Introduction
When my diary looks empty, I feel something wrong is happening. This doesn’t mean I am a driven workaholic, certainly not a ministry-aholic, for I actually enjoy going away for a break. (Which my wife and I did this for a week recently because recreation is not emptiness.) To understand what is “bugging me” about empty spaces I have been seeking the Lord for deeper insight. Is my sense of “nothingness” in any way trustworthy or helpful or merely a delusion?
Creation Ex Nihilo
One of the controversies of the modern church is how to understand beginnings. Is the earth young, old, a product of evolution or intelligent design? My experience is that debates about these matters are essentially fruitless. However we can all agree that the scripture teaches “creation out of nothing”. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis chapter 1 verse 1); “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews chapter 11 verse 3). Whilst the “How” of this foundational act of creating is completely unfathomable to our finite minds, it excludes other possibilities. It negates the ancient belief that the world is eternal, without beginning or end, or that it is an emanation from the being of God. It certainly does not mean that God took hold of “nothing” and turned it into everything, for “nothing” is simply “no-thing”. It does mean that all things, including time, have their ultimate origin in the will of God, so questions like, “What was God doing before the foundation of the world?” are simply confused. Deeper considerations do have a biblical answer.
Crucified Love
In speaking to his Holy and Righteous Father in the hours before his crucifixion Jesus prays, “glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John chapter 17 verses 5, 11, 25). If we ask, “What was this glory that filled eternity?”, the answer is one unexpected by our sinful minds: “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev chapter 13 verse 8). This is the illimitable worthiness (Revelation chapter 5 verses 3-6) of God’s forever plan to become a human sacrifice in order to take away all our sin (John chapter 1 verse 29) and bring into being a whole new and eternal creation (2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17; Revelation chapter 21 verse 5).
No Empty Spaces
The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon had keen insight into the dimensions of “the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke chapter 4 verse 43). To quote, “Do you not know...what God's estimate of the gospel is? Do you not know that it has been the chief subject of His thoughts and acts from all eternity? He looks on it as the grandest of all His works”. The gospel in not a tiny message restricted to forgiving our sin and getting us to heaven, it is a declaration that in the finished work of Jesus the glory of God is sufficient for the transformation of “all things” (Acts chapter 3 verse 21). The gospel points to the regeneration of the fallen created order (Matthew chapter 19 verse 28). As believers in Jesus, as his Body, we are inside this great reality, “the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians chapter 1 verses 22-23; cf. Colossians chapter 2 verses 9-10). This means that my psychological awareness of useless empty spaces in my life is nothing less than a delusion, ultimately of demonic origin, for the true reality is that the glory of Christ is in every space.
Conclusion
Since, “nothing comes from nothing”, any reflection on empty places, spaces, things or persons is a denial of this following truth: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” (Abraham Kuyper cf. Acts chapter 10 verse 36). Or to put the same matter more missionally, “Christ is either Lord of all, or is not Lord at all” (Hudson Taylor). This teaching is a call to abandon all empty and futile ways of thinking and living and become full disciples of Jesus, yielding every aspect of life, will and behaviour to him (Ephesians chapter 4 verses 17-18).