Andromeda

The very first reference to the stars comes just sixteen verses into Scripture, on the fourth day of the world's history.  On several occasions in that first book (15:5, 22:17, 26:4), God uses the stars as an illustration for a prodigious number.  Take Genesis 15:5, for instance:  "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them...So shall your descendants be." 

Had Abraham counted all the stars in the sky he could see over a number of months, his tally would have culminated in the thousands.¹  Advance ahead to our era, and Joe Anybody can point his binoculars into the night sky and count far, far more - perhaps 200,000 if he travelled to both hemispheres (Joe can get to South Africa with far less inconvenience and time than Abraham could). 

Having established that, it is all the more remarkable to note that scientists now place the estimate for population of stars in the Milky Way at 100 - 400 billion.  To put that figure into some semblance of perspective, this means that for every star you can see with your binoculars, there are at least half a million behind it in the Milky Way that remain invisible. 

Right now in the late summer sky, somewhere in between Cassiopeia and the Square of Pegasus, there resides a small and somewhat vague area of white light, visible to the naked eye, if one knows where to look.  This is the Andromeda Galaxy.  Consider this a moment.  Every star you can see, unless you have some serious hardware, is a card-carrying member of the Milky Way clan.  Even these are indescribably distant from our tilted heads, but then, beyond the silver veil of all these constellations and stars, some 2,500,000 light years (or 14,700,000,000,000,000,000 miles, if you prefer) from our own modest galaxy, resides the Andromeda Galaxy.  You are looking at another galaxy.

Now, it was not settled that Andromeda was even a galaxy until about 93 years ago - before this, the general thought was that ours was the solitary galaxy in the universe.  By 2013, the calculated estimate sits at 170 billion galaxies stretched across the 13.8 billion light years of the universe that we can discern.

This is all very interesting, certainly, but what possible spiritual bearing does this have?  Here are a few thoughts:

1.  God's sovereignty is exalted.  David says, "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all." (Ps. 103:19) Suddenly, the word "all" takes on such a weight, such a crushing mass, that we are helpless to conceive of it.  God's sovereignty is, of course, just the sort of sparrow-preserving, hair-numbering control that Christ himself described in Matthew 10:29-30, and the psalmist would have us know that this sovereignty extends to all things - even a molecule of gas floating through the Triangulum Galaxy.  Such is the extent and the specificity of God's incontrovertible will.

Some would ask, "Why would He bother with this degree of sovereignty?  Why should God be concerned about the shape of a dust cloud in some galaxy which science can barely even recognize across the cold marches of space?"  To this, we simply respond, why would He not?  God is not overburdening Himself in the maintainence of billions of galaxies and all they contain, is He?  Was His intellect taxed to the breaking point as He spun His all-encompassing plan?  Does He now wish He had just a few more hands (like parents everywhere do) so He could get more done with greater care?  Of course not!  His sovereign plans were planned and are executed with perfection; they subjugate every atom in the universe, and for God, this is easy.

2.  God's omnipotence is exalted.  These familiar words open God's Word:  "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  Consider such understated words in the light of our incomprehensibly vast cosmos!  We further discover in Genesis 1 that God created all things from nothing, that He used mere words, only powerful pronouncement, to create all things, and that He fashioned the heavens in a single day:  perfect power personified. 

Our Lord applies that infinite might in His sovereign rule over all things.  The fact that His power is infinite means that He can distribute that power across every single atom in the universe, and He is still applying infinite power to every atom.  Our powers of explanation simply come unhinged at such lofty notions.


Science, then, continues to grow our understanding of the universe, and, as a result, continues to grow our wonder toward the God of all things, the divine Architect of these wonders, which have been laid up quietly in His keeping through the millennia, until we were able to see them.  Science, which so often seeks to turn God to flinders, is a gift from God to help to describe His own glory - incredible.

I want the Creator and Keeper of all things for my God.  The One whose very words causes the entire cosmos to endure (Heb. 1:3), the One who does as He pleases with that overwhelming sovereignty (Ps. 135:6, Rom. 8:28), the One who declares as Creator that He alone is God, and that we ought to turn to Him alone (Is. 45:22) - this is the God we are privileged to serve, brothers and sisters. 


Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb,

"I, the Lord, am the maker of all things,
Stretching out the heavens by Myself
And spreading out the earth all alone,
Causing the omens of boasters to fail,
Making fools out of diviners,
Causing wise men to draw back
And turning their knowledge into foolishness,
Confirming the word of His servant
And performing the purpose of His messengers.
It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’
And of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built.’
And I will raise up her ruins again."

