
GOOD OF ALL THINGS: GALAXIES
Psalm 19:1
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Ephesians 3:20-21
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
THE STAR ANTARES:
Antares is 550 light-years away and if it vanished today we wouldn’t know until nearly the end of the 26th century.
When the scriptures aim to humble human arrogance they often just point to the night sky and ask, “WHO CREATED IT?”, and then let the sheer magnitude of the stars speak for itself.
THE EARTH:
Weighs about 6 million, million, billion tons or 13 septillion pounds (13,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 lbs).
The Earth’s crust is actually incredibly thin compared to the rest of the planet,
it’s equivalent to a postage stamp on a soccer ball.
This puts into perspective the power of God’s questions to Job:
Job 38:4–5
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the Earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements,
surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?”
In planetary terms the Earth isn’t large at all, it’s a fraction of Saturn’s size and smaller than Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
Psalm 8:3–4
“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
If Earth were the size of a pea, Jupiter would be a grapefruit and the Sun would be a giant beach ball capable of holding 1.3 million Earths inside it and weighing 99.8% of the entire solar system.
The Sun isn’t a very big star. Compared to Arcturus it is tiny.
Isaiah 40:25–26
“To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing”
Arcturus reminds us that, in a world that often exalts humanity and denies God, God is immense and we are very small.
Job 22:12
“Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!”
Then we see Antares:
Most of us have never heard of Antares but it will be up there tonight, offering a powerful challenge to those who underestimate God!
Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you”
It’s estimated there are now 2 trillion galaxies, each containing more stars than there are grains of sand on all the world’s beaches and deserts.
Some might wonder why God created so many galaxies or if their sheer number casts doubt on His existence.
If God is truly committed to humanity why would he create countless galaxies that seem unrelated to us and were invisible until recently?
There are many possible answers:
The first is to foster
To express his boundless
To inspire us to
When we gaze at the night sky and contemplate the innumerable stars and distant galaxies, we are reminded of:
Psalm 19:1
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
The sheer scale and beauty of the cosmos reveal a Creator who is infinitely greater than our understanding. It give us a taste of the infinite to help us understand phrases like:
“far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20)
and “unsearchable riches” (v. 8),
or simply for the joy of creating them.
Maybe He did it just for the fun of seeing our jaws drop when we read
Genesis 1:16
“He also made the stars.”