HOW BIG IS ‘BIG’?

The universe is almost beyond human comprehension. Scientists estimate its age at around 13.8 billion years, with the Earth itself being about 4.54 billion years old. We live in the Milky Way — just one galaxy among perhaps two trillion in existence. Our own galaxy may contain up to 400 billion stars, while our nearest large neighbour, Andromeda, contains even more.

It is staggering to contemplate such numbers and scale. And yet, within this vastness, we inhabit a small planet that supports intelligent life — capable of thought, creativity, morality, and spiritual longing.

Some scientists propose the possibility of multiple universes. Even if true, such ideas raise deeper questions about why anything exists at all, and how such immense order came into being.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

The Bible offers a simple but profound explanation: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” It teaches that God made us in His image — endowed with reason, imagination, and spiritual awareness. The Old Testament also refers to the “stretching out of the heavens”, and we know that the universe continues to expand.

THE MYSTERIES

Why did God create a universe of such grandeur? And why did He choose this particular planet as the home of humanity? These are mysteries we cannot fully grasp. But creation itself reflects God’s magnificence, power, and creativity.

Earth possesses the exact physical properties required to sustain complex, conscious life, and its position in the solar system, magnetic field, and abundant resources, uniquely equip it as a home for beings capable of exploring and understanding the universe.

Consider for one moment, the smallest living creature in the Amazon forest, or anywhere for that matter. It is incredible to contemplate the challenges they face in life against a backdrop of how much they love life. Consider also, the innocence of the youngest children in the world. They contemplate their futures with wonderment and are deserving of the greatest love and respect from those who nurture and care for them.

THE REALITIES

What we can know is this:

• The universe exhibits extraordinary order and fine-tuning.
• Life displays astonishing complexity, especially at the level of DNA.
• Consciousness and moral awareness cannot be explained by matter alone.

For me, the idea that intelligent life arose from non-living material, through undirected physical processes, is extremely difficult to accept. A cell needs DNA and DNA needs a cell. Even if a cell could be developed in a laboratory, the next step in the process would have to be conducted within an inordinately, virtually impossible short space of time.  

It is mind-boggling to consider how all of this immensity could contain itself without some form of intervention.

THE CONCLUSION

The intricacy and purpose evident in our existence point to something — or rather Someone — beyond nature.

The heavens declare the glory of God.
Creation calls us to look upward.
And the existence of such a vast, ordered universe continues to point to a Creator who is immeasurably greater than all He has made.

We are at a unique time in our history in that we are able to look back in time and almost see the precise moment the ‘big bang’ occurred. We are in seconds of it. This could become a reality in the near future.

God does have a plan for us.

Mike.

mike@acaseforgod.com

Post 19 of a 33-part series exploring the evidence for the existence of God.

My next Blog topic relates to the sheer vulnerability of our human existence.