How Big Is Heaven?
The term we know as heaven is the Old-English translation of the two original words in The Bible - the Hebrew word in the Old Testament is pronounced shaw-may, and the Greek word in the New Testament is
pronounced oo-ran-aws. Both mean the same thing - either
the sky, or the outer space above it, depending on what
the writer was talking about at the time. Sky or space are quite accurate
modern substitutes for heaven.
Stars are very hot spheres of gas (usually more than 90% hydrogen) that give off various forms of radiation, including light. The sun is an average-size star. Some stars are much smaller than the sun, others are millions of times bigger. Stars vary in color according to their surface temperature, from blue-white (the hottest at about 35,000 degrees) to white, yellow, orange, to red (the coolest at about 3,000 degrees). Stars are "born" from accumulating physical matter, live out their lives according to how much fuel they have, and then "die" - either by going cold and dark, or exploding (a supernova) when they no longer have the gravity to hold together. From the ejected matter, new stars will eventually be born.|
Constellations are merely chance alignments of stars that seem to draw an outline of something - a human, animal or an object. "The Big Dipper" (also known as "The Plow," or "The Wagon") is a familiar example (it is actually part of the constellation Ursa Major - the Big Bear). Some others (there are 88 "official" constellations) are Orion the Hunter, Leo the Lion, and Canis Major. There are thousands more that anyone can decide for oneself on any starry night.|
Galaxies are very large aggregations of stars, gas, dust, and physical matter. The "Milky Way," of which the sun is a member, has an estimated 200 billion stars (many of which are now known to have planets). Throughout the universe there are billions of galaxies. The photo at left, while appearing to be just a mist in space, is a very distant galaxy, and the "mist" is actually billions of stars|
Heaven is a very big place, and according to observations made by astronomers, it continues to expand after the Creation (see The Seven Days Of Creation). To those who are concerned about having enough to do through all eternity, keep in mind that there are more galaxies in the universe than the total number of humans that ever existed, and each galaxy has many times more stars than there are humans on earth right now. There will be much to do for those who obey God (see If You Could Create A World.).
Fact Finder: Did the apostle Paul speak of how the stars of the heavens differ?
1 Corinthians 15:41
Note: Paul was very well qualified to make that statement. See 2 Corinthians 12:2-4
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