     - Isaiah 44:24-26

¹ The text of this website provides good insight on this and other matters.

Man the Creator vs. God the Creator

I happened upon an article recently, a sad little piece of scientific amour propre, the thrust of which was that the recent attainments of the scientific realm have drawn shockingly close to legitimately expunging God from our understanding of the universe's origins.  While in the past, says the article, people have made awkward attempts to graft science and creationism together, "a foremost goal of modern physics is to formulate a working theory that describes the entire universe, from subatomic to astronomical scales, within a single framework. Such a theory, called 'quantum gravity,' will necessarily account for what happened at the moment of the Big Bang."

In short, a central effort within the scientific community seeks to explain the universe without a divine Originator.  To this end, the article declares later that "[t]he Big Bang could've occurred as a result of just the laws of physics being there. With the laws of physics, you can get universes."

As believers devoted to the truth of Scripture as fact, not fable or opinion, how do we answer this?  We respond with dismay and sadness, certainly, but there are two responses which are wholly inappropriate. 

1.  Surprise.  We know from Romans 3:11 and others that the world does not seek after God.  This is an ironclad principle; there are no exceptions.  It is only the gracious intervention of the Spirit which turns the eye of contempt into the eye of faith (cf. 1 Cor. 2:10). We do not, then, expect the world to seek the one true God as its Creator and Sustainer.

Nor do we suppose that this modern age represents a fundamental departure for unbelievers from the disbelief of the past.  In other words, this scientific trend does not augment their disbelieving hearts with another layer of armor which must somehow be penetrated.  There have always been unbelievers who do not believe that the earth is the Lord's creation; it matters but little that they are now attaching impressive-sounding names and theories to their suppositions.  Whether unbelievers cloister themselves within this scientific garrison or not, we know that it is only the power of God that can transplant life into their dead, motionless hearts.  The presence of a godless, scientific worldview within such people does not in the slightest tax the reach of God, or the compassion of God, or the wisdom of God.  We know that "He has mercy on whom He desires" (Rom. 9:18b), and God Himself says, "My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure." (Is. 46:10b) His arm of salvation will always move with insuperable purpose and indomitable love.

2.  Doubt.  If we survey the above quote from the article, we note a certain lexical consistency:  these are words of possibility, not of certainty.  Thus we are given "theories" about what "could've" happened, and so forth.  God, when He creates, creates the universe, while man, when he creates, creates theories to dismiss the creative work of God. 

The problem with these theories is that they attempt to explain scientifically that which is entirely unscientific.  It is the proverbial apple next to the orange.  It is like saying you are going to douse your campfire by playing an old 78 of Wagner.  If you scratch your head and re-read that sentence, you have captured the intent.  The idea is ludicrous.  And neither do we explain creation using science.  Consider what science tells us in no terms of uncertainty.  For instance, it declares that matter cannot be created or destroyed.  Much hinges upon this truth, and yet matter must have had its origin at some point and from some cause.  We might also consider the second law of thermodynamics, which says that entropy cannot decrease; that is, that disorder is always increasing (i.e. ice melts in a glass of water).  How then could a "Big Bang" furnish the initial order of the universe?  Can science disclose this without violating its own principles?  Never!

Let us go yet one step further.  If, as scientists posit, the laws of physics in themselves are sufficient to create the universe, do we suppose then that the laws of physics predate space, matter, and time?  Are we to attribute to them the eternal, transcendent, self-existent character which belongs to God?  From what root did these laws spring?  And how could they (or why would they) exist without the matter and the time and the space which, on one hand, regulate them, and, other the hand, are held in their grip, as it were?  The words of Romans 1:25 echo rather ominously through our hearts with these thoughts:  "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."

I myself use science daily in my work; as an engineer, I apply it, but I do not investigate it.  As such, my knowledge is admittedly imperfect; howver, it seems clear that, for all the testing and dialog, science continues to fail with regard to the actual creation of all things.  Its theories cannot encompass this question. 

God does not labor under any such struggles.  Man may theorize, but God declares.  His Word begins, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  There is no ambiguity in this statement as to how the universe came into being.  Genesis 1 carefully records that God created it, and in six days.  Isaiah 44:24-25 records the magnificent and inimitable declaration of our preincarnate Savior:

"Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb,
'I, the Lord, am the maker of all things,
Stretching out the heavens by Myself
And spreading out the earth all alone,
Causing the omens of boasters to fail,
Making fools out of diviners,
Causing wise men to draw back
And turning their knowledge into foolishness…'”

Man's trifling theorizing cannot stand before God's omnipotent pronouncement.  Praise, praise Him!