Question:
“Some astronomers assume that because the stars are burning gas, they will eventually burn themselves out. They say the same about our sun, that it will eventually become dark and the earth will become a huge chunk of ice, and life will become extinct. Is this possible?”
Answer:
Here again the scientists are limited to conclusions they can draw using the information they have been able to put together. They are not familiar with anything that can give off such vast amounts of light unless it be burning. Thus, when they see an object radiating light, they conclude there must be something “burning” to produce that light.
If they would consult the Bible, they would learn that immortal beings radiate light.
“Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3). The righteous shall shine “as the stars for ever and ever.”
“Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43).
When Jesus appeared to Paul on the Damascus Road, there was “light from heaven” which exceeded the brightness of the noonday sun (Acts 9:3; 22:6; 26:13).
When the angels appeared to the shepherds at the time Jesus was born, the “glory of the Lord shone around them” (Luke 2:9), causing them to be afraid.
When the Kingdom has been established and God’s angels are openly active on earth, and the saints have been glorified, it is written that “the sun shall no longer by your light by day; nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory” (Isa. 60:19). So bright will be the divine light that, as the Revelator described it, “the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God illuminated it,…And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light:…[for] there shall be no night there” (Rev. 21: 23- 25).
God is not dependent on physical combustion to produce light.
As far as the possibility of the sun’s burning itself out and the earth’s freezing up, we have no fear. The Bible compares the reign of Christ to the duration of the sun and the moon, and many passages of Scripture state that His kingdom will be “everlasting” (Ps. 72: 5, 17; Luke 1: 32- 33; Dan. 7: 27). As for the earth, it, too, “abides forever” (Eccl. 1: 4). No if’s, until’s or wherefore’s, but simply “the earth abides forever.”