In the beginning…7a. Earth Overlook: Day Four

After secluding himself behind the closed doors of his palatial drawing room for several days more, Jesus finally announced that Day 4 would commence in one hour. All the heavenly host quickly assembled once again at the Earth-overlook. There was an electrifying anticipation in the air far surpassing that of the three previous days.

Jesus summoned his father and the two walked reservedly through the crowd to the spot from which all the creating thus far had been managed. It seemed all were literally holding their breaths, impatiently waiting and eagerly straining to see and hear whatever lay in store next. They were not to be disappointed.

When he began, Jesus’ voice could be heard clearly even by the individuals at the farthest distance from the overlook railing. That was, of course, Lucifer and a small group of other skeptical fellows.

“Friends,” Jesus began, “today my father and I will create a universe, a galaxy, and a solar system. All this will be for the wonder and amazement of mankind as he inhabits the Earth in a couple of days. But that’s for later; this is now. Father, if you will, please.”

God stepped to the railing, peered down at the Earth and then out into the vast expanse of space. He hesitated as he turned back toward the multitude. “My son has done a marvelous job of planning this whole thing. He has asked me to do the actual creating and placing of certain objects in the precise positions and locations to make this world the perfect abode for mankind.” He then turned again toward space and stated, rather matter-of-factly, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.”

God then started moving his hands together and in a circular motion as though forming or molding something. There had been nothing there just a moment before. What happened next took away the breath of even Lucifer way in the back. God’s hands began to glow brightly. Those nearby began to feel some warmth. Before the light got too bright or the heat too uncomfortable, God simply reached out and placed a small gleaming sphere in the sky. It moved away in the direction the hand of God seemed to indicate. As it gained momentum, the sphere grew brighter, larger, and obviously warmer. Finally, after a few seconds that seemed much longer, it stopped.

“By my calculations,” Gabriel amazingly interjected, “it is about 93 million miles from here to, uh, that ball of light.”

“The sun?” Jesus suggested.

“The sun?” several bystanders repeated.

“That’s what Jesus calls it. The sun,” God explained.

“The sun,” Michael stated. “Good name.” Others nodded or uttered agreement.

A somewhat stifled “Hummph!” could be heard from the clique in the rear.

All attention refocused on the Father as he began rubbing his hands together again. This time there was no light or heat, simply a cold, dark-looking ball which he quickly released toward the sky in a similar manner that he had done with the sun only moments before but in an opposite direction. This sphere didn’t travel nearly as far and didn’t grow nearly as large. It did, however, gain light, but no heat. With another motion, God set it spinning slowly and moving around the earth. Soon onlookers noticed that the Earth was also spinning and moving around the sun.

“That ball is only 238,000 miles from the Earth,” Gabriel reported.

“How did I know that was coming?” Michael mumbled what several were thinking. All resumed staring at the latest pair of created objects. The Earth Overlook was becoming crowded. As the sun’s intensity grew, it became obvious that none of its light or heat was felt in heaven. It all seemed aimed directly at Earth.

“It’s tilted!” exclaimed Gabriel.

“What’s tilted?” asked Michael, standing beside him.

Gabriel responded “That, uh…the Earth; it’s slanted. It’s not straight up and down from top to bottom as it was yesterday when all the plants were made and began to grow.”

“That’s right,” God explained, “that’s how the earth will have seasons. The sun’s heat will not fall directly on the center of the earth all the time. Sometimes the northern half will be warmer…”

“And have longer days and shorter nights,” interrupted Jesus.

“And sometimes the southern half, or hemisphere as my son calls them, will have longer nights and shorter days. This will help with man’s enjoyment of the variety of plants already created,” God added.

Suddenly a voice from the back yelled, “What’s that smaller ball called?”

“The moon!” Jesus answered. Then looking at his Father, he encouraged, “Go ahead, Dad, show them the rest.”

With that, God turned back and reached out his arm stretching his hand toward that newly created sun. His majesty and power were evidenced again as he simply seemed to breathe on his fingers. Immediately bolts of light seemed to shoot from his fingertips exploding instantaneously into lots of tiny lights. As God blew on them, these thousands and thousands of shining lights poured into the vast space to various distances beyond the sun.

“How far are those, Gabriel,” Michael inquired.

“Some seem to be billions and billions of miles away,” Gabriel replied. Many exclamations of amazement and wonder could be heard from those nearby; but the show wasn’t over just yet.

“Those are called ‘stars’!” Jesus explained delightedly.

His hand still reaching toward the sun, the Father next seemed simply to point and other objects began appearing. A couple of these were between the Earth and the sun, but beyond the moon; others were between the sun and stars. They were all dark and rather cold looking. All seemed to be spinning at various speeds and revolving around the sun at the same time. As the sun’s light and heat reached them, these latest additions to the spatial sky took on a warmer glow.

“Those are ‘planets’; each one has its own orbit around the sun. They are all different distances and move at various speeds, so they will never collide with each other – especially never with the Earth,” Jesus clarified. Then he continued, “All have what I call ‘gravity’; as they slowly spin, gravity makes things stay put on the ground and not fly off into the sky or space.”

Allen, the angel choir director, spoke up, “So man won’t ever be able to fly? What a shame.”

Jesus reasoned, “He will never fly unaided; but he will fly. With the god-like mind we plan to give him, man will find a way to soar into the sky. In fact, we’re going to make some creatures who can fly, big and little, that will be part of the inspiration for man’s achievement in that area. However, it will take a long time, thousands of years perhaps, before man gains enough experiential knowledge to leave the surface of the earth for more than a few feet at a time. Part of the plan is to let things happen on Earth naturally.”

God’s voice continued the explanation, “That’s right. Jesus thought, and I agreed, that with the mind and soul we are giving our man creation, there should be a certain growth and evolution of knowledge and ideas. Man will be curious and inventive. He will make many changes on this Earth where he is placed. Some will be beneficial and some will be detrimental to both his existence and the Earth itself.”

Jesus took up the discourse exuberantly, “In other words, man will have freedom of choice. He’ll decide what will become of this Earth and mankind’s life on it.”

[to be continued]