In no part of the creation of God do we find more wonderful gospel lessons than in the heavens. We have already seen that the heavenly bodies preach the gospel, although they have no articulate speech. The apostle Paul, having stated that all had not obeyed the gospel, adds that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and then asks, “But I say, Have they not heard?” Heard what? Why, the gospel, of course. And then he answers his own question, saying, “Yes, verily,” and proves it by quoting the words of the psalmist concerning the heavens, “Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” (Romans 10:15- 18). The heavens, therefore, do most widely and powerfully preach the gospel. Let us note a few points from the word, that we may be able henceforth more readily to read the language of the heavens:
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). Now put with this a statement concerning man: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained [prepared] that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). The same language is used about us that is used of the heavens. Both are His workmanship, and both are created in Christ, provided we yield ourselves to Him. That thing for which we are created is good works, by which we are to glorify our Father which is in heaven. So if we have the good works, we, as well as the heavens, declare the glory of God.
The heavens do the work that God has appointed for them. They do it because they are perfectly subject to His will. So if we are as subject to Him, we shall do the work that He has appointed for us. And that work glorifies Him, because it is He that does the work in us. Notice that God has before prepared these works, that we should walk in them. So Christ says of the one who does the truth, that he comes to the light, “that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” God Himself does the works, else they would not be the righteousness of God. That which the heavens do is also His work; and when we are voluntarily as submissive to His will as they are by nature, then the glory of God will be as fully declared by us as by them, even though, like them, we are unable to make an articulate sound.
The heavens are the pledge of God’s faithfulness. “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever: Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens” (Psalm 89:1,2). The existence of the heavens is a surety that God has not forgotten His promises of mercy to men. The thirty-first chapter of the prophet Jeremiah is full of the “exceeding great and precious promises” of God; and immediately after the promise to His people, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more,” there follows this: “Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is His name; if those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before How gentle God’s commands!
How kind His precepts are!
Come, cast your burdens on the Lord,
And trust His constant care.
Beneath His watchful eye
His saints securely dwell;
That hand which bears al nature up
Shall guard His children well.
Why should this anxious load
Press down your weary mind?
Haste to your Heavenly Father’s throne,
And sweet refreshment find.
His goodness stands approved
Through each succeeding day;
I’ll drop my burden at His feet,
And bear a song away.
(Missing Copy)
Me forever” (Jeremiah 31:34-36). So long as the sun, moon and stars fulfill their appointed work regularly, the sons of men can find mercy with the Lord. So long may they come to Him and find pardon, peace and righteousness.