A Planet in Need

No one knows exactly how many planets are in the universe, but astronomers estimate that our galaxy, the Milky Way, alone contains more than 100 billion planets!¹ Adding to this number, scientists tell us there are at least 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe, so the number of planets could even be in the trillions! These numbers, however, are based on observations of a small part of the universe, so the true number of planets is likely far greater.² Amazingly, in addition to planets, astronomers estimate there are about 100 billion stars in the Milky Way alone, with approximately 200 billion trillion (200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) stars beyond.³

Somewhere in the midst of this sparkling universe, God came down and created this speck of a planet we know as “Earth.”

“Let there be light,” He said, “and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). After filling this world with light and life, His crowning act was to “create man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27).

Everything was perfect—until it wasn’t. Choosing sin over their Creator, our first parents plunged this planet into suffering and sorrow; the first and only planet to experience the separation that rebellion brings.

He Chose Extra Grace

With unnumbered inhabited worlds at His command, Christ could have simply extinguished this one tiny, rebellious planet instantly—but He didn’t. Instead, He chose to show extra grace to His difficult creatures by coming to this ungrateful planet where He would live and die that we might one day live forever with Him.

So, one night as the stars He created shone high overhead, the King of the universe was born in a stable full of animals and laid in a feeding trough. It was to no golden throne that He came to reign. He was “despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (Isa. 53:3).

Throughout His life Christ showed patience, compassion, love, and extra grace to all. Even as those He came to save nailed Him to the cruel cross, the words, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do” came from His quivering lips (Luke 23:34).

Hanging between heaven and earth, one of Christ’s last acts of love was to remain on the cross while all the demons of hell swirled around Him, tempting Him to withdraw His unfathomable grace from those who were spitting in His face and go home to His Father—but He didn’t. Showing extra grace until the very end, Christ gave His life so that all who choose Him may live.

United in the Plan of Salvation

Ascending to heaven, Christ did not forget those He came to save. Father and Son are united in the plan of salvation.

“The Bible shows us God in His high and holy place, not in a state of inactivity, not in silence and solitude, but surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of holy intelligences, all waiting to do His will. Through channels which we cannot discern He is in active communication with every part of His dominion. But it is in this speck of a world, in the souls that He gave His only-begotten Son to save, that His interest and the interest of all heaven is centered. God is bending from His throne to hear the cry of the oppressed. To every sincere prayer He answers, ‘Here am I.’ He uplifts the distressed and downtrodden. In all our afflictions He is afflicted. In every temptation and every trial the angel of His presence is near to deliver.”⁴

A New Commandment

Amazing grace! But there is more. The night before His death, Jesus told His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34, 35).

One of the most powerful ways of revealing love is by showing grace to others. Is there someone you know—a friend, family member, coworker, someone at church, a neighbor, even a stranger—who needs extra grace from you today? It can sometimes be difficult, but let us remember our Lord’s promise: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).

Brothers and sisters, as we step into a new year, I invite you to join me in taking the opportunity to ask God for the extra grace that we all require, and to allow Him to use each one of us to extend His marvelous grace to a world so desperately in need.

¹ Big Think, “How Many Planets Are There in the Universe?” Big Think, accessed Oct. 3, 2024, https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/planets-universe/.

² NASA, “Billions and Billions of Planets,” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, accessed Oct. 3, 2024, https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/billions-and-billions-of-planets/.

³ “How Many Stars Are in the Universe?” accessed Oct. 3, 2024. https://bit.ly/HowManyStarsintheUniverse.

⁴ Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn. 1898, 1940), p. 356.