Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch and in today's episode, we're asking the question, are the new AirPods a glimpse of heaven? This is prompted by an article I read in the New York Times that was extolling the features of Apple's new AirPods Pro 3, uh, which cost around $250, which is a lot of money. But they do this really cool thing, and this is not a product placement. Uh, Apple hasn't given me anything. Although I'd love a new pair of these AirPods, because here's what they do. They translate language in real time. What that means is like, for example, my wife and I spent some time in, in Europe this past summer. Had we had these AirPods, we could have walked into a business, had the person speak to us in their native language while in real time it was being translated into English in our ears. And then if they were wearing the AirPods and we spoke back to them in English, they would have heard that, uh, in their language. Which means we could have carried a full conversation without Google Translate, without a translator of any kind. This technology allows for seamless multilingual communication. And the ideas that this could lead to are amazing. I just want you to think about what is possible in a world where we can all understand each other in real time without actually learning each other's language. And the reason why I find this so interesting is, well, I guess really two things. I mean, one is, uh, I spend a lot of time on Wake Up Lookup talking about the problems of our world, the downside of humanity. Uh, but this is a great example of the upside when God made us to create. And maybe that's where I'll start from a biblical perspective. You know, in Genesis 1, when God makes Adam and Eve and he places them in the garden in Genesis 1 and 2, and he tells them to subdue the Earth and have dominion over it. He has in mind creativity. He has in mind technology. As one theologian said, the Bible begins in a garden, but it ends in a city. God is not anti progress, he's not anti technology. And it's amazing what humans can do when they collaborate together. It's amazing to think that a hundred years ago the idea of this kind of technology would have seemed like it was science fiction, and instead it is our reality. Another reason I love this, of course, you might imagine, is think of the tool this could be for preaching The Gospel. This is an incredible tool in the fulfillment of the Great commission in Matthew 28 when Jesus says to go into all the nations and teach them everything that he's commanded. Make disciples, baptize them. Language is the primary obstacle in that task. All over the world we have to learn languages in order to translate the Bible in, in order to preach the gospel. Unless of course we can make it so that we preach in our native language and they hear it in their own. Um, I'm already excited about the stories we're going to hear from the mission field about this. I'll tell you what else excites me about this is it's a glimpse of future unity. We don't spend enough time thinking about the new heavens and the new earth where the Bible says there'll be one government under King Jesus. It's gonna be an amazing place where humans are released under the lordship of Jesus to explore the full length of their potential and creativity. It's also going to be a one, a place where we can speak to each other all the time. I don't know if that means we'll have one language or if we'll all know every language, but there won't be any barriers. This is just a small taste of that day that is to come. But if the idea of being able to speak to people from different cultures and different backgrounds makes you excited, man, you are gonna love the new heavens and the new Earth where people from every tribe and every tongue and every nation are going to live as one. Listen, this is what can happen when we collaborate together. I guess that's the other reason I'm so excited because for most part, humans today spend all their time on what makes us different, on what separates us. We spend most of our time yelling at each other. This to me is a little bit like the old moon landing. It's amazing what humans can do when we work together to actually achieve something great. And of course there's a lesson for us in the church of that. That's what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 10:31 when he says whether then you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. Listen, as engineers, as architects, as designers, as artists, as writers, when we put our minds to doing incredible things for the glory of God and the good of our neighbor, we really can make a difference. And man, I'm praying that the next generation will get excited enough about that to push human civilization further down the road in a technological way and in a communal way. I cannot wait till we all live as one under the kingship of Jesus. Until then, I'm hoping to have a few conversations with Christian brothers and sisters in their language and in mine, thanks to this technology. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!