Is Mars for Man?
—Should man Colonise Other Planets?
Man visited the moon last century and came back home. Well now, in this 21st century, greater plans are afoot. Some people of earth wish to migrate to Mars to build a city there. The project has already begun. But does God approve? What does the Bible say?
The proverb says, Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail" (Proverbs 19:21 BSB).
There are clear indications in the Bible that God has not purposed that man should colonise moons and planets.
1 Only Earth is Made to be Inhabited
Isaiah 45:18
"For this is what the LORD says, He who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it as a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited): 'I am the LORD, and there is no one else" (Isaiah 45:18 NASB).
Earth was created "to be inhabited". Mars, by contrast, is barren. Mars has no oceans, rivers, trees, or fields. Its soil is toxic. It's atmosphere is thin, and man cannot breath it. Mars lacks a barrier to deadly cosmic rays. It's dust storms are most terrible. In several other ways it is unfit for man.
2 Man Told to Multiply on Earth Not Mars
Genesis 1:27-28, 9:1,7
"Then God blessed [Adam and Eve], and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' " (Genesis 1:28 NKJV).
God said the same to Noah and his sons after the great flood. (Gen 9:1-7). God never gave man authority to populate, or have dominion over, heavenly orbs beyond the earth.
3 Earth Is Man’s Proper Abode
Jude 1:6
"And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling place, these He has kept in eternal restraints under darkness for the judgment of the great day" (Jude 1:6 NASB).
If angels were wrong to leave the abode that God prepared for them, would it not also be wrong for man to do likewise?
Likewise, God gave Noah’s descendants no authority to populate, or have dominion over, worlds beyond earth. He specified earth as man’s proper domain.
4 A City on Mars is Like Babel of Old
Genesis 11:4
"Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth' " (Genesis 11:4 ESV).
The descendants of Noah were told by God to spread over the face of the earth. But some of them had another idea. They would build a city with a tower penetrating the heavens. They would live there, instead of populating the earthly places God wanted them to fill.
God made earth for man to fill. It is not man’s right to populate and possess the heavens.
5 Mars is Not a Land to Possess
Deuteronomy 1:8, 3:18
"See, I have placed the land before you. Enter and possess the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them" (Deuteronomy 1:8 BSB).
God himself chose and named the nations that the Israelites should conquer.
18...the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites' " (Genesis 15:18-21 NKJV).
Did this covenant with Abraham authorise the Israelites later to conquer other lands at their whim? No, God specified the boundaries of their nation and its tribes. There were lands not given them by God, so they had no right to conquer them. When they were scattered abroad, they were exiles and sought to return.
By the same principle God has specified no world but earth —its islands and continents— as man’s realm to possess and populate.
6 Mars is Not the Promised New Earth
2Peter 3:13
"Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2Peter 3:13 NKJV).
The Patriarchs of old "looked for the city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). This city is founded on a new earth, not on Mars; and it is a city built by God, not by man.
It is "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (Hebrews 12:22). Christians have the assurance and hope of dwelling eternally in this glorious city made in heaven. Compared to that, the desire to live in a man-made city on Mars is a forlorn hope indeed.