When the Full Picture Arrived

For decades, astronomers pieced together their understanding of the early universe through fragments. Radio telescopes captured faint whispers from distant galaxies. The Hubble Space Telescope delivered stunning but limited snapshots. Infrared sensors detected heat signatures from stars long dead. Each instrument was truthful. Each revealed something real. But each saw only a sliver.

Then, on July 12, 2022, NASA released the first deep-field image from the James Webb Space Telescope. Thousands of galaxies blazed across a patch of sky no larger than a grain of sand held at arm's length. Scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore wept openly. Not because the earlier instruments had lied — they hadn't — but because the full picture had finally arrived, and it was more breathtaking than anyone had imagined.

The writer of Hebrews understood this kind of moment. "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways." Moses caught a glimpse. Isaiah heard a whisper. Elijah felt the still, small voice. Each prophet carried something true but partial — a single instrument pointed at an infinite God. "But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son," the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His being. In Jesus, the full picture arrived. Every fragment found its place. And He was more magnificent than anyone had dared to hope.