For some years now, the well-known Hubble space telescope has been providing unprecedented data from the universe. Named after the famous U.S. astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953), it was launched in the year 1990, and hovers in space about 350 miles above the earth.With its large mirror and intricate technological equipment, it has detected galaxies in the universe that were hitherto unknown, as well as more unusual things such as “black holes” and “supernovae.”
It was Edwin Hubble who, back in 1929, using Einstein’s theory of relativity, claimed to have discovered that the universe, once thought to be static, is actually expanding. (There is good evidence that the idea of an expanding universe was first proposed by a Belgian astronomer, George Lemaitre, two years before Hubble did.) However, there is still controversy over this assertion, although various other pieces of research since that time seem to have confirmed that this is so. Galaxies in the universe look as if they are moving away from each other, and the more distant the galaxies, the more rapid seems to be their movement away from one another.
More recently, several scientists received the Nobel prize in 2011 for their work during the 1990’s, in which they claimed that not only was the universe expanding, but that its rate of expansion was accelerating. Again, there has been serious debate in the scientific world about this claim.
The Size of the Universe
What is clear, however, is that the universe is huge—much larger than man ever thought it was. God declares in His Word, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork ... there is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (Psa. 19:1, 31<<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork. (Psalm 19:1)
3There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. (Psalm 19:3)). Something of the immensity of the cosmos can be understood by viewing it with only the naked eye, but modern technology has enabled man to see much more. The more man has been able to discover, the more he finds that it is much vaster, and much more complicated, than he originally thought.
More recently, during the 1990’s, work began on a much larger telescope, which is tentatively scheduled to be sent up into space in October, 2018. The James Webb telescope, at a cost to date of nearly 9 billion, will dwarf the Hubble telescope, with a much larger mirror and power to look much farther into outer space. Destined to be stationed in space about 1 million miles away, it will apparently be held in place because of the balance of the gravity of the sun and the earth. Facing away from the sun, it will be protected by a solar shield with successive layers, to insulate it from the extreme heat of the sun.
The Scientific Point of View
Needless to say, the potential of such a telescope is immense, but as always, the natural man approaches such capability from the wrong point of view. First of all, his pride rivals the potential of the telescope; NASA’s Eric Smith, Webb’s program director, is alleged to have said, “We will be watching the universe light up after the Big Bang.” Another NASA scientist is quoted to have said, “Humankind has always wondered about the universe, and now our telescope technology has caught up with our questions.” The most significant comment comes from a contributor to Forbes magazine—”Hubble taught us what our universe looks like; James Webb will teach us how our universe came to be this way.”
Even more significant is the fact that the scientific community persists in basing its observations and calculations on the widely accepted but ridiculous Big Bang theory, first propagated in the 1920’s by the aforementioned Georges Lemaitre. Any honest student of physics must realize that such a theory contradicts both the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The whole idea of a “Big Bang” totally conflicts with Scripture, and is really another of man’s attempts (like the theory of evolution) to get away from any responsibility toward God. Man has discovered much, and is proud of it, but as another has most fittingly commented, “Man is a discoverer; never a Creator.” With all his abilities to fashion such things as a multi-billion dollar telescope, he has never been able to create something out of nothing. Yet his warped reasoning will allow for a supposed “Big Bang,” which allegedly brought something as complicated as our universe into being, without God. Instead of being humbled by what he has discovered, man fills himself with pride, while he unhesitatingly ascribes to a “Big Bang” something that could happen only by the power of God.
By Faith We Understand
But Scripture speaks in clarion tones—“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Heb. 11:33Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)). Once we bring God in, everything falls into place; we are not compelled to indulge in wild imaginations or deny any of the laws of physics, in order to make everything plausible. However, there is an unusual paradox here, and one which man is unable to deal with, unless He is willing to admit divine revelation.
On the one hand, man is a finite creature, and although he can understand the concept of eternity, he is totally unable to wrap his mind around it. Being bounded by time, man cannot come to grips with anything eternal, except in a conceptual way. For this reason he rejects the truth of an infinite God, who existed from eternity, and who is able to create something out of nothing. Of course, this is not the only reason man rejects the thought of God. Ultimately, he wants to avoid any thought of responsibility to God, and thus prefers to pretend either that He does not exist, or at least that He is a distant Being who does not take any interest in His creature man. Indeed, many false religions, as well as so-called “New Age” thinking, embody the notion that God is in everything, including ourselves, and that He is merely a force in the cosmos that sustains it.
Eternity
On the other hand, man cannot get away from himself, and since he was created for eternity, not merely for time, he seeks for that which is eternal. A recent article in a prominent American magazine discussed the potential of the James Webb telescope, and the author made the following remark—
“It says something both odd and exceptional about our species that while we could rightly be preoccupied with the simple business of surviving on the one world we’ve got ... we always have one eye trained outward. We can’t say exactly what we’re looking for—deliverance, company, answers to eternal questions—but we look out all the same.” (emphasis mine)
Thus man wants answers to the eternal questions that inevitably come into his mind, while He denies the revelation of the God who inhabits eternity.
Divine Revelation
How comforting it is to turn away from man, “whose breath is in his nostrils” (Isa. 2:2222Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? (Isaiah 2:22)), and to be subject to divine revelation in the Word of God. In keeping with the character of the eternal God, His Word “liveth and abideth forever” (1 Pet. 1:2323Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23)). Once it has served God’s purposes, the universe which man seeks to explore will eventually be burned up, to make way for the creation of a “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:1313Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13)). Despite man’s efforts in space research, and the spending of billions of dollars, he will never discover eternal realities. It is only in Christ, and in the understanding of the mystery of God, that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:33In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:3)) are found. We can rest in this, and in a God who has chosen to reveal Himself in Christ, and whom we now know as Father. How much better this is than mere factual information about the universe!
W. J. Prost