READJUSTMENT OF THE STARS.
By A. Smith
The nebular hypothesis of the creation, preservation, and destiny of the starry worlds leads to skepticism, causing many to doubt that God is the direct and infinite Creator and upholder of all natural phenomena in the universe. Next to popular geology, it is doubtless one of the most hypothetical sciences known. And yet its deductions are the most natural and logical that can be adduced by minds unregenerated by the Holy Spirit, which alone “searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” 1 Cor. 2:10. Briefly stated, the nebular theory supposes the existence of all material unorganized substances from eternity; and that at some undefined epoch in the infinite past, the law of gravitation began to operate at a supposed point, drawing to itself adjacent substances, and, by impact or some other agency, evolving heat and rotary motion, eventually resulting in the formation of suns, planets, and satellites. Aside from certain principles forming the basis of true science involved in the system, the whole theory is vague and unsatisfactory. Having evolved suns and planets to a point of complete development, the nebular theory compels belief in the final complete congelation of the worlds, the death of all organic life therein, and the extinction of light and heat emanating from sun and stars. How soul-satisfying to turn from such speculations373to the unequivocable testimony of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Gen. 1:1. “He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:9. The Lord said to Job: “Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?” No; the ordinances of heaven are the ordinances of God; and the dominion is wholly in the hands of Him who “upholdeth all things by the word of His power.” “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth.” Isa. 40:25, 26. Men may speculate about collisions of suns and worlds, and the heat and light evolved from the impact; but God’s word says of these heavenly spheres, “Not one faileth,” and “He calleth them all by names.” Yes, He who notices the fall of a little sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our head, has a father’s care for the worlds He has created, with their countless millions of sentient beings. Because certain phenomena observable in some of the distant stars are unexplainable from any known data, we are not justified in concluding that they have diminished from or exceeded the conditions they were created to fill in the sisterhood of spheres. The psalmist says: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” Ps. 19:1. The glory of God is His perfection. The works of His hands are perfect. The starry worlds therefore are perfect in all their appointments. The earth, as a whole cannot now glorify God because of sin. There are, however, glintings of His glory in His people; it lingers in the pencilings of the divine Artist upon the evening sky; it flashes in the aurora borealis; it unfolds in the endless tintings of floral nature: all these are mementos of paradise lost, and promises of the earth made new. None need fear that the suns and worlds that God has created will ever collide one with another. In their diurnal and orbital movements they all obey the divine will. “No balance, turning to one one-thousandth of a grain, is more delicate than the poise of forces on the world. Laplace has given us proof that the period of the earth’s axial rotation has not changed one one-hundredth of a second of time in two thousand years.” — Recreations in Astronomy, page 145. No planet that God has made will ever become a frozen mass, nor suns fail of giving their light. God created the cold, doubtless to preserve the purity of interstellar spaces, as salt preserves the purity of the seas. It is called “His cold.” See Ps. 147:17. It can never trespass upon the works of God. It will ever accomplish His will, and no more. God has declared it to be His purpose to consume sinful conditions in our world by fire; and certain scientists conjecture, since phenomena observable in some of the distant stars are like that which will probably appear in our world at the time of the great conflagration, that such stars in like manner suffer dissolution, and disappear or are recreated with increased or diminished primal glory. But an increase of light and heat in any star can consume, or destroy, nothing but sinful conditions; and since God declares of those stars that “not one faileth,” it is vain to base conjecture upon any other principle. Heaven is the dwelling-place of God. See 1 Kings 8:39. His throne is in heaven, and there is set the dominion of the universe. See Ps. 103:19. The capital city of the universe is the New Jerusalem in heaven. See Heb. 12:22. The position has been generally taken, and no doubt rightly so, that heaven is the center, or pivot, round which all the starry worlds revolve, God ever holding the dominion in His own hands, and guiding them. See Job 38:32. This world in which we live, because of the pollution of sin has cost more than heaven and all the other starry worlds combined. Heaven was emptied of its wealth to redeem the