Earlier this month LIGO announced that they have detected a gravitational wave from a distance collision between two black holes.  Do you realize what this means?

If true this supports the hypothesis that spacetime can be stretched by gravity. LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) is an NSF funded observatory to collect data in support of the theory that gravity can stretch space-differently in one direction as compared to another.

Explaining how LIGO works.

What are gravitational waves?

Another great and short explanation video of gravitational waves and LIGO.

When I heard the news that LIGO had detected spacetime stretching by gravitational waves I didn’t think much of it.  But after reading the reports and looking into LIGO I am astounded at what they think they’ve done. It is remarkable to realize that they believe that spacetime-itself experiences waves and stretching from gravity. We are not talking about a pulse of energy that flows through matter like an earthquake wave instead it a pulse that stretches spacetime itself, this discovery speaks to the very nature of the universe and outer space itself.

The point of this post: As I read the announcement and watched the explanation of LIGO I remembered I had heard something like this before. In fact several times there is reference to the heavens being stretched out like a garment, like a tent to dwell in. The bible, in describing God and his creation, seems to refer to the heavens as a garment, a tent, a fabric that can be stretched and torn and even “rolled up like a scroll”.

“I want to know how God created this world. I want to know his thoughts.”[13] – Albert Einstein

“This firm belief in a superior mind that reveals itself in the world of experience, represents my conception of God.”[15] – Albert Einstein

Below are Nine Fascinating Scriptures which first told the story of the fabric of the “heavens” and perhaps contributed to some of the scientific hypothesis about the nature of reality. These scriptures we should not forget as we grow to understand spacetime and gravity.

1. Job 9:7 Who commands the sun not to shine, and sets a seal upon the stars; 8 Who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of the sea;
2. Psalm 104:2 Covering yourself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.
3. Isaiah 40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in
4. Isaiah 42: 5 Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it…
5. Isaiah 45:12 It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it.  I stretched out the heavens with my hand and I ordained all their host.
6. Jeremiah 10:12 It is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom; and by his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.
7. Zechariah 12:1 The burden of the world of the Lord concerning Israel.  Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.
8. Revelation 6:14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
9. Isaiah 34:4 And all the host of heaven will wear away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; all their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine, or as one withers from the fig tree.

If true, what LIGO has measured lends support to the theory that spacetime acts like a fabric itself as well as truths about the heavens revealed to us in scripture. It would seem that spacetime itself is like a fabric which can be stretched, it can be torn, it can be rolled up like a scroll, we dwell in this “spacetime” and we also call it “the universe.”

Colossians 1 also says that “all things are created in Christ”, and that “he holds all things together”.

Could it be that spacetime itself, is like a tent? A “universe tent” that we dwell within and is inside of Jesus Christ. He is our alpha and omega maybe because he is outside of our spacetime, not confined by it, he sees our beginning and our end at the same moment because we are inside of him.

Fascinating!

“As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene . . . . No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrase-mongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot.”-Albert Einstein

Are you surprised by what LIGO is reporting?