| We Are Not Alone “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky shows his handiwork.”[4] As time passes and scientific knowledge increases, we are made increasingly aware of our true size in the universe. The human mind can truly not fathom it. Our little world is one of nine planets that orbit a small star we call the sun. Yet this sun is only one of 400 billion other stars in our galaxy alone. At this point we’ll pause in order to try to illustrate the difference between a million and a billion. We understand that a million is a lot; but the difference between a million and a billion is fantastic. For example: if you were to take a one million-second vacation, you would be gone for approximately 11 days. However, if you took a one billion-second vacation, you would be gone for 32 years! In other words, If you started counting, and said one number every second, it would take you 32 years to count to one billion. Clearly, one billion is an incredibly large number. So, we live on a small planet that circles a small star that is only one of 400 billion other stars that make up our galaxy. But our galaxy is only one of at least 200 billion other galaxies in the known universe! A baby thinks the whole world revolves around him and his wants and needs, and extends only as far as his playpen. As he matures, he begins to realize that there are other playpens across the street; in other towns; even in other countries. Mankind and religion have been extremely egocentric in their estimation of their place in the universe. It is as if you were standing in an area the size of 8 football fields, up to your waist in wheat, with each grain of wheat representing a star, and then took a single grain and said, “This is the only one that has any meaning.” It is vain and unreasonable to believe that the entire universe is all about us. Our small galaxy in a tiny corner of the universe is a mere 6,000 years old; surely God did not begin creation with our solar system. In the immeasurable eons of time past, innumerable worlds with intelligent life have surely preceded us. While the Scriptures do not elaborate on this point, they certainly do not eliminate the notion of the existence of other worlds, but instead gives us extremely strong indication that our little world is but one of untold worlds in God’s vast creation. The Bible speaks of the “worlds” that God made[5], and often refers to vast numbers of intelligences called “angels.” The prophet Daniel tells us that 100 million stand before God as he conducts the business of the universe[6]. The actual figure might be much greater; “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousand thousands” might simply be the way God expressed it in human terms. When the book of Job describes these great meetings, it calls those in attendance “the sons of God.”[7] Luke gives us a clue as to who these “sons of God” are; he tells us that Adam, who was given dominion of the earth and thus represented our world[8] was “the son of God.”[9] These other “sons of God” mentioned in the book of Job may be the “heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords” that the apostle Paul speaks of[10] . Thus, we are not talking about X-Files or Star Trek type aliens, but “sons of God” like Adam and his offspring. And they all worship God as the great Creator of the vast universe[11]. |
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| 4 Psalm 19:1 5 Hebrews 1:2, KJV 6 Daniel 7:10 7 Job 1:6-7 8 Genesis 1:28 9 Luke 3:38 10 Ephesians 1:21 |
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