The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

   The nineteenth Psalm has two main themes: it presents God as He is revealed in His works and God as He is revealed in His word. The first teaches us to know God by natural reasons, from the creation of the material world. The second teaches us to know God by His word whereby our soul may be saved.

   “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). When we look at the heavens we are taught about God. (1) The heavens are diligent preachers; they preach all day and all night without intermission the glory of God. (2) They are learned preachers, for they preach in all tongues. There is no speech where their voice is not heard. (3) They are universal preachers, for they preach to the whole world: their sound is gone throughout all the Earth. Then when we turn to the word of God we learn about salvation from the Lord. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul” (Psalm 19:7).

   In the book The Universe, written by David Bergamini, we are told that the solar system of which we are a part has one star—which we call the Sun—nine planets, 31 moons, some 30,000 asteroids and a large number of comets, plus innumerable dust specks, gas molecules and dissociated atoms (pp. 63-64). One of the objects of the heavens that declares the glory of God is the comet. In the past, people knew very little about comets. We now know much more about them. A comet is a ball of ice and gas. As a comet approaches the Sun, the energy in sunlight melts some of the ice. Gas and dust released from the melted ice make a beautiful tail that extends in the opposite direction from the Sun. The halo around the nucleus is called the coma of a comet. Not visible to the eye is a huge hydrogen cloud surrounding the nucleus, which can span many miles in diameter when it is close to the Sun. This phenomenon was discovered by spacecraft sensitive to ultraviolet. We do not know for sure where comets originate, the Oort theory is that they are nudged out of a sphere of “comet-stuff.”

Comet Halley

   Halley’s comet was a beautiful sight when it appeared in 1910. The Earth passed through the comet’s tail and produced a spectacular sight. Some people became frightened because they thought the gas would poison them. Some people bought “anti-comet” pills or bottles of oxygen. Others hid in closed rooms or in mines and caves. Halley’s comet has been gone from sight for many years, but now the long journey from space has brought Halley’s comet back to view by the people of  Earth. According to the information booklet on comets from The United States Naval Observatory entitled A Magnificent Old Conflagration, comet Halley is again visiting the Sun’s neighborhood after an absence of 75 years. Comet Halley travels in an elliptical orbit around the Sun and has a period of about 75½ years. It spends all but 3 of those years in the far out regions of the solar system. Between each reappearance, it travels some 6½ billion miles, out to between the orbits of Pluto and Neptune and back again. At its farthest distance, Halley travels at some 1,900 miles per hour (about the top speed of an F-15 fighter) and is pulled in by the Sun’s enormous gravity. On February 9, 1986, when it reaches perihelion or closest approach to the Sun, Comet Halley will have achieved a speed of 97,000 miles per hour; its nucleus will be 5 miles in diameter and its luminous tail will reach some 50 million miles.

Fig. 1. Comet Halley Geometry. Comet Halley’s orbit is inclined to the plane of the Earth’s orbit (the ecliptic) by 18 degrees, and when the Comet is far from the Sun, it lies below the ecliptic. At the time of its close approach to the Sun (perihelion), it lies above the ecliptic.. Observing the Comet in 1985/6 will be a challenge.

   The comet we now call Halley is thought to have been recorded long ago by the Chinese. Although the dates of sightings are disputed, they range from 1057 BC to 240 BC. It is thought that Julius Caesar saw it at the age of 14 in 87 BC. The account by Josephus in AD 66 of a sword hanging over Jerusalem is thought to refer to Comet Halley. The Comet accompanied the invasion of England by William the Conqueror in AD 1066, the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1466, and the destruction of the Incas of Peru by Pizzaro in 1531.

Fig. 2. The Orbit of Halley’s Comet by NASA/Jet Propulsion Lab.

   In England in 1695, astronomer Edmond Halley used the laws of gravity and motion developed by Isaac Newton to deduce that the three separate comet sightings of 1531, 1607, and 1682 were actually the same comet. He predicted this comet’s return in 1758-59 and, although he did not live to see it, it was sighted on Christmas night, 1758, by a farmer and amateur astronomer in Germany. In his honor the comet was named after him.

   The heavens do indeed declare the glory of God. The heavenly bodies move with great wonder and show that the hand of the Creator was powerful and purposeful. And so we exclaim, “Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, though King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest” (Revelation 15:3-4).

   The heavens declare the glory of God but the law of the Lord declares the salvation of God. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether” (Psalm 19:7-9). Peter writes in the New Testament, “being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever, for all flesh is as grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:23-25). God’s plan for us today is to hear the gospel (Romans 10:17), believe that Jesus is the Son of God (John 3:16), repent of our sins (Acts 17:30-31), confess the precious name of Jesus (Acts 8:37) and be baptized unto the remission of sins (Acts 2:38) and live faithful to the Lord until death ends our earthly journey.

 J Noel Merideth
(1941-1992)
Christian Light
February 1986
pp. 6-7