Worlds Without Number

My son asked me yesterday about whether there are other worlds with people on them. To answer I read him this declaration from Enoch: “And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still” (Moses 7:30). He was shocked to understand that not only are there other worlds with people on them like us, there are millions of them. Taken literally I believe that Enoch was saying if you count the grains of sand on our earth and millions other like it that exist, that number will not even come close to the number of things that God has created. It’s not clear whether those “creations” refer to heavenly bodies or individual living organisms, but either way it is mind-boggling. No wonder the Lord told Moses: “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). We simply cannot comprehend the greatness of the creations of God, but we can rest assured that we are not the only planet with life on it in the universe. 

               These kinds of scriptures testifying of the vastness of the Lord’s creations can make us wonder, though, if we have any importance at all in the grand scheme of things. That seemed to have been Moses’s first reaction when he was shown some of God’s marvelous creations, for he afterward declared, “Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed” (Moses 1:10).  The psalmist wondered at the same question, writing, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:3-4) And yet, the glorious message of the gospel and the scriptures is that despite the vastness of His creations, He is mindful of each of us individually and we are His main focus: “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. For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:37-39). The reason for so many creations is to bring to pass what matters most to Him: our immortality and eternal life. The purpose of all creation is to exalt man to become like Him.  Though we can’t number the heavens, He numbers us as Ammon declared: “Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth” (Alma 26:37).