Just as Jesus enlarged Israel's understanding of the ultimate reality, so too he shed new light on the beginning. The light that he brought was as mind-boggling as it was radical: he taught that he himself was the creator of the cosmos! The NT revelation on this weighty theme comes in three distinct stages.

First, we have the instruction of Jesus himself. This came both in word and miraculous deed. Concerning the latter, we think of cases like the feeding of the 5000, in which he apparently created something out of nothing (Mt. 14:13-21, 15:32-39, John 6:1-14). At other times, he reminds us of the One who created by fashioning what he had just brought into being. Here we think of Jesus' first miracle, when he turned water into wine (John 2:1-12); and also of his many restorative healings (e.g., Mt. 9:27-31, Mark 1:40-41, John 11). Finally, there are the miracles in which Jesus demonstrated his power over nature. On this score, one episode is especially noteworthy. When Jesus calmed the raging Sea of Galilee with a single command, his incredulous disciples asked, “Who can this be?” The suspicion that Jesus was none other than the creator himself seems to have hovered, ghost-like, at the edge of their shaken minds (Mark 4:35-41, Mt. 14:33; cf. Psalm 107:23-32, Luke 5:1-11).

The gospels do not have Jesus straightforwardly referring to himself as the creator. Nevertheless, there are loud hints. By calling himself “I AM,” he identified himself with Yahweh, the creator of the universe (John 8:58). Similarly, in his final prayer for the disciples, he stated that he existed with the Father “ . . before the creation of the world,” (John 17:24). Such an utterance could hardly help but raise suspicions that he was putting himself on a par with the eternal One who made the world.

These hints exploded into positive affirmations after Jesus' apostles received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Henceforth, they proclaimed the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and in doing so identified the pre-incarnate Christ as a divine agent of creation (John 1:1-3, 10, 16:12, Acts 2:1f). The epistles, in particular, give us text after text affirming that God the Father created the universe through him (Heb. 1:1), by him (Col. 1:16), and for him (Eph. 1:10, Col. 1:16, Heb. 1:1-4). Moreover, the apostles go on to add that the glorified Jesus Christ has now taken in hand the reins of divine providence: by the Spirit, the Son of God now holds all things together, even as he directs all things to the specific ends appointed by the Father (Col. 1:17, Heb. 1:3, Eph. 1:22-23, Rev. 5). Ravished by the sight of their exalted and glorified Master, these men boldly declared Jesus Christ as the divine Creator and King of the entire cosmos.

Finally, we have the words of the glorified Christ himself, spoken to John on the island of Patmos. Appearing in a vision to his awestruck apostle, he immediately identifies himself, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega . . . he who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8). Later, he calls himself “The Beginning and the End,” and “The First and the Last” (Rev. 1:17, 2:8, 22:13). Christ's use of these exalted titles is clearly designed to comfort his persecuted apostle. He reminds John (and all suffering Christians) that their Master is not only the omnipotent creator of the universe, but its omnipotent consummator as well. They are to trust that he who created in the beginning will surely return, resurrect, and gloriously re-create in the end (Rev. 21:5).

FROM CHAPTER 6
A Critique of the Biblical Beginning

The idea of cosmic geocentricity also draws support from biblical eschatology—the Bible's teaching concerning the wrap-up of world history and the future state of the universe. According to this teaching, history is moving inexorably towards an awesome consummation of God's redemptive work in the universe, a consummation that will occur when Christ comes again at the end of the age. In that day, he himself will create “new heavens and a new earth,” (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22, 2 Peter 3:13, Rev. 22:21). Importantly, this creation is actually a re-creation. That is, the old cosmos—and especially the Earth—is not to be annihilated, but rather transformed into a (radically) new, (1 Corinthians 7:31, 15:35-49, Philippians 3:21).

In the Revelation, the apostle John gives us some tantalizing glimpses of the new and eternal world to come. Having just described the resurrected and glorified Church under the imagery of a holy city that descends to the Earth as a Bride adorned for her husband, John says of this, "the New Jerusalem," . . .

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God illuminated it and the Lamb was its light . . . They shall see His face and His name shall be on their forehead. And there shall be no night there: they need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever, (Revelation 21:23, 22:4-5).

This text harmonizes with many others found throughout the Bible, indicating that the sun, moon, and stars will all be dissolved in the end-time conflagration, and also that they—along with darkness itself—shall never be created again, (Isaiah 13:10, 24:23, 34:4, Joel 2:10, 31, Zephaniah 1:15, Matthew 24:29, 2 Peter 3:10). As John said, God and Christ alone will be the light of the world in the world to come, (Isaiah 60:19-20, Zech 14:6-7, Mt. 17:1f). The question therefore arises: what part of the old universe does manage to pass through the end-time cataclysm so as to enjoy continued existence in the eternal Kingdom? The biblical answer is clear: only a fully transformed Earth, so firmly established in its place that it has not been moved, and "cannot be moved forever,” (Psalm 93:1, 104:5, Ecclesiastes 1:40).

Here, then, is yet another line of evidence favorable to radical geocentricity. For it is evident from Scripture that the world to come is, in several important respects, exactly like the world as it was before the fourth day of the good beginning: suspended once for all—majestic, unmoving, and immovable—in the midst of space and in the midst of God's loving presence and watch-care. The only real difference is that in the future world night has given way to perpetual day, and periodic illumination to the perpetual light of the glory of God. With the luminaries gone, and astronomical time abolished, the consummated Kingdom breathes an atmosphere of eternity, though time itself endures forever. Thus, in biblical perspective, the “day” of the luminaries is surprisingly short and quite temporary: for just a few thousand years out of a whole eternity they shine, move, and at the last move on. But the Earth does not move on. Like God himself, it abides unmoved and immovable, forever.