Drawing
Near to the Sun of God
As
our knowledge of the universe expands, so does our understanding of scriptural
doctrines. Even though we are only beginning to understand how vast the cosmos
are in a scientific way, we have had much knowledge about the universe for
thousands of years, even before the age of astronomy. This free knowledge was
revealed to us through divine revelation in the form of scripture. Scriptural
truths are supported by man-made observations of the universe, and this serves
as a vital testimony builder to the truthfulness of divinely taught doctrines, and
the omniscience of God.
In
order to further investigate this intriguing connection between modern-day
knowledge and ancient scripture we may make comparisons between the two, thus
proving one and the other. An interesting and well-known reference to astronomy
from the scriptures is the connection of degrees of glory with celestial
bodies. These degrees of glory are not only put into context by their apparent
luminosity, but also by their physical position in the universe. As the apostle
Paul declared, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon,
and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in
glory.”[1] Upon initial
contemplation, the meaning of this scripture becomes clear. It is obvious that
there exist three distinct states, each varying in their respective glory, with
the sun being the brightest, the moon being the median, and the stars as the
least bright. An astrophysicist is not needed to make these simple heavenly
observations. This is probably the reason for Paul’s simple and relatable
teaching since there were no astrophysicists at these times, and much of the
audience had little to no knowledge of the cosmos. In our days, the same holds
true, a simple observation of the sky will reveal the “glory” (luminosity) of
these celestial bodies and no advanced knowledge is needed.
There
is no evidence that ancient astronomers had a notion of the vast size of the
universe[2], or idea of astronomical
distances. For example, from naked-eye observation, it appears as though the
Sun, moon and stars all seem to be relatively close to each other, bodies of
varying sizes revolving within the same plane. However, we now know that this
is not true, and that most stars we see are immensely distant from our solar
system, thousands if not millions of light-years away. Due to the unimaginable
distances in our universe, astronomers have had to create an extragalactic
distance scale[3],
just to be able to describe these distances. The brightness of stars is not
dimmed due to a lower output of light, but from the distance that the light
travels before it gets to our eyes.
With this in mind,
we may now delve deeper into the doctrine to reach a greater understanding and
testimony of its truthfulness. Dallin H. Oaks has described the inhabitants of
the Telestial Kingdom as “…those who receive not the gospel neither the
testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets [yet] even this degree has a glory
that surpasses all understanding.”[4] He continues, “…the
Terrestrial excels in all things the glory of the Telestial… its most
distinguishing feature is that those who qualify for terrestrial glory receive
of the presence of the sun. Concepts familiar to all Christians might liken
this higher kingdom to heaven, because it has the presence of the sun” He then
describes the Celestial Kingdom as “the abode of those whose bodies are
celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God.” The cosmic
positions of these scripturally referenced celestial beings play a large role
in our full understanding of this doctrine. As Oaks said, the Celestial Kingdom
is for those whose glory is that of the sun, or God. The Terrestrial Kingdom is
made the glory it is, because of its proximity to the sun (Celestial Kingdom)
and also the Telestial in a likewise manner. No amount of personal
accomplishment can make up for the importance of drawing nearer to Christ. This
is demonstrated by comparing the body of terrestrial glory to that of the Telestial.
Even though the
moon (terrestrial body) is millions of times smaller than other distant stars
(telestial bodies), its glory is still superior to theirs because of its
proximity to the source of light that truly matters, the Sun.
The glory of our
being therefore, is not determined by our personally acquired attributes, but
rather by our proximity to God. All light comes from Christ. If we wish to
obtain a higher glory, we need not seek to create our own light, but draw
closer to that light which gloriously and eternally radiates from our Savior. It
is interesting that the brightest most massive stars are in fact, the dimmest
in the night sky, not because of what they are, but where they are. This holds
true to gospel doctrine as well. It does not matter our size, how brightly we
may shine, or who we are, if we are not centered on and close to the source of
all light, Christ, our true and final glory will merely resemble that of a
distant nebula, dimmed in comparison to the glory of our Sun. My hope is that
we may draw closer to the true source of light, and let his glory shine forth
from us, the true sun of the universe, the Son of God.
[1] 1
Corinthians 15:41
[2] To
explore or “get an idea” of the size of the universe, this website provides a
great interactive resource: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120312.html
[4]
Dallin H. Oaks “Three Degrees of Glory” https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-09-9030-three-degrees-of-glory?lang=eng
