The ASTRONOMICAL NUMBERS of the UNIVERSE

IN THE beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth.  [Heb 11:3.] (Genesis 1:1) AMP
And God made the two great lights — the greater light (the sun {which is a star}) to rule the day and the lesser light (the moon) to rule the night. He also made the stars.                  (Genesis 1:16) AMP
He {God} determines and counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.
(Psalms 147:4) AMP

In this chapter, I will be using very large numbers, but I am not using them to confuse you nor do I want you to skip over them. By their hugeness, I am trying to demonstrate the awesomeness of God. These humongous numbers are the base numbers God used as the architect in the planning and creating of the whole universe. These base numbers are huge and indicate the awesome dimensions of His creation and His intellect. His intellect is indicated in the above verse which says that God “determines and counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.” We will soon see numbers that are 10 the 24th power. To God, these humongous base numbers are comparable to the base numbers that you and I are comfortable using in the everyday math of balancing our check book or measuring dimensions or determining distances. We would normally use tens, hundreds, and thousands but rarely would we go beyond this range for our own personal use.

Most of us are familiar with numbers ranging in value from tens to billions, and over the last few years, the number trillions is becoming common place. Let’s look at what the number “ONE TRILLION” is equivalent. Ten is a number followed by one zero (10). A hundred is ten tens – 100. A thousand is ten hundreds – 1,000.  A million is a thousand thousands – 1,000,000. A billion is a thousand millions – 1,000,000,000.  A trillion is a million millions or a thousand billions – 1,000,000,000,000. Think on this. This is mind boggling! To put a trillion dollars into perspective, if you had spent one million dollars every day since Jesus Christ was born some two thousand plus years ago, you would have spent less than three-quarters of a trillion dollars to 2013. {2013 years times 365 days per year equals 734,745 times spending one million dollars per day equals $734,745,000,000.}

Another way to look at the hugeness of one trillion is if you had a stack of $1 bills equaling ONE trillion dollars, the stack would roughly equal one quarter of the distance to the moon – some 65,000 miles plus or minus. A trillion seconds is equal to some 32,000 years. Can you comprehend this? A trillion is so huge a number that for “luck/chance/fate/coincidence” i.e. the theory of evolution – natural selection/the survival of the fittest – to have a part in your being here at this time and place in history CANNOT BE!!! It is mathematically impossible! (1) And it is only by God’s intervention that history happens!!! (2)
(1) **** Look up “trillion” on Google. Have fun with the different examples they use to give you some comprehension of this HUGE number.
(2) The lot {luck/chance/fate/coincidence – there are NO SUCH THINGS!} is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly of the Lord [even the events that seem accidental are really ordered by Him]. (Proverbs 16:33) AMP

I know those of the young creationist worldview may not agree with many of the following numbers, but what I want you to see is the hugeness of the numbers in God’s vast creation all created in six days (whatever their length) as stated in Scripture. (3)
(3) Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
The Garden of Eden. Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.                         (Genesis 1:31-2:2) NKJV

Let’s start using some God sized numbers as to where and how they fit into our lives. Late in 2010, I read where astronomers guesstimated the universe contains upwards of 1,000, 000,000,000 (trillion) galaxies each containing upwards of some 1,000,000,000,000 (trillion) stars. This means the universe could contain some 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars     (1 trillion trillion i.e. 10 to the 24rd power). (4) The Bible simply states, “Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.” (Isaiah 40:26) NKJV
(4) Nature: www.nature.com/nature

God’s accomplishment is not ONLY knowing the number of stars in His creation, but His knowing ALL of their names! He is a “PERSONAL, LIVING, and LOVING” God! For you to count 1 trillion trillion stars at one per second would take you approximately 34,700,000,000, 000,000 (34.7 million billion) years.

Let’s continue to look at more God sized numbers. The astronomers guesstimate the age of the universe is some 13,700,000,000 (13.7 billion) years old. The scientific guesstimated diameter of the entire observable universe is upwards to 156 billion light years. Some scientists believe the universe is infinite in size – no beginning, no end. (5) Light travels about 186,000 miles per second or about 5,900,000, 000,000 (5.9 trillion) miles per year. There are guesstimates the diameter of the universe is some 80,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles (80 thousand trillion trillion miles).  But what does the Bible state about these huge numbers. God the Son is….. “upholding all things by the word of His power…..” (Hebrews 1:3) NKJV God the Son is in total and constant control of His immense, unfathomable, and ever changing creation!!! He is intricately and intimately involved in the total of His creation. To me this is beyond mind boggling!
(5) **** For some interesting thoughts and calculations about the diameter of the universe, go to www.space.com/…/mystery_ Monday_ 040524.html

