HOW THE STARS REVEAL GOD’S GLORY
INIL57.TXT
By: Everett E. Duncan

Have you ever considered a few of the amazing facts implied in this simple
statement: “The Heaven’s declare the glory of God; and the firmament
sheweth his handywork”? (Psalm 19:1).

Our mighty sun is 1,300,000 times larger than our world. But it’s just a
dwarf compared with some giant suns. Take Antares, one of the largest yet
found. If this immense ball of fire were as close to us as our sun is
(93,000,000 miles away), at twelve noon it would fill our entire horizon.
Some suns are even larger.

Yet there are dwarf suns not much bigger than the earth. Sirius, brightest
star in the sky, has a dwarf companion only about three times larger than
our world yet weighs 250,000 times as much. A child weighing 100 pounds on
earth would weigh 1,300 pounds on Sirius B. But the prize dwarf seems to be
Omicron 2 Eridani B. On this miniature fireball a 100-pound child would
weigh 1,800 tons.

When it comes to speed, our sun “pokes” along at 12.5 miles a second or
about 45,000 miles an hour. But enormous Arcturus, many times larger and
heavier than our sun, hurtles through space at 257 miles a second. That’s
nearly a million miles an hour!

We read in Ezekiel 10 about wheels within wheels running in perfect order
and harmony. But consider the fact that we are traveling through a complex
universe of billions of suns and trillions of planets, all the while
zooming along with at least six different speeds. Yet never having a
collision or ever swerving off our appointed course. Astronomers explain it
like this:

First, our world is rotating on it’s axis. Our world is also traveling in
its yearly orbit around the sun. Then our solar system of planets follow
the sun through space within our Milky Way. Next our Milky Way rotates like
a gigantic illuminated wheel. Further, our Milky Way is drifting through
outer space much like a swarm of bees. And finally, our Island Universe
with countless others revolves around the “heavens of heavens,” God’s
throne, the very center of the combined universes. “All known objects of
the heavens belong to one enormous unit,” declares Isabel Lewis of the
United States Naval Observatory. And General Mitchell adds, “At His (God’s)
bidding every planet and satellite and comet and the sun itself fly onward
in their appointed courses. His single arm guides the millions of sweeping
suns, and around His throne circle the great constellations of unnumbered
universes.

Why shouldn’t there be numerous collisions among the many stars? The Bible
simply states, “Not one faileth!” Isaiah 40:26. No, we are not likely to
collide with any of our many neighbors. Astronomers tell us that a
collision of our Milky Way is as improbable as for a man with a rifle to
hit a penny at a distance of a mile on a dark night when even the direction
of the coin is unknown.” In fact, there is so much space in our Island
Universe that Bart J. Bok, Harvard astronomer who has devoted his life to
studying the Milky Way, says that in it could be readily stored a million
times as many stars without much chance of any of them colliding.

The size and immensity of the universe baffles the profoundest imagination.
Distances between stars in our own Milky Way is almost unbelievable. God’s
Word challenges, “Behold the height of the stars, how high they are!”(Job
22:12). The only reason some stars look so closely packed together in some
photographs in our Milky Way is because they are so far away.

From an airplane at night a distant city looks like a solid mess of light.
As one approaches the city and the landing field, this mass of lights
disintegrates into thousands of individual lights. The same is true of the
stars.

The average distance between the stars (suns) is seven trillion miles. Our
nearest neighbor sun is 25 trillion miles (25,000,000,000,000). Let me pout
it this way: Imagine our sun the size of a dot over an “i.” Our nearest
neighbor, Alpha Centauri, would be another dot 10 miles away. Other stars
would be microscopic dots hundreds and thousands of miles distant. This is
all within outer Milky Way. Distances in outer space are even more
incredible.

Trying to count the stars is an outright impossibility. In our Milky Way it
is estimated there are a hundred billion suns. These suns control a family
of possibly nine hundred billion planets, with moons innumerable. But what
about the number of stars composing the other Milky Ways beyond our own?
The 200-inch telescope on Mount Palomar in Southern California has already
photographed thousands of other Island Universes drifting through space at
inconceivable distances. It is estimated there at least a billion of them.

