We Live in a Puff of Smoke

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Classical evolutionary cosmology has the universe coming into being through a giant explosion of matter and energy called the Big Bang. The question that modern physics has struggled with for years asks whether there is enough mass in the universe to cause it to stop expanding at some point. Would the universe begin to collapse in on itself at some time in the future only to produce a second Big Bang?

In 1997, researchers announced that not only is the universe expanding, but also it is expanding faster now than it was shortly after its creation! The finding was based on the fact that very distant exploding stars are much dimmer than expected. After more than two years of further research and dozens of observations, scientists are beginning to agree that the universe's apparent expansion is increasing. Researchers' inability to explain why has led them to conclude that they don't have a theory about the universe that works. One researcher referred to this problem as "the biggest embarrassment" in modern physics.

So next time you hear a scientist speaking with certainty about the Big Bang, the age of the universe, or how it might end, you will know that, in truth, such certainty does not exist in the halls of science. For all they know, the universe could keep expanding until it dissipates like a puff of smoke. But we know from the Bible that the universe will end when our Creator returns to take those who trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior home to a new and perfect Heaven and Earth.