2.  We often think about the Gospel as beginning in the New Testament. It doesn’t. It begins before the beginning. The good news was part of the founding of the world and the universe. Christ did not come along afterwards in the New Testament. The first thing to see in Creation is Christ – not the creation of man.

Colossians 1:15-20:
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

John 1:1-5:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.

3.  Next, the essential nature and wonder of the entire created world is not physical but religious. The world and everything in it is created to worship a holy God – not to find a purpose for life or ultimate meaning. Everything created points to God. The heavens declare, the stars sing, the trees carry tunes for joy, the stones would cry out. It seems that all of creation is content to declare the glory of God – and we are deaf to it. All of creation pours forth speech day after day about God. You don’t do that about a machine or an unfeeling Designer.

4.  Yet, the physical nature of the universe is overwhelming, isn’t it? Our galaxy (of which our solar system is a small part) the Milky Way, contains between 200-400 billion stars and the planets orbiting around those stars are about 100 – 200 billion in number. I’ve read in one journal that there may be as many as ten trillion planets in the Milky Way. That’s just our galaxy. There are two hundred billion galaxies all with their own stars and planets. A 2010 study by astronomers estimated that the observable Universe contains 300 sextillion (3×1023) stars. It’s safe to say this is unimaginable. If earth were to disappear completely, it would not be noticed by the Universe. It’s infinitesimal light would be absorbed by an infinite universe. It is what Carl Sagan described as “a mote of dust suspended on a sunbeam.” That is why God can say in Job 38:4: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! 6 On what were its footings set, 7 while the morning stars sang together the work of your fingers, which you have set in place, human beings that you care for them?” Or Job’s in Chapter 42:2: “I know that you can do all things; 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ things too wonderful for me to know. I will question you, 5 My ears had heard of you 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

5.  But is earth that insignificant? Here is the last thing I want to say. Look at Revelation 20:1-4:

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

What has been God’s plan from the beginning? He created an invisible, infinitesimal, imperceptible and inconspicuous place in the whole of the trillions and sextillions of places to do what? To live there himself. Earth is not simply a small part of an infinite universe. It is not merely a mote of dust suspended on a sunbeam. It is the one place God intends to live – out of all the options this is where God will dwell. He created this place for his home.