Golf Holes and Black Holes
April 11, 2019 0 Comments
Most of us have a ‘bucket list’, a list of things we’d like to do or see before we ‘kick the bucket.’ Yesterday I checked a big one off of my list. I went to August National Golf Club, where The Masters golf tournament is played every year. My first memory of watching this tournament was in 1986 when 46 year-old Jack Nicklaus shocked and delighted the golf world with a stunning come from behind win. I’ve watched the Masters every year since and have always wanted to walk those hallowed grounds. The golf course is even more spectacular in person than it is on TV. Every magnolia tree, every azalea bush, every blade of grass is perfectly manicured for this event. For a golf fan, it’s a glimpse of heaven on earth, an absolute must see.
As incredible as that sight was, yesterday for the first time, astronomers were able to identify and photograph a black hole yesterday. The picture shows a circle of bright light with darkness in the center. It’s known as M87 and its mass (the measure of how much matter is in an object) is equal to 6.5 billion of our suns. A black hole is caused by the explosion of a large star that creates a massive amount of gravity which devours everything that comes close to it. Light and matter become brighter as they swirl around the ‘event horizon’, the point of no return for the light and matter before being consumed by the black hole. Can you imagine being able to get close enough to a black hole to watch that happen? That would put walking around a golf course to shame!
Now imagine this: Astronomers think that our own Milky Way galaxy may contain up to one billion black holes. That’s in addition to the 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Now to completely blow your mind, astronomers say that the observable universe contains somewhere between 200 billion and 2 trillion galaxies. The human mind is unable to comprehend numbers of this size. Molly and I share a love of travel. Seeing any new part of earth for the first time is amazing. There’s so much to see and not enough time. We want to go to Hawaii, the great northwest, Italy, Greece, Iceland, you name it, we want to go there. The earth is spectacular. There’s no way we can see it all before we die. If the earth is spectacular, what about the rest of the universe? I love when astronomers release pictures like M87. It’s as close as I will ever get to space travel. At least in my present body.
Someday, the Bible says we will receive glorified bodies. We may be capable of seeing the entire universe from heaven. Or we may not even care about it because we will be in the presence of God who made the universe! If the universe is spectacular, can you even begin to imagine what heaven will be like? And if you can’t imagine what heaven will be like, can you imagine gazing at God Himself?! 1 Corinthians 2:9: “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” Think about that verse. Our eyes HAVE seen some incredible, even inexplicable things in the universe. Our eyes HAVE seen objects in the heavens of unimaginable size and beauty. Now our eyes HAVE even seen black holes.
Yet the Bible says that God has prepared things for us that NO eye has seen, or ear heard, or even contemplated by the mind. Such is the glory of God and heaven that awaits. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.” We will not only see unimaginable things, we will hear inexpressible words!
The Bible describes heaven as a city of pure gold, with foundations made from every precious stone on earth. There will be no sun or moon because God is the source of light. As amazing as that may be, even more so is that there will be no sin there. Only Jesus and those who bring Him glory will be there. Night and day we will worship Him. We will gaze upon His face. When you think about the ultimate eradication of sin, sadness, tears and death, that truly is more incredible than anything we have ever seen. What it will be like is beyond what we can think or imagine. It’s more glorious than the universe and everything in it. We should examine ourselves to be sure that we will enter it at all costs. Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and received the forgiveness for your sins. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? If you have, heaven awaits. In the meantime though, if you ever get a chance to visit Augusta National, I have to confess, it’s not a bad place to wait!
