Christ: The Center of The Universe
CHRIST: THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
Dedicated to all the church's great pastors/theologians/philosophers who have blessed my life so much
Most of us are probably familiar with what is called, "The Copernican Revolution"--where it was finally accepted that the earth revolved around the sun (and not the other way around).
In this little paper, I would like to remind us of the Holy Scripture's universal and constant insistence (Old Testament and New) that Christ, the Eternally-Begotten Son of the Father, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, is not only at the very heart of God's created universe, He is the epicenter of it.
The reason this is so, is because, even before the creation of the world, the blessed Trinity had, in the counsels of Their decrees, determined that it would be the Christ, the eternally-begotten Son of the Father, Who would be the One through Whom the world would be created, (cf. Jn. 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:3). Christ, being the "Word" (Logos) of God (Jn. 1:1), would be the uniquely-qualified One through Whom the Holy Trinity would "speak" the world into existence.
It is probably true, as per Augustine's view, that all (or certainly most) of God's communications and visitations on and to the created realm, have been through the agency of the Son of God. (This would include His pre-incarnate Christophanies, etc.)
Christ's centrality in the created realm is to be comprehended under both the cosmic (macro) and personal (micro) levels. The One who is now (since His incarnation) Jesus Christ, the God/Man, is literally the center of God's good and created universe.
Since Jesus Christ's human body is now in heaven, how are we to conceive of the "bulls-eye" or focal point of creation? Instead of thinking of the center of the universe being on earth, we are to understand it as being located in heaven itself, (because that is where the God/Man's body is). Perhaps this is one of the reasons Paul encourages regenerated Christians to keep our minds "above, where Christ is," (Col. 3:1).
Before sin entered the world (through Adam's initial transgression), the universe was in perfect symmetry. There was no tension, stress, or "pulling apart" or "away," of anything. Everything was at rest. But Adam's sin broke the universe apart into a kajillion (though not an infinite number) of bits. In sin, we are "atomized"; and isolated from our Creator, each other, and even our own selves.
Jesus Christ, the Last (and greatest) Adam came here to earth, and changed all that. The full results of this restoration are not yet entirely evident; but the absolute assurance that it will come to pass is our certain hope (in Jesus).
This is one of the reasons the Scriptures teach us that the entire universe is not only revolving around Christ, but that it is inevitably being "drawn," (my word), to Him, (cf. as a principle of this 1 Pet. 3:22). Christ is like the cosmic "magnet" that inevitably attracts all beings to Himself. The "gravity" of creation is all "collapsing" in on Him.
This last point is not meant to imply that all of this unavoidable "obsession" with Christ will render "positive" results for all rational beings; nor even that these rational beings are consciously aware that they are being "pulled in" to Christ. But, it is happening, nonetheless.
One intriguing point to consider is this: if the locus of the universe is in heaven, and not on earth, how are we to think of heaven? Is heaven a created "place"? I think that we probably have to say, that it is. After all, that is where the physical body of Jesus Christ is, it is where the elect angels are headquartered, and it is the home of the souls of the departed saints. (I think it is important for us still to maintain that the Persons of the Trinity, as divine [including Christ in His sole divinity], subsist outside the space-time created universe.)
To hearken back to the so-called, "Copernican Revolution," it is evident that many people thought (and maybe some still do think), that the sun, (and not the earth, of course), is the center of the universe. This is a mistake that is a bit difficult to imagine. Even if someone alleged themselves to be an atheist, why would the sun, as opposed to any other point of reference in the universe, be considered the center of it?
As lovers of God in Jesus Christ, let us accept the gospel's clear and beautiful teaching that the God/Man is truly the absolute focal point of the Holy Trinity's created (and wonderful) universe.
Rev. Mark J. Henninger
Treatise #3
27 January 2025
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