God’s Space Program
Four astronauts were launched toward the moon on April 1, the first humans to travel there since 1972. They circled around its far side, seeing parts of it with human eyes for the first time in history, and splashed back down into the Pacific Ocean on April 10—successfully completing the Artemis ii mission.
Artemis i was an unmanned test mission in 2022. Artemis ii was a sensational manned lunar flyby mission. Artemis iii will be a manned test mission to orbit the Earth, and Artemis iv is scheduled to return man to the surface of the moon in 2028.
nasa administrator Jared Isaacman announced plans to “establish an enduring presence” on the moon with a permanent base on its surface by 2032. He also said nasa aims to have its first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft launched by the end of 2028. nasa wants to make trips to the moon and then Mars a matter of routine.
What nasa accomplished with Artemis ii has impressed and inspired millions of people. But did you know that God also has a space program?
In the past, nasa administrators and others who look to the skies have been moved by scriptures like Psalm 8:1, 3-4: “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. … When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? ….” They are dazzled by statements linking the wonders in the heavens with the great Creator who made them!
Yet the true picture of what the Bible reveals about the universe and its purpose—and our connection to it as human beings—is far more resplendent and inspiring than they realize!
What nasa and other space projects are doing is exciting. They lift our eyes upward and stir our hearts. But God wants us to have an even more inspiring vision: His space program!
Great events like the Artemis ii mission are an opportunity for us to capture this vision. If you really ponder and grasp it, it will inspire you as nothing else can!
‘Plant the Heavens’
nasa has to plan out its space program years in advance. God has been preparing His program for far, far longer! It has taken a lot of work, even suffering, to get man ready for outer space.
Isaiah 30:8 shows us that the book of Isaiah was recorded specifically for us in the end time. God’s space program is revealed in Isaiah 51.
“And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people” (verse 16).
I think that is one of the most inspiring statements in the Bible! If we truly understand it, it will make our spirits soar!
God wants to “plant” and beautify Earth. He purposes to make Earth like the Garden of Eden (verse 3). And verse 16 shows that God intends to continue that beautification out into the universe—to “plant the heavens.” The Hebrew word translated plant has the same meaning in English: to plant like you would a garden or a tree, to make something take root and grow.
Right now, the universe is lifeless. But God is going to make it blossom with life and beauty!
This verse shows that human beings are part of this plan. God plans to send man to other planets in outer space, to “plant the heavens.”
Many verses in the Bible testify of man’s universe potential.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Hebrews 2:6: “But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?” He was quoting Psalm 8, written centuries before by King David. That psalm shows David looking up at what he could see of the universe—“thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars”—and asking God why He was mindful of man.
Paul continued the quote: “Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. …” (Hebrews 2:7-8).
What does “all things” mean? Paul answered with this amazing statement: “‘Thou hast put everything in subjection under his feet.’ For this subjecting of the universe to man implies the leaving nothing not subject to him. But we do not as yet see the universe subject to him” (verse 8; Weymouth New Testament).
Yes, the creation on Earth is subject to man to this day. But the universe is not yet subject to us. The implication, though, is that one day it will be.
In Romans 8:19-22, Paul wrote: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now” (Revised Standard Version).
The whole of God’s creation, the entire universe, is groaning, in bondage to decay. Other passages, such as Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, describe Satan the devil rebelling against God. That rebellion wreaked destruction and decay on the whole universe. The universe is now waiting for man to be born again as children of God! Why?
Because God has plans to put the universe under man’s rule! We are going to help God restore the universe to a state of order!
Isaiah 51:16 shows that man won’t just reverse the destruction caused by Satan’s rebellion—but will plant and beautify the heavens! That is a major reason why God created mankind: to work together with Him, as part of His Family, in finishing and beautifying the vast creation!
Isaiah 35:1 says that “the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” Is that just on the Earth? There are deserts all over the universe. Perhaps it is expressed that way because God is going to make deserts blossom as the rose throughout the universe!
‘The Right Stuff’
God wants us to think big on this subject, and He wants us to be practical.
Traveling to the moon and orbiting it required years of training. Artemis ii’s commander, Reid Wiseman, was selected as a nasa astronaut in 2009. All the crewmembers, who are 47 to 50 years old, have trained for 13 to 17 years.
God says in Isaiah 51:16 that He will “say unto Zion, Thou art my people.” There is a special group of people—typified by “Zion,” the site of ancient Israel’s temple—whom God is training and working with. Revelation 19:7 states that at Jesus Christ’s return, His Bride has “made herself ready.” God is preparing His Church to be His Bride and to help Christ lead the world out into the universe.
Today God is calling people who have the “right stuff”—as it was called in the early American space program—to go into outer space after they have been trained on Earth.
nasa sends missions to Mars and beyond trying to learn about the origins of life on Earth. To be part of God’s program, you have to learn about that from your Bible, inspired by the Spirit of God. Scripture shows us exactly what our origins are. God is teaching those who are part of His space program where they come from, why they are here, and what His plan is.
