The Final Word From Mission Control

On July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11's lunar module began its descent toward the Sea of Tranquility, dozens of voices filled the communication channels. Engineers in Houston relayed altitude readings. Flight directors called out system checks. Capsule communicators passed along technical updates. Every voice mattered. Every message carried weight. But when Neil Armstrong's boot finally pressed into the lunar dust, one voice cut through all the chatter — Armstrong himself, speaking from the surface: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." No secondhand report could match the authority of the man who was actually there.

For centuries, the Almighty spoke through a chorus of faithful voices — Moses from the burning wilderness, Elijah from the mountain, Isaiah from the temple courts, Jeremiah from the depths of a cistern. Each prophet transmitted a fragment of the divine signal, like mission controllers relaying partial data from a distance. Their words were true. Their messages were vital. But they were always speaking about someone they had not yet seen.

Then God stopped relaying messages through intermediaries. He stepped onto the surface Himself. In Jesus, the exact radiance of the Father's glory, God was no longer transmitting from a distance. He was standing in the dust beside us, speaking face to face. Every prior word pointed here. The Son is not one more voice in the channel — He is the Final Word, the one to whom all other messages were leading.