Forging Eternity

"If I have not established my covenant with the day and the night, with the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David, my servant,
and I will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
I will indeed restore their fortunes and have mercy upon them". Jeremiah 33:25 & 26.

I have always been astounded by the majesty of the world around us. It has never been difficult, on a clear moonlit night, to stand beneath the canopy of the billions of stars and affirm that the heavens indeed declare the glory of God and reveal His handiwork (Psalm 19). Is it any wonder that a man like Albert Einstein could say concerning nature: "The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library...The child knows that someone must have written these books... and notes a definite plan in the arrangement of those books--a mysterious order which it does not fully comprehend, but dimly suspects".

The Apostle Paul, touching on David's confession, informs us that this 'voice', which has gone out to the whole earth, is cardinal to our hearing and our trusting in the message of Christ (Romans 10:17,18). The handiwork of God, evidenced both in creation and redemption, 'speaks' in a comprehensive fashion of the action of God in time and space. This fusion, whilst explicitly unveiled in the Incarnation and the era since this, is implicitly woven into God's message to us through the ages (shown, for example, in God's promise to Jeremiah). Whilst we may not understand the full extent of these great deeds (life at present can only furnish a foretaste of what is coming), we can, perhaps, glimpse into the activity and intention of Father, Son and Spirit.

When a forge is seeking to produce a viable tool - a sword, perhaps - the elements resourced for this purpose are fused together through a process of pressure and purification that allows the desired end to become real. Metal is heated so that it can become 'plastic' to be folded, many times over, to produce a blade of strength and precision, and the same is no doubt true amidst God's redemptive work amidst creation. The wonder which shall emerge - heaven and earth that has known the love of God not only in its formation, but in its rescue from death - will no doubt permeate and season every aspect of eternal life - it will mark all that will be with a love, like the universe itself, which is astonishing and profound.

When we begin to grasp the height, the depth, of this marvel, it will certainly lead us to express the manner of adoration evidenced in the Psalms - the Lord has indeed conveyed both wonder and mercy.