“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell (sheol), behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.”
Psalm 139:7–10
The Mariana Trench
One hundred twenty-four miles east of the Mariana Islands in the western North Pacific Ocean lies the Mariana Trench. It is part of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana subduction system. It coincides with the subduction zones that form the boundary between two tectonic plates: the Pacific Plate, which is subducted beneath the Mariana Plate.
The Trench is more than 1,580 miles long and an average of 43 miles wide. Its deepest areas are Nero Deep, 31,693 feet; Challenger Deep, 36,201 feet; and Sirena Deep, 35,463. The temperature at the bottom of the Trench is 35–39°F.
The first descent to the bottom of the Trench occurred on January 23, 1960, making a record dive of 35,814 feet into Challenger Deep. On March 26, 2012, the submersible Deepsea Challenger made a dive to 35,756 feet, setting a new world record depth for a solo descent.
In 2009, the Trench was established as a US National Monument. The Mariana Trench Marine National Monument encompasses 95,216 square miles of submerged land and waters within the Mariana Archipelago. Although it includes some of the Mariana Trench, it does not encompass Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Trench.
Source: britannica.com/place/Mariana-Trench; wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench
Outer Space
Earth ends, and outer space begins at the Kármán line, approximately 62 miles straight up from the surface of the planet. However, because the Kármán line is partly a reality and partly a human construct, scientists continue to debate the actual distance, which could range from 18.5 miles to 1 million miles.
The physical aspect of the Kármán line roughly marks the altitude where traditional aircraft can no longer fly. Commercial aircraft have a maximum flying altitude of 42,000 feet, and helicopters, both civilian and military, have a maximum altitude of 40,280 feet. However, US military aircraft have a maximum flying altitude of 50,000 feet, except the U-2 spy plane, SR-71 Blackbird, and the X-15. They, along with the Soviet MIG-31 and MIG E-266M, can reach altitudes as high as 354,200 feet (67 miles).
Source: simpleflying.com/how-high-can-military-planes-fly; Wikipedia.org/wiki- Kármán_line; astronomy.com/space-exploration/the-karman-line-where-does-space-begin
To Every Corner
According to NASA, the Earth’s radius is 3,963 miles at the equator, its widest point due to the equatorial bulge, and 3,950 miles at the poles. This results in an Earth diameter of 7,913 miles at the equator, but it is slightly smaller, 7,900 miles when measured from pole to pole. The equatorial circumference of Earth is 24,901 miles, but the meridional circumference (North Pole to South Pole) is 24,860 miles.
Source: space.com/17638-how-big-is-earth
The Eruption Heard Around the World
From May 20 to October 21, 1883, the island of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait experienced repeated volcanic eruptions. On August 27, 1883, the most destructive of the eruptions—registering as a six on the VEI (volcanic explosivity index) destroyed over 70% of the island and its surrounding archipelago and caused it to collapse in upon itself, creating a caldera. It is one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events in recorded history.
The explosion was heard 1,930 miles away in Perth, Australia, and 3,000 miles away in Rodrigues near Mauritius (an island country off the southeastern coast of East Africa).
The acoustic pressure wave circled the globe more than three times, rupturing the eardrums of sailors aboard the RMS Norham Castle just off the coast of Sumatra, 630 miles away. The explosion generated multiple tsunamis and killed at least 38,417 people, including 3,000 people, the entire population of the island of Sebesi, 7.5 miles from Krakatoa.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_or_Krakatoa
“The coming of Christ to our world was a great event, not only to this world, but to all the worlds in the universe of God. Before the heavenly intelligences He was to take upon Himself our nature, to be tempted in all points like as we are, and yet to leave an example of perfect purity and unblemished character.
“Satan and his angels exulted as they discovered that the Son of God had taken upon Himself the nature of man, and had come to be man’s substitute, to engage in the conflict in our behalf. The human family had been overpowered by the deception of the enemy … .
“Satan gloried in the opportunity of besieging the Son of God with fierce temptations. Because He had taken upon Himself the nature of man, Satan deemed that his victory was certain, and with every malignant device in his power he strove to overcome Christ. The steadfast resistance of Christ to the temptations of the enemy brought the whole confederacy of evil to war against Him. Evil men and evil angels united their forces against the Prince of peace.
“The issues at stake were beyond the comprehension of men, and the temptations that assailed Christ were as much more intense and subtle than those which assail man as His character was purer and more exalted than is the character of man in his moral and physical defilement. In His conflict with the prince of darkness in this atom of a world, Christ had to meet the whole confederacy of evil, the united forces of the adversary of God and man; but at every point He met the tempter, and put him to flight. Christ was conqueror over the powers of darkness, and took the infinite risk of consenting to war with the enemy, that He might conquer him in our behalf.
