Before the invention of the telescope in 1608, scientists throughout history, including the famous astronomer Ptolemy (150 AD), taught that the total number of stars in the heavens was under 3000. However, because of telescopes such as the Hubble, we now know there are countless billions upon billions of stars in the universe – just as God had revealed to us several thousand years ago through the Bible.

Gaze up into the sky on any starry night and you will witness only a minute fraction of God’s creations. In our galaxy alone there are estimated to be over one hundred billion stars. And in our universe, there are hundreds of millions of galaxies. The stars in the universe then, would seem to be countless. But as you are gazing up into that starry night you might decide to count the stars anyway — and that might be possible. The average person is only capable of seeing a few thousand stars on any given night. Why then does the Bible speak of countless numbers of stars? How can a few thousand visible stars, which can surely be counted, be compared with the number of grains of sand on the seashore? — a number so vast that no one during Biblical times could even begin to estimate it.

Once again, the Bible seems to be revealing a scientific fact (the countless number of stars) that its authors could not have known nor ever have imagined. For the Bible to compare the number of stars and the number of grains of sand on the seashore, would indicate that the stars that exist in the heavens must far exceed that which is visible from the Earth. But how could the Bible’s authors have known this without the inspirational knowledge from God?

See Hebrews 11:12. Abraham was as good as dead, yet from this one man came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore”. See also Psalm 147:4. “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.” The Bible recognised the innumerable stars and indeed that each one is unique – God gives names to them all! We have barely named any of them!

Categories: Universe