The Heavens Declare…

When was the last time you gazed into the night sky and noticed something out of the ordinary?  For me, it was just this past week when I looked out the left window of my car and saw a very large, very orange, “waxing crescent” moon. 

For context, a waxing crescent moon has the round part pointing “to the right”.  It was quite large, think about holding up an object in front of you that is 2-3” in height, and that was how big the moon was.  It wasn’t really late; probably only 9:30 PM.  Throughout the night it turned back to white and shrunk a bit.

It made me think of two questions:

What makes it orange?

What makes it so big?

I immediately thought of Psalm 19 (NLT) and “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.“

Everything you see in the night sky is part of God’s handiwork.  The heavens declare the glory of God.  God has built something beautiful, amazing, and beyond our basic comprehension.  How could this not glorify Him?

Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.”

While this speaks to the administration of a King’s kingdom, I believe we can also apply this verse to God’s entire creation.  God is scientific, and he shares knowledge with us as he sees fit.  Like we raise our children to explore and grow, God also raises us to explore and grow.  Why wouldn’t scientific discoveries be part of this?  This does not in any way take God out of the equation.  If nothing else, it solidifies His place in the universe as our creator.

For our two questions, the answers can be found through those scientific discoveries.  According to StarGazersOnline.org (a really awesome astronomy site with short videos on almost any topic you can think of), this is because we’re seeing the moon closer to the horizon this time of year.  As the air scatters between the sun and moon, the red color is scattered the least, giving it more of an orange tint.  When the moon is further away, the red lessens and is not a factor in the color we see.

This starts right around September 10 each year with a full moon.  We call it the Harvester’s Moon.  Why?  Because this large, orange moon gave farmers enough light to complete their harvests.  As we move into October, it then is called The Hunter’s Moon.  Why?  Probably the same reason, except the light was for hunters.

Aside from the sun, let’s look at the stars.  There are some circles that claim the constellations tell the story of Jesus in the sky.  Dr. Chuck Missler has a book called “Signs in the Heavens” that talks all about this if you want to dive deeper.  It’s not something I can confirm, but I do know that we should look at the sky as God’s handiwork, rather than man’s explanation for things happening on Earth.  

What about the concept of a young Earth?  Worldview scientists will tell you that the universe started with a big bang, and then everything evolved after that.  You are one big giant accident.  The sky can show evidence that things are not billions of years old, but rather thousands of years old.  

For example, let’s talk about comets.  Comets are made up of ice and are moving in an orbital pattern similar to the planet’s orbital movements.  As they go around the sun, they lose a little bit of their mass from melting.  This triggers particles to break away and form the tail of the comet.  If they were billions of years old, they simply would not be there.  There is also no evidence out there that new ones have formed.  The ones we see are the ones that have been there for a few thousand years.

Going back to the Bible, we even see mention of some of the familiar stars in the sky that we see.

Job 38:31 “Can you direct the movement of the stars— binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? 32 Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? 33 Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?

This is God talking to Job.  God calls out some very familiar names and things that we see in the night sky.  There are plenty of sky maps online, and a great app I like to use called “Sky View”, that can help you find these constellations.  God even speaks to the “laws of the universe”.  How could this not point to His glory?

The magnetic fields are also another clue pointing to a younger Earth with a creator.  It is a scientific fact that the planet’s magnetic fields are weakening as time goes on.  If the Earth, and other planets, were billions of years old, they would have ceased to exist.  Russ Humphreys, a scientist, even predicted that the Earth would be ~6,000 years old before the discovery that the magnetic fields were diminishing.  The debate is still out on that exact age, but it still points to thousands of years, and not billions, or even millions, of years.

With all of this evidence, why doesn’t the scientific community accept these findings?  Simply put, they have suppressed God.

Romans 1:20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Even though they have no excuse, they still have chosen to either ignore or reject God.  This is why the great commission exists, for us to spread the Gospel and help people find Christ.  A simple conversation while looking at the night sky, and a good dose of Jesus could steer your friends on a track for eternal life in God’s kingdom.  Don’t ever stop looking up!

-Dan