“The Redeemer of the world clothed His divinity with humanity, that He might reach humanity; for, in order to bring to the world salvation, it was necessary that humanity and divinity should be united. Divinity needed humanity, that humanity might afford a channel of communication between God and man, and humanity needed divinity, that a power from above might restore man to the likeness of God.
“Christ was God, but He did not appear as God. He veiled the tokens of divinity, which had commanded the homage of angels and called forth the adoration of the universe of God. He made Himself of no reputation, took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. For our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich.
“He humbled Himself to pass through man’s experiences, and He would not turn aside from the plan by which salvation could come to man. Knowing all the steps in the path of His humiliation, He refused not to descend step by step to the depths of man’s woe, that He might make expiation [atonement] for the sins of the condemned, perishing world. What humility was this? It amazed the angels. Tongue can never describe it. Pen can never portray it. The imagination cannot take it in. Sinless and exalted by nature, the Son of God consented to take the habiliments of humanity, to become one with the fallen race. The eternal Word consented to be made flesh. God became man.
“But He stepped still lower; He humbled Himself to bear insult, reproach, accusation, and shameful abuse. In the world which He had made, which was sustained by the word of His power, there seemed to be no room for Him. He had to flee from one place to another until His life work was accomplished. He was betrayed by one of His followers and denied by another. He was mocked and taunted. He was crowned with thorns, and forced to bear the burden of the cross.
“He was not insensible to ignominy and contempt; He submitted to it, but He felt its bitterness as no other being could feel it. Pure, holy, and undefiled, He was yet arraigned as a criminal before the eyes of the world. From the highest exaltation, the adorable Redeemer took step after step in the path of humiliation. He consented to die in the sinner’s stead, that by a life of obedience, man might escape the penalty of the law.
“He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death. And what a death! It was the most shameful, the most cruel—the death upon the cross as a malefactor. He died not as a hero in the eyes of men, loaded with honors; He died as a condemned criminal, suspended between the heavens and the Earth—died a lingering death, exposed to the tauntings and revilings of a debased and profligate mob.
“ ‘All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head.’ He was numbered with the transgressors, and even His kinsmen according to the flesh disowned Him. … He expired amidst derision. But all His sufferings were counted as of small account in consideration of the result He was working out in behalf of man, and for the good of the whole universe.
“He expired on the cross exclaiming, ‘It is finished,’ and that cry rang through every world, and through heaven itself. The great contest between Christ, the Prince of life, and Satan, the prince of darkness, was practically over, and Christ was conqueror. His death answered the question as to whether there was self-denial with the Father and the Son.
“Through the death of Christ, a door of hope was opened for fallen man. Man was under sentence of death for the transgression of the law of God. He was under condemnation as a traitor, as a rebel; but Christ came to be his substitute, to die as a malefactor, to suffer the penalty of the traitors, bearing the weight of their sins upon His divine soul. He descended lower and lower, till there were no lower depths of humiliation to sound, in order that He might lift up those who would believe in Him, and cleanse the guilty from moral defilement, and impart to them His own righteousness. He died to make an atonement, to redeem, cleanse, restore, and exalt man to a place at His right hand.
“Through His life upon Earth, He scattered blessings wherever He went. Though at His word legions of angels would render Him homage, yet He walked the Earth unhonored, unconfessed. In place of praise, He met reproach. He walked among men as one of the poor and lowly. Though He healed the sick, relieved the oppressed, bound up the brokenhearted, yet few called Him blessed, and the great of the Earth passed Him by with disdain.
“As a member of the human family He was mortal, but as God He was a fountain of life to the world. He could have withstood the advances of death and refused to come under its dominion, but voluntarily He laid down His life that He might bring life and immortality to light. He bore the sin of the world, endured the penalty, yielded up His life as a sacrifice, that man should not eternally die. Contrast His suffering and humiliation with the riches of His glory, with the wealth of praise pouring forth from immortal tongues, with the anthems of adoration, with the homage of millions of holy angels in the heights of the sanctuary, and seek to comprehend what manner of love inspired the heart of Jesus.
“How much has God loved the race of men?—Look to Calvary. As you behold Jesus upon the cross, does not the heinous character of sin appear? It was sin that caused the death of God’s dear Son, and sin is the transgression of the law. Says the prophet: ‘Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. … It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied … .’ ” The Signs of the Times, January 5, 1915
To the deepest parts of land or sea, to the highest points and farthest distances of the sky or universe, man barely can comprehend the love of God in His creation, nor, even faintly, the love that led Him to sacrifice His Son for man’s salvation.
“The love of God is so deep, so full, that it could only be expressed in giving for our sakes His own beloved Son to poverty, to shame, to humiliation, to mockery, and to death. He was the most costly and precious offering that could be given to the world, and in Him all heaven was given.” The Bible Echo, November 25, 1895
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38, 39