The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

Summer in the Psalms ‘23

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

July 9, 2023

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. ² Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. ³ There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. ⁴ Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, ⁵ which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. ⁶ Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Ps. 19:1-6

The size of the universe is beyond our comprehension. Our small galaxy, the Milky Way is 100K light years across or 588 quadrillion miles. The galaxy closest to us, the Andromeda, is 2.4 million light years away. The furthest galaxy that we’ve been able to see through the Hubble Space Telescope is 13.4 billion light years away.

The size and scope of the universe just seems to keep going and going. I understand why some think it’s laughable to think we’re alone in the universe with all the billions of galaxies out there. That seems kinda arrogant on our part and wasteful on God’s part to create such a nearly infinite universe just for one small rock next to one small star just to create mankind.

And it would be wasteful if the size and grandeur and magnificent scope of the universe was about us. But it’s not, it’s about God. The heavens declare the glory of God. When we look up into the night sky lit up with billions of stars, or through the Hubble Telescope and see billions of galaxies, it is all speaking to us, declaring something about God. The heavens declare the glory of God.

God is a communicating God. It’s one way that we are created in His image – He loves to speak and communicate.

1. God speaks a general revelation about Himself through creation (vv. 1-6)

Listen again to the first four verses of Ps 19 and hear the communication going on: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.² Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.³ There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
⁴ Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

You get the sense God has something to say. God is a communicating God. We can broaden it out to all creation because God speaks and reveals Himself in all creation.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Rom. 1:20

God is separate from His creation, but His fingerprints are all over creation. Everywhere we look, God has revealed who He is – at least in a general sense – for those who are honest enough to look.

1. Creation speaks of God’s glory

Glory is a word that means “weight” or honor, but those words don’t capture the full meaning. So we look at the universe and it declares that God is infinite in size and scope. If the edges of our “universe” went to the outer rim of our solar system, we could say God is incredibly big. If the edges of the universe went to the edges of our galaxy, it would declare God is unimaginably great and powerful. But the edges of the universe – which we can’t see – is the closest thing to infinity that we know of and it declares an infinite God. God has no edges, He is infinite. The Cause (God) is greater than the effect. His power created the power of a quadrillion stars. His wisdom and care set a medium sized star in the center of the solar system and then measured out the exact distance to sustain life and hung the earth. Everything that God is, His glory, His justice, His wisdom, His power, His love is infinite meaning there are no edges and no limits.

He is omnipotent (all-powerful). He is omniscient (knows everything). God is omnipresent (all present everywhere). The heavens declare the glory of God.

2. Creation speaks of God’s loving care and compassion

The other day I was sitting on our back porch and there was a robin mom with her little robin chick. You could tell by the speckled breast that it was young but it wasn’t that much smaller than mom, so kinda like a teenager robin. So mom’s over here looking around for food, and I see the teenager robin find a worm or bug in the grass and pick it up, only to drop it and I watched the bug disappear into the grass. I figured the teenage robin would try again, but he just ran over to mom chirping all the way as if to say, “feed me!”

It's a scene reproduced throughout the animal kingdom. Most species have a compelling drive to care for their young, and human parents naturally have a built in desire to care for and protect our young. As the Creator, God cares for His creation and has compassion for all He has created.

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,your faithfulness to the skies. Ps. 36:5

By God’s command the sun comes up faithfully day after day to provide the warmth and vital rays this earth needs to exist. The sun’s faithfulness speaks of God’s faithfulness to care for His creation.

3. Creation speaks of the terror of God

Nature can be terrifying and brutally unforgiving. Tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, the ocean in a storm. Brutal cold and brutal heat.

Lord Tennyson wrote a poem about grief that contained the line “Nature is red in tooth and claw”. That

became a favorite saying among evolutionists such as Huxley and Darwin, as they saw in the brutality of nature a law called the survival of the fittest, and it was that pitiless cruelty that inspired Hitler’s Arian race and the extermination of the weak and inferior.

Huxley and Darwin missed an important point that Lord Tennyson made in his poem but we’ll come

back to that in a bit.

