A supernova is an unimaginably big explosion. The biggest a human has ever seen. Here’s how it happens:

A star is basically the balance of two forces . . . gravity and heat. Gravity is constantly trying to pull the elements of a star into the smallest possible bit of space. But the nuclear reactions deep in the star’s core produce so much heat and pressure that it pushes against gravity in a balancing act that creates a life-giving ball of energy that is stable across billions of years. Nonetheless, when the fuel for those nuclear reactions finally runs out, gravity wins this eon-long tug of war. There is a lack of balance and the star, more than a million times bigger than the earth, collapses in a matter of seconds!

When this happens, a shock wave forms on the outer part of the star, pushing out energy for trillions of miles. From here, the seeds that will one day form new baby stars are scattered throughout the cosmos.

Hopefully, you are somewhat familiar with our belief in Psalm 19 . . . that the “heavens declare the glory of God.” There are literal messages in the stars that point to who God is and what He has done. This isn’t the ancient practice of astrology, but rather a biblical view of understanding how God has hidden something of His glory throughout all the beauty of the universe.

Now when we talk about the glory of God, we know that God’s glory was fully unveiled in the life, death, and resurrection of His Son. It was at the cross where Jesus allowed the pressure of sin to overtake Him and suck Him into the gravity-well of death. But of course, we also know that this was only that He might multiply His life and release an explosion of forgiveness and grace to the entire cosmos. Gravity is indeed a strong metaphor for sin, as it wants to pull everything into a black hole of nothingness. Nonetheless, God is the opposing force that pushes everything out and ensures that life is possible.

Taking these metaphors further, a supernova becomes quite the picture of the glory of God. The explosion of life speaks to us of God’s life given to us at the cross. The death of a star (which allows for many more stars to come forth) is not far from the death of Christ who died like a seed to be multiplied (see John 12:24). (Interestingly, both the apostle Paul and the book of Genesis tie together seeds and stars in subtle ways.)

To this day, the energy of His life is still radiating outward, still calling for more and more people to experience eternal life.

The featured image of this article is a picture of one such explosion, named by scientists “Supernova 1987A” because it was discovered in the year 1987. The unique conditions of this particular star caused three different rings to form in the immense explosion that followed the star’s collapse.

The heavens do not “tell of the glory of God” in a general way, but also in some of the beautiful details… In this particular supernova, we see an incredible image of the entire Trinity participating in the explosion of Christ’s death. The three rings remind us of the three-in-one God who was present in Christ’s death as His lungs collapsed under the weight of His crucifixion. As He breathed His last, the reality of the Father, Son, and Spirit was dispersed into the world like never before. This was the seed that would unveil the love of the Trinity down through the ages.

But the details go even further. There is a connection between the exploding rings of the heavenly spheres with the much subtler rings found hidden right here on our small little planet . . . rings hidden behind bark and moss.

Scientists have only recently discovered that when the mammoth explosions of supernovae occur, the cosmic rays from these events have a unique influence on trees.

What happens is that the leftover rays of a supernova travel trillions upon trillions of miles and eventually hit the upper atmosphere of our planet. This creates a certain type of radioactivity that scientists can analyze in the rings of ancient trees. They believe the rings carry evidence of increased radioactivity that corresponds to the exact time frame when a particular supernova’s blast would have reached our planet.

On one level, this is just an amazing piece of investigative science that ties together the interactions between different parts of the cosmos. But on another level, we can see even more of the glory of God here. There is a certain poetic beauty to the fact that the death of a star is imprinted into the memory of trees.

In the Bible, people are sometimes compared to trees (see Mark 8:24, Psalm 1:3, & Song of Songs 7:7). If we connect this to the idea of tree rings, we can see how these markers of age and experience speak to the inner “marks” in our own soul as we grow and move through life. The rings tell the story of a tree just as our inner soul tells the story of our being.

In a very real way, as a person soaks in the radiating light of Christ’s death – as they meditate upon its power and meaning – there is an intermingling that happens in the soul. The energy of that event has a way of leaving its mark upon the heart, bringing about growth and change on the inside of us.

There is so much more that can be said, but we will leave it at for now . . . What do you see from these wonderful mysteries in the heaven? What other details of the glory of God can you behold? Write it down and let us know!