Thus says the Lord, “If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” declares the Lord. - Jer 31:37
NASA recently released a group of new photos from the James Webb Space Telescope—a state-of-the-art space telescope that has just recently produced its first deep space images. The most recent set of photos utilized the gravity from a group of galaxies in order to look substantially further into space than had ever been done before.
The resulting image is shocking and beautiful. The field of vision in the photo is approximately the size of a grain of sand, held at arm’s length, toward the sky. And, in that tiny space, there are literally thousands of visible galaxies, some of which are the furthest ever photographed at approximately 4.6 billion light years away.
The image has made news because of the incredible distance that exists between the objects and the earth, and because of the apparent age of the objects as well.
However, as a literal 6 day creationist, these findings are unsurprising. In fact, they are enjoyable to me!
First, it is glorious to see the profound power of God in creation. The bible tells us that God created the stars of heaven (Isa 45:12) with His voice, and that their motion and names are all known to Him (Is 40:26).
Second, it’s amazing to think that God created these celestial bodies, and created the light that exists between them and earth, simply by speaking. According to Genesis 1, God created light on the first day (dividing light from its source—something no ancient mind could have conceived of) and the luminaries on the fourth day. These wonders were made in a moment, simply by the spoken word of God.
However, this might leave us to wonder God’s purpose in creating such massively distant and numerous galaxies and celestial bodies.
The answer is, like all others, found in the Scripture. God promised the nation of Israel that He would restore them to their land, and would faithfully plant them there, and bring them into a relationship with Him. These promises are salted into literally every Old Testament book.
However, the experience of any Jewish believer during those many generations might have caused some doubt. Unbelief, sin, judgment, and destruction was the constant experience of the nation, and God’s faithfulness may have been questioned.
God’s answer to the nation of Israel was simple—if you can measure the universe, I’ll forget you. But since God can’t ever change His mind or forget His promises, we can have great confidence that the universe will never be measured.
Each time the next generation telescope points its lens toward blackest space, God’s faithfulness is called to the test. And every photo sprinkled with galaxies at absurd distances simply indicates that God has passed the test. And, gloriously, if God is faithful to His promises to Israel, then He will be faithful to His promises to you!
So, next time you see a picture of distant galaxies and planets, remember…this is just a reminder to you that God will never and can never change. He will hold you until the end.
