Tag: John 14:2

The Cubic Measure

Dr. J.D. WilkinsLeave a comment

Daily Post:  Volume

volume-conversion

Math was not always my strong suit in school, but I did ok.  Some people think that simple arithmetic is all that matters, as if making change from a $5.00 bill at MacDonalds is a great life achievement.  However, mathematics is more than simple arithmetic, and we use it daily in our lives, whether we realize it or not.  Do you want to design buildings and become a well-respected Architect?  Better learn the math required, or your structures will collapse and people will die.  Do you want to create the next new gourmet dish that people stand in line to devour?  Better learn the math required for proper ingredient measurements or the line won’t even form.  Do you want your teen-age son to learn how to avoid collisions in your car when he drives himself to school everyday?  Then you better make sure he understands some basic principles of geometry, and distance measuring, or your car may end up looking like an accordion.

Measurements, and more specifically the principle of measuring volume, are different for sound, solids, liquids, and gases.  For a quick and easy understanding of how each is different click HERE.  I want to focus in this article on the Cube as my example, since I find it one which offers a great deal of mystery.  Since all sides of a cube are the same measurement, the Volume of a cube is any side or edge cubed (AxAxA or A3). What makes this so mysterious is that inside the volume of any cube is the ability to subdivide the volume into 27 proportionately equal smaller cubes… see the image above.  Stay with me here.

If you are bored to tears with this ho-hum article filled with math principles, how about I show you this image from the Bible?  What if I were to tell you that I could give you an image of the greatest city known to man, that hasn’t even appeared on earth yet?  And what if I told you its design were a CUBE?  Watch this…

Revelation 21:15-17
The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall.  The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal.  And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements.

[read more about Revelation click here]

Do you see it?  Length, Width, and Height are equal!  The basic measurement is a Yard, according to human measurements (which are also angelic measurements), which is a CUBIC measurement.  So the angel of God tells John the Apostle, that the city Jesus spoke of in John 14:2 (“I go to prepare a place for you”), is measured in yards, and the measurement of one side of this cube is 1,500 miles (2,640,000 yards).  Think of this as the distance between Phoenix, Arizona to Richmond, Virginia.  Now CUBE this image, since the measurement is only ONE side of the city!  This one city would cover most of North America and extend upwards into the atmosphere for 1500 miles!  The atmosphere of earth before reaching space is only about 62 miles!  But God says this city – The New Jerusalem – will reach 1400 miles into space beyond our current atmosphere!

I hear the wheels turning in your brain right now.  Some will say, “This guy’s a crazy nut! That’s impossible!”  All you have to do is realize, everything about your life right now is based on faith and things you cannot see or even image.  Do you see “how” the pill you take every day controls your blood pressure?  Can you visibly see (with your naked eye) the blood coursing through your veins, keeping you alive?  Just because you don’t see it, just because you can’t comprehend it, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.  So, here’s the thing, is the 15003 miles an actual, literal measurement? 

Dr. Charles De Haan said, “Always interpret every statement in the Word of God literally as meaning exactly what it says, unless it is definitely stated otherwise, or the structure and context are such that you can plainly see that the passage concerns a figure or a symbol.”

When will we finally realize that everything in Scripture is given to us for specific reasons?

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Perhaps we should see the image at the beginning of this article as another measurement of volume.  What if the information you now know, understand, and have applied in your life from the Bible is the solid cube?  Can you see from this image that there is infinitely more that you could learn from His Word? God gave us these Scriptures so we would be adequately equipped for every good work.

My desire is to reach the full volume of His expectations for me!

Luke 1:37
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”

 

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Worlds Apart

Dr. J.D. Wilkins2 Comments

Daily Post:  Distant

distant

Any Star Wars fan worth their salt knows the phrase, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….”

George Lucas, and John Williams are creative geniuses, each in their own field of work.  Lucas captured our minds with outrageous new creatures and the use of computer generated imagery (CGI), while Williams captured our emotions and visceral imaginations with the sound track.  From the evil Imperial March track associated with the dark side of the Empire, and Darth Vader’s breathing apparatus, to the CGI hyper-speed jumps of the Millennium Falcon, this original 1977 movie took us to places we could not conjure in our own imaginations.

I have always loved science fiction, does anyone out there remember “Danger! Will Robinson!”?  Today’s offerings in the genre of science fiction, now 40 years removed from the Jedi Master and the Force, continue to capture our thoughts about the reality of space travel, and what lies beyond our world.  As of March 27 of this years, NASA continues on it’s plan to send humans to the Red Planet sometime in the 2030’s.  That’s 13 years from now folks.  Is this reality?  Could this actually happen?

My thoughts are mixed from a spiritual standpoint.  Nothing about my 1960’s faith allowed for the concept of traveling through space.  That said, I’m now 63 years old, and I’ve witnessed the evolution of technologies that not only could I not have envisioned as a child, I was an actual part of the early pioneer work of establishing the capability of  data communication over cellular devices.  (Translation:  Texting, emailing, tweeting, etc on the cell phone)  What a ride!

Will the Creator allow humanity to make this great voyage into the unknown of space?  There is nothing Biblically that either allows or forbids this possibility.  In fact, it is pure speculation on the part of any biblical scholar who takes a dogmatic stand one way or the other.  In the area of predicting the future, God gives us the plan for the end of human history.  But what’s missing in the information is when this might occur, and God hasn’t enlightened us or hinted to us anything in terms of concrete, hard-and-fast time tables.  He doesn’t tell us year, month, day, hour, or minute… so ANYONE who tells you they know, is a false prophet. Trust me, they don’t know.

That said, it is just as easy for me to believe that space travel is in the very near future for many people.  If you are 20 years old and dreaming of flying in a real live spaceship, your odds are pretty good, if God allows us to exist another 100 years.  The ancients, the Old Testament authors, could only see the stars and marvel at the existence.  The New Testament authors, wrote of the Magi being led by a star to the place where the Son of God was born, in Bethlehem.  Outside of these references, what would ever cause us to think that these men understood our world today, from 2,000 years in the past?  Enter John the apostle.

Not only did John see things he simply couldn’t explain or describe adequately, some of the things he saw, Jesus specifically said not to write down in his book called The Revelation.  We can’t possibly know all that will happen in our world, or this galaxy before God says “enough is enough.”  Perhaps that won’t even happen until we’ve explored other worlds within our galaxy, or beyond.  The longer it takes for God to fulfill the words of His prophets, the more people on this planet will continue to say, “Why hasn’t God come back for us yet?  What is He waiting on?  If there really is a God!”

So I leave you with these distant thought from the past.  The passage of time does not negate their truthfulness, so be careful about measuring prophecy against the element of time.  If God says it will happen, then it will happen.

2 Peter 3:9
The LORD is not slow about His promise, as some esteem slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Isaiah 55:11
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

John 14:2
In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.

So… go be light and salt today, bringing God great glory, experiencing His grace in everything you do!  Live in the reality of these yet distant promises.

 

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