciliation through His sacrifice. Jesus declared in John 14:6 KJV, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

And the dissenting voices rise again. “How can Christ be the only way to the Father?” “All religions are just different paths to the same destination” “There are good people in every religion. Are they all wrong? “You’re just believing what you were raised to believe.” “We can do as good a job as Christ.” “I will take my chances. If I live a good life, that should be enough.” “You are arrogant to say He is the only way.”

As in centuries past, the Lord settles the matter the same way. It is simple.

“Bring your rods. Bring the Hindu rod, the Baptist rod, the Catholic rod, the Anglican rod, the Muslim rod, the Pentecostal rod, the Jehovah’s Witness rod, the LDS rod, the Christian Science rod, the rod of human reasoning. Bring them all, and bring Christ’s rod. Lay them down in the grave. The one I raise is the one I have chosen.”

And on that glorious morning, Christ’s rod budded. Christ’s rod budded!

Trace your heroes and you will find their graves still occupied. Those in whom men place their hope to reach the Father remain in the dust. The reason there is a Pope Leo XIV is because 13 other Pope Leos before him died and remained dead. Every system we cling to has leaders whose lives are marked by a beginning and an end on a tombstone. But Christ’s rod budded. Up from the grave He arose. Death could not hold Him.

The clock of life is ticking. One day, both hands of your clock will point to death. It will come, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. I once thought I had escaped death a few times. What a delusion. I cannot defeat death. I cannot outrun it. I cannot pray it away. I cannot outlive it by discipline or effort. Death has not yet come for me, because when it does, I will no longer be on this side of eternity. And when it comes for you, it will overcome you without effort.

But I have no fear of death, because it has lost its sting, which is sin (1 Corinthians 15:54–56). I have placed my trust in the One who died and rose again, the One who conquered death. Because of Him, I stand without condemnable sin. There is hope beyond the grave.

What, then, is your hope beyond death?

Religion will not save you. Only one rod budded. Only Christ conquered death. Only one way leads to the Father. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3–4 KJV). Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16:31 KJV). I urge you, I plead with you, abandon all hopes placed on religion, and cling to Christ, the one that budded.

John 1:3-4. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (KJV)

The questions regarding the origin of the universe have always been there. Where did we come from? How did everything get here? Is there something else beyond this life? Am I part of something big? Does my life have any meaning? How did I get here? Every worldview, whether secular or religious, must answer these fundamental questions of life and purpose.

The three foundational components of our physical reality are time, space, and matter. These three are completely interdependent in the structure of reality and must come into existence together. If time is missing, there will be no change. If matter is missing, there will be nothing to change. If space is missing, there will be nowhere for anything to exist or for change to occur. They stand or fall together.

The Big Bang is the scientific model used to describe the origins of our universe. According to this model, space, time, matter, and energy began from an extremely hot, dense state. Space itself rapidly expanded, and as the universe cooled in the earliest fractions of a second, fundamental particles formed. These later combined into atoms, stars, galaxies, and planets.

But what was before the Big Bang? One scientific view suggests there was nothing before it because time itself began at the Big Bang. If time began there, then there cannot logically be a “before.” Other theoretical models—such as quantum vacuum states, inflationary pre-states, cyclic universes, or multiverse concepts—suggest there may have been something prior. Yet even those proposals lead to another question: what preceded that?

In the end, there is a measure of faith required in any origin explanation. The atheist may ask the Christian, “If God created everything, who created God?” and not see the hypocrisy its inherent hypocrisy. The same question could be posed about any proposed pre-Big Bang state. Every worldview must eventually account for an uncaused cause.

Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (KJV).

In the very first verse of the Bible, we are told of the origins of our Universe:

• In the beginning (Time)
• God created (Creator – outside of time)
• The heaven (Space)
• And the earth (Matter)

I have long been fascinated by disciplines that explore the wonders of creation, particularly astronomy and genetics. The universe is so vast that we require a special ruler to measure it: the light year. A light year is the distance light travels at 186,000 miles per second for one year. In miles, one light year equals 5.88 trillion miles. The observable universe is estimated to span approximately 93 billion light years in diameter—and that represents only what we can currently detect with existing technology!

Isaiah 44:24. Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. (KJV).

As vast as the universe is, Scripture describes God as stretching out the heavens. What overwhelms our imagination does not strain Him. Handling the universe for God is like folding laundry. We often underestimate the greatness of God because we have not truly grasped the greatness of what He has made.

The building blocks of the universe are galaxies. A galaxy is a massive collection of stars, gas, and dust bound together by gravity. They range from about 10,000 to 100,000 light years in diameter. It is estimated that there are over two trillion galaxies in the observable universe, each containing millions to trillions of stars. The scale is staggering. Just how great must one be to keep record of all the stars in the universe?

Isaiah 40:25-26. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? Saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, 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. KJV.

Of these galaxies, one is special to us because it contains our solar system: the Milky Way galaxy. It stretches roughly 100,000 light years across. Within its billions of stars, one is our sun. We sit about 93 million miles away from that blazing sphere of fire. One second of the sun’s energy output is comparable to billions of nuclear bombs detonated at once. Yet we are positioned at precisely the right distance.

Orbiting our sun are planets, including our home, Earth. Earth lies within what scientists call the “habitable” or “Goldilocks” zone. Its distance from the sun allows for an average temperature of 59°F (15°C), abundant liquid water, a protective magnetic field, and an atmosphere rich in nitrogen and oxygen—conditions necessary for life.

