The Christ Centred Cosmic Civilisation
Rod Dreher wrote “to order the world rightly as Christians requires regarding all things as pointing to Christ”
Christ is the One in Whom in all things consist and humanity is not the measure of all things. If a defining characteristic of the modern world is disorder then the most fundamental act of resistance is to discover and life according to the deep, divine order of the heavens and the earth.
In this series we want to look at the big model of the universe that the Bible and Christian history provides.
It is a mind and heart expanding vision of reality.
It is not confined to the limits of our bodily senses - but tries to embrace levels fo reality that are not normally accessible or tangible to our exiled life on earth.
We live on this side of the cosmic curtain - and therefore the highest and greatest dimensions of reality are hidden to us… yet these dimensions exist and are the most fundamental framework for the whole of the heavens and the earth.
Throughout this series we want to pick away at all the threads of reality to see how they all join together - how they all find common meaning and reason in the great divine logic - the One who is the Logos, the LORD Jesus Christ - the greatest that both heaven and earth has to offer.
Colossians 1:15-23
The Christ Centred Cosmic Civilisation
Episode 44 - The Divine Kingdom over the Cosmos
Can the cosmos truly be understood without recognizing the divine craftsmanship behind it?
Prepare to have your perspective shifted as we uncover the profound connections between the Christian doctrine and the very fabric of the universe.
Engage with us in a conversation that promises to transform the mundane into the miraculous, revealing the purpose-filled governance of Christ over all creation.
This episode is not just another discussion on faith and science—it's a gateway to seeing the world through a lens of wonder and reverence.
Embark on a thought-provoking exploration of Christ as the divine emperor, an idea that challenges the cold, mechanical view of the cosmos and brings warmth to the intricate relationship between God and creation. We dissect the misconception of death and decay as natural, instead painting a vivid picture of a universe where every atom resonates with God's intention and glory. This episode is an invitation to join a celebration of creation's inherent goodness, as we delve into the often-misunderstood doctrine of 'creatio ex nihilo' and its implications for our understanding of life, death, and the eternal victory of Christ.
The theme music is "Wager with Angels" by Nathan Moore
Well, welcome to the next episode of the Christ-centered cosmic civilization. And we're right in the thick of this deep exploration of the four foundation principles, of a Christian kind of doctrine of creation that enables science and civilization. So we just finished looking at something of the way that the Lord, jesus Christ, as the divine emperor, governs the whole creation. And we say in Job, in Job. So let's kind of continue thinking about this second point, remember, the first point is that he has understood the truth from all eternity and that he can share that. Therefore, that understanding of the universe can be shared with us. Secondly, the creation was freely made from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit, and is ruled by the great high priest. So we'll continue with that. So the idea, then, and the key point in this second point is that is the ruling, that it's ruled and governed not mechanistically or impersonally, but it is very personal and full of meaning and purpose. So in the Bible we cannot see the world as self-governed, nor can we think of the living God intervening only from time to time in his creation, like that idea of him having to break into the creation from outside, as if it's a sealed system. Rather, christ not only formed all things by the will of his Father in the power of the Spirit, but he continues to sustain all these things by the power of his word. Hebrews 1, verse 3. Christ, the great high priest over all creation, fills the entire universe, and that's that.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 4, verse 10 point the Christ fills the universe, and that's important. Because in what? Well, first of all, what does that mean? Some people and it makes me laugh a little bit, and you might find it humorous too, but there's an overwhelming number of people seem to take that to mean just something like he geographically fills the entire universe. That it's to do with like omnipresence or something like that. And no, we'll actually deal with that in depth in a future episode. But yeah, I think it's got something a little bit more profound than that. It's to do with his reign, his influence, his personality, his fingerprints. Everything in the universe is filled with the glory, the rain.
