The New Copernican Revolution

The Ptolemaic Model of the Universe before the Copernican Revolution

We all remember Copernicus, right? He was the one who first postulated that the Earth revolves around the sun. Up until that time it was assumed that the Earth was the center of the universe. His theory was called the "heliocentric theory" and initiated a powerful shift in the way people thought and how they viewed the universe. Ever since, this has been known as the first Copernican Revolution.

The new Copernican Revolution would be this: instead of seeing ourselves at the center of everything with God revolving around us, we would take a different view of things. We are invited to see God as the center of our lives. Just as the earth receives life from the sun, we receive everything from God. He is our life, our energy, the very source of our existence. He is not someone or something "out there." He calls us to change our our way of thinking, to experience a new Copernican Revolution.

The second book of Kings gives us the story of Naaman, a pagan military general. Though he commanded an army and was used to getting his way, all the gods he thought he had at his beck and call could not cure the skin disease he had. In desperation he asked Elisha to help him. Elisha told him that in order to get healed he had to acknowledge that the God of Israel was the one true God. At first Naaman was reluctant, even indignant, but as his leprosy threatened to consume him he decided to do something courageous. He swallowed his pride and praised God - and his affliction left him. Naaman then said, "Now I know there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel."

Naaman experienced something like a Copernican Revolution. He realized that he was not the center of the universe, though he commanded many men. God the God of Israel, the one true God, is the center of all.

"Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth,
who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains."Psalm 147:8