300 Sextillion Stars in Universe

NASA photograph of stars

COGwriter

Astronomers now estimate that there are about 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the universe:

Using the Keck telescope in Hawaii, van Dokkum and a colleague gazed into eight other distant, but elliptical, galaxies and looked at their hard-to-differentiate light signatures. The scientists calculated that elliptical galaxies have more of those dwarf stars. A lot more.

“We’re seeing 10 or 20 times more stars than we expected,” van Dokkum said. By his calculations, that triples the number of estimated stars from 100 sextillion to 300 sextillion.

Full text at: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/01/scientists-sextillion-stars/

Of course, humans do not really know how many stars are in the universe. God even once told Abraham to try to count them, knowing full well that he could not (Genesis 15:5).

God, on the other hand, not only knows how many stars there are, He knows them all by name:

4 He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. (Psalms 147:4, NKJV)

With all of those stars, humans can sometimes feel very insignificant in the universe. And this is not a modern phenomena as the Psalmist once wrote:

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
4 What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet (Psalms 8:3-6, NKJV).

The Book of Hebrews, after quoting much of the above, added the following:

8…But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:8-9)

And yes, while it has not yet happened, God’s plan includes putting the entire universe (including the estimated 300 sextillion stars) under the control of the resurrected humans who Jesus will save.

The universe is truly awesome (and probably not limited to 300 sextillion stars, plus their associated planets). Notice something else that the Bible teaches:

33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. (Luke 1:33)

This seems to mean that either the physical dimensions of Christ’s kingdom will always be increasing (hence perhaps more and more stars and galaxies) and/or their will a continual increase in the number of beings in Christ’s kingdom.

While humans now are fairly insignificant in certain physical ways, God has a plan to involve humanity in ruling the universe.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Where Did God Come From? Any ideas? And how has God been able to exist? Who is God?
How is God Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient? Here is a biblical article by Wallace Smith which answers what many really wonder about it.
What is the Meaning of Life? Who does God say is happy? What is your ultimate destiny? Do you really know? Does God actually have a plan for YOU personally?
The Bible: Fact or Fiction? This is a booklet written by Douglas Winnail that answers if the Bible is just a collection of myths and legends or the inspired word of God.
Read the Bible Christians should read and study the Bible. This article gives some rationale for regular bible reading.
What is the Appropriate Form of Biblical Interpretation? Should the Bible be literally understood? What do the writings of the Bible, Origen, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Augustine show?
Bible and Historical Resources on the Internet Electronic bibles, Two Babylons, early Christian literature, photos, and even links to old Herbert W. Armstrong materials.