The question is often asked ‘Which came first? – the chicken or the egg?’ Garry spoke on this topic tonight, reading Heb 1:1-4 initially and then going on to talk about how our answer to this question will largely depend on our worldview. If we believe the Biblical account of creation, we will believe that the chicken came first, created by God. If we believe in evolution, we will believe that the egg came first.
Evolution and the Big Bang Theory are taught as fact in schools in the UK, with scientific advances backing these theories trumpeted in the news. Last March, newspapers reported that physicists had found a long-predicted twist in light from the big bang that represents the first image of ripples in the universe called gravitational waves, cited as direct proof of the theory of inflation. A new study demonstrated that this BICEP claim was wrong (see here for further details), but this was not widely reported at all. Despite many theories posited by theoretical physicists (including dark matter, wormholes, multi-verses and strings), these are not yet proven and scientists’ claims to ‘create life from scratch’ (see here) do not actually involve creating something from nothing. Ultimately, evolution is not scientifically proven. Experiments involving mutations to explain how evolution works fail to explain away the loss of information involved in genetic mutation and both experiments using flies and fish ended up with flies and fish, not a new species…
If we accept that belief is involved in either the view that God created the universe or in evolution, we are still left at Easter to ponder the significance of the egg! Why is the egg a symbol of Easter?
1. The egg shape looks like a stone, reminding us of the tomb in which Jesus’s body was placed. His death was unlike any other death, for He sacrificed Himself, the one who had done no wrong dying for those who had.
2. The egg when broken reminds us of the empty tomb, for although Jesus died for our sins, His body is no longer in the tomb! Jesus is not like Buddha, Krishna or Mohammed; He is risen, just as He said.
3. An egg represents new life, and Jesus arose with a new body, with the ability to give new life to people. He will never die again and all who accept Him as Saviour have new life.
So… we may believe the chicken came first, but at Easter, the egg definitely has priority… especially if it’s chocolate!