I lay on my back on the ground, looking up. My childhood imagination could not grasp the immensity and vastness of the night sky with all its innumerable twinkling stars. It was magnificent and breathtaking and stretched on forever.
Having been raised in a Christian home, I had learned of Psalm 8:3,4, in which David paused in worshipful wonder, saying, “When I consider the heavens, the moon and stars which thou hast made, what is man that thou art mindful of him?
As a child, I realized some of my smallness and the immensity of God’s creation. Later, I learned that the Earth was a small sphere in our solar system and merely a tiny speck in the universe. I was less than a tiny pinpoint on this planet called Earth. Why would God even care about me?
The sun, our nearest star, is 93 million miles from us. Its diameter is 109 times that of the Earth, and its surface temperature is 9900 degrees Fahrenheit. But the sun is dwarfed by other stars. We reside in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is only one of an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe. The Wolf-Rayet (R136a1) star in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy is 265 times more massive than the sun, is nine times hotter, and shines 8.7 million times brighter.
In the hope-inspiring Resurrection chapter of the Bible, the apostle Paul said, “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)
God’s physical purpose for putting lights in the sky is stated clearly in Genesis 1:14-15: (1) To divide the day from the night; (2) For signs, seasons, days, and years; (3) To give light upon the Earth. When God finished lighting the Earth, He said it was good.
When you consider the vastness of God’s creation and then look at the creation story, notice that it almost seems to be an afterthought of God to make the stars. Genesis 1:16 states, “God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”
It is almost as if God says, “O, by the way, I made the stars too.” Creating the stars was not a complex engineering project for God (but infinitely complex to us). Psalm 33:6 states, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.“ In the same chapter, verse 9, the psalmist says, “For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” God created the stars by merely speaking on this fourth day of creation. Our omnipotent and omniscient God had no difficulty with this instant act of creation.
Isaiah challenges us. “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.` (Isa. 40:26) Isaiah didn’t know the number of stars – but God did, and he called them all by names. It is beyond our weak minds to comprehend this.
God also had a divine purpose in all that He created. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” He wanted all people to know Him as Creator. Then, because He also wanted us to know Him as Savior, He gave us His word. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” (Ps. 19:6:)
Then God gave the ultimate proof of His purpose. He gave His Son, The Word, who is also the Light. The sun, the moon, and the stars were not sufficient light. “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. - - That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:4,9) Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
In Revelation 22:16, Jesus calls Himself the “bright and morning star.” In the next verse, He invites all to come to Him. “And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Will you come to Him today?
Source documents from the Institute for Creation Research (icr.org); Creation.com
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