The Russian launching of a 23-inch sphere, into an orbit reportedly 559 miles above the earth, at the speed of 18,000 miles per hour, is man's most audacious undertaking. It is by far the most amazing achievement in his history, for in it he has reached out beyond the earth and its atmosphere into another domain. He has invaded a realm other than that which God gave to man—"The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath He given to the children of men." Psalm 115:1616The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. (Psalm 115:16). Man has done marvelous things on the earth, and has shown great ingenuity in making his natural environment serve him. He has utilized things on the earth, and in the sea, and in the very atmosphere about him, and has reached down into the bowels of the earth and brought up substances to aid him in his accomplishments. In many ways he has reached the practical limits of development. He can travel faster than is prudent on the earth's surface, and can fly through the air much faster than the speed of sound. He has leaped communication barriers by transmitting pictures and sounds instantly through the air. He is extracting from the rocks the elements with which to make atom bombs, which are used to trigger the dreadful hydrogen bombs that can destroy whole cities with a single blast; in fact, he has unleashed the very power that burns in the sun. We may say with a strange emphasis, "What is man?"
Man's marvelous achievements show that in spite of his fall and alienation from God he still retains evidence of being God's handiwork. God made man in His image—His representative on earth—and gave him this inventive ability. Man has God-given powers, although he boasts as though he had not received them, but treats them as the product of some fortuitous development brought about by a strange evolutionary process.
But with all of man's masterful accomplishments, he is not any nearer to God morally than he was before the dawn of the scientific age. Everything is being used to gratify his desires and lusts and feed his ego, while he remains an enemy of God in his mind. It is as true today as when the psalmist wrote: "The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy." Psalm 14:2, 32The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Psalm 14:2‑3). This is man's general condition, although by grace some have had their consciences reached and been led to repentance, and had their hearts opened to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Otherwise, the verdict of Rom. 3 is still true: "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.... Their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes." Rom. 3:11-1811There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17And the way of peace have they not known: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:11‑18).
The Russian announcement of their successful launching of the first earth satellite contains a truly expressive statement of man's condition: "The present generation will witness how freed and conscious labor of the people of the new socialist society turns the most daring of man's dreams into a reality." It certainly savors of the pronouncement made when man started out to build the tower of Babel: "Now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do." Gen. 11:66And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. (Genesis 11:6). Man today sees nothing to hinder the accomplishment of his wildest dreams; and he is reaching out for new worlds to conquer, and speaks confidently of conquering outer space and making trips to and from the moon and other planets. Surely no one would belittle what he has already done. It is nothing short of astounding that he should be able to toss a 184-pound metal ball hundreds of miles into space and set it in an orbit to travel about the earth every 96 minutes. His cleverness is further demonstrated by placing it in an orbit 65 degrees from the equator so that it passes over most of the inhabited land area of the rotating earth three times a day.
The ignorant infidel used to talk of distances in the heavens as though the God who made them would be hampered by distance and could never take the redeemed to heaven. But now man has placed an object out in the heavens that in its first week of travel covered a distance equal to more than five round trips to the moon. And since then he has placed a larger object farther out, and may send out more. He may even shoot a projectile to the moon. Now man is emboldened to talk of these as only the first steps toward space travel. Some may ask, Where will it all end? how far will man be allowed to go? Perhaps we may answer this by referring again to men's first concerted attempt to make a name for themselves, at the tower of Babel. When everything was proceeding according to their plan, God confounded their speech, and they were scattered. Their mistake was that they left God out of their calculations, and the folly of that day is the folly of the mid-20th century.
Judgment hangs over this world because of what man did to the Son of God when He came into it in grace, but the sentence has not yet been executed because God has lingered in patience, pleading with men to "repent... and believe the gospel." But we are now approaching the very end of God's long-suffering with Christ-rejecters. The Lord will soon come and take His redeemed to be with Him in the Father's house, and then the judgments will begin to fall on the earth. They will come with frightening rapidity, and "a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." Judgment is "His strange work," but the world-crisis nears as man's self-conceit, self-confidence, and audacity mount to new heights. "Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." Matt. 24:2121For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21). So terrible will be the devastation of that time, that unless a very short time had been allotted it, no flesh would be left on earth (see v.22). Then the Lord Jesus will come back as the avenging Son of man to make His enemies His footstool, and "every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." Rev. 1:77Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7).
The bold impiety of man will reach its climax when the Lord Jesus comes to execute judgment, for "the beast" (the head of the great Western alliance), "and the kings of the earth, and their armies," will be "gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army" (the army of heaven) only to be slain with the sword of His mouth. The ultimate in modern weapons will be useless against Him; His word will be all that is necessary to consume them. This is where man's scientific strides are taking him; he is going headlong to destruction. His very inventions are already causing widespread consternation before that day when men's hearts shall fail them for fear of those things that are coming upon the earth (Luke 21:2626Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:26)). We as Christians need to keep a clear perspective as the moment approaches when "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day." Isa. 2:1111The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. (Isaiah 2:11).
The unbelief of man has rejected as outmoded the truth that God created all of the heavenly bodies. According to psuedo-scientific circles, these bodies all evolved by natural means. The plain statements of Scripture that God created them are summarily rejected, and numerous scientific speculations are substituted to account for their origin. By the same token, we might guess that the new ball circling the earth was not made by anyone, but just came about by some accident of nature. Such a conclusion would be rightly ridiculed, for man made the satellite, and he intends to have the credit for it. But it is just as unrealistic to look at the heavenly bodies and reject the idea of a creator. Man little realizes what is the source of such illogical reasoning, but it is the product of his enmity toward God. Man's will is opposed to God, and any speculation that removes the idea of a living God to whom man is responsible is welcomed by fallen man. Satan, the god and prince of this world, is very adept at helping on such evil surmisings with lies of his own making, for "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." John 8:4444Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44).
This brings to mind a story that is told of Sir Isaac Newton, the world-famous scientist, who was far ahead of his day. It is said that Sir Isaac made a model of the earth, sun, and moon in their correlations, showing their movements in their orbits. One day an infidel acquaintance came to the house of this renowned Christian and saw his intricate model. The infidel asked, "Who made it?" Sir Isaac replied, "No one." The infidel, thinking he had not been heard, repeated his question. Sir Isaac replied again, "No one." The acquaintance then said, "You evidently do not understand what I asked; I wanted to know who made this model." These repeated questions provided the opening that the Christian man of learning wanted, and he went on to explain that his was only a small insignificant model of the heavenly bodies, and obviously even it had been made by some one. How much more obvious it should have been that the celestial bodies themselves had been created by God Himself.