What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? -Psalm 8:4

The Big

God is Big.

God is Bigger than I am. He’s Bigger than you are.

Much Bigger.

He’s the One who has marked off the heavens with the breadth of His hand. (Isaiah 40:12)

He’s the One who created galaxies millions of light years across. He’s the One who created a universe so vast that a part of the night sky that looks empty to us here on earth, was found to have more than 3,000 objects in it after a picture was taken by the Hubble Telescope. These objects are galaxies as far away from earth as 12.7 billion light years. Take a look at this video of the Hubble Telescope Deep Field zoom and flythrough. The scale of the universe is mind boggling. (55 second video–no sound)

The Small

God is mindful of the smallest details too. He’s the One who created the microscopic process of communicating the instructions in DNA to the proteins that make up an organism. You can see a mind blowing animation of the process in the secular science video below. It’s an ingenious microscopic biological factory assembly line. There are actually machines inside every organism that perform specific functions. “Machines,” that’s the term the biologists use. One machine unwinds a section of a DNA strand to expose genetic instructions. Then another machine copies these instructions and carries the information to a specific cell. Then a two part molecular “factory” builds a specifically sequenced chain of amino acids, these chains are often hundreds of units long. Their sequential arrangement determines the type of protein manufactured. When the chain is finished it’s moved to a barrel shaped machine that folds it into the precise shape critical to its function. Then another machine shepherds the finished protein to the exact location where it’s needed.

It is absolutely brilliant! You have to see it to believe it.

The scale of the universe, from the spectacularly large stars, solar systems, and galaxies millions of light years across, to the infinitesimally small, is truly awe inspiring. (see Scale of the Universe by Michael Huang)

The scale of what God has created is so much greater than anything man has created, the gap between the two is beyond comprehension.

So, if He is so much greater than we are, then why? Why did He come to us in the form of a man?

The Predicament

Jesus said if you’re angry with someone you’re subject to God’s judgement. He said if you say a contemptuous word to someone, you have to answer to God. He said if you call someone a fool you’re in danger of the fire of hell.

He said we’re to have 100% integrity and honesty. Our yes is to mean yes and our no is to mean no.

He said if you look at a woman with lust you’ve committed adultery with your heart. (see Matthew 5:21-48)

Have you ever been angry with anyone? Ever said anything contemptuous about anyone? Have you ever said, “Yes, I’m going to…” and then not done it? Ever said, “No, don’t worry, I won’t…” and then did it? Have you ever looked upon a woman (or a man if you’re a woman) with lust?

Of course you have, and so have I, and so has everyone.

These standards are impossibly high. They’re obviously impossible to keep. Why did Jesus come? Jesus came on Christmas day because you and I are in an impossible predicament. There is no way on Earth we can meet God’s standards. We need to be rescued, and God, as Big as He is, and as small as we are, sent Jesus Christ as our rescuer.

Jesus came to Earth to be born in the form of a human being. He came to Earth to live a life of healing and teaching and helping.

And He came to Earth to die on the cross, to pay for every time you and I have failed, and will fail, to live up to God’s standards.

Thank God for His mercy.

Thank God He provided a way, a way for you and a way for me to go to heaven.

Thank God He sent His Son to save us.

Merry Christmas.

[You might also like: Love Like Jesus–For One of the Least]

[Image via: Matt McGee, Creative Commons]

[HT: James Cooper, ChurchMag, Jack Akin]

NOTES

God’s Perspective:

This is a photo of Earth from Mars, taken by Mars Exploration Rover Spirit one hour before sunrise on the 63rd Martian day of the year. We are so tiny! And this is the perspective from our second nearest planetary neighbor (Venus is closest). We’re so little, NASA, the producer of this image, had to put our planet in a blowup insert, just so you can notice it.

We fall into a way of thinking that imagines our lives and our world as so big, but from God’s perspective, we’re but dust. (Psalm 103:14)

Transcription and Protein Assembly:

In the heart of the cell are these tightly wound strands of DNA (unwound, each strand is around 6 feet long). They store the instructions necessary to build every protein that makes up the flesh and blood of an organism. The steps involved in creating these proteins are transcribed from the video.

1) First a molecular machine unwinds a section of the DNA helix to expose the genetic instructions needed to assemble a specific protein molecule.

2) Then another machine copies these instructions to form a molecule known as messenger RNA.

3) When the messenger RNA has received all the instructions from the DNA strand, the messenger RNA carries the genetic information to a specific cell. It enters through the nuclear pore complex, the gatekeeper for traffic in and out of the cell nucleus.

4) Then the messenger RNA is directed to a two part molecular factory called a ribosome  After attaching itself securely, the process of translating the copied DNA information into a specific type of protein begins.

5) Inside the ribosome, a molecular assembly line builds a specifically sequenced chain of amino acids. These amino acids are transported form other parts of the cell, and then linked into chains often hundreds of units long. Their sequential arrangement determines the type of protein manufactured.

6) When the chain is finished, it is moved from the ribosome to a barrel shaped machine that helps fold it into the precise shape critical to its function.

7) After the chain is folded into a protein, it is then released and shepherded by another molecular machine to the exact location where it is needed.

It’s a little bit like a factory assembly line.

The Scale of the Universe:

Problem: An optical microscope can’t see objects smaller than 200 nanometers because these objects are so small, wavelengths of visible light pass right through them.