“Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Who 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? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” (Isaiah 40:10–15, 17–18, 21–22, 25–26)
To introduce this message on how big God is, let me tell you about something that happened in the 1960's. There was a movement that started in the 60's called “the God is dead movement”. They spread their message across the nation that God had died.
In response to this, listen to what a preacher said during this time: “When I heard about the God is dead movement, I remembered what the Bible said, 'The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.' And when I heard people running around saying that God was dead, it made me want to ask some pretty stupid questions. Like, if God is dead, then who killed Him? Or, if God is dead, what kind of disease did He die of? If God is dead, would you please let me see the coroner's report? And, if God is dead, can I please speak to the doctor that examined the corpse? And, if God is dead, what funeral home did the body lay in state in? And, if God is dead, what flower shop was contacted for the flower arrangements? And, if God is dead, why didn't they put it in the obituary column in the newspaper? But, most of all, if God is dead, why didn't anyone contact me? I happen to be a member of the family!”
I've got good news for you – God is NOT dead! He is alive! He said, “I am He that was, and is and is to come.” He said, “I am the same yesterday, today and forever.” God is still alive because Jesus said in John 4 that “God is a Spirit”, and you cannot kill a spirit! As a matter of fact, when you talk about God, you can not over power God; you cannot overthrow God; you cannot outlive God; and you cannot live without God! Praise God!!!
Now, getting back to my original question, How Big Is God? Well, to even begin to understand, you're going to have to first understand the principle of “nothing”. Yes, nothing! You see, first you're going to have to understand that God came from nothing – because there wasn't nothing to come from. And, that God came from nowhere – because there was nowhere to come from. Then, you're going to have to understand that the Great I Am, who came from nothing and who came from nowhere, decided one day that He was going to create a world. So that Great I Am, who came from nothing and who came from nowhere, then stepped out onto nothing – because there wasn't nothing to step on. Then, He reached out and grabbed a handful of nothing – because there wasn't nothing to grab. Then He spoke to that nothing and made something out of that nothing and then hung it on nothing! You know why? Because there wasn't nothing to hang it on! And it's been hanging on nothing ever since! Job 26:7 says, “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” How Big Is God? He's that big!
Okay. Now I've shown you how big God is in comparison to what He can do. Now, here comes my biggest problem – showing you how big God is in size. And do you know why that is such a problem for so many of us? Because, what can you compare Him to? There is nothing on this planet that I can compare Him to. So what should I do?
I know what I'll do! I'll go and see what the Psalmist David has to say. For you see, one night while watching his sheep, David looked up into the heavens and made an awesome statement. And it goes like this: “The heavens declare the glory of God. And the firmament doth show forth His handywork.” So, the only thing that I can do tonight to show you how big God is, is to take you beyond this earth into the heavenlies. Here we go.
First, let's take a look at planet Earth itself. Picture it in your mind. See it? While we sit here tonight, this planet is spinning like a top at 1,000 mph. And while this planet spins at 1,000 mph, it is also moving forward at the incredible speed of 67,000 mph! After that, this planet that we live on is almost 25,000 miles in circumference. That means if you started right here and were able to drive in a straight line all the way around Earth, that by the time you got back to right here, you would have traveled almost 25,000 miles. Now that's a big planet! But, remember the scripture that we read earlier. God holds this planet in the palm of His hand! So, How Big Is God? He's that big!
But now, let's leave Earth and go to the nearest star to us called the Sun. The Sun is so big that astronomers tell us that if you could hollow out the Sun, you could put 1,300,000 planet Earths into it! So, How Big Is God?
But wait a minute. Let's move on from there. In outer space there is a star, named Aldebaran, which astronomers tell us is so big that if you were to start dumping Suns into it, that it could hold 86,350 Suns! So, How Big Is God?
Now maybe that's not enough for you. So let's go on. Let's go even further out into the universe that God made. Next, there is a star named Antares, that is so huge astronomers tell us that if you were to start dumping planet Earths into it, that it could hold over 663-trillion Earths! So once again I ask you, How Big Is God?
And if that's still not enough for you, astronomers tell us that the largest star in our known universe is called VY Canis Majoris. They say that this star is so huge that you can fit 9.3-billion Suns into it! And that's with each Sun holding 1.3-Million planet Earths inside each one! I said, How Big Is God? Please somebody tell me How Big Is God?
If you want to know how big God is, let me tell you another interesting fact. According to astronomers, there are approximately 40-sextillion stars in our known universe. [In case you don't know how many a sextillion is, I sure didn't, that is a 1 followed by 21 zeros!] Now, you may not be able to comprehend that many without a visual aid, so let's do this. Let's say that my Bible is a Webster's Dictionary. In the Webster's Dictionary there are approximately 500,000 words. Let's empty out that dictionary and instead let's put the names of 500,000 stars in it. Now, how many books, with 500,000 stars each, would it take to name all of the 40-sextillion stars? Are you ready for this? It would take 80-quadrillion books!!!
You may say, well what's that got to do with me, or how big God is? Well, in our text tonight, Isaiah said in verse 26 that “He calls them ALL by name.” David said in the book of Psalms, “He telleth the number of stars and He calls them all by their name.” Now, tell me, How Big Is God?!!!
Now, that's just a little bit of it. Watch carefully. (get a piece of paper out) I have here in my hand a regular sheet of paper. See how thin that is? The distance from Earth to the Sun is 93-million miles. Let's say that the thickness of this paper represents those 93-million miles. If I were to show you just how far it is to the next nearest star to us, I would have to stack up sheets of paper 71-feet high! Are you hearing this?
And, if I were to show you just how far it is from Earth to the edge of the Milky Way, I would have to stack up sheets of paper, with each one representing 93-million miles, a total of 310-miles high!
And, if I were to show you how far it is to the edge of the known universe, using this same method, I would have to stack up paper 31-million miles high!
Do you remember what verse 12 in the Scriptures listed at the top of this message said, “He measured out the heavens with a span.” And do you know what a span is? It is the distance between your thumb and your little finger when your hand is opened. Dear Lord church! The ONLY thing I've even told you so far is how big God's hand is!!
You may say, “What are you trying to tell me preacher?” I'm saying, How Big Is God? I'll tell you how big God is. God is just as big as you will let Him be! That's how big God is!
I've got news for you tonight. God is not stained glass windows. God is not padded pews or carpeted floors. God is not high church steeples, or types of worship, or human feelings, or any other fleshly thing! God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth!
If you want to know How Big Is God, I'll tell you!
He is bigger than your problems!
He is bigger than your circumstances!
He is bigger than your valleys!
He is bigger than your fears!
He is bigger than your sicknesses!
He is bigger than your diseases!
He is bigger than any battle you'll ever go through!
He is bigger than any demon or devil from hell that you will ever fight!
He is bigger than ANYTHING!
THAT'S HOW BIG GOD IS!!!!!