Sermon Tone Analysis

According to the Psalmist, there is a way in which the very heavens themselves talk to us — though they don’t use words to do it.

It’s not just “You just look up at the beautiful sky and you can see that there is a God.”

For Paul, everyone had heard (or should have heard) about the coming of Jesus because “their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

Paul in

Paul’s proof-text from the Old Testament for suggesting that people everywhere had heard about Jesus is .

His quotation of the verse in comes from the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.

For Paul, everyone had heard (or should have heard) about the coming of Jesus because “their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

Whose voice is Paul talking about?

The heavens! Let’s look at the source of Paul’s quotation, :

How can Paul make the claim here that everyone has heard “the word of Christ?” Impossible! Christianity was pretty new back then.

But still, he says “indeed they have (heard),” and then immediately follows that assertion with a quote from .

“Their voice has gone out to the ends of the world.”

Whose voice?

Well, if Paul knows his Bible (and if we know ours), then “their voice” is the voice mentioned in the Psalm — and it’s not the voice of the apostles and evangelists or even the early church at large.

Rather, it’s the voice (the message, the word, the communication) uttered by the very heavens (the sky, sun, moon, and stars) themselves.

They’ve been “preaching” a long long time.

And there have been a few occasions when their message was heard around the world!

For instance…

Whose voice is Paul talking about?

The heavens!

Paul’s proof-text from the Old Testament for suggesting that people everywhere had heard about Jesus is .

For Paul, everyone had heard (or should have heard) about the coming of Jesus because “their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

Whose voice is Paul talking about?

The heavens!

There are a number of terms used in this passage to convey the idea that the heavens communicate information:

The heavens “declare”; the sky “proclaims”; the cycle of days and nights “pours out speech” and “reveals knowledge”; the heavens have a “voice” and “speech” and “words” that can be heard since their message “goes out through all the earth.”

connects this idea to Scripture.

The more we learn about the universe, the more clearly we can see the work of God.

A perfect example of this is modern “Big Bang” cosmology.

Prior to this theory, scientists and atheists assumed that the universe was eternal.

The combination of Einstein’s theories and advances in physics made it clear that, in fact, the universe did have a “beginning.”

At first, this idea was rejected by scientists as being theology, not science.

Over time, however, it became impossible to deny.

The fact that the universe “began” is something we can see purely by observing the heavens and the sky—just as says.

General Revelation

General revelation is the term theologians most often use to refer to the revelation of God in nature, which is where begins.

General Revelation is Continuous

The psalmist says of the heavens that “day after day they pour forth speech” and of the skies that “night after night they display knowledge” (v.

2).

General Revelation is Universal

Astral theology was the idea that the One who made the celestial objects in the heavens (sun, moon, stars) to be for “signs and seasons” and to mark time () could use those objects to communicate.

The key questions for the present chapter are, “How did Paul think the heavens communicated the coming of Jesus?” and “Is there evidence elsewhere in the New Testament that the heavens did anything like this?”

God has revealed enough of Himself in nature that nobody has an excuse for rejecting Him or for doing what is wrong.

A View of Atheism

General revelation is the term theologians most often use to refer to the revelation of God in nature, which is where begins.

General Revelation is Continuous

The psalmist says of the heavens that “day after day they pour forth speech” and of the skies that “night after night they display knowledge” (v.

2).

General Revelation is Universal

A View of Atheism

19:5 bridegroom … chamber.

The chamber of a bridegroom was the specially prepared room in which the marriage was consummated.

The use in suggests this in its parallelism.

It has this meaning in early rabbinic Judaism, but after the destruction of the temple in AD 70 it takes on a reference to the pavilion in which the formal wedding ceremony was conducted.

19:6 rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit.

In many ancient Near Eastern cultures, it was assumed that the sun ran a daily course through the heavens.

Mesopotamian texts refer to the gates of the heavens where the sun enters and exits.

In these texts, all of the heavenly bodies follow paths or courses, which are represented as bands across the sky.

Atheism Worldview

Why it is Attractive: No need to be held accountable to any moral standards or religious doctrine

No need to be held accountable to any moral standards or religious doctrine

Autonomous = self law

Implications of Atheism

If God does not exist , our lives are ultimately meaningless, valueless, and purposeless despite how desperately we cling to the illusion to the contrary

If each individual person passes out of existence when he dies, then what ultimate meaning can be given to his life

If there is no God, then life itself becomes meaningless.

Man and the universe are without ultimate significance.

No Ultimate Value If life ends at the grave, then it makes no ultimate difference how you live.

As the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky put it : “ If there is no immortality … then all things are permitted.

However, If God does exist, then life is meaningful.

TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT – FINE TUNING

The laws of nature are amazingly fine - tuned; there is very little room for alteration.

The smallest modifications of these laws would completely destroy the possibility of life in the universe.

Measuring tape example

Now imagine stacking just as many dimes again on another billion continents the same size as North America.

If you marked one of those dimes and hid it in the billions of piles you’d assembled, the odds of a blindfolded friend picking out the correct dime is approximately 1 in 10 to the 37th power — the same level of precision required in the strong nuclear force and the expansion rate of the universe.

Measuring tape example

Imagine stretching a measuring tape across the entire known universe.

Now imagine one particular mark on the tape represents the correct degree of gravitational force required to create the universe we have.

If this mark were moved more than an inch from its location (on a measuring tape spanning the entire universe) , the altered gravitational force would prevent our universe from coming into existence

Firing a bullet example

Imagine trying to fire a bullet at a one - inch target on the other side of the observable universe.

The accuracy required to accomplish such a feat has been calculated at 1 in 10 to the 60th power.

Compare this to the precision required in calibrating the mass density of the universe ( fine - tuned to within 1 unit in 1059 )

Our Earth

Distance from Sun

Earth orbits the sun within a tight habitable zone where , statistically speaking , it is highly unlikely for a planet to happen to exist .

If Earth were very slightly more distant from — or slightly closer to — the sun, a stable water cycle would be impossible.

Orbital Tilt

Small changes in the orbital tilt of our planet , or minor variations in the tilt of Earth’s axis , would disallow our climate

Length of Rotation

If Earth rotated slower, our days would be too hot and our nights too cool to support life ; shorter, and the wind speeds would be too extreme

Our Atmosphere

Earth’s atmosphere has a finely calibrated ratio of oxygen to nitrogen — just enough carbon dioxide and adequate water vapor levels to promote advanced life , allow photosynthesis (without an excessive greenhouse effect), and provide sufficient rainfall.

Our Moon

Our large moon is just the right size to stabilize Earth’s orbit and rotation, limiting the variations in our climate and temperature.

Without a large moon, the axis of our planet would likely have wobbled dramatically — perhaps by as much as 90 degrees.

Jupiter

If Jupiter were not in its current orbit, the earth would be bombarded with space material.

Jupiter’s gravitational field acts as a cosmic vacuum cleaner, attracting asteroids and comets that might otherwise strike earth

Fine Tuner is necessary

In many ways , the remaining explanation is the most intuitive and reasonable : perhaps fine - tuning is the result of a purposeful Fine - Tuner.