Trying to number the suns and planets out there baffles the imagination
completely. Centuries ago God declared “The host of heaven cannot be
numbered” (Jeremiah 33:22). And ancient Job explained, “Lo, these are but
the outskirts of his ways: and how small a whisper do we hear of him!” (Job
26:14, American Revised Version).

Consider a bit further the thought, “not one faileth.” Astronomers say they
have never found the slightest variation in the movement of the stars even
to the extent of 1/1000 of a second.” Professor Todd, in his book New
Astronomy, page 128, states: “Uniformity of the earth’s rotation has been
critically investigated by Newcomb, and no change in the length of the day
as great as 1/1,000 of a second in a thousand years could escape
detention.” This reminds us that when this world was created, “he spake,
and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:9). [No wonder
the sun stood still for Joshua when the Lord God commanded it! -editor)

Think for a moment of the beauty and color of the stars. Scriptures tells
us, “He hath garnished the heavens” (Job 26:13). And God adds: “I will shew
wonders in the heavens (Joel 2:30). And God adds: “I will shew wonders in
the heavens (Joel 2:30). “Look through a small telescope,” writes Dr. M.L.
Neff, in his book The Glory of the Stars, page 15, “And you will see bright
red stars and shimmering blue ones…brilliant white stars..yellow
stars…and vivid orange spheres.” He further adds, “We rush headlong in
the rut of everyday existence, failing to lift our eyes to the pageant of
the stars, the eternal jewels of the night. The suns of the universe blaze
with varicolored lights that vie with the rainbow for beauty.” The Milky
Way is a treasure house of gems of the richest hues. St. Paul testifies,
“There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another
glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory” (I
Corinthians 15:41).

Rigel, one of the most beautiful double stars in the sky, is rich blue in
color. Sirius, brightest star in the heavens, is a brilliant white.
Arcturus is a red dish hue, as are Betelgeuse and Antares. Some of the
double stars are the most lovely of the jewels in the sky. There are the
twin suns of Albireo – one a dazzling yellow-orange, the other a deep blue.
Gama Leporis has one pale yellow and one garnet sun. Castor is a creamy
white star, while Pollux, a near neighbor, is orange in color.

Does life really exist on these other worlds scattered throughout the vast
creation of God? This we cannot affirm with any certainty, for the Bible
does not say there is. But many believe other worlds to be inhabited. [If
there is then it has to be angelic creations who cannot be redeemed,
because Christ died for the lost souls of humanity on earth. -Editor]

Bernard de Fontenelle says, “If God glorified Himself in making one world,
the more worlds He made the greater must be His glory.” The renowned
astronomer Harold Spencer Jones admits, “it is overwhelmingly probable that
many other stars have systems of planets like our sun.” And Sir James Jeans
adds, “There must be myriads of worlds capable of supporting life as we
know it here!” Dr. Russell T. Crawford, director of Berkeley Observatory,
wrote: “Not only do I believe that other planets of our solar system are
inhabited, but I believe firmly that the worlds of other solar system are
likewise inhabited.” Dr. William W. Campbell, former director of Lick
Observatory, accepted the amazing findings of foremost astronomers in
humble gratitude when he wrote: “In the latter years of my life I have been
gratified to think that there are other representatives of life scattered
through the universe. Probably we could not point the finger in any
direction and miss the truth if we said there was some form of life in that
direction.”

Yes, “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His
handiwork.” This is a profound statement and past finding out. God’s great
universe is unlimited by time and space. Distances are incomprehensibly
vast. Hundreds of millions of Island Universes, like a mighty armada,
cruise up and down the high seas of immensity.

Let us humbly and gratefully remember that the same God who guides all
these shinning orbs in the vast circuits of their appointed paths, is able
to pilot us over life’s tempestuous seas. If we will but trust Him and obey
Him, He will bring us at last to the peaceful shores of the haven of rest.

“Ah, Lord God! Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy grat
power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing to hard for thee”
(Jeremiah 32:17).

Mildred Wood Harris summarizes it this way:

“A thousand tapers lit the sky
And yet I could not see
Beyond the smallest opening
Of God’s immensity.
And while He guides the universe
By miracle divine,
And calls a million stars by name,
He’s not forgotten mine!”

(The above material appeared in the February 1992 issue of The Pentecostal
Messenger.)

Christian Information Network