If Earth were slightly closer, like Venus, average temperatures would reach approximately 900°F (475°C), with thick carbon dioxide and virtually no water. If slightly farther, like Mars, temperatures would average -85°F (-65°C), with a thin atmosphere and mostly frozen water. Either scenario would make life as we know it impossible.

On this finely tuned planet, God placed life, with man as the crown jewel of His creation.

Psalm 139: 13-14. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. KJV.

The human body contains trillions of cells, each containing approximately two meters of DNA. If the DNA in a single human body were stretched out end to end, it would span astronomical distances many times over. This intricate code carries the blueprint for growth, repair, coordination, and function.

Consider the living supercomputer of the brain, the precision of the eye, the constant battle waged by the immune system against invaders, and the complex electrical, chemical, and mechanical systems working in harmony. Even in a fallen world, the human body remains an astonishing testimony to design.

Now consider these two passages together:

Psalm 19:1-3. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. KJV.

The universe is not oversized by accident. It speaks. From the jungles to the cities, any person can look at the blazing sun by day or the star-filled sky by night and immediately sense two truths: there is a God, and He is powerful and glorious.

Yet not all acknowledge this truth.

Romans 1: 18-23. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; (what truth are they holding in unrighteousness?) Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Two-factor authentication of God: one, you can look at creation and know that there is no creation without a creator; and two, this truth is manifest in them, coded into man’s conscience. This is the truth that they hold in unrighteousness) Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, (In an effort to suppress the truth they really do know, they made up other conclusions. Observing creation and coming to any other conclusion other than that there is a God and He is powerful is vain imaginations and foolish Prov. 14:1) and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts and creeping things (the glory that should go to God goes into saying we evolved from apes, or attributing deity status to the created). KJV.

Creation testifies. Conscience affirms. Yet truth can be suppressed. The evidence of a Creator is visible in what has been made and internally sensed within man.

To conclude, we return to the primary text:

John 1:3-4. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (KJV).

The Lord Jesus is the absolute Governor of all things created. It is all His by right of creation. If there is life, it originated in Him and continues because of Him. Humanity alone is said to receive “light” — spiritual awareness, the capacity to know God. Man is set apart because God has given us the knowledge of Him and the possibility of relationship with Him.

Creation points beyond itself.
Life points to its Source.
And the light given to men calls us back to our Creator.

Amen.

I don’t love beginning on a sober note, but sometimes that’s the only honest path to something meaningful. Stay with me—it doesn’t end where it starts.

There are truths that quietly, permanently reshape the way you see life. This is one of them.

Years ago, after visiting loved ones who had passed on, I would walk through a cemetery and read the tombstones. One detail was always the same: two dates, a birth and a death, separated by a small hyphen. That little line began to haunt me.

Every person who has ever lived has lived inside that hyphen.

Every joy and every sorrow. Every victory, every failure, every prayer whispered and every tear shed. The entire human experience is compressed into that small line between two dates. Some hyphens stretch long; others end far too soon. But every one of them is finite.

And then there’s sonder—the realization that every stranger you see has an inner life just as vivid and complex as your own. As real as my memories and emotions are to me, theirs were just as real to them. Yet when I stand before a tombstone, all of that depth—love, fear, laughter, regret—is reduced to a hyphen. I have no idea who they were. Just a line between two dates.

From Genesis 1 until now, there has always been the cycle of time: “the evening and the morning were the first day.” And so it has been ever since. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

There was a season in my life when my biggest worry was whether dinner would be beans or jollof rice. Now my concerns are heavier, more complex. Time has a way of doing that.

Time itself is a strange thing. When did it actually begin? When did the first shadow move across the ground? When did the sand in the hourglass start to fall? When did the clock begin to tick?

John 1:1 — In the beginning was the Word.

“The beginning” refers to that precise moment on the number line when time started counting. If you could build a time machine and travel backward as far as possible, you would reach that point—and no further. And when you arrived, you would find that God was already there.

And if you traveled forward to the farthest possible future, to the end of time itself, you would discover the same truth: God is already there.

For God, there are no dates flanking the line, just have the hyphen. And even that image falls short, because God is not bound by time at all. Every event that has ever occurred in the universe has happened within time’s number line. God exists outside of it.

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).

Try, for a moment, to think beyond time. What would that even be like?

We struggle with this because we are creatures of time. We measure life in years, distance in hours, and even speak of God as existing in “eternity past”—though “past” itself is a time-bound word. Still, Scripture tells us this much: before time existed, God is.

Jesus hints at that eternal reality in John 17:5:
“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” Before creation, before time, the Godhead existed in perfect unity and glory. Our time-bound minds cannot fully grasp what that means.

And then something astonishing happened.

When the Word became flesh, God did not merely step into His creation—He stepped into time itself.

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Galatians 4:4).

The God who exists outside the number line looked at a single moment within it and declared, This is the fullness of time. And then He entered it.

In His humanity, the eternal Son received a birthdate—though He had existed forever. He accepted a death date—though death could not hold Him. The timeless One subjected Himself to seasons, to waiting, to hunger and weariness, to joy and grief.

He experienced betrayal and sorrow, suffering and death—and then resurrection. He knew the weeping that endures for the night and the joy that comes in the morning. The eternal Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, lived the entire human story inside the hyphen.

Why does this matter?

Two verses tell us why.

First, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).
The Eternal One entered time to redeem those bound by it.

Second, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15–16).

He experienced the full ebb and flow of human life so that, when we suffer within our hyphen, we do not suffer alone.

He who had no beginning accepted a birth.
He who could not die accepted death.
So that those of us bound by time might live forever.

What a God we serve.
What a God we serve.