God is good, but He isn’t to be trifled with. Some people, if they choose to believe in a god at all, forge a god of their own making who is the nicest being in the universe. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. The Bible says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31). Revelation describes when God returns to earth, people will cry out in terror for death to shield them from His face. Any terror creation can throw at us dwarfs in the face of the terror of the living God.

4. Creation speaks of God’s beauty

There is such beauty all around us. Beauty in a sunset. In a beautiful summer day. In a panoramic landscape. In the sound of songbirds. The beauty of nature can speak peace to a troubled heart and hope to a despairing soul.

Sometimes when our hearts are heavy or sad, walking at night and viewing the night sky brings peace. It grounds us in something bigger and more glorious than our own little lives. It’s healthy for us to be reminded how small we are – when we have God’s glory in view. Remove God and our lives become not only small but also insignificant. Our lives are not only short, they are also meaningless if everything we know and accomplish and love today is destined for the grave tomorrow. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die isn’t a happy saying. It’s a depressing invitation to party today because the only thing that lies ahead is death.

But the heavens – and all creation – don’t point to an empty universe, they point to the glory of God. He is beautiful, He is loving, He is compassionate, He is kind. Lord Tennyson, in his poem on grief, after acknowledging nature as red in claw and tooth, ended by declaring there is hope beyond the veil.

2. God speaks a specific revelation about Himself through the Bible (vv. 7-14)

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; ⁸ the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;⁹ the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rulesof the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. Psalm 19:7-9

When David writes of the law, he’s referring to all the word of God they had then. We now have the completed canon that contains all the revelation we need about God and from God to make us wise to salvation.

God has spoken through His word with such beauty and clarity that it lights up our souls, and enlightens our understanding not only of God, but of all life. As CS Lewis wrote,

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

What God has communicated to us in His word is more precious than anything in the world. More precious than riches. More precious than pleasure. More precious than fame. All these things fade and rot, but God’s word endures forever.

Most precious is the specific revelation God has given concerning the Savior who He would send. The Jews called him their Messiah. Jesus said all the scriptures spoke of him. God was speaking from the earliest chapters of Genesis forward of Jesus, our Savior and Lord.

3. God speaks a saving revelation about Himself through Jesus, the Word

In the opening words of the gospel of John, John refers to Jesus as the Word. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things – all this creation that speaks to us about God – were created through him.

As the Word lived among us, we saw in Jesus the Father. In Jesus’ compassion for the sick, we see the Father’s compassion. In his love for the lost we see the Father’s love. When Jesus reached out to the lonely and outcast, the Father was reaching out to the lonely outcast.

But the greatest declaration of God’s love is found at the cross.

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom 5:8

Hebrews 12:23 reminds us that Jesus’ blood, shed for our sins, also speaks:

You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Heb. 12:23-24

Abel’s blood cried out for vengeance. Jesus’ blood cries out for mercy. All those who believe in him receive mercy and eternal life. But the very next verse warns those who may not be listening:

25See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? Heb. 12:23-25 (NIV)

Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world but to save the world, then he says those who don’t believe are condemned already. Why is that the case? Why not save those who don’t believe? By way of illustration, several weeks ago the world was transfixed as five people including a father and son went down in a submersible to explore the Titanic and then lost contact. In a sense it’s a mercy that the sub was breached as they went down because they likely died before they knew anything was wrong.

The pressure at the depth of the Titanic is roughly 6000 lbs per sq inch. Once a vessel is breached it will implode with violent and sudden force. The Titan was compromised in some way and this trip it couldn’t withstand the external pressures.

God’s righteousness and holiness – His glory has such weight – that nothing can withstand His judgment except perfect holiness and righteousness. We don’t even come close. Nothing in all the universe can withstand the “weight” of God’s glory and provide sinful man with a safe refuge. Except Jesus. Jesus is the only ark of safety that can stand up to the wrath of God for sinful man. If we are “in Christ” by believing in him we are safe. If we aren’t in him because we don’t believe in him, we are condemned already because he alone is the one safe place in all the universe.

Those who refuse his salvation are left condemned and perishing simply because there is no other way to be saved. So today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart but receive and believe in the Lord Jesus and receive the gift of eternal life. Let’s pray.