He Created Everything

He Created All Things

Colossians 1:16-17

A young lady wrote to Dr. Laura Schlessinger this past week with the following question:

I'm a little embarrassed about this, but here goes: I believe in God. I pray, and I work very hard to follow God's commandments. However, neighbors and people at work tell me believing in God is just plain silly. They say that biochemical and biophysical laws are enough to explain the world and the origin of life. I really don't know what to say back. Do you have any suggestions?

Dr. Laura wrote back to the young lady and said,

There's an old rabbi's tale which moved me and might help you with your problem.

It seems that a learned philosopher approached a well-respected rabbi and told him that he didn't believe in God and that the universe, the world and life all came into being through natural means, without outside intervention.

The rabbi said nothing in reply, but some time later returned to the philosopher with a profoundly moving poem written on parchment in the most glorious calligraphy

The philosopher, seriously impressed, inquired as to the artist and poet. The rabbi told him that there was no poet or artist. He explained that the paper was lying on his desk when a cat knocked over the inkwell.

The philosopher said, "That's simply impossible. Somebody must have written the poem and somebody obviously put it to paper!" The rabbi replied: "You said yourself that the universe, the world and life, which are more beautiful and wondrous than any poem, came into being by themselves. Why do you doubt the same for this simple, humble poem?" (Edmond Evening Sun, Thursday, September 18, 1997)

Paul makes no mistake about the creation of everything that has ever been existence when, in Colossians 1:16-17, he writes,

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. {17} He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Col 1:16-17 NIV)

This morning I want to invite you to join me on a trip. It is a trip that no travel agent could ever book for you. If you traveled the world and took in all of creation's wondrous sights you could never see the sights that I want to show you this morning. Are you willing? Would you like to come along? Come on, let's head out on a trip of a lifetime.

As we leave for our trip this morning I want to show you things that are literally "out of this world." Our first stop, the universe. As we peer out through space we see some of the marvels of the Creator's handiwork.

I have been to Colorado on a clear summer night when it appeared that I could reach out and touch the stars that hung in their place overhead. Scientists tell us that if you were to travel around the planet and count every star in the sky, they would number about 4000 on a clear night. We can see 4000 of the Creator's stars, but scientists have also concluded that there are approximately 100 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. 100 billion stars! That is a lot of stars folks! But that is just in our galaxy. Scientists have also concluded that there are more than 100 billion galaxies besides our own. 100 billion stars times 100 billion galaxies. Should that strike us as strange? God told us in Jeremiah 33:22 that the stars of the sky cannot be numbered.

There are billions of galaxies of the most complex structures - 500 billion light years long and 20 billion light years high!

From the outer most parts of creation let's head back to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The Sun contains 99.85% of all the matter in the Solar System. The Sun is so large that you could put 1.3 million Earth's inside of it and still have room. The Sun's core is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit and on it's surface, called the photosphere, the temperature is a cool 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The pressure on the Sun's surface is 340 billion times that of the Earth's at the Equator. Such high pressure coupled with such intense heat causes nuclear reactions on a regular basis.

It is the Sun that gives us our life sustaining heat that makes life on planet Earth possible. The Sun is located 93.2 million miles away from Earth. If the distance of the Earth from the Sun were to change by a mere 2%, life on Earth would cease immediately. Any closer and all of life would burn up. Any further and life would be frozen for eternity.