God will eventually invite all mankind to join this program, but right now He is working with a select few in advance. They will then help Him bring all mankind into this project.
nasa hopes to put men on Mars. That is a gigantic ambition, yet it is puny compared to what God has planned for man! Perhaps God is letting man do a little space exploration to get a taste of what our future will be like. But what God will do with Mars and the planets, solar systems and galaxies beyond is bigger than anything anyone in nasa or anywhere else has ever dreamed of!
Hope and Correction
God has some tough correction for mankind in Isaiah 51. There is a critical lesson we must learn before we participate in God’s space program.
Verse 17 reads: “Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.”
The worst possible wrath of God is coming upon mankind, starting with the nations of Israel! Why is God so angry?
God lovingly created us to fulfill this inspiring plan that should make our spirits soar, yet we have rebelled against Him. Our imaginations should be ablaze with joy, gratitude and ambition when we understand what God has prepared for us. God wants to shower us with so many blessings. But we constantly rebel against His plan and try to take those blessings our own way.
This is the key. Man does not know how to live the way of joy and abundance. Man has no idea how to make the wilderness look like Eden. We must go to God to learn how to do that. God wants to show us how to have every joy and blessing. But we won’t listen. Instead, we actively fight against His message.
“There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up” (verse 18). God sent prophets in the past to guide us, and man killed them! Something is desperately wrong with man!
The whole world is deceived (Revelation 12:9). We need God to guide us, but we don’t recognize that need, so we keep suffering. It simply cannot work without God.
Solve Problems God’s Way
Mankind is dealing with catastrophic problems. Look at the United States: Right now, we are fighting a war with Iran that we will not be able to win. The nation is in massive debt: Our debt grew by $1.8 trillion just last year! How can America avoid economic collapse without God’s help? The mighty Soviet Union collapsed because of its economic problems. That is certain to happen here as well.
God doesn’t want us to experience these problems. He wants us to prosper and be in health (3 John 2). He will show us the way to prosper, individually or nationally—if only we would turn to Him and listen!
In Isaiah 51, God gives us this spectacular vision of planting the heavens—but He is also telling us: You’re going to have to learn how to solve your problems on Earth my way before you will be able to go out there and plant the heavens!
The great patriarch Abraham learned this lesson. God begins Isaiah 51 by pointing us back to him (verses 1-2). He was the father of physical Israel and is the father of the faithful saints God has called out of the world (Romans 4:16). Why does God honor him so much? Because Abraham simply did what God told him to do. His life teaches us how to live by faith in God and how to solve our problems.
Abraham had a vision few men ever had. Despite the serious problems he faced, he kept following God, looking for a city whose builder and maker was God (Hebrews 11:8-19). He looked for new Jerusalem, the glorious city of God that will come down to Earth after all human beings have been born into God’s Family. It is after that point that, under God’s direction, we will go out and plant the heavens.
God will comfort Zion (Isaiah 51:3). Only God can solve our problems and comfort us. He “will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” What a beautiful message! We can have that joy and gladness today if we look to God for direction!
God says in verse 4, “Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.” This world tends to view God’s law as negative, a set of oppressive restrictions. In truth, it is a set of instructions on how to be blessed! God’s law and judgment will be “a light of the people.” God is going to bring all nations together. Submit to Him, and all can be blessed!
The Way to Beautify Mars
Man can get to the moon and send satellites and spaceships to Mars and beyond. He has a great mind, because God created it. We are made after the image of God (Genesis 1:26), which shows that our purpose is to grow to resemble His character. Man cannot make the moon or Mars like the Garden of Eden! We don’t know how! Turning the moon into Eden will take much more than just transforming the landscape by seeding it with water.
Man is very good at solving physical problems, but he doesn’t know how to get along with fellow man or fellow nation. He cannot bring peace, and sadly, he always tends to destroy whatever physical beauty he creates! Look at the state of our own planet and the human beings on its surface. Isn’t it obvious that we need God’s character first?
Participating in God’s space program starts by letting God direct our lives.
Hebrews 5:12 tells members of God’s true Church that they are called to be teachers. This is how God is preparing to plant the heavens. He is teaching a way of life—a beautiful way, based on God’s law, that can turn Mars into Eden—to a few He has called out today so that they can teach others after Jesus Christ returns.
God is calling man to become perfect as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48). That is what it will take to plant the heavens!
“Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away” (Isaiah 51:11). God wants to give us everlasting joy! nasa’s space program cannot do anything like that.
This vision of God’s space program is the only source of real comfort and everlasting joy. Get that vision into your mind, and you will be singing, and your spirit will soar!
You are meant for something great. Learn what this is in Herbert W. Armstrong’s free book The Incredible Human Potential.