Skip to main content

Expansive Glory: How the Universe Displays the Beauty of God

Image
By
The universe is massive beyond comprehension. No one knows exactly how large it is, but even if one did his or her mind would not be able to take it in. The current estimate is that there are more than 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe, and the fact of the matter is that the amount of space required to house even one of these giants is nearly impossible to conceive. 

The smallest of galaxies, called dwarf galaxies, can be as small as 200 light years across. This means that if we were to get in a space ship and travel at the speed of light—186,000 miles per second—it would take us 200 years to get from one end of the galaxy to the other and we would travel about 1,200 trillion miles. And that is an itsy, bitsy “dwarf” galaxy. Ponder this. 

As we venture up the size scale, we come to the famous Sombrero galaxy which measures some 50,000 light years across. Our own Milky Way galaxy sits on the larger side of the scale at about 100,000 light years across, and yet it is nothing compared to giant galaxies like UGC 10214 at 390,000 light years, NGC 6872 at 520,000 light years, Hercules A at 1.5 million light years, and the mammoth IC 1101 at 6 million light years which is the largest galaxy known to man. I submit that it is nearly impossible to comprehend how massive the Milky Way galaxy is, and yet more than 50 Milky Ways can fit into IC 1101, and IC 1101 is but one of over 170 billion galaxies in the universe. Ponder this. 

And as if this were not mind-blowing enough, the deep space images taken by the Hubble Telescope demonstrate that there is much more space between galaxies than taken up by galaxies, which leads back to my initial claim: the universe is massive beyond comprehension. Look into the sky and ponder this. 

The Bible teaches us that creation is specifically designed to display the glory of God and build our faith in Him (Psalm 19:1-2; Isaiah 6:3; Romans 1:20; Hebrews 11:3). What, then, does the sheer magnitude of the universe teach us about God? The Lord himself has said it best: “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” (Isaiah 40:25-26). Oh Beloved, ponder this. 

If God is so great and powerful as to be able to create an incomprehensibly massive universe by nothing more than the word of his power, and if He is able to sustain the universe by that same word (Hebrews 1:1-4), then He is great and powerful enough to keep all of His promises and accomplish all of His purposes in heaven, on earth, and in our lives. So let us daily look upon the display of His glory in the heavens and believe—let us believe!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflective Glory: How the Moon Displays the Mercy of God

By
Our sun is a fitting metaphor for the glory of God. In the context of our solar system, it is massive, bright, beautiful, powerful, self-sufficient, heat-producing, life-giving, and dangerous. It is, by far, the dominant feature of our solar system and without it the system would fling apart and all living things therein would die.  On the other hand, our moon is a fitting metaphor for human beings, especially for those who believe in Jesus Christ. First, compared to the sun, the moon is tiny and dim. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, its mass is 27 million times greater than the mass of the moon, and from our perspective its light shines 450,000 times brighter than that of the moon. The sun is so much greater than the moon that it’s difficult to quantify and express the difference. Likewise, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is so much great than each and all of us that it’s impossible to quantify or express the difference. Indeed, the Lord is very great and greatly...
Post a Comment
Read more

To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord, by George Muller

By Anonymous
To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord By George Muller “It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. “I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God—not prayer, but the Word of God. And here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God so that it only passes through my mind just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what I read, pondering over it, and applying it to my heart. To meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed. And that thus,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Catechisms: Building a Heritage of Sound Faith - By Pastor Kevin Feder

By
This is an article I (Pastor Kevin) wrote in 2005 and updated in 2017. It is featured in a new resource available through Children’s Desiring God called Discipleship through Doctrinal Teaching and Catechism by Sally Michael.  It is our desire to encourage parents to use a children’s catechism as a tool in building and strengthening faith in children. A simple definition of a catechism is “organized teaching.” Catechisms are not the only things that can or should be used to instruct the next generation, yet they have useful purposes. Listed here are ten specific benefits a catechism can uniquely offer. Hopefully these ten points will help parents understand how a catechism can be effectively used in their families. 1.  A catechism is a very clear and complete gospel message. A catechism is, among other things, a very clear and concise gospel message to children. Everything a child needs to know for salvation is embodied within a catechism. The gospel is truly ama...
Post a Comment
Read more