The word "stretcheth" in the King James Bible is word number 5186 in Strong's Concordance, and it gives the meaning; "to stretch or spread out;" This is exactly what the astronomers mean in the example of the expanding balloon. Three times we are told in the scriptures, it is YEHOVAH God who stretches out the heavens. Astronomers have estimated that because of this stretching, or expansion, the actual universe is some 250 times larger than the observable universe. If all this seems amazing enough, there is something else.

Some years ago I purchased The New Testament In Modern Speech by R. F. Weymouth; third edition, published in 1909. What follows is from Weymouth's translation of the book of Hebrews:

"God, who in ancient days spoke to our forefathers...has at the end of these days spoken to us through a Son, who is the pre-destined Lord of the universe,...He brightly reflects God's glory and is the exact representation of His being, and upholds the universe by His all-powerful word" (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Where Weymouth reads "the universe", the King James Bible has, "all things". "All things" is number 3956 in Strong's Concordance, which gives the definition: "all, any, every, the whole:" Somewhat better is Thayer's Lexicon, which reads: "in an absolute sense, all things that exist, all created things:" All created things would mean the universe. But there is more. Something so very profound. Continuing with the Weymouth New Testament:

"How poor a creature is man, and yet thou dost remember him, and the son of man, and yet thou dost come to him! Thou hast made him only a little inferior [or, for a little time inferior] to the angels; With glory and honour Thou hast crowned him, and set him to govern the works of Thy hands. Thou hast put everything in subjection under his feet. For this subjecting of the universe to man implies the leaving nothing not subject to him. But we do not as yet see the universe subject to him" (Hebrews 2: 6-8).

In the language of today "all things" means "the universe." Thayer's Lexicon said as much, and his work goes back to 1885. This is simply staggering to contemplate. The scriptures tell us: "... this mortal shall have put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:53). Are we, low beings that we are, made of the dust of the ground. (Genesis 2:7) Are we, to inhabit eternity, as does our Creator? (Isaiah 57:15) Reading from the book of Hebrews, it most certainly appears that YEHOVAH God wants ultimately to share His entire creation with His people Israel. From the Apocrypha, the Wisdom of Solomon 2:23 reads: "For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of His own eternity."

If we reflect on immortality and eternity; or on YEHOVAH's creation, the universe itself, we are confronted by concepts that are not in any way part of our everyday experience. We enter into a realm that is really beyond our comprehension. What can we say to this? Perhaps it has already been spoken for us by the Apostle Paul. In first Corinthians chapter 2, speaking of things revealed to us by the spirit of YEHOVAH God, he first quoted Isaiah 64:4. This wonderful verse is found in I Corinthians 2:9. Reading from the Jerusalem Bible:

"... we teach what scripture calls: the things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, things beyond the mind of man, all that God has prepared for those [of Israel]who love him."

What, Exactly, Has YEHOVAH God Prepared?

King David was inspired to write:

"When I survey Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars that You have established, what are human beings, that You take notice of them -- mere mortals that You care about them? Yet You have made them only slightly lower that God Himself, and You crown them with glory and honor! You give them dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and also the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea, whatever travels along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our LORD -- how majestic is Your Name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible).

David here limits man's dominion to the present -- that which YEHOVAH God gave mankind in the creation of man -- the solid Earth, the Earth's atmosphere, and the waters and sea (as in Genesis 1:26-28). That's the dominion man has now.

In the New Testament however, written much later, far more is revealed!

The apostle Paul writes in the book of Hebrews:

"For He [YEHOVAH God] has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels" (Hebrews 2:5 -- NKJV).

Bear in mind that the general theme here, or context, is "the world to come, of which we speak" -- NOT this present age, now rapidly coming to its end! Continue on in verse 6: "But one testified in a certain place, saying..." Then follows a quotation from the first six verses only of Psalm 8.

In this Psalm, David continued showing specifically that YEHOVAH God has now placed in subjection under man the solid Earth, the Earth's atmosphere or air, and the sea. But now Paul is inspired to follow with something radically different -- something to happen in the world to come -- in the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God!

This revealed knowledge of YEHOVAH's purpose for His people Israel -- of the Israelite man and woman's incredible awesome potential -- staggers the imagination. Science knows nothing of it -- no religion reveals it, so far as I know -- and certainly higher education is in utter ignorance of it.

Nevertheless, it is what YEHOVAH God says He has prepared for those of Israel that love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

Now let us see what is said in the passage in the book of Hebrews, beginning where Paul leaves off quoting Psalm 8:

"For in that He [YEHOVAH God] put all in subjection under him [Israelite man], He [YEHOVAH God] left nothing that is not put under him [Israelite man]. But now [in this age] we do not yet see all things put under him [Israelite man]" (Hebrews 2:8).

Is it possible that YEHOVAH God could mean exactly what He says ("all things")?

In the first chapter, the Moffatt translation of the Bible renders the Greek word translated "all things" as "the universe." In other words, for those willing to believe what YEHOVAH God says, He says that He has decreed the entire universe -- with all its galaxies, its countless suns and planets -- everything -- will be put under the subjection of YEHOVAH's people Israel.

