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God’s Greatness
C.S. Lewis wrote,
q God is the Creator behind all creation.
q God is the Designer behind all design.
q God is the Lawmaker behind all law.
q God is the supreme fact of history.
q God is the supreme fact of science.
q God is the supreme fact of philosophy…
q God is the Mighty God personally and actively present in the affairs of the universe.
q God is the great need of the human heart…
q God is the great need of the vast creation in which we live”.
I. Great Attributes of God.
His Word says He is…
A. Eternal. “… LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”. (Psa 90:1-2)
B. Intelligent. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”. (Isa 55:8-9)
C. Holy. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isa 57:15)
D. Good. “The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works”. (Psa 145:9)
“O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him” (Psa 34:8)
E. Omnipotent. To Abraham He said “I Am God, Almighty”
F. Omniscient. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13)
“Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee” (Psa 139:12)
G. Omnipresent. “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me”. (Psa 139:7-10)
Moses summed it up like this… “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Ex. 15:11)
II. Great Acts of God.
When considering His great works… The Psalmist exhorts all the earth to “Praise Him for his mighty acts ...” (Psalms 150:2) In Psalms 145:4 he states “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts”.
The first verse in the Bible is much quoted, yet often underestimated. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth“.
Have you ever thought of the ramifications of that verse? The Psalmist puts it this way: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork” (Psa 19:1).
God’s great power demonstrated in nature is magnificent. If one would begin his contemplation of God by taking into effect all the marvels that surround us, we would stand in utter amazement of our Great God.
q The Earth’s diameter is 8,000 miles.
q If you would tunnel to the core of planet earth, you would find a raging inferno registering temperatures in excess of 9,000o F.
q Yet you and I are cold in the winter and experience only mild discomfort in the heat of a bright summer day.
Consider God’s acts of magnificence in the planets, comets, and the sun.
q Our sun, the center of our solar system is 93,000,000 miles away. It’s diameter is 109 times that of earth (868,000 miles).
q Yet, even the sun wanes in significance when compared to the giant star Betelgeuse which is an incredible 800 times as big as our sun (Diameter of 700,000,000 miles)!!
q The surface temperature of our sun is 9,500o F.
q The core temperature is an astounding 27,000,000o F!!
q The earth intercepts only 1/1,000,000 of the sun’s light and heat.
Look up at night into a clear, starlit sky. Consider the immensity of the skies.
There are 4 well-known stars that are the nearest to planet earth. These stars are: Alpha Centauri (nearest star); Sirius; Cygni and Vega. The distance of these stars from earth is staggering.
Astronomers in Light Years measure distances to stars and planets. A Light Year is the distance a ray of light will travel in 1 year. Light travels at the rate of 186,300 miles per second.
Example… of the speed of light, it takes a beam of light:
1/60th sec ……. NY to SF
1/8th sec …….. Around world
Light can travel 5.88 trillion miles (12 0’s) in one year. Now consider these staggering facts.
Alpha Centauri is 4.4 Light Years from earth [25.87 Trillion Miles] If we are to go out and see it’s light tonight…the light we would see started to us 5 years ago.
q Sirius is 8.6 LY from the earth [50.56 Trillion Miles] “…10 years ago.
q Cygni is 11.2 LY from earth [65.86 Trillion Miles] “…13 years ago.
q Vega is 27.0 LY from earth [158.76 Trillion Miles] “…27 years ago.
Consider the great expanse of our Galaxy.
The distance from one end of the Milky Way to the other is 100,000 light years, and contains over 2 billion stars.
q The greatness of creation doesn’t end here.
q The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.2 million light years away.
q This translates into 117 Sextillion; 601 Quintillion; 176 Quadrillion miles away.
q The Andromeda Galaxy alone contains over 300 billion stars.
There are nearly 20 smaller galaxies, each containing 100 billion stars. This means that we know of more than 2.5 trillion stars!!
“And these stars are but dewdrops on the lawn of our Father’s house”.
“He telleth [knows] the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names“.
(Psa 147:4)
“Behold, the Lord GOD … hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance” (Isa 40:12)
In astonishment and awe we say, with David:
“Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth”! — Psa 113:5-6
We look up at the great expanse of the universe — God looks down upon it!
q We measure the distances between planets with our sophisticated scientific instruments — God measures them with the span of His hand!
q We rely upon the heat and light of the sun for our very existence — in antiquity, God set it ablaze and hung it in its place!
q It takes light over 117 Sextillion Years to reach us from the furthest point known to man – Jesus will cover a greater distance than that in a “moment, in the twinkling of an eye“!
q We stand in amazement of the immensity of that great star Betelgeuse — God holds it in the hollow of His hand!
The Psalmist declared that:
q “..He alone doeth great wonders:
q “.. He by wisdom made the heavens:
q “.. He stretched out the earth above the waters
q “..He made the sun to rule by day: and the moon and stars to rule by night.
Psalms 18:10: “And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind”.
Psalms 29:10 “The LORD sitteth upon the flood…”
1 Chr 16:25 “For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods“.
Psalms 48:1 “..Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness”
Psalms 145:3 “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable”
q Is it any wonder that the Jews of the Old Testament held God in such high esteem that they would not even mention the name of Jehovah, thinking it was too High and Holy for human lips to utter!?
