God's Majesty

I think of the following study as a meditation. I enjoy thinking about these Scriptures and the way they emphasize the power and majesty of God and His redemptive work in my life.

Psalm 119:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

This Scripture tells me that I have something to learn. God is bigger than I think. He will always be bigger than I think. I’m finite and He is infinite. We are challenged to hear what scripture is telling us about God.

I will give you some numbers about creation but the numbers are only to give us a “feel” for the magnitude of creation. It won’t work because I know that creation causes my mind to stagger at it’s size every time I try to think of it. You’d have a better chance trying to measure the Pacific Ocean with a yardstick. Even with this sort of planned failure each time I think on these thinks it is still a blessing.

I start by thinking of the earth the size of a marble (1.5 cm or on 850 millionth actual size rather than 7,921 miles in diameter). If we were that big in relation to the earth we could flick it out of existence. We would be pretty big.

Moon: Distance - 19 inches; Size - 0.16 inches
Venus: Distance - 126 yards; Size - 0.56 inches
Sun: Distance - 192 yards; Size - 5.3 feet

If the sun went out right now it would be 8.3 minutes until we were in the dark. Light would take 76 minutes to go 1 mile.

You could walk at 3 to 4 times the speed of light in this imaginary universe and you could bicycle at 25 times the speed of light. Even in Startrek that would be fast so you could begin to explore creation.

Our solar system would be about 10 miles across. So if you wanted to find Pluto then you’d be looking for something about the size of a peppercorn hanging in space a few miles out there. It would be pretty hard to find but you could at least get there.

The nearest star would be about 30,000 miles away (28,469). That is more than one trip around the actual size earth. Stars are other suns not just little lights in the sky. Many of them are larger than our sun. You could cycle 30,000 miles as long as someone was helping you and you had lots of time. I’d need lots and lots of time but pretend the course is flat (since up would be arbitrary) and I could do about 80 miles a day for a year.

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has 100 billion stars (at marble size they would circle the earth about 42 times). If you had 100 years to look at stars, and God assigned the Milky Way to you, then you would need to look at 32 stars per second. From earth to the center of the Milky Way (30,000 light years) would still be over 200 million miles. Over twice the actual distance to the sun. The diameter of the Milky Way (80,000 light years) on this reduced scale would be 500 million miles. You’re not going to cycle 500 million miles so that even at 25 times the speed of light you’d never make it.

Now remember that the Milky Way is just one galaxy in God’s creation. The nearest other galaxy is 2 million light years. So not only could you not cross the galaxy you live in, you would have no chance of seeing even the closest other galaxy with another 100 billion stars to look at.

A few years ago I read that astronomers had mapped 2 million galaxies in a portion of the sky. That was just a portion of the galaxy. One of my favorite pictures from the Hubble Telescope is a deep field shot that just shows galaxies stretching off to forever.

Solomon rightly said, “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27).

The Psalmist said, “What is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.” (Ps 144:3) .

The Psalmist said, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (Ps 8:1-4)

God says, “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. (Is 40:25-26).

Even on the marble scale I wouldn’t qualify for dust in God’s smallest closet. The depth of God’s love is beyond imagining and really beyond understanding. We live on a planet in rebellion against the creator of this universe and we are sinners. We ourselves have broken His law.

If you don’t have a fear of a God this big then you are not thinking clearly.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline (Prov 1:7).

It should be particularly terrifying that He is aware of you and is Holy and hates sin. Living in a corrupt world has so corrupted our minds that we think of people as great. We make idols of entertainers and ignore God.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. (Ps 33:6-9)

Creation should cause us to stand in awe of God. If we are thinking clearly there is no way we can ignore God.

Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zep 3:14-17).

We see this scripture fulfilled in our salvations. He does take great delight in you and rejoices over the Church.

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:17-19).

I like the stretch and fail of “to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” Every time we stretch and fail we grow in our knowledge of His infinite love. Eternity will not be enough time to learn about His love.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God (Jn 1:10-13).

This scripture says a bunch about how fallen the world is. The creator was here and the world did not recognize Him. But we who are born of God know Him.

because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (Ro 8:14-17).

The God of the universe claims you as a son. Why would he want us? I have no idea. Why would He make us heirs? I have no idea.

He also says, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” (Heb 1:10-12).

The psalmist is saying that the heavens will wear out. He may have seen a “falling star” but that wouldn’t really be a star it would just be a rock. Only by inspiration could the psalmist have know that stars do wear out. They collapse and explode but the psalmist probably wouldn’t have know that. Even the big dipper is wearing out. In 100 thousand years the handle will be bent and the lip bent out of shape. It won’t really look like a dipper and the North Star will be out of place. You’ll see it. Remember you heard it hear first or I’ll have to come find you and say I told you so (assuming God will put up with me doing stuff like that in heaven). The heavens will wear out but God doesn’t change and the highest heavens are not big enough to contain God. We children of dust are Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. It boggles the imagination.

how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Heb 2:3-4).

To ignore the God of creation is irrational. How could a rational thinking person ignore a God that big and expect no consequences. The demands of God should be first in our minds and not something we ignore. That His Grace is poured out on us it truly a blessing and His mercy endures forever.

How can love take a small place in our hearts when God has defined the Glory of His Love by Creation and His demonstrated mercy in salvation? It takes love beyond imagining to become flesh, dwell among us, to pay our debt for rebelling against God, to reconcile us, and make us His children.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us (1 Jn 4:7-12).

God’s love in the context of creation forms a context for this command to love like God. As He enables us we can obey this command but it is a much greater command than we would imagine in ourselves.

The majesty of God in creation is staggering and while the fear of God is often thought of as “awe” and “reverence” towards God there is also a fear that comes when you realize who God is in His power. But God has sought to redeem us and heal us and bring us into a relationship with Him.

“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor? The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread. For I am the Lord your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord Almighty is his name. I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand— I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ” (Is 51:12-16).

Are you going to live in the fear of man? It can only happen if you forget the Lord your Maker. Are you going to live in the fear of the enemy of your soul? God has freed His children, put the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God in our mouths, and then He covered us with His hand. Who is going to pull His hand up to get us? Nobody! There is no creature that can even budge the hand of the Creator and He says that you belong to Him.

Soli Deo Gloria!
To God Alone Be Glory!