I am an astronomer. I love watching the night sky.
There’s a sense of wonder in seeing the full moon
or the stars strewn across the heavens in the Milky Way.
For us as Christians, we do more than wonder.
We worship. Because we know that:
The heavens declare the glory of God.
The skies proclaim the work of his hands. (Psalm 19:1)
The universe didn’t just appear on its own or arise from an impersonal force.
There’s a person behind the universe.
And that person is the same one we know as our Lord and Savior.
In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Through him all things were made. (John 1:1-3)
The Son is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
In him all things were created:
things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or power or rulers or authorities;
all things have been created through him and for him. (Col 1:15-16)
Today, telescopes give us new views of God’s creation.
I love galaxies. Every galaxy contains billions of stars.
With each new telescope, our view sharpens.
We’re just discovering a wealth of new galaxies and stars and planets
that God has known all along.
The universe is incredibly vast.
The new Webb Telescope pointed at a tiny spot in the sky,
the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length. That spot looked empty.
But it is filled with thousands of galaxies!
Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, would be tiny on this scale.
God’s view of the universe is vast beyond our imagining. God says,
As high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. (Isaiah 55:9)
Yet God has come to us in Jesus Christ.
As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is God’s love for those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:11-12)
The vast heavens point us to the vastness of God’s love.