Speaker 1:We do not live in a godless, mechanistic, impersonal universe. Neither do we live in the universe that's populated by many feuding gods that are warring with each other. Rather, when we think about the ascension of Jesus to the highest realm, and therefore he fills the universe and it means that this god man, I mean physically, he's there at the right hand of the father, but his character, his reign, his kingdom, his reach is to all creation and there is no room for other gods to have reigns alongside him, to rival him, and neither are the parts of creation that are inaccessible to him, that are out of bounds for him. No, we are to understand that everything in creation is part of this same cosmic kingdom and then, in terms of science, that means that everything is, it has a logic to, it, will have the logos in it. Nothing is merely irrational or incomprehensible within the universe. It has all been comprehended and embraced within the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:Already Now, the North African Church leader, augustine in the fifth century, thinking then we're continuing to think about this idea of miracle and how this rule of Christ over the whole cosmos works, and there are times where we see him doing things differently than at other times, and we've been working with that idea. But Augustine in the fifth century said that a miracle is whatever appears unusual or amazing to an observer, something that might be beyond that, what they've understood. And that's interesting, because what Augustine's doing and he often does do this sort of thing where he pushes back into the sort of psychology of the observer and says it a lot depends on perspective. It's us as the observers of the miracles that the Father, son and Spirit do. So remember he says a miracle is whatever appears unusual or appears amazing to an observer. Now, that's important because most of the amazing things that the living God does are completely ignored by us and we don't notice them. They are amazing, and in the Bible there's, like we've seen how Job finds sunrise amazing, an amazing miracle in the book of Job.
Speaker 1:But do we, whereas Augustine's kind of making us think, ah, like what counts as a miracle then is almost like a matter of opinion on the basis of how awakened are we to the operations of the Father through the Son, by the Spirit? So in the Gospels, the signs and miracles that Jesus does are not all perceived to be wonderful signs and miracles. Some people dislike the signs and miracles he does, so much so that they oppose him because of them rather than trust him. And we can think about in John, when he raises Lazarus it does not provoke worship of him but hatred of him. And then, on the other hand, in John 6, when he's done this amazing miracle of feeding so many people, they perceive it in a way that it wasn't intended. They perceive it as, like a free lunch opportunity for free food. So, again, the way in which things are perceived is tremendously important in what counts as a miracle.
Speaker 1:So let's put it like this we need to learn to see and appreciate the many wonders and miracles that the living God is actually doing all of our time, all the time. All too often we live our lives as if we were as most spoiled children who've become so used to wonderful things that we no longer notice or appreciate them. We're so used to the gloriously wonderful works of the living God around us all the time that we sometimes stamp our feet if we don't get a particular kind of one according to our agenda. Well, one writer puts it like this I don't think it's Augustine, but here's the quotation it's only our habits of mind that prevent us from seeing the entire cosmos as the miracle that it is. It would all appear to be a miracle to someone who saw it for the very first time. Brilliant, yeah.
Speaker 1:So we need this much bigger view of the wonderful works of the Father, son and Holy Spirit. We need to see the work of the living God, covering everything in the heavens and the earth, that all the things we think of as natural are manifestations of the constant activity of this utterly glorious, majestic God who sustains all things and gives life to all things by the word of his power and that word natural. I hesitated in using the word natural, though, because it that isn't. It is natural for the, the, the, the universe, naturally, is this sphere of operation of the kingdom of God. It is natural for everything in creation to manifest the constant activity of the Father through the Son, by the Spirit. That is the natural world. And here's a little quotation from Tosa, and with this will bring to an end this second principle about the rule of creation through the great high priest. It's from Tosa, the knowledge of the Holy, chapter 12.
Speaker 1:We are today suffering from a secularized mentality. Were the sacred writers, so, god, we see laws of nature. Their world was fully populated. Ours is all but empty. Their world was alive and personal. Ours is impersonal and dead. God ruled their world. Ours is ruled by the laws of nature, and we are always once removed from the presence of God.
Speaker 1:Let's move on to the third principle. The third principle of the doctrine of creation is that the whole of the heavens and the earth were created very good. Death and decay, evil and sin are corruptions rather than creations. So this is really about the goodness of the heavens and the earth and that what is wrong with the universe is not due to what it is or how it has been formed. What is wrong with the universe is that it is turned away from its original design. It is corrupted or bound, restrained, not allowed to be what it is naturally supposed to be. That's what's wrong with the creation. Nothing that's wrong with the universe is a design fault. It's not a design fault. It's all to do with what has happened in the universe, not its design. This is closely connected to our previous point and it's the simple fact on page one and two of the Bible that the universe was judged to be good as it was being created and then the whole completed work was declared to be very good.
