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

The Secret of all Failure is our Failure in Secret Prayer

By
“We may be assured of this—the secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer” (12). So writes the anonymous author of the classic little book on prayer entitled, The Kneeling Christian (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids: 1971). He means that the reason we so often fall into sin or live in discouragement or fail to bear fruit is because we do not cling to God in Christ above all things. We do not diligently seek him or lean on him or plead with him or draw on his strength. We give ourselves to busyness over communion with God and in this way we seek to accomplish in our flesh what can only be accomplished in the power of the Spirit.  Giving first place to what our dear author calls “secret prayer” is indeed a key to the Spirit-filled life but let’s be clear: prayer is not magic, rather, it’s a relationship. It’s not as if we simply have to file requests with God, being careful to use just the right words so that we can get him to respond as we wish. God is not a vending m
Post a Comment
Read more

Deacons - How They Serve and Strengthen the Church (Part 1)

By
  One of the next important priorities for GCF is to establish deacons in the life of the church. On March 14, 2021 we were able to establish an elder team. Currently, we have a team of four elders overseeing the congregation of GCF.  However, there is more work to be done. I have come to see that establishing an elder team was the bare minimum that needed to happen for GCF to survive. I believe GCF now needs to turn our attention to raising up a team of qualified and willing deacons to serve the congregation so that it will not only survive but thrive.   I would like to begin a series of blogs on deacons to help us understand who they are and what they do in the life of the church.  In this blog let me provide three reasons why I think deacons should be near our top priority.  Number 1: It is Biblical. Paul instructs Timothy to install elders who will help him pastor the church. For whatever reason, it seems the churches in our circles treat the installment of elders as non-negotiable
Post a Comment
Read more

Does the Doctrine Divide? by Patience Griswold

By Anonymous
“Oh, I try not to talk about doctrine. It’s so divisive.” This is a sentiment that I’ve heard expressed, as well as implied, on many occasions, and one that raises the question, does doctrine divide? In answering this question, we must keep in mind a very important truth and that is that everyone holds to some sort of doctrine . “Doctrine” is defined as “a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party, or other group.” Regardless of whether or not someone publicly holds to a statement of beliefs from a particular church, every Christian, by definition, holds to a particular set of beliefs. As Carl Trueman observes in his book The Creedal Imperative ,       [W]hile Christianity cannot be reduced to doctrine, to mere teaching, it cannot be meaningfully separated from it, either. Even the most basic claims, such as “Jesus is Lord,” carry clear doctrinal content that needs to be explicated in a world where, as we have noted before, every heretic has his text and n
Post a Comment
Read more