One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was the Colossus of Rhodes. It’s long gone now, but it’s believed to have stood at the entrance to the harbor, perhaps on a breakwater extending into the sea and protecting the waterfront.
The Colossus was just over 98 feet tall.
That’s pretty tall for the ancient world, when it was unusual to have buildings over a few stories in height. However, let’s look at some taller statues.
The United States has the Statue of Liberty. It stands at over 150 feet, and on its pedestal, it soars to more than 300 feet. Now, that’s impressive!
Well, it’s impressive until we visit Japan. The statue of Amitabha Buddha completed in 1993 rises to over 350 feet. Finally we’re talking big!
The Amitabha Buddha held the claim of tallest statue for nearly ten years before China got busy and constructed the Vairocana Buddha at the lofty, wind-catching height of 420 feet. On its throne, and counting the building underneath, it tops out at 502 feet.
That’s the height of a 50-story building! What an achievement!
Yet, as believers in the cross; as believers in the Christ who died on that cross; and as believers in the salvation he offered to all who call on his name, we can brush off the Amitabha Buddha as no more than a fly on the leg of the most high God.
In Revelation 1:8 we read:
“ ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’ ”
We can accurately rephrase the Lord’s words like this: “I am the Beginning and the End…”
Before the Colossus of Rhodes was constructed, before the first donations were collected to build the State of Liberty, and before the statues of the Buddhas were ever drawn out on paper, God existed. His hand was the force from which the universe was called into being, and there is, nor has been, nor will be anyone greater than him.
John 1:1 tells us:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
So, how big is the tallest statue in the world? We won’t find the answer if we google it. The image we’ll see on our screen will be the Vairocana Buddha, but Google gets it wrong every time. We should “bible” it, for the Bible gets it right every time. Check out Isaiah 66:1 and Acts 7:49:
“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool…”
To put it more succinctly, the Vairocana Buddha brushes the sides of God’s toes, and the Colossus of Rhodes was no more than a flicker of sensation he barely noticed when he passed by.
That’s a tall statue! That’s our Almighty God! Better yet? The fantastic thing about all this is that he’s the real deal, living in us today as our source of spiritual strength and power.
When size matters, that’s when we call out to our God. He towers over every bad thing that comes our way.
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