Speaker 1:Now, as long as we've made this point before, but as long as the universe is seen as evil or deceptive or worthless or fundamentally, intrinsically messed up by the very nature of its physicality or part of it being physical, or so on, as long as there's that kind of view of the physical universe, science cannot flourish. Civilization as a whole is deeply wounded by that because and I talk to people in the work very often and it doesn't matter whether the work is in art or science or cooking or anything really there's often an underlying feeling that what they do is not spiritual and that like they're almost, sometimes they're almost embarrassed or, yeah, I suppose embarrassed is the right word, that that, like when they talk to a minister or something that there's something like almost shameful or unworthy about anything other than doing quote spiritual things, and they perceive that the think the problems in their life are probably connected to the fact that they spend so much time having to do things that are not quote spiritual, rather the sort of innocence they feel like, distracted from things, oh, and there are distracted from things by, distracted from the living God, by physical things. Now, it is true, the Bible does warn us that the world is full of distractions and we get caught up in the business of life and that can end up sending us to hell. That. But it is not the physicality of things that is the problem. It's the fact that we give our attention to things that are not worthy of that level of attention or that we treasure things that should not be treasured. We love money, for example. Money's not a problem, but we love it and therefore it's a problem, as the Bible says.
Speaker 1:So this problem then, that there's this suspicion that the universe, the physical universe, is not really, is sort of intrinsically bad at some level, and that is a pagan idea. It's totally opposed to the Bible and the Christian worldview, because it's only in Christ that we can see the heavens and the earth as truly good and worthy of detailed attention. So the key here is, if we've understood that previous point, that the whole creation is filled with the reign of Christ, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, and that everything is open to and constantly receiving the activity of the Father through the Son, by the Spirit, then everything's worth paying attention to and paying attention to the physical world, paying attention to the universe does not take us away from the living God, but draws us towards the living God, towards the living God, and that's so important. So we pay attention to the heavens and the earth, not in order to make money from it, because this is the thing when we do give our attention incredibly intensely to the earth anyway, or aspects of the earth. But why are we doing it? What's going on inside our heart and mind as we do it?
Speaker 1:Because it's this is how we corrupt the universe, so that what is good, good things, become bad things. Because we'll say, I, we focus on something and only in order to say, make money from it. Nothing wrong with making money again, and we'll do. We'll deal with that in in a future episode. It's a great good to do that, but it's only if we live to do that. Or, similarly, if we eat food without not with no gratitude, no worship, but simply in order to satisfy appetite or to merely survive. That's that's bad. Or we, we use the physical resources of the universe in order to wield political power.
Speaker 1:All of that, all of these things mean that that what is good can become bad and that the universe, when we see it not as a good in itself, that draws us towards well, it's not that, yeah, yeah, he has a kind of goodness in itself, but it's that the goodness that it has is all part of this reign of the living God, and that when we forget that, we so easily become idolatrous and begin to worship the creature rather than the creator. Now I want to just say another thing about this goodness of creation, and it's this that the universe has been granted real, being alongside the eternal being of the Trinity, and that, if we take seriously those first two chapters of the Bible, particularly chapter one, in for this reason, that there is nothing grudging or reluctant about the work of creation from the Father through the Son, by the Spirit. There's not as if God would prefer not to have this universe ordered and alongside the life of God, but rather there's a kind of joy and celebration of it by the living God, and and I love that in Proverbs 8, where it has the craftsmen of creation reveling, reveling in creation and rejoicing in humanity. So this is important because we'll think the Father, son and Spirit have lived this active life for endless ages, before the heavens and the earth, and we can't understand what they were doing and what sort of life they lived, and did they have a sort of heavenly space in which they lived? Well, let's leave that. We don't know what we're talking about when it comes to things like that. But when they make space for a universe and I use that make space in a sort of metaphorical sense, and yet it's that sense that that, like they, they. The universe exists alongside the universe, with all its inhabitants, from the highest heaven Down to the deepest depths, and the highest angels down to the lowest creatures. All of that is Comes in. It exists as an ordered reality alongside the living God. But there's no resentment of that, no sense of Frustration or or that it's merely tolerated. Rather, there's a massive affirmation of it, and Proverbs 8, the craftsman, revels in it.
Speaker 1:So why that we, why we need to say that is in pagan thought, the universe is typically thought of as an emanation from the divine being, a necessary production from the nature of God. Like God can't, but like the universe just kind of erupts from God and that the whole, if we take the whole of reality, and there's the divine being or beings, and then there's the universe, all of those are together considered as what is and they are all necessary, and that, like the universe is a Necessary byproduct of God, or something like that. That there's nothing free, it wasn't freely Created or freely formed. That's a. It's a hugely different view of the universe once you know that it's.
