FINDING
OUR PRIME MERIDIAN

Topics: Authority; Bible; Creation; Doctrine; Guidance; Inerrancy; Inspiration of Scripture; Perspective; Promises; Purpose; Spiritual Direction; Theology; Truth

References: Deuteronomy 8:3; Psalm 12:6; 18:30; 119; Luke 11:28; John 16:13; Romans 1:16; 15:4; Colossians 2:8; 2 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 4:12; James 1:22–25

My family and I recently saw the prime meridian at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. I took a picture of my children straddling the meridian, each with one foot in the Eastern Hemisphere and the other foot in the Western Hemisphere.

The prime meridian itself is not impressive. You would not realize it was there if it were not for a bold line cut across the pavement. The demarcation is a human invention. Prior to the International Meridian Conference of 1884, each local region kept its own time, a system that, if continued, would have rendered impossible our current arrangements for trade and commerce. While the meridian is humanly derived, its relation to the stars is not, and that heavenly correspondence allows us to find our place on the map and in the world.

The prime meridian is the work of John Flamsteed, the first astronomer royal, who made it his life mission to produce a proper navigational chart of the heavens, mapping the location of thousands of stars. Based on Flamsteed’s work, scientists were able to help people find their position on the planet, allowing them to answer that fundamental question of philosophy and physics: Where am I?

The prime meridian is a fixed position by which our knowledge of time and place can be understood. The Bible is like that with us. Scripture is our prime meridian. It is the fixed position, given by God himself, through which we can understand who we are, where we are, and where we must go from here.

—Kenton C. Anderson, Choosing to Preach (Zondervan, 2006)