The James Webb Space Telescope is showing us the universe as we have never seen it before. It is spectacular. Yet your Bible says tomorrow’s universe will be much more glorious!

“When you see Webb go into space, it’s the whole force of human creativity and all kinds of disciplines that push it there,” said nasa astrophysics chief Eric Smith. Such a remarkable project takes all the creativity mankind can muster! The builders of this telescope achieved over 99 percent perfection in the many complex processes it took to construct, launch and deploy it. How impressive and encouraging that is.

Many people, even the scientists themselves, overlook the significance of this fundamental point: They had to learn and obey all kinds of physical laws to achieve what they did. These laws clearly came from somewhere.

They were made by the Creator of the universe!

Great scientists, mathematicians, historians and others have recognized this obvious logic. “Men became scientific because they expected law in nature,” author C.S. Lewis said, “and they expected law in nature because they believed in a Lawgiver.” The entire study of science is based on the conviction that the universe and everything in it is rational and orderly. As one Nobel Prize-winning quantum electrodynamics scientist said, the very fact that there are laws of physics in the first place is “kind of a miracle.”

Yes, the existence of laws in the universe is indeed a miracle! Who could possibly create all these laws out of nothingness to create and sustain the universe? You won’t find the answer in man’s scientific treatises—but you will find it in the Holy Bible. There God declares that He is the one supreme Lawgiver and reveals that He rules the universe.

The biblical patriarch Abraham studied the stars and the planets and was an accomplished scientist. Looking up into the heavens, he could see laws in motion and that not only was there a higher power, but there was one supreme Lawgiver.

The laws of physics that God created are marvelous in their power, their precision, their constancy, their coherence. We can set our clocks and mark our calendars by the consistent activity of the universe, perfect in its precision and timing.

Physicist Paul Davies said, “The really amazing thing is not that life on Earth is balanced on a knife-edge, but that the entire universe is balanced on a knife-edge—and would be total chaos if any one of the natural ‘constants’ were off even slightly.” Understanding this fine-tuning and its clear overall purpose of sustaining life is what caused famous atheist Anthony Flew to finally come to believe that the universe had to have an intelligent Designer.

Earth is the perfect distance from both the sun and moon to have a stable, predictable, warmed and cooled orbit. It is the perfect size and mass to hold a perfect atmosphere; it has the perfect core for producing a magnetic field to block the perfect percentage of radiation; its surface has the perfect mix of elements and just the right amount of water in just the right ratios of liquid, solid and gas. (Read more about these factors in our free booklet Our Awesome Universe Potential.)

This planet has been perfectly fine-tuned for human life!

How to See God

“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20).

By looking at creation, we can see the invisible God behind it all! We can know about the Father and the Son and all they have created. Evolution could never in trillions of years accomplish what God has done! And He has done it to sustain life.

The heavens declare God’s glory (Psalm 19:1). They send us a message, if we will just bring God into the picture. After the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, nasa administrator Bill Nelson referenced this psalm, and described how “a shepherd grazing his sheep would look up at the night sky. He became a poet. And he penned the words, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament shows his handiwork.’ That shepherd, that poet, became king. And those immortal words in Psalm 19 encapsulate the expressions that we have today—the handiwork of God—as we peer back in time, over 13 billion years ago, [and] capture the light from the very beginning of the creation.”

King David also said, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1). That is a dogmatic statement! He had studied the universe and proved that God exists.

Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, “The God I believe in—the God that I know exists, because I can prove it!—is the God who created all things. He is the Creator not only of matter, but also of force, of energy, of all the laws that exist: the laws of chemistry, the laws of physics—spiritual laws as well as physical laws to regulate man’s life and man’s happiness” (Plain Truth, February 1986).

Just as God created laws for the universe, He created laws for mankind—spiritual laws. Your happiness depends on keeping these laws. Excitement and thrills come from keeping them. Without them, there is chaos. All of mankind’s problems testify of this truth.

God is trying to teach us that there are laws in everything! Chaos and danger fill the Earth because men will not heed God’s warning.

Planting the Heavens

During the World Tomorrow—the 1,000-year rule of Jesus Christ on Earth—our planet will flourish. “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God” (Isaiah 35:1-2).

There will be all kinds of planting during the Millennium. “I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together” (Isaiah 41:18-19).

All this planting is only the beginning of a much grander, more epic planting project God has in mind! He says through the Prophet Isaiah: “And I have put my words in thy mouth … that I may plant the heavens …” (Isaiah 51:16). God wants to get His Word into our minds and mouths so we can understand His goal: to plant the heavens—to seed distant planets with life, just as He has already done with this planet! He is talking about the universe!

“For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak” (Hebrews 2:5). Angels failed to qualify to rule the universe, so God is re-creating Himself in mankind to fulfill that job—to rule under Him and Jesus Christ! This is tomorrow’s universe, which is preceded by the World Tomorrow.

“Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he [God] put all in subjection under him [man], he [God] left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him” (verse 8). The Moffatt translates all things as the universe! Humans don’t rule the universe yet, but Christ is about to give us this opportunity. He is the Heir of all things, and He wants to share the vast universe with us.

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation [all the suns, planets, stars and moon] 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” (Romans 8:19-21; Revised Standard Version).

Why is the universe now subject to futility and decay? Because Lucifer and the third of the angels under him wrecked the Earth, then wrecked much of the universe. Lucifer did not apply God’s laws, and destruction was the result.

The universe groans for us to repair and beautify it! (verse 22). We groan through trials and tests as we await this glorious future (verse 23).

God is giving us a vision of this future by helping the Webb telescope successfully travel a million miles from Earth and send back breathtaking images. For God to prepare such a future for us—beautifying and ruling the limitless universe—shows the profound love He has for mankind!

This is the message of tomorrow’s universe. What a blessing to reap such a reward.