Friday, December 18: Hebrews 1:8-9
“Daddy, are you old?” came the question from my young daughter. “I’m not as old as Pops,” I replied.
Age is, of course, relative.
A woman named Jeanne Calment from France lived to be 122; now that’s old. However, humans don’t hold a candle to some other mammals; the bowhead whale can live over 200 years. In the White Mountains of California there is a tree named Methuselah which boasts an estimated age of 4,852. Age is indeed relative.
In 2018, scientists—aided by the Hubble Space Telescope—discovered the most distant, visible star known to humankind. They named it Icarus. It’s a star that is exponentially hotter and more massive than our sun. Its light takes 9 billion years to reach the Earth. Now that truly is old.
The writer of Hebrews—referencing an ancient psalm—speaks of “a throne that will last for ever and ever.” It is difficult, perhaps impossible, for us to fathom for-ever. When we look to nature around us and even to distant galaxies, we’re only scratching the surface of eternity.
It’s easy to lose ourselves in the prospect of ever-expanding space and the endlessness of time. However, the God of forever, knows us by name and marked our days. God sent his Son into the world in a way that we could understand. It’s a story for young and old alike. It’s a story with a simple beginning, but with profound implications for all of time. There is joy in forever.
Corey Fuller