But wait a moment! Before you disbelieve, read the next words in the same eighth verse: "But now we do not yet see all things [the endless universe] put under him [the Israelite man]." Remember (verse 5), this is speaking of the "world to come" -- not today's world. But what do we see now, today? "But we see Jesus, who was made [like us] a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor [just like we will be]..." (verse 9). The Israelite man, other than the Messiah, is not yet "crowned with glory and honor."

But notice how the Messiah is already crowned with glory and honor. Continue: "For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things [the entire universe] and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons [of Israel] to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings...for which reason he is not ashamed to call them [YEHOVAH's people Israel] brethren" (verses 10-11).

In other words, Christian-Israelites having YEHOVAH's spirit are joint-heirs with the Messiah to inherit all that the Messiah has already inherited! He is now in glory! He has already inherited the entire universe. He sustains it by his power. The Israelite man, if he is converted, having YEHOVAH's holy spirit (Romans 8:9), is now only an heir -- not yet a possessor.

But see now how the Messiah has already been crowned with glory and honor -- and is already in possession -- has already inherited. Begin with Hebrews, chapter 1: "God having anciently spoken...in the last of these days spoke to us by a Son, whom He [YEHOVAH God] appointed Heir of all things [the entire universe], on account of whom also He [YEHOVAH God] constituted the ages; who [the Messiah] being an efulgence [brilliance] of His [YEHOVAH's] glory, and an exact impress of His [YEHOVAH's] substance, and making manifest [sustaining] all things [the entire universe] by the word of his power..." (verses 1-3, The Emphatic Diaglott).

The living Messiah already sustains the entire universe by his limitless power -- he is the first-born Son (our Elder Brother) of YEHOVAH God -- angels are merely individually created beings. Angels are now administering spirits (invisible to us), ministering to those of us of Israel -- to those of us who are now lower in status than the angels, just like the Messiah once was, but who are heirs of salvation, when we of Israel, like the Messiah, shall become born Sons of YEHOVAH God (verses 4-14).

The Universe is Now Lifeless

Now put this together with what is revealed in the eighth chapter of Romans. Here it speaks of the Messiah as YEHOVAH's Son: "...that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (verse 29). YEHOVAH's people Israel, having His holy spirit, are heirs of YEHOVAH God and joint-heirs with the Messiah -- who, alone of all of YEHOVAH's people Israel, has already been born as YEHOVAH's Son by a resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4). Yeshua the Messiah is the first of YEHOVAH's people Israel to be born into the Family of YEHOVAH God -- the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God. He is our Pioneer who has gone on before. We of Israel shall follow at the resurrection of the just when YEHOVAH God and the Messiah return to Earth in supreme power and glory.

This eighth chapter of Romans, verse 9, says that if we have within us the holy spirit of YEHOVAH God we are His begotten sons, but if we do not have His spirit we are none of His -- not Christians at all. But verse 11 says that if we have YEHOVAH's holy spirit growing within and leading us we shall be raised from the dead by His spirit -- (or if living when YEHOVAH and the Messiah come we shall be changed from mortal to immortal).

Now continue:

"For as many [of Israel] as are led by the spirit of God, these are sons of God....The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs -- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us [of Israel]" (verses 14-18).

Continue, Revised Standard Version:

"For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation [all the suns, planets, stars, moons] was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation [stars, suns, and moons now in decay and futility] has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves [we spirit-begotten Israelites], who have the first fruits of the spirit [the very few now being called to salvation -- the "firstfruits"], groan inwardly as we wait for [the birth, resurrection] as sons..." (verses 19-23).

What an amazing, marvelous revelation of knowledge! No more amazing, awesome, eye-opening passage could be written! It is so astonishingly revealing, one doesn't fully grasp it just reading quickly through.

First, I quoted from verse 29 of Romans 8 stating that the Messiah was the firstborn of many brethren -- our Elder Brother.

In Hebrews 1, we see that the Messiah, the first fully human being of Israel to be born by a resurrection from the dead, has been glorified and now sustains the entire universe. He is our Pioneer who has gone on ahead. When he and YEHOVAH God return to Earth in power and great glory those of Israel, who have been converted and received YEHOVAH's holy spirit, shall also be born into the God Family by a resurrection. Then the entire universe will be put into subjection under them!

Then from Romans 8, if we of Israel are led by the holy spirit of YEHOVAH God, we shall be raised to spirit composition and immortality in the God Family even as the Messiah was in A.D. 31 upon his resurrection.

Now, once again from verse 19: "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God" (RSV). This shall happen at the time of the resurrection, when those of Israel actually become -- by a resurrection or instantaneous change from mortal flesh to spirit immortality -- sons of YEHOVAH God.

Now please understand. Why should the whole universe -- the creation -- be waiting with eager longing for the actual birth and appearing of all these sons of YEHOVAH God, to be born into the Family of YEHOVAH God? The following verses portray a universe filled with galaxies and planets in decay and futility -- yet as if subjected now to this dead state in hope! Hope of what? "[B]ecause the creation itself [the universe not now capable of sustaining life] will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God" (verse 21, RSV).

-- Edited by John D. Keyser.