As we watch the increasingly-ominous events that are transpiring on earth as we progress deeper into the latter days, it is easy to get anxious and absorbed in all of the ills that are in our current world. I thought that at this time it would be good for all of us to focus on the fathomless and awesome greatness of God. Our Creator is so vastly above all the petty nonsense that mankind is pursuing in the midst of our national and personal sins and agendas.
Human empires of the past that seemed so permanent and powerful in their time have all crumbled into the sands of time. All previous generations of men and women, whether they were pampered and powerful royalty or anguished serfs and slaves, have all died and their bodies returned to the same dust. All the nations of our modern world will eventually return to the dust as well.
A friend sent me a short video clip that all of us should watch periodically as a “reality check” which depicts very well a truth expressed in Psalm 19:1. Most Christians are familiar with the scripture in Psalm 19:1 which states: “The heavens declare the glory of God…” We are all so enmeshed in our day-to-day struggles and concerns we rarely consider the paramount reality expressed in Psalm 19:1. The video clip helps all of us obtain at least a glimmer into the sheer awesomeness and incomprehensible power and sovereignty of the Creator Being called “God” in the English Bibles. I suggest watching it now and then returning to read the rest of this post.
The video clip depicts what the NASA Hubble Telescope saw in a supposedly “empty” region of space. What it saw was a far-distant assemblage of countless galaxies too distant and dim to be seen with the naked eye. There were so many galaxies with each one containing numberless millions of stars (and very likely solar systems of planets orbiting each star). The video clip includes a novel and impressive feature. It does a 3-D fly-by of what it would be like to travel at warp speed past the galaxies and have them pass by you as you flew to the outermost galaxy. I was awed by the experience, especially considering some of the scripture’s references to what the Universe’s vastness teaches us about its Creator. These galaxies in just one tiny spot of our night sky contain numberless billions of stars, yet Psalm 147:4 says of God: “He tells [counts] the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names.” My mind asks: How would it be possible to even come up with names for each of the mega-trillions of stars that exist in all the galaxies “out there?” Thankfully, God reassures us sinning and messed up human beings in our fallen world that “as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.” This video clip makes the point that the heavens and all their stars are infinitely high over the earth. I think all of us need to meditate on the infinity of God’s mercy toward us when we feel too sinful or damaged or afflicted for God to notice us or hear our prayers. If we have reverent awe toward him, he can hear our prayers. The video clip graphically makes the point that looking at the night sky of the physical Universe helps us understand how infinite a Being the Creator God really is.
The ancient civilizations had an big advantage that we don’t have. They lacked electricity so nighttime was very, very dark, indeed. The glory of the night sky must have been breathtaking to them. Our modern cities have such high ambient levels of light that we can barely see a few of the brighter starts in almost all our cities. I grew up in a rural area where the Milky Way could be seen when I was a boy. I haven’t seen the Milky Way in decades due to the ambient light levels that now illuminate our nights. I want to drive out to the countryside and see the Milky Way again before I die. Its a doable thing on my “bucket list.”
I anticipate the video clip will bring up the “young earth – old earth” debate in the minds of some viewers, so I’ll address that issue with a few comments. My full examination of this subject can be read in my article, Is the Earth 6000 Years Old? [Subtitle: "When Lucifer Ruled the earth."]. I believe both the biblical and scientific evidence confirm that our earth and the physical Universe could be billions of years old. The Bible offers no date for the creation of the Universe or our earth—it simply indicates it is indefinitely old. Contrary to what some Christians think, Genesis 1 does not state that the earth or the Universe is 6000 years old. It records that mankind and the modern air-breathing species now on earth were created by an Elohim Creator Being approximately 6,000 years ago. However, a careful reading of Genesis 1:1-3 shows that the earth and its oceans were already in existence before God ever began to create anything in Creation Week. What Genesis 1:1-2 reveal is that the earth experienced a global extinction level event in its ancient past and its surface was a flooded, darkened, lifeless orb drifting through space until God created life anew on its surface. Scientific evidence has proven that the earth has experienced several extinction-level or near-extinction-level events in its ancient past, and the Bible specifically mentions two of them. The angelic civilization and the dinosaur world that formerly existed on this earth long before the creation of mankind is discussed in my aforementioned article. That article reconciles the perceived differences between scientific fact and biblical narratives about our earth and the Universe. I urge you to read it is you have not done so already.
The video clip below cites the “red-shift” light patterns of the galaxies as revealing which ones are closer to and which ones are furthest from the earth. Assuming the speed of light is a constant throughout the Universe, the light we are receiving from these unimaginably-distant galaxies left their stars billions of years ago. So consider this very humbling thought: Those galaxies are so distant that they first appeared to us as a single spot of light. Yet they are so far away that the light from one edge of those galaxies has not yet reached the other end of that galaxy during the entire 6000 years of mankind’s existence on the earth. The second link offers more scientific commentary on the “Hubble Ultra Deep Field” photographs of the distant galaxies viewed in the first link.
Concerning the “old earth – young earth” debate among Christians, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 give insights into the creation of a great “covering cherub” angel originally called Lucifer of whom God states: “You were perfect in your ways from the days you were created till iniquity was found in you” (Ezekiel 38:15). To those Christians who advocate a “young earth” theory, you must also advocate that an angelic being that God Himself created “perfect” went bad and degenerated into sinfulness within days or a few years if you maintain everything was made just 6000 years ago because Lucifer/Satan was the fallen and sinful tempter who made Adam and Eve fall from grace soon after they were created in Eden. Personally, I think that an angelic being which God made “perfect” took many eons to degrade into a sinful being who rebelled against his Creator. That allows for an earth and Universe which is billions of years old. Please also keep in mind that our concept of “time” does not exist in the spirit realm—Elohim and angelic beings do not exist in a physical realm divided into days, months, years, etc.
I hope this video clip is as inspiring to you as it was to me. When you are overwhelmed with life and its cares, I suggest watching it again. That should help restore our perspective of how great God really is and how little we really are. It is also encouraging to know that this same awesome Creator is so loving and merciful that he can hear our prayers and meet our needs (Psalm 103).
http://www.flixxy.com/hubble-ultra-deep-field-3d.htm
