Indescribable
What we are about to do this morning is show you something that changed my thinking. It changed the way I look at the universe, God and myself. It happened at Church Camp a few weeks ago. It is my hope it will have the same effect on you today.
Today we are going to talk about Astronomy. Imagine that, Astronomy in a Christian Worship service. Why would we talk about that, simply put the universe tells us how Great, how awesome our God is. They tell us daily the awesome Nature of our God (Psalm 19 and Romans 1).
In the beginning of the story God created the heavens and the earth. Later it says that God said; “Let there be light and there was light. God spoke and the sun and stars came into existence. Science wants to tell us the universe was made by a big bang. I am okay with that, when God created the universe there probably was a big bang. Scripture says that God is a star breathing God.
Walk outside and look at the sky at night, the heavens tell us the Glory of God. God is greater than our prayers, our greatest leap of faith, greater than any thought we ever had of Him.
Science has spent centuries discovering the universe. God is there saying come on; I got so much more to show you. The known Universe is how it is described. Every new telescope, satellite reveals more and more about our universe. Science says there has to be other inhabited galaxies, because the universe is too big for just us. I agree with that, but what it the purpose of the universe is to show us the Greatness of GOD?
The pictures I am going to show are found at nasasite.com and hubblesite.com.
Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Light travels so fast it could circle the earth 7 times in a second. A light year is over 5.88 trillion miles. God spoke and there was light. In our Milky Way Galaxy there are billions of stars, it would take 2500 years to count the stars just in our little cul de sac called the MWG.
Isaiah says; ISA 40:25 "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. ISA 40:26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
What else is important is that as huge as the universe is, God holds it; he measures it with the palm of his hand. ISA 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
It is not about how big we are, it is about how majestic, and how awesome God is.
The Milky Way Galaxy is over 100 thousand light years in width. Look at this composite of the MWG, we are in this band to the left of center outer two bands. That is our Solar System. If the MWG was the North American Continent, our solar system would be the size of a quarter.
Apollo 17 sent back this photo of the Earth. Notice what we do not see, we do not see cities or anything like that. Maybe we are not so big, maybe we are not as important as we think we are, yet God is mindful of us.
PS 144:3 O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? PS 144:4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.
Feb 14, 1990 the Voyager was about 3.7 billion miles, it was asked to turn around and take a picture. It took months to send the picture we are about to see back to earth. (Show slide “pale blue dot”).
As small as we are, God cares about us, he names the stars one by one, and He knows us by name and can tell us anything about us.
The next set of slides comes from the Hubble Space telescope. It sits over 300 miles above the Earth.
These first slides are galaxies in our universe. This first one is Pleiades, it is mentioned in Job 9:9, 38:1 and Amos 5:8.
This is the Velor Pulsar it is about 1000 light years from Earth. Looking at the picture it looks like an Eye.
This is the Helix Nebular
2.8 Million light years away is the Sombrero Galaxy it is over 50 thousand light years wide.
Yet God holds the universe in the palm of His Hand.
This is the Sun, it is 93 million miles away, the Earth is perfectly placed that far from the Sun. If the Earth were a golf ball, the Sun would be a circle 15 feet in diameter. The Sun came from the mouth of God; it is a raging ball of fire so intense it is like billions of nuclear bombs going off every second.
The Next biggest star is Betelgeuse. It is 427 light years away. It is twice the size of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. If the Earth was a golf ball, Betelgeuse is the Empire State Bldg 6 times. It would take 262 billion Earths to fill Betelgeuse. That is enough golf balls to fill the Superdome 3 thousand times.
Next is Mu Cephi also known as Hershel Ganet Star. It is over 3000 light years away. If the Earth were a golf ball Mu Cephi would be the Golden Gate Bridge twice. It would take 2.7 quadrillion Earths to fill Mu Cephi.
Million seconds ago is 12 days ago, Billion seconds ago would be about May 1975, a Trillion seconds ago 29,700 BC, a quadrillion seconds ago is 30, 800, 000 years ago.
The last Star is Canis Majoris (Big Dog Star). If the Earth were a golf ball, Canis Majoris would be Mount Everest. 6 miles above sea level. It would take 7 quadrillion earths to fill Canis Majoris. That would take golf balls 22 inches deep, covering the State of Texas.
We are a privileged planet, a special people.
The last picture I wish to show is the Whirlpool Galaxy also called the Darling of the Universe, the Grand Design Galaxy. It is over 31 million light years away. It is beautiful. The Hubble Space Telescope took a picture of the center of this galaxy and found a black hole. This next picture is what the Hubble Space Telescope found in the center of that Black hole. Scientist call it the X factor, what do you see, I see the shadow of the Cross.
Jesus made everything, Col chapter 1 says it this way
16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
The Creator of the Universe came to this little pale blue dot and gave himself up for us, reconciling himself, making peace through his blood shed on the cross.
This Grand Creator, this awesome unrivaled God is full of compassion and mercy, he is gracious, slow to anger, quick to forgive. In Him we have peace and mercy, In Him we have salvation. What is man that God cares about him? He is created in Love.
In the shadow of the Cross we find freedom and forgiveness. There is astronomical Grace available. In Jesus God gave us everything we did not deserve, and put on His Son, everything he didn’t deserve.
As awesome as all these pictures may have been, there is more to come. Yet, have we seen enough to trust Him fully?
Pictures found at hubblesite.com or nasasite.com or Google Louis Giglio at youtube.
