As we progress to day four of the Creation Week, we read that God created the heavenly bodies. The heavenly bodies of course include planets. The largest planet is Jupiter. Jupiter is about 1000 times bigger than the earth. But while the earth is by no means the biggest planet, it does seem to be unique. The Bible teaches of course that God created the earth on day one of the Creation Week, then He made the other heavenly objects on the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-18 tell us that on day four God made the sun, moon, and stars.

The creation of stars is specifically mentioned in Genesis 1:16, and to the ancient mind there were two kinds of stars. There were the fixed points of light that we call stars today, but there were also the wandering stars, objects that perceptibly traversed the heavens each year. The Greek for "wanderer" was planetos, and that is where the word "planet" comes from. So we see that the planets are mentioned in Genesis 1:16, although not in present day terminology. But they, like all other things in the creation, fit right into the Biblical creation account.

Now let's consider the unique qualities of the earth. The earth as we have seen was made on the first day and all other heavenly objects on the fourth day of the Creation Week. Even in the timing of its creation the earth is unique. It was set apart from the other heavenly bodies. But this is only the beginning of the earth's uniqueness. It is also the only place known to harbor life in the entire solar system.

Modern astronomy has proved that all planets except the earth are completely inhospitable for life. When Russian probes landed on Venus in the 1970s, Venus was shown to have a rocky, parched surface. There is not any liquid water on Venus, yet life needs liquid water to survive (see Note 7). Venus does not harbor life of any sort and seems never to have had life in the past. In contrast, the earth has the purpose of life support, a purpose that of all planets in the solar system is unique to the earth.

Again to emphasize the uniqueness of the earth, we know that the earth has liquid water. There is so much liquid water in the oceans that we assume liquid water must be very common. Of course it is common on earth -- but in fact the earth is the only place in the entire universe known to have liquid water! The reservoirs of liquid water on earth, the oceans, have a blue color that gives the earth a bluish cast when seen from outer space. For this reason the earth is sometimes dubbed the "Blue Planet."

Not only does science show that the earth is unique, but the earth is the only place said in Scripture to have a life support function. Isaiah 45:18 states that God "formed [the earth] to be inhabited." This statement is made about no other planet in the solar system and about no other place in the universe.

Let's examine at a few more planets and contrast them with the earth. Again we will see that they are not fit for life as the earth is. Mars has been thought for hundreds of years to possibly harbor life, and Mars does seem superficially similar to the earth in some ways. For example, Mars experiences seasonal changes visible through earth-based telescopes. It also has a day that is about the same length as an earth day. It has other features that make it seem similar to the earth, and yet Mars does not seem to harbor life. In 1976 a craft called the Viking probe landed on Mars and found nothing but desert all around. In fact Mars is a global desert and like Venus has no liquid water anywhere. Mars has no evidence of life past or present, and the earth appears increasingly special as astronomy continues to probe the solar system.

Let's consider at one more planet and contrast it with the earth: the planet Jupiter. Jupiter is so far from the sun that it is too cold for any life. But that is not the full story, because on Jupiter there is a feature called the Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot, it seems, is at least three hundred years old and is possibly even older than that. It is so huge that five planet earths would barely cover it. This vast feature seems to be a great cyclone, a storm, that has lasted for several centuries. Clearly Jupiter is not hospitable to life in any way.

So the earth seems to be unique, not only scientifically and astronomically as a life support system, but also scripturally since it was made on the first day of the Creation Week, not on the fourth day like other heavenly bodies. God, therefore, in His Creation Week sequence was seeking to show us that the earth is a special place.