These figures are all only scientific guesstimates! The scientists do not really know the number of galaxies or stars in the universe. They do not really know the age of the universe. They do not really know the overall size of the universe. Some of the technology that has been innovated by man to achieve these findings has indeed been useful to man! But to the average person – to you and I, what real difference in the overall scheme of everyday life does any of this make anyway? Our ancestors lived full lives without all this foray. Life goes on. What we need to know and understand is God’s involvement in His creation and in my/your/our particular life from BEFORE time began. (6)
(6) Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and dominion, for You created all things; by Your will they were [brought into being] and were created.  [Ps 19:1.] Revelation (4:11) AMP
(6a) He {God the Son} is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high, (Hebrews 1:3) AMP
(6b) And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).  [Prov 8:22-31.] (Colossians 1:17) AMP
(6c) However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves. (2 Corinthians 4:7) AMP
(6d) Your {God the Father’s} eyes saw my unformed substance {This is similar to “without form and void” in Genesis 1:2}, and in Your book {of Life} all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.              (Psalms 139:16) AMP

But this is NOT what sinful man in his profane secular humanistic worldview desires in and of himself. This is the very deception “the god of this world” desires for man– to seek/worship/ serve/idolize the physical things of this world (7) because he {sinful man} is totally without Godly wisdom of the spiritual supernatural Biblical Christian Worldview. (8)
(7) For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers’ minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.    (2 Corinthians 4:4) AMP
(7a) The thief {Satan} comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I {Jesus} came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). (John 10:10)  AMP
(8) Once you were under God’s curse, doomed forever for your sins. You went along with the crowd and were just like all the others, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air, who is at work right now in the hearts of those who are against the Lord. (Ephesians 2:1-2) TLB
(8b) Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they prayed to the things God made, but wouldn’t obey the blessed God who made these things. (Romans 1:25) TLB
(8c) But where shall Wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man knows not the price of it; neither is it found in the land of the living. God understands the way [to Wisdom] and He knows the place of it [Wisdom is with God alone]. But to man He said, Behold, the reverential and worshipful fear of the Lord — that is Wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. (Job 28:12-13, 23, 28) AMP
(8d) **** Read all of Job chapter 28.

However many galaxies, stars, age of the universe, size of the universe, etc. only God really knows. God the Son/Jesus Christ is the creator of all of creation and knows its age, its dimensions, and its contents because they were made “through” Him and “for” Him! (9)
(9) O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions — (Psalms 104:24) NKJV
(9a) For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16) NKJV

Why is this important? There is an interesting Scripture that I suspect you have not heard in many sermons or has been used in many Bible studies. The Apostle John shares with us, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” (John 21:25) NKJV Jesus has been God the Son for all of eternity and should be recognized and given glory for His work as its Creator, Savior, and Judge. Jesus Christ as the Son of Man only lived on the earth some thirty three years and He is our Savior and Judge, but the profane secular humanistic limited wisdom of the inhabitants of the universe did not and still does not receive Him as such. (10)
(10) For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isaiah 53:2-3) NKJV

This is why creation was made for Him! God foreknew the price of redemption of sinful angels and sinful man. What about you? Can you receive Him and His work in the world? “He came into the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world {angels and man} did not recognize Him [did not know Him]. He came to that which belonged to Him [to His own — His domain, creation, things, world], and they who were His own {the Jews} did not receive Him and did not welcome Him. But to as many as did receive and welcome Him {Jews and Gentiles}, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name —  [Isaiah 56:5.] Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]” (John 1:10-13) AMP

When God the Father introduced God the Son into the world, He commanded, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” (Hebrews 1:6) NKJV But as we know, sometime in very early history of the universe, Satan and a large host of angels chose not to worship Him causing them to be thrown out of heaven. (11)
(11) Satan Thrown Out of Heaven. And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.                      (Revelation 12:7-9) NKJV
(11a) And He {Jesus} said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”                     (Luke 10:18) NKJV

Man’s profane secular humanistic worldview is not on God and the spiritual things of God but rather his focus is set on the miniscule and trivial political and social pleasures of creation in the universe/world. To me, God’s omnipotence, His omnipresence, and His omniscience are close to incomprehensible and unfathomable, but they are what I think on and search for!!! My present day worldview has very little to do with physical creation and all to do with God and His spiritual creation and realm. That is as I read the Bible, pray, and think about God, I am seeking Him and His spiritual Kingdom with more and more zeal while myself, the world, and the things of this world become less and less. I am sure you have seen the t-shirts and bumper stickers that proclaim “HE>i.”

A True Believer’s life must reflect what the Apostle John wrote, “He must increase, but I must decrease. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.]  [Isaiah 9:7.] He Who comes from above (heaven) is [far] above all [others]; he who comes from the earth belongs to the earth, and talks the language of earth [his words are from an earthly standpoint]. He Who comes from heaven is [far] above all others [far superior to all others in prominence and in excellence].” (John 3:30-31) AMP