We are accustomed to thinking about how to be loving to one and all, to not be judgmental and to accept others as Christ. But here, God's Word tells us that a day of reckoning will come. It will be a day in which nonbelievers ‘pay the piper’ for playing their song of unbelief – and it will indeed be harsh and categorical. Why will God be so very demanding of the nonbeliever? Because, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:19 and ff:
“… what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
The sheer beauty of this world should, in fact, testify to the nature and existence of our God. Today, some scientists are beginning to acknowledge this link to Truth. The book, “The Evidential Power of Beauty: Science and Theology Meet”, discusses at great length how recognizing beauty in our world can point us to Ultimate Truth. Author Thomas Dubay quotes Nobel prize winner Richard Feynman as saying, “you can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity” (pg. 13). Robert Augros and George Stanciu are also cited in their book The New Story of Science, saying “all of the most eminent physicists of the twentieth century agree that beauty is the primary standard for scientific truth” (pp.41-52).
Scientists look to the traits of beauty to lead them in their researches because in the first place, Beauty is objective – it’s “out there’. It’s not simply what’s in the eye of the beholder, but rather it is a “property of the objective world.” (EPB, pg. 38,39). By this is meant that Beauty is Simple or Pure. It is free from impurities of needless additions. Astrophysicist Roger Penrose, commenting on Einstein’s theory of relativity says, “no rival theory comes close to general relativity in elegance or simplicity of assumption.” (Black Holes” in The State of the Universe, ed. Geoffrey Bath, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1980).
This Simplicity is both complete and economical; it takes everything into account and leaves nothing out. It encompasses the classical philosophical traits of Unity and Wholeness. That which is elegantly simple points to Truth.
Scientists also look for the element of Harmony. Einstein himself asserted that ‘without belief in the inner harmony of the world there could be no science.’ (EPB, pg 40). Theories that harmonize previously unrelated facts are considered objectively beautiful.
Finally, the recognition of Brilliance is a third aspect of the scientific understanding of the Beautiful. Sir George Thomason, in his book, the Inspiration of Science says, “in physics, as in mathematics, it is a great beauty if a theory can bring together apparently different phenomena and show that they are closely connected; or even different aspects of the same thing.” (EPB pg. 41). Such brilliance in a theory is considered beautiful.
But this idea of beauty is not just a scientific abstraction.
“Beauty is the Battlefield where God and Satan contend with each other for the hearts of men.” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, in The Brothers Karamazov. EPB. Pg. 20).
When people take a look at our objectively beautiful universe, they must decide what this Beauty means. Does it point to a beautiful, artful Creator who desires a relationship with us, or is this beauty an inexplicable artifact of a meaningless universe in which the biggest question humans face is whether or not to commit suicide? I think you can guess which side I endorse.
As Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “… we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…” In other words, God is an Artist. He has created us to live in this beautiful world and to recognize His handiwork in the beauty around us. Our natural response to this beauty should be Wonder. Whoever cannot wonder is not truly Alive. Sadly, the reason why people cannot Wonder is because of their own sinfulness.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. I Cor. 2:14). Such a condition describes a person dead in his sin, unable to respond to beauty, unable to Wonder, unable to recognize the Glory of his Artist Creator. Such a person is in darkness, even while surrounded by Light, that is to say God’s Glory or radiance. Most horribly, God admits no excuse for such a condition. It is a willful turning away from Simple Reality and as such is punishable by eternal separation from God.
Romans 1 again, verses 21-25, “ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen."
This is why “…the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,” because in “their unrighteousness, [they] suppress – or hold down - the truth.” They refuse to acknowledge the abundant evidences for God’s existence and for His salvific action in our world. Therefore they suffer judgment. And “when he comes… to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed,…” (2 Thes. 1:10), these unrighteous ones will be excluded from fellowship with God. And it will be because of their own willful choices!
But brothers and sisters, we are convinced of better things for you! “ To this end we (like Paul) always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (vv. 11, 12).
As Christians, we are to glorify our God, to reflect back to Him some of the brilliance of the radiant Light that emanates from his person. We are also charged with the mission of reaching out to those who are spiritually dead in their sins and helping them to come into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ so that they too, may know the blessings of fellowship with him, the blessing of Eternal Life.
Let us remember that there are still 75,000 people in our area (at least) who need this saving knowledge. Let us not rest content until every last one of them has heard the Good News., and let us appeal to that great and merciful Judge to delay the time of his judgment so that He may bring in as many people as possible into that Glorious and Beautiful Light. AMEN.
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