The Bible And Astronomy Series

When Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father He took a throne that made Him

sovereign, not just over the earth, but over the entire universe. Before He ascended He said,

"All power in heaven and on earth is given unto me." Paul tells us that He was exalted above

all principalities and powers. There is no power in the universe greater. He is the ruler of

the universe. He is the King of Kings, and by His power all things were created, and by His

power all things hold together. This means that everything that astronomy is about is the

handiwork of Christ. He is the Author, Sustainer, and Lord of outer space and all space.

Howard C. Robins asks-

And have the bright immensities

Received our risen Lord,

Where light years frame the Pleiades,

And point Orion's sword?

Do flaming suns his footsteps trace

Through corridors sublime?

The Lord of interstellar space

And conqueror of time?

The Bible answers, yes! That is why the Bible and astronomy agree on the value of

setting our affections on things above. Even the physical things above like the Sun, moon,

stars, and comets can teach us and lead us to spiritual depth. David says that two things

happen to him when he studies the heavens. He becomes small and God becomes great.

Astronomy can help fulfill the two important goals of magnifying the majesty of God, and

making man humble.

Harris Kirk in Stars, Atoms, And God says, "It is not always safe to look at the midnight

sky. Those distant points of light we call the stars have more than once burned the sense of

nothingness into man and left him desolate amid the baffling mysteries of this mortal life."

There can be no doubt that one of the reasons for the vastness of the universe is to compel

men to forsake pride, and to fall in awe before their Maker. When God spoke out of the

whirlwind to Job He asked him, "Can you bind the chains of Pleiades or loose the cords of

Orion?" He asked other questions about the heavens also in order to show Job how small

and powerless he was. In the light of what we know of the vastness of creation our whole

earth is like one grain of sand on a vast ocean beach.

If you were to view one of the pictures taken of our galactic system by the 200-inch

telescope on Mt. Palomar, in order to see the earth the picture would have to be enlarged

until it covered the whole continent of Asia, and then it would be visible only under the most

powerful microscope. Our earth is ultra-microscopic, and man is infinitesimally small. God

wants man to be conscious of this fact of reality for it keeps him humble. The smallness of

the earth is stressed in the Bible. In Isa. 66:1 God says, "Heaven is my throne and earth is

my footstool." In Psa. 1:13 God is exalted high and has to look down even to see the heavens.

"The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens! Who is like the Lord

our God who is seated on high, who looks far down upon the heaven and the earth?" In Isa.

40:15, 17, we read, "Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as

the dust on the scales..." "All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are accounted by

Him as less than nothing and emptiness." In other words, all the mighty weapons of man are

really just small potato's to God. They are like a gnat on the Sun.

God displays power in the heavens that stagger the imagination. Our Sun radiates in one

second more energy than man has used since the beginning of civilization. A solar flare that

blocked out radio communication all over the world in 1960 was equal to a force of a billion

hydrogen bombs. All of this power magnified billions of times over throughout the universe

tells us of the glory of God. Yet even this does not scratch the surface of the omnipotence of

God. In verse 3 David calls it all the work of God's fingers. Most of you men have

demonstrated your strength by challenging a child to pull with both hands as you pull with

just a finger. David says that all the amazing power of the universe is just the display of the

strength of God's fingers.

Jesus used the same illustration when He referred to His miracles in Luke 11:20 where

He said, "But if it is by the finger of God that I cast our demons, then the kingdom of God

has come upon you." In the might of the universe and the miracles of Christ we have only