Speaker 1:The reason for the universe is the will of the father I expressed through the Sun, in the power of the spirit that it's an, it's, it's an and a work of art. A Work of art rather than of necessity, and that's hugely important. The word and that word necessity we could examine that more closely like. Because there are, there are, there are deep reasons within the Trinity why the father wills there to be a creation and particularly wills humanity to be the bride of Christ. There are deep reasons for that, but they're not. Then there's not a necessity about it. And the E is he has to do it and it has to exist in order for him to be God, or things like that. That's important. And the universe is not a necessary evil in order to, for example, be the shadow backdrop for goodness. That's again a typically pagan thing that they'll say Evil is the Seri flip side of good and that in order to have goodness, you have to have evil as the contrast to it, and that the so he has to have like a universe of, with evil in it, in Order to also have goodness. Now that there's nothing of that in the Bible either. Rather, the universe, the creation, is very good in itself and it is freely, contingently formed or created. So there's a lot in that and it's worthy of meditation.
Speaker 1:And now Whether we think the universe was totally from nothing. That's creatio ex nihilo, creation from nothing. And the idea there is that before the universe Existed, there was nothing in existence at all other than the father, son and holy spirit, the father begetting the son in the power of the spirit, and that's it. That's the only thing, that's the only Existence thing other than, and then Then, with the creation of the universe, it was the creation not just of the structure and order of the universe, but the, the, the material out of which Everything in the creation is made, including whatever materials are used in the highest heaven, right down to earth, and everything. All of the materials were also, were created out from which just created, and they didn't exist before. So that's, that's so that view that the universe was created from absolutely nothing, that the later church fathers really from, certainly from the fourth century, they insist on that and and it give give Not so much biblical reasons for it, as we'll see, but they give theological reasons for it and really the strength of that view that everything is created from nothing, the strength of that view is theological reasoning, and I think it's.
Speaker 1:Gregory of Nisaru says that if the idea that the Trinity had to use already existent materialism. The existing material strikes him as not worthy of the title of God. God in order to it's more honourable, it's a greater honour if God creates both the material and the form of the material, whereas created artists use already existing material. So they are great, maybe very skillful at giving form to material, but they cannot create the material itself. And then Gregory of Nisaru makes like it's a great point, that what makes the divine artist so wonderful is that he produces the material and the form of the material. So that's a classic argument that you get in the fourth century fathers, but earlier than that, earlier church fathers, tended not to think that and they tended to think that the universe was formed from, let's just say, eternal possibilities, that this material was just like there to be used, or that there's this infinite number of possibilities. There's like a chaos, ocean of possibilities, and then the father, through the son, by the spirit, forms the universe from that, from either just existent material that's around or from a kind of ocean of possibilities. And the Bible because the Bible is not as clear about that as well certainly is not.
Speaker 1:I thought when I was young. I remember when I first went to university to study theology. There was an essay question in the first year and it was about discuss the doctrine of kreatio-itsnilo and to me I was like, oh, the biblical basis of it, or something like that. And I remember thinking to myself what a strange question. It's like there's nothing to discuss. It's totally straightforward. The Bible obviously teaches that. So I didn't select that essay question. I picked something else. I can't remember what I did, but it stuck in my mind. What did other people write? Who did select it?
Speaker 1:And then I began to realise oh okay, it's not that there are tons of verses that teach this, but it's there aren't. It's not that obvious. It's just from the biblical material. There are good theological reasons to believe it, but it's not that obvious from the Bible itself. Anyway, let's leave it, and whatever view we take of that, the point being is this the form in which the heavens and the earth were created from the Father, through the Son and by the Holy Spirit, is very good, without hesitation or doubt. So the point in Genesis 1 and 2 is here is this formation of the universe as it now is, the heavens and the earth, with all that's in it and all the order and structure and life and light that is within it. That is very good, without any hesitation or doubt, and the living God revels in it in that creation process. And therefore death and decay are not merely to be accepted or or we've even worshipped.
Speaker 1:The worship of death is a big thing in the Old Testament, this idea of death cults, and that the reason the Bible is so anxious about us staying away from worship of death or trying to make deals with death is death is an alien intruder. It should not be in the universe and we mustn't give it. It is this final enemy that Christ has defeated by His death and resurrection and it is wrong to honour it. Because it is an enemy, death. We shouldn't come to terms with it, we shouldn't merely accept it. There is this cry against it at the centre of Christian worship, right at the centre of Christian worship, this sense that death will not win, it will eventually be evicted completely from the heavens and the earth. It is not natural to the universe. Death should always strike us as unnatural, unnatural. We must never think of it as just natural, as something that's okay, that it's like that's the nature of things. It isn't the nature of things. It's become a, a resident or an aspect of life in the creation, but it is a corruption of it.