The Astronomy of the Bible; or, God Among the Stars -5
Thomas De Witt Talmage (1832 – 1902)
He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth— The LORD is His name (Amos 9:6).
It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, And hath founded his troop in the earth; He that calleth for the waters of the sea, And poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name (Amos 9:6 KJV, emphasis added).
Continued from the last post at the following link: Great Sermons From the Past 8/25/2026
Speaking of the inhabitants of this world, He says: “Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket” (Isaiah 40:15). If all the inhabitants of this world are as a drop of a bucket, where are the other drops of the bucket? Again and again the Bible speaks of the host of heaven, and the word “host” means living creatures, not inert masses, and the expression “hosts of heaven” must mean inhabitants of other worlds. Again, the Bible says of God: “[You] Who have set Your glory above the heavens!” (Psalm 8:1). And here my text comes in with its idea of a mansion of many stories: “It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven” (KJV). Is it possible that we who live on the ground floor of this many-storied building are the only tenants, and that the larger rooms and the more gorgeously upholstered rooms and the more brilliantly chandeliered rooms above it are uninhabited? Besides this we are positively told in the Bible that two other worlds are inhabited—the world angelic and the world diabolic. These two worlds added to our own make it positive that three worlds are inhabited. Why then stop with three worlds of living beings when there are not only millions but billions of worlds? Are they all standing like expensively furnished houses in time of financial panic marked “To Let” and no one to take them? “Waste not,” God hath written all over this world of ours. And do you suppose that God would waste world-material in our solar system to the amount of what has been estimated as seven hundred trillion miles of solid contents, and that only a small part as compared with other systems which go to make up this many-storied mansion of the text, where it says: “It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven” (KJV)?
Without the use of telescope and without any observatory and without any astronomical calculation, I am convinced that the other worlds are inhabited, because my Bible and my common-sense tell me so. It has been estimated that in the worlds belonging to our solar system there is room for at least twenty-five trillion of population. And I believe it is all occupied or will be occupied by intelligent beings. God will not fill them with brutes. He would certainly put into those worlds beings intelligent enough to appreciate the architecture, the coloring, the grandeur, the beauty, the harmony of their surroundings.
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 