The Witness of Creation

Truths in the Bible that we read about for years may suddenly burst upon us like a blinding ray of light. I experienced this when I realized that from beginning to end of the Holy Scriptures we are told again and again that the God with whom we have to do is the Creator of all things. This fact that God is the Creator appears some five hundred times.

The Bible opens with these majestic words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). And at the end of the Revelation we read: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.… And he who sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true’ ” (Rev. 21:1, 5).

Man’s first encounter was with the God of creation. His final time-bound encounter will be with the same God, who will make all things new.

Between these two extremes of human history God reminds us again and again that he is the God of creation, and is sovereign in all things. The witness to God in creation is continuous; for every generation it is new each morning and fresh each evening.

God has endowed man with the ability to reason, to evaluate evidence, and to come to logical conclusions. All around there is the evidence of God’s wisdom and power—in creation as a whole, and in the intricacies of its components in particular. David’s Spirit-directed observation speaks to our sophisticated age: “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Ps. 19:1–4).

To even the dullest mind there should come the realization that these things did not just happen. No combination of fortuitous circumstances could possibly account for the universe, or its component parts. That man has tried to explain away the absolute necessity for a Creator is a sign not of mature reasoning but of willful rejection of facts in favor of theories.

The Apostle Paul speaks with finality about the incontrovertible evidences of Creation: “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.… They changed the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator …” (Rom. 1:19–22, 25).

The Prophet Isaiah pleads with a rebellious and sinful Israel, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable” (Isa. 40:28). Creation implies sovereignty. We read: “Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they [sun, moon, and stars, heavens and waters] were created” (Ps. 148:5).

Speaking through the Prophet Jeremiah, God says, “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me” (Jer. 27:5). God rightfully claims sovereignty, as the Source of all things, and his creation stands as a continuing and inescapable witness to himself.

The idolatry in which Israel had become involved brought out this challenge: “Thus shall you say to them: ‘The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’ It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens” (Jer. 10:11, 12).

Affirming his sovereignty as Creator, God repeatedly claims loving obedience from man, his highest creation. But he does more than that. The Creator of all things has come into his creation as Saviour and Lord. That it was to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that the work of creation was committed is one of the most thrilling parts of divine revelation.

We find the Apostle John saying: “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.… He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not” (John 1:3, 10). Paul takes up the same theme: “Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Cor. 8:6). Again Paul says: “For in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16, 17). The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews likewise confirms the stupendous fact that God the Creator and God the Redeemer are one: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb. 1:1, 2).

When we are confronted with the witness of creation, our God-given reason demands that we recognize that there must be a Creator, and in the fullness of time he was revealed in the person of God’s Son. We experience through our senses the infinite wisdom and power of God the Creator, while in the person of Christ we see his love and redeeming grace.

But in the midst of the perfection of God’s creation we also see at work a malignant power, Satan, and his design for evil—so terrible, not only in execution but also in effect, that the Creator’s entry into the world became imperative, as an act not only of divine love but also of holy judgment.

God’s work of creation is not finished. What we now see will pass away to be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness will prevail. In the interim between the first and second creation God is creating new men through faith in his Son, so that through this spiritual rebirth they may become a part of his eternal Kingdom.

This is not a fanciful concept. It is a part of the divine revelation given in the Scriptures. Not only should we be aware of God’s original creation, but we should believe in Jesus Christ through whose atoning work we may partake of the second creation.

In loving condescension the Creator stands at the door of our heart and knocks. Finally he will ring down the curtain of human history, and that time may be nearer than we think.

L. NELSON BELL

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