bible study

Maker of Heaven and Earth

In one of those quaint-looking little places we have been in our tour of Italy was Cinque Terre, a cluster of five coastal villages along the Italian Riviera. As I ponder upon this topic of study, it quickly dawned on me that the picturesque Ligurian Sea, the unrelenting breeze and the sound of waves crashing upon rocks on that day were beautiful illustrations of God’s message to us through our senses, that it is far too rash to justify the lack of an inventor and creator to all these. There is certainly “someone” behind all these, and it’s not simply anyone. And, it isn’t also simply anyone who can think of how these elements can be so well-blended into such a magnificent scene. What more, gazillions of other things.

If you’re trying to convince me that all these things happen by chance and that you can roll a die and determine whether you should have a wing or a tail, you can forget it as I’m not buying any of those repugnant theories. Darwin’s proposition does not hold water, and time and time again, it has been repeatedly proven through many ways to be unconvincing and insufficient.

The God of whom we believe in, is our creator God, who made the heavens and the earth in the beginning. So, when’s the “beginning”? Was God there already? Did God created himself? It’s interesting to remember that the “beginning” here refers to the beginning of all temporal things, even before time existed. The heavens and the earth was created with time itself, and it never existed prior to that. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1). Creationists have differing opinions on the age of our earth (Young Earth view, Old Earth view, etc.) but they do not differ in the common understanding that God indeed created the heavens and the earth. The actual duration of the creation as recorded in Genesis is also interpreted varyingly. Some would take six days literally to mean God actually created all of that in six 24-hour days. Some people think that a day for God would mean a thousand human years (well, at least they spared a thought for the poor dinosaurs!)

Rev. Fritz elaborated the biblical concept of creation through a careful examination of different Hebrew words, which are used to describe creation, or an act of creation in the OT. The word bara is used in Gen 1:1 to describe creation of something “out of nothing”, as God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, not from anything to begin with. asah is also God’s act in creating something, but “from something existing”. Gen 1:7 is an example of this usage, where God made the space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. Another commonly used term for “create” or “make” is yatsar, which refers to all that are created under God’s providential care, salvation, righteousness, etc. (c.f. Is. 45:8). Words mean a lot more in their original language!

So, why does God need to create? The main purpose of creation is for His glory, that He could glorify himself through his creation and creatures. We are all made in the image of God, and it was all well-intended. Even the heavens, the beautiful skies, daytime and nightime, all proclaim His glory. Pslam 19 sings:

¹ The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
² Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
³ They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
⁴ Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.

While I’m tuning in to Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D minor right now, I think every note of it must be a product of His creation through the creative faculties of us humans!