The Big Focus
Genesis 1:1-19
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
7 And God made[b] the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.
8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.
12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and forseasons, and for days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.
16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
For several nights, I read this chapter over and over. How God created the universe out of nothing, has always been fascinating to me, and a bane to most atheists, as they frankly don’t want to believe that there is a God who would or could do this. It seems to them magical. No, nothing God does is magical. It can actually be understood as we grow in the ability of our minds and hearts to grasp. This ability can grow as we grow closer to God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, by which is the only way we can understand.
For many years, I have pondered the idea of dimensions. Dimensions? Yes, the basic scientific and philosophical understanding of dimensions.
They always tell you we are in the third dimension. Quite a while ago, I realized that to be not true. Let me explain…
It all starts with a point. Think of a dot in space…empty space. This dot has no space in itself. It is just a point in space that would not be visible because it has no dimensions. It has no width or height. Now, this dot moves and becomes a line. This line represents the 1st dimension. It has no height, or width, but now has length. There is still nothing there. Yes, this is complicated and purely conceptual, but to understand the dimensions, you have to go there.
If you add width to this line, you now have a plane. This plane, having absolutely no height, would only be visible by looking at it from its face or back. Think infinite flat surface. If you looked at its side, you would see nothing. This is the 2nd dimension.
The third dimension happens when you add height. This makes, basically, a box. A plane lying horizontally connected to a plane that is vertical. The image now has height and width and length. It is a three dimensional object and visible from any angle, yet is made up of moving points, lines and planes with no space whatsoever. Yet it is. Head hurt yet?
When God created “space” it was empty. Simply put, it was his work space. A construct program if you will. Nothing was in it. Then he said let there be light. Now the infinite dark space of nothing is flooded with God’s energy. From there he creates "waters" and then an expanse separating the “waters”. What these waters are is unknown. Yet, considering what the expanse separates on this end of the expanse is well, matter. This is the where the earth as a planet is. I figure, since these “waters” are separated by the expanse, which is space or the universe as a whole (he put stars in the expanse to offer us light, and I suspect a wee bit of gravity to hold all things in place and make them move as they should…), then at the other end of the universe (expanse) is the same substance the “waters” are made of here…more matter. But that is another matter…
Interesting but obviously not provable at this point in time.
So, this creation of “waters” separated by an expanse is a three dimensional object of a really, really vast scale. Think of the earlier imaginary cube. This is clearly one big cube. But it is still not 3 dimensional… Ok, why?
Well if you have a 3 dimensional cube that sits motionless, it is nothing more than a point from a great distance. Yes, it is not a point because it has height, width and length. But it still has the same properties otherwise as a point in the vast expanse of nothingness. So, set this cube in motion and you get a line with it. In other words, give the three dimensional cube forward motion, making it also have length like a you would with a point. Wait, your confusing me now.
We are three dimensional, yes, but we are also moving in a forward direction. Time. Time is the measure of matter in motion. Digging deeper, matter, really isn’t wholly solid. Ouch, please stop! Matter is nothing more than energy pooled together with tons of space between super tiny elements, atoms and parts that make up everything, which in themselves are made up of nothing.
Yes, God made the entire universe from NOTHING. But then again, that is what the bible says...
Hard to grasp? Why? In this day and age, any programmer can create an entire universe made up of nothing but 1’s and 0’s. Yes’s and No’s. On’s and Off’s. This is how a computer does anything. Machine code as they call it, is yes’s and no’s done by switches turning on or off. Simple? Well, yes, and no… Again pun intended.
God’s program, reality or cube, is created by something very similar. Light and Dark.
Since we are in motion like a line, we are actually in the 4th dimension. Now if we talk 5th dimension (really hurts my brain here), I figure we are then moving into a spiritual reality where our cube motion in time now has height. Somehow, this moving is across an expanse of reality. We only reach this area through the Spirit of God. Doubt me? Well, just have a long chew with 1 Corinthians Chapter 2. Yea, mind of God and all...
So, we are 4th dimensional beings with the opportunity to reach a 5th dimension through the Holy Spirit of God. My guess is that through what Christ has done, we will eventually go way beyond 5, 6 and possibly reach number 7. But, who knows…
So after reading the first chapter in the book, over and over and then pondering these things with the Spirit of God. I came up with a question. So, if this all started with a point and then a line. What did God do to make them.
He responded to me. “I focused my attention”. “Then I moved my gaze in a direction”.
Ok, to me, this just seems really, really cool.
Imagine then, when you focus on a story in a book. Your attention is on a word, then you move to the next word. You are moving across words, sentences and paragraphs. In your mind, in your focus, you now have the picture of a universe that someone else created when they wrote down those words. This universe's time only passes as fast as you read it. But from the perspective of the characters in that universe, time is consistent.
Of course when we do this, we only get an image in our mind. When God does this, it creates a physical reality with multiple dimensions that untold numbers of beings actually exist. Yea, wow. That is some focus.
Now consider this. When you sit with God in prayer. You look out toward Him and notice in your heart, His presence. You then say “I see you!”
His response is “Yes, and I see you…”
God, at that moment, and all the moments of your life now have His FOCUS as HE writes your story.