Of course, like in other languages, words have more than one meaning; not only does kabod mean “weighty” but “splendorous.” Weight and splendor seem at odds with each other but look at the heavens. Each body in the universe is a mass held together by an unseen gravitational force. Of course, mass in a gravitational field has weight.
In The Book of Second Enoch, Enoch is taken thorough the various heavens where he would find Paradise in the Third Heaven and Almighty God in the Tenth Heaven. Enoch was taken through the cosmos to find the Glorious God on His throne. Each heaven had its own characteristics, but the Fourth Heaven was the constellations, the stars, and the sun and moon. Enoch describes the orbits of both the sun (and moon) down to the period of the still recognized 365-1/4 days (2 Enoch 14).
In effect, Enoch was revealed the gravity in the cosmos. He could not see it, and neither can anyone else, but He saw gravity in the orbits of each heavenly body. Why was he shown the fourth heaven? Paul certainly knew, for he knew a man fourteen years before who had been to the Third Heaven wherein he obviously saw the Paradise that Enoch saw in the same Heaven (2 Enoch 8).
They carried Enoch to the west.
And then those men carried me away to the west of the heaven, and they showed me six large open gates, corresponding to the circuit of the eastern gates, opposite them, where the sun sets according to the number of the days, 365 and ¼.
Thus he goes back once again to the eastern gates, under the earth. 〈And when he goes out from the western gates〉, he takes off his light, the splendor which is his radiance, 〈and four hundred angels take his crown and carry it to the LORD〉. For, since his shining crown is with God, with 400 angels guarding it, the sun 〈turns his chariot around〉 and goes back under the earth on wheels, without the great light which is his great radiance and ornament. |And he remains| for seven great hours in night. And the chariot spends half its time under the earth. And when he comes to the eastern approaches, in the 8th hour of the night, 〈the angels, the 4 hundred angels, bring back the crown, and crown him〉. And his brightness and the shining of his crown are seen before sunrise. And the sun blazes out more than fire does. (2 Enoch 14)
There is evidence that same man that Paul knew, perhaps Paul himself, saw all the heavens. Anyway, Paul wrote the truth, as he saw it; “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom 1:20).
Jesus was speaking directly about the Glory of God whose Glory cannot be seen except for the chosen few such as Moses and Paul himself. But he was also speaking of “invisible things” in general. Is not gravity understood by the “things that are made”? For instance, the gravitational constant, “g” can be calculated for all heavenly bodies. For instance, a 120-pounds person on the Earth, when on the moon, would weigh 1/6th that amount, or 20 moon-pounds. The “mass” (size x density) is the same, but the weight is much different because of the gravitational force is 1/6th of Earth’s. Indeed, Paradise on Earth was not only splendorous but weighty.
Mankind, as all the heavenly bodies, has just the right amount of weight to keep them in their orbits to keep them in their places.
Imagine Earth without the right amount of gravity. Not only would they have difficulty walking without floating, but even garbage would float! Without the constant g-force here, life would be a struggle. Because of mass and grace of God, each body in the universe has the perfect amount of gravity to assist them in their cycles. That is all bodies from the largest sun, down to the smallest atom, with mankind somewhere in between. In fact, the reason that humans have “bodies” is because all bodies have mass.
When God made man in His own
image, man was made as massive as the stars in their own gravitational field. I
can see the splendor of the stars — their masses revolving in an invisible
field — and perhaps Paul pointed out that our life is as a star. Just as a star
will burn out, so will humans, unless God intervenes. That is what was revealed
to John:
And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. (Rev 8:12)
Because of grace, only one-third of the stars lose their mass, and perhaps because of the same grace, only one-third of those who ever lived will lose their masses. Well, that seems to be the case, for when the remaining four angels come, it is written, “And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men” (Rev 9:15).
God is consistent; 1/3 of the angels were loosed, 1/3 of the stars shall perish, and so will 1/3 of mankind. Note that regardless of the size or substance, that the universe will loose 1/3 of its mass.
In my book, On the Origin of Man and the Universe, I pointed out that recent discoveries in particle field theory scientifically verify that there is matter and anti-matter with a mixed field between them. Matter is the visible and anti-matter invisible matter. That very well describes the “Second Heaven” of Enoch which contains both the visible and invisible. The Second Heaven has visible matter on one side (First Heaven) and the invisible on the other (Third Heaven). I believe that Enoch was describing science in the only way that he could! (Enoch understood that the Third Heaven is not beyond the Fourth Heaven but the unseen realm within the seen realm.)
What we see is the splendor of God. He endowed Adam, Eve, and all the Creation with glory, and indeed it was a sight to see! When God created (Gen 1:1) the “earth” in that formula, they were the masses in the universe, both gigantic and infinitesimal — from the Giant Galaxies down to the smallest atom.
Electrons hold the layers of atoms together and in like manner gravity does a similar thing on a macro scale. Just as heaven has layers with Earth as its nucleus, atoms are configured the same way. Each atom has its own “gravitational” field that holds it together, and so do the planets, stars, and other heavenly bodies.
The point to all that “science” is that what can be seen is evidence that there is a God of Order, one that thought out the manner of all things, and made all things similar. Gravity, like an atom’s electron field, hold the universe together in just the right amount to keep all the heavenly bodies in harmony. Gravity, the unseen force, did that, and it is the Power of God that cannot be seen. Because gravity holds all things together, is the evidence of God just as Paul wrote. Without gravity, the entire cosmos would be in chaos, and chaos is not of God but Satan.
What you see is the splendor (Glory) of God and because the universe is held in place by weight is extraordinary.
Since a young child, when I looked unto the heavens and without being told, I saw God. When I looked at the array of stars in the sky, I could not see God but realized that something held them together and apart at the same time. I saw “gravity” by only looking at the cosmos and as such, I saw the handiwork of God in that invisible substance that makes mass “weighty.”
So where is gravity mentioned in the Creation story?
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. (Gen 1:7-8)
The “waters” is literally “semen,” directly translated from the Hebrew. Semen are particles in seminal fluid. God divided the particles of the celestial dome (firmament) into separate layers just as with atomic structure.
The “celestial sphere” is the concentric sphere about the Earth which appears to be a dome from any location on Earth; so large a dome that it appears to be a flat screen from the perspective of any place on the Earth.
Since God divided those supra-huge particles — the heavenly bodies — how did he divide them? The Greek word, “badal” means that God “set them apart.” Just how would God do such fascinating things? The Invisible God apparently used and invisible field to set the heavenly bodies apart. And finally, He gave them motion: “And the evening and the morning were the second day, “ indicating that they moved with time.
God did that, and He is Glorious! No wonder that weightiness is “glory” because gravity was what God used for the splendor of it all!
Recall from this commentary how rockets by their speed become satellites of the Earth as they fall due to gravity. They too appear to be stationary, but their speed is just the right amount to make them fixed relative to the Earth (geometric or Newtonian Coordinates) because of the push that gravity has on them. Nobody can see gravity but most of us, short of flat-earthers, understand that gravity holds satellites in space just as it holds the moon in its place.
Because gravity cannot be seen, does not make gravity non-existent, but most who understand that gravity is real, deny that God is as real as gravity, although neither can be seen. Because mankind is so foolish, most thought Newton’s gravity to be heretical and atheists think of God as fantasy.
If you understand that God is as real as the unseen force of gravity, then you have cognitively seen the Glory of God!
(picture credit: Freepk)
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