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Expansive Glory: How the Universe Displays the Beauty of God

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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!

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