God’s Word Upholds: Construction and Deconstruction in the Word Part 3: The deconstruction of the Physical World
Now consider what would and will happen when God’s Word no longer upholds this physical reality…
Joel gives an early picture of the deconstruction in 3:15 “The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.” So, we are to understand that the ceasing of light will be a direct sign of the deconstruction of the physical universe. Is 13:10 states something similar: “For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.”
Now look at Matt 24:29-31 ““Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” This is a later picture given of the darkening and the sounding of the trumpet on the Day of the Lord.
But, here’s where it gets really interesting as it relates to matter in the physical world. 2 Cor 5:1-4 “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” Here we see a destruction of the “tent”. This could refer to our earthly bodies and possibly the “tent” that is the fabric of physical reality, like the tent that God spread out for the Sun and stars. Either, way matter will be deconstructed.
II Peter gives an even clearer picture of what will become of the material universe in 3:10-13 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” In this passage, it becomes immediately clear that everything in this physical reality will not only be melted and burned, but will actually dissolve away into nothing. Just consider again how matter works. It’s tiny bits of stuff held together with magnetism and gravity and is mostly comprised of empty space. Now, consider what would happen in those forced ceased to be upheld…It becomes immediately clear that all those little atoms and subatoms would merely dissolve away into nothing. Our whole universe and these bodies are mostly empty space, held together merely by weak forces that could not and will not be upheld if not for God’s word. And one day, His word will not uphold any of these things and it will all dissolve into nothing. But, we have a hope for something new.
Everything around us is an image of God’s power or His Word. It’s all held together by that Word and literally constructs everything we know in the physical world. But, deconstruction is coming. In the Day of the Lord, God’s Word will no longer uphold all of the matter we experience now and the Heavens and Earth will pass away. Fortunately, God promises us a new Heaven and new Earth that will never dissolve and will be upheld eternally.
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