earth. Christ was the only begotten Son of God. He took human nature, and no other, upon himself, and fallen human nature at that. He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, our brother. Jesus loves those whom He has purchased so fervently that He is content to dwell with His people as their brother and king forever. See 1 Cor. 15:24-28. But the Father cannot be separated from His Son. Hence the capital city of the universe in all its glory is to be removed to this earth, and with it the throne of the Father. See Rev. 22:1-5. The Lord said to Job, “Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?” Job 38:33. This question implies that the Lord could do what man could not; He could set the dominion of the heavens in the earth; and the question would have lacked due force if the Lord did not have it in mind to do that very thing. The Lord says, referring to the earthquake at the giving of the law, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only; but also heaven.” Heb. 12:26; see also Matt. 24:29. “The powers of heaven are the sun, moon, and stars. They rule in the heavens. The powers of earth are those who rule on the earth. The powers of heaven will be shaken at the voice of God. Then the sun, moon, and stars will be moved out of their places.” — “Early Writings,” page 33. Why are the starry worlds to be moved out of their places? — Simply to readjust them to the seat of infinite dominion in the earth. Every star must be moved. Every world will feel the thrill of redemption in the earth. See Heb. 12:27, 28. The starry worlds are removed in order that redeemed man may be instated in a kingdom that could not be removed from the earth. The throne of God could be removed from heaven to earth, while the citizens of the heaven would remain there in everlasting possession. The kingdom of redeemed man, although on the earth, will not be limited to the earth, as would have been had Adam and his posterity never sinned; for redemption has made necessary the union of the divine with human nature. The redeemed, therefore, being of divine birth, become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ to all things. See John 16:15; Rom. 8:16, 17; Rev. 21:7; Gal. 4:7; 1 Cor. 3:21-23. Redeemed man will reign in a kingdom of influence over the inhabitants of the starry worlds, such as no other people can ever possess. None will be so well qualified to teach the great principles of salvation as they. In them God will show throughout eternity the riches of His grace to the inhabitants of the starry worlds. When the “sons of God” (Job 1:6) visit heaven, the leading thought must necessarily be concerning the rebellion of Satan and the justice of God; but in the ages to come when they visit the earth, the theme of redemption will command superlative interest. The redeemed race will be the one above all others in which the interest of the universe will center. To be fitted for such a high and exalted position, they will doubtless need the course of training that the one thousand years of judgment in heaven will afford. But to this life only is limited the period in which to form characters, and to fix positions for the immortal life. Every moment is precious and fraught with everlasting consequences. No joy will be so great and enduring as a sense of everlasting deliverance from the thralldom of sin and consequent death. Nothing will awaken the symphonies of the city of the living God in the earth made new like the song of praise, glory, and honor to Him who had redeemed His people out of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Reader, will you share in that joy and song? [NOTE. — The reference in the foregoing article to the teaching of science, that the whole solar system is destined at last to become a dead, frozen mass, calls to mind an incident in our own experience. Visiting a friend in the Michigan University, it was our privilege to attend some of the lectures on astronomy. The speaker held the same view of the evolution and formation of the stellar worlds as set forth above. From an original incandescent mass of matter, planets were formed by masses thrown off, from time to time, as the mass increased its revolution, under the cooling process. The conclusion was that the process was still going on, and that the sun is now the only residuum of the solar system remaining in its original state. But as this is still cooling, the time must come, so it was argued, or rather asserted, when this whole system must become a dark and frozen mass, and then a new order of things must begin. What, we know not. Thus the conclusions at which science arrives, if not guided by the word of God, are generally, as in this case, exactly the opposite of what is revealed in the Bible. Science says that this earth, and all life upon it, shall perish in the original cold of chaos. The Bible says that this earth and all things therein shall be burned up, and even its original elements shall melt with fervent heat. But the Bible says, further, that those who are endowed with everlasting life will be able to withstand the devouring fire. Isa. 33:14. Science holds out no hope. — ED.]