Worlds Without Number

As my seven-year-old son and I took our dog for a walk a couple of nights ago, he looked up at the stars and saw the big dipper. He told me that he found a question mark in the sky, and he was thrilled when I let him use the app on my phone to point at the stars and learn what constellations they were. I thought of his excitement for the stars as I read this quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell today, “Long before He was born at Bethlehem and became known as Jesus of Nazareth, our Savior was Jehovah. Way back then, under the direction of the Father, Christ was the Lord of the universe, who created worlds without number—of which ours is only one (see Eph. 3:9; Heb. 1:2). How many planets are there in the universe with people on them? We don’t know, but we are not alone in the universe! God is not the God of only one planet!” This quote is in a scripture help for Moses 1:37-38 in which the Lord said this to Moses: “The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine. And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words.” That is a mind-boggling statement; every time an earth passes away, another one is organized. The work of God never ends. The next verse is this well-known statement: “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” So, in this statement, “for behold” is essentially saying “this is why I do the work of creation and keep organizing more worlds.” All creation is done in order to bring to pass man’s immortality and eternal life. As we see the wonders of creation, we should remember that it was all for the salvation of man.

               This chapter also contains another statement confirming the plurality of worlds that Christ created: “And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten…. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them” (Moses 1:33, 35). The worlds are so many that they cannot be numbered by man. Paul also hinted at the existence of other worlds when he said, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1-2). He also said in the same epistle, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3). Christ did not just make this world; he made the worlds. Joseph Smith used the same word when he described his vision of the kingdoms of glory: “That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God…. For all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb, who was slain, who was in the bosom of the Father before the worlds were made” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:24, 39). Not just this world but the worlds were created by Jesus Christ. In another revelation we read this, “Therefore, in the beginning the Word was, for he was the Word, even the messenger of salvation—The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men. The worlds were made by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:8-10). The worlds were made by Jesus Christ. And how many have been created? We cannot comprehend it.

               Though my son saw the big dipper in the sky, it is fitting that he thought he saw a question mark. As we ponder the heavens there is certainly much we do not know—it is hard enough to understand things in this world, let alone the vast creations of the universe. But we can trust that the Lord who created all these things can guide us in our lives, even “Jesus Christ, the Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the same which looked upon the wide expanse of eternity, and all the seraphic hosts of heaven, before the world was made; The same which knoweth all things” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:1-2).