God is just into creating its a big part of his nature.

I've always believed that we will be able to explore them during and/or after the Mill reighn of Yeshua.  We may also be able to build colonies on remote planets in the future.

Our immediate planets, I believe, are for signs/seasons like Genesis mentions, but also to show off His handiwork and how awesome He is.  Jupiter and Saturn are amazing planets and so beautiful.  Venus is amazing as well.

Planets we discover circling other stars...  Those, perhaps to explore as Jonathan says, but I also believe they're there to show us His majesty and drive home exactly how MUCH He is in control of. 

You might ponder why are there other galaxies, even?  Point your telescope to the sky in any random place and you'll find THOUSANDS of them.  God could have easily made the "universe" just be the Milky Way and we'd still marvel.  But He's placed bajillions of galaxies up there SPECIFICALLY to blow our minds and to show us just how Great He is.

I mean, if you think about it, God knows every drop of rain, every leaf that falls, and every speck of cosmic dust.  The Bible says by Him all things were made and all things hold together.  Therefore, everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) holds together because God wills it to be so.  The VAST amount of things God is in charge of regularly blows my mind.  From the grand scale of stars and planets, to the micro world of atomic particles.

When you take the time to really meditate on that for a few moments, to close your eyes and take in all that God holds in the palm of His hand, you really get to understand how Jesus was able to say nothing is impossible for God.  He is Sovereign over EVERYTHING that happens in His creation.  And this forces us to take God out of the little box we've put Him in and really stand in awe of His Glory.

Even if you didn't realize you'd "put" Him in a box.

I mean, imagine... our weighty problems are NOTHING to God!  Of COURSE He can help you though your infirmity!  Your poverty!  Your stress or your depression! 

I truly believe once we realize the enormity of God, His Glory, His responsibilities, and what He is capable of, that's when our faith becomes unshakeable and ROCK SOLID.  All things are possible with God because He holds all things together by the power of His will alone.

That's an AMAZING truth once you grasp it, really.  This computer, this house, this ground, my body, this planet -- all held together because God wills it to be so.

There are no words for the awe in my heart right now.

~~Becka

I just can't seem to find a box big enough.

You are right about Gen 1:14. It spells it out.  And an in-depth word study will show you that the word "seasons" implies "sacred times".  

God uses His celestial creation to paint pictures that communicate important events. (The devil stole the idea and called it astrology).  But God is the creator of these and has used them from the beginning of time as signs (signals).

Watch the Star of Bethlehem DVD for a perfect example of how He has used plantes to announce important events.

- Greg

I think he made them just to show off.  =)  Because he can and did!

I had a dream when I was in my early 20's that I will never forget it!  I was traveling (flying) so fast it didn't seem possible!  I just went faster and faster and faster and it seemed it would never end.  What made is so special was the place I was traveling seemed like space and I saw thousands upon thousands of stars and planets and I just kept going it seemed like forever.  I remember I wasn't scared and it was almost as if I was being shown just how big the universe really is.  I've never dreamt anything like that since but it did cause me to think outside "the box" of this world.  I will always remember how free and how hopeful I felt and then I woke up!   

Sometimes I visit the hubble telescope website just to look at the photos because I really feel like I was shown something special in that dream.   Thank you Lord.

Curious do you think God might give us each our own solar system?? our own little piece of the universe?? There certainly are more than enough stars out there, 300 sextillion at last count, for us to each have one and each of our stars could have planets around it. It would be neat I think. Just having our own planet would be neat but a whole solar system that is ours would be really cool! With over 170 billion galaxies in the universe we could each have our own galaxy. Though with the human population continuing to grow through eternity maybe it would be easier to give us each our own solar system (star and any planets we would like) than to give each of us a galaxy.

Paul