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Our Awesome Universe.)
The book of Genes is also tells us
that God designed plant and animal
life on the earth. " Then God sa id,
'Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness; a nd Jet them have
dominion over the fi sh of the sea,
and over the birds of Lhe air, and
over the cattle, and over al! th e
earth, and over every cr eeping thing
that creeps upon the earth'" (Gen.
1:26, RSV).
Thus the bíblica] record declares
that God gave man dominion o r
rulershi p over al! tha t is on the
earth. He did not, in this verse. m en–
tion outer space, the s tars, or other
galaxies.
Late r King David wrote: "The
heavens a re the Lo rd 's heavens, but
the earth he has given to the sons of
roen" (Psalm 115:16, RSV) .
So the Bible revea ls that God
made man and gave him dominion
over the earth. But we a lso discover
that man was made in the image
a nd likeness of God.
The apos tle Paul was inspired to
1ook into the future and write: "For
it was no t
to
angels that God s ub–
jected the world to come, of which
we are speaking.
1t
has been testi–
fied somewhere, 'What is man that
thou art mindful o f him, or the son
of roa n, th at thou carest for him?
Thou didst make him for a little
while [that is, during man's present.
fleshly existence] lower than the an–
gels, tho u hast crowned him with
glory and honor, putting everything
in subj ection under his feet.'"
Paul then explains: " Now
in
put–
ting everything in subjection to him
[man], he Jeft nothing outside his
control. As it is, we do not
yet
see
eve rything in subject io n to him"
(Hebrews 2:5-8, RSV).
God's Ultimate Plan
According to the above scripture.
God ultimately intends for man to
rule over everything he has c reated !
That means that eventua lly God in–
tends ma n to rule over th e far-fiung
galax ies, stars, a nd quite possibly
planets that now reside throug ho ut
the vastness of the universe.
Remember , God created roa n in
his own image and likeness. We are,
therefore, in a sense, li ke God.
In Hebrews 1:2-3 , Pau l says,
" ... in these last days he [God] has
10
spoken to us by a Son, whom he
appointed the
heir of all things,
through whom also he created the
world. He re flects the glory of God
and bears the very s tamp of his na–
ture, upho lding the universe by
his
word of power."
J esus is " the heir of all things." In
other words, God the Father has
entrusted all authority over the en–
tire universe - "al! things" - to
Chris t!
And Christia ns, when they be–
come truly converted . become literal
children of G od , "and if children.
then heirs, heirs of G od and fellow
heirs wi th Christ" (Romans 8: 17,
RSV).
ln other words, C hris t is the heir
of the unive rse - and all men have
the potential of being fellow heirs
with him. That means we will even–
tually inherit rulership over the en–
tire univer se . That i s God '
remarkable plan for mankind.
The Bible clearly reveals that
man has the potential to be like
God, having power and glory like
him. In short, man can become part
of the divine famil y, ruling the
whole crea tion.
Little wonder that the a pos tle Paul
was inspired to write: "Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard , neither have
entered into the heart of man, the
things which God hath prepared for
them that love him"
(T
Corinthians
2:9). (Write for our free booklet
Why
Were You Born?
which explains
in
detail God's plan for you. )
God, Earth, and Life
The Bible reveals that God is very
interes ted in what goes on here on
earth. The earth, J esus sa id, is God's
foots tool (Matthew 5:35).
lt
is bere
that God made human beings.
It
is
there that God sent the one who
became J esus Christ , born of the vir–
gin Mary, to become the savior of
mankind (Matthew 1: 18-20) .
The eartb is not a t the physical
center of the universe; it's not even
at the center of the sola r system. But
it is, unquestionabiy, a cen tral focus
of God's present interest. God is vi–
tally conce rned with events that oc–
cur on earth . Jt is on the ea rth that
God is working out his supreme
purpose and creating h is divi ne
family wh ich will eventually rule
the who le universe with him.
Is the re life in outer space? The
Bible r eveals that outer space is in–
habited by s pir it bein gs (M a rk
13 :32; Rev. 5: 11-14). But what
about
physical
be ings like we en–
counter on eart h? The Bible con–
tai ns absolutely no revelation that
phys ical life as we know it exists on
o th er pla nets at this time. On the
o ther hand, neither does the Bible
preclude t he possibility tha t God
has created other physical beings on
ot her plane ts in other ga lax ies, for
perhaps diffe rent purposes.
God never in tended that the
Bible answer every question man
co uld co nce ive of, a nd the in–
triguing problcm of life in outer
space is o ne of those as-yet-to-be–
answer ed questions. " lt is the glory
of God to conceal a thing: but th e
honor o f kings is to sea rch out a
matter. The heaven for height, and
the earth fo r depth . .." (Proverbs
25 :2-3).
And o ne further point: T he dis–
covery of life on o ther worlds - o n
Mars or anywhere else - would defi–
nitely
NOT
prove evolution. The un–
fa thomable complex ity of life will
a lways demand a great Creator ,
no
matter where it is found.
When the
greatest minds of science, with ultra–
soph is ticated eq u ipment , cannot
create the simplest cell - nor even
synth esize mos t of th e components
of such a cel l - then the theory th a t
)jfe evolved by chance from dead
ma tter becomes patently absurd .
Beyond Viking
The Viking exploration o f Mars is
truly one of the most amazing,
in–
credible, and spectacular achieve–
ments of the twentie th century . We
cannot help but marvel a t the dedi–
ca tion, the organizational genius,
the resou rcefulness. and the spirit of
adventure that has made such a
mission possib le. In terms of such
q ua liti es, Americans are sure ly
twentie th-century Vikings .
Yet the Bible proclaims tha t a fu–
ture time wi ll come when a ll God's
children may have a direct part in
exploring a nd creating new worlds.
not j us t in our own sola r system, but
th roughou t the vast r eaches of
God's fantastic universe.
That's the awesome and inspiring
des tiny God ho ld s out for a ll
mankind.
D
The
PLAIN TRUTH October 1976