Nature is another media through which God speaks to us. “Nature is God’s second book”—this is basically what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1 and is also stated in Psalm 19. As we are told in Colossians 1, John 1, and other places, all things were made through Jesus and for Him, and they all speak of Him. I have come to believe that everything in nature speaks of Jesus, the only begotten Son and the love of the Father’s heart, in virtually unlimited depth. Because we are a big part of the Father’s plan for His Son, we can see our place in the message of the creation, too.
The key to unlocking the message in everything is Jesus. He is everything that the Father loves, and everything was made through and for Him. In everything that was created, the Father was looking for His Son. He’s looking for His Son in us. We are told in Ephesians 1:9-10: “He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.”
Since the ultimate purpose of God is for all things to be summed up in His Son, and our basic calling is to grow up in all things into Him, seeing the Son is basic to understanding everything God is doing. Jesus is the basic communication of God, which is why He is called “the Word” of God in the first chapter of John.
As there are basic keys to understanding languages, Jesus is the most basic key to understanding the heavenly language of God. If you want to understand what God is saying to you through a circumstance, look at it from the perspective of the Holy Spirit seeking to bring forth the nature of the Son in you, and it will usually become very clear. We are promised that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (see Romans 8:28). The ultimate good that could come is for us to see His glory and be changed into His same image—start looking for Him in everything.
I love to read about the great discoveries in physics and astronomy because Psalm 19 is true—the heavens do declare His glory! As someone once said, the worst problem for an atheist is to see a glorious sunset and not have anyone to thank. How can we see anything of the glory of creation and not marvel at and worship the Creator?
Elizabeth Barrett Browning once said, “Earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; but only he who sees takes off his shoes—the rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.” This is why we want to see, not just with our natural eyes, but with our spiritual eyes too. This is what the Apostle Paul prayed for in Ephesians 1, that the “eyes of our hearts would be opened.”
Newton was called the “father of modern physics,” and He was a passionate Christian who was likewise seeking to discern Christ in the creation. Newton also believed in what is now called The Bible Code, he and spent years of his life searching for it. The Bible Code is in fact there, but is far too intricate to have been discovered without the help of a computer, which is because God wanted it saved until the end of the age. Even so, whether you believe if The Bible Code is real or not isn’t the point. Newton saw such symmetry and mathematical precision in creation that he simply believed that it must also exist in The Bible in layer upon layer of depth in meaning and purpose. This is because those of his time were just beginning to discover through their relatively crude microscopes that there were far more building blocks to the creation than they had ever perceived before. It’s hard to tell for sure, but Newton could have been “seeing through a glass darkly” (see I Corinthians 13:12), such things as genes and DNA.
Newton’s ideas about The Bible Code were not entirely from observing the creation, but were also from some Rabbi friends who had believed in The Bible Code for generations. The Bible Code is not needed for faith by one who has the Holy Spirit, but its existence is a testimony of how deep and intricate God’s communication with His people is, as well as how awesome the order is that He has placed in all things. There may seem like many random events and situations in nature, but they are only found in that which is man’s domain. In the rest of the creation, an order and purpose is deeper, higher, further, and broader than our small minds can fully perceive.
Einstein also saw a profound common link in all of creation he called “the Reason that manifests itself in nature.” This Reason is Christ through Whom and for Whom all things are created. This is why all things are held together by the Word (Christ) of His power. All things are not God as the pantheists believe, but He is actually in all things and holds the universe together. As the Apostle Paul put it in his interesting discourse on Mars Hill, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (see Acts 17:28).
In Colossians 1:27, we are told that it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Sometimes it is easier to see the Lord in nature than it is to see Him in us. Remember, we are the temple! He therefore speaks to us from within, and we need to recognize His voice when He does. He also speaks to us through His people, and we need to discern His voice when He does. Again, this is a devotion to not just hear the words of the Lord, but to hear the Word, Himself. As we come to know Him, we will come to know His voice and recognize Him whenever, however, and through whomever He chooses to speak to us.