For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him… Psalm 103:11
In the Bible, “the heavens” are intended to include all of space, not just the atmosphere surrounding the earth (Gen 1:1, 14). The psalmist uses the vastness of the heavens—space—to meditate on the vastness of the love of God for His people. While we have no way to measure space, we can measure distances to known objects in space. How wonderful to ponder such astounding heights, then to consider that God’s love for those who fear Him—His love for us—is greater.
(I’ll not spend much time on the concept of “those who fear him,” though it is a worthy topic. For a thoroughly biblical and delightfully enlightening treatment of the subject, I highly recommend Michael Reeves’ book, Rejoice & Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord.)
We could start with the earth itself for some perspective. The distance around the earth is 24,901 miles. Driving non-stop at the lawful freeway speed of 70mph, one could drive the whole way in just under 15 days. Pastor Rick could make it in just over 12 days. At a comfortable 3mph pace with no breaks, one could walk it in just under a year.
The distance from the earth to the nearest celestial body, the moon, is 238,900 miles, or about 9.5 times the distance around the earth. Traveling at the speed of light (186,282 miles per second) it would take just 1.2 seconds to get there. The Apollo 11 astronauts made it in 3 days. Driving would take just over 142 days. If you had the time, you could walk it in 9 years.
But the heavens are far higher than the moon. In 2020, the closest Mars came to earth was 38.2 million miles. At that distance at the speed of light, you could be there in 3 minutes and 25 seconds. As you likely know, the Perseverance rover landed on Mars on February 18 of this year. It took 204 days to get there. You could drive it in about 62 years or walk it in 1,452 years.
But the heavens are far higher than the distance to Mars. There many trillions of stars in the universe, but the nearest star to our solar system is Proxima Centauri. Though it is the closest star, it is so far away that scientists don’t measure the distance in miles or kilometers, but in light years—the distance that light can travel in one year. Light can travel approximately 6 trillion miles in one year. Proxima Centauri is 4.243 light years, or 24,888,148,128,000 miles from the earth. Traveling at 5 miles per second (the speed of the space shuttle Discovery), it would take 37,200 years to get there. Or, if you have a billion years on your hands, you could walk.
But the heavens are far higher than Proxima Centauri. Again, it is the closest star to our solar system. The furthest known object in space is a galaxy known as GN-z11. Remember that Proxima Centauri is 4.243 light years away. GN-z11 is 13.4 billion light years away. In other words, it is 3,000,000,000 times further away than Proxima Centauri, which is so far away it is impossible to fathom. I didn’t have the energy to do the math on the walk time.
The known universe is unfathomably expansive. Yet it is not expansive to God. Isaiah 40:12 tells us that God “measures the heavens with a span.” A span is the distance between one’s thumb and pinkie. Of course, God is immaterial and non-spatial. Therefore, He cannot be measured. The psalmist simply wants to convey that God is immeasurably greater than the universe.
That the love of God is as high as the heavens above does not convey that God’s love is measurable. Rather, we are intended to look at the sky, to attempt to fathom the height of the sky, and to use that as a conceptual bridge to revelry in the immensity of the love of God. If space is beyond our comprehension, how vast then is His love, His affection, His desire to do good to and for His people? If we were to set out to walk across the love of God, we would walk for eternity and never reach the end. To travel at the speed of light would make no difference.
All this is mind-blowing, and yet the heavens do not hold the greatest indication of the magnitude of God's love. Astoundingly, the immensity of God’s love has been manifested to us on the earth.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world… (1 John 4:9)
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (Jn. 15:13)
But God…because of the great love with which he loved us…made us alive together with Christ… (Eph 2:4-5)
In the incarnation, God has taken a boundless, immeasurable love and handed it to us in a person, the crucified and risen Jesus. In the crucified and risen Jesus, we hold God’s love as vast as the heavens. What a glorious thought.
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