Here are four fascinating facts
about God the Creator that you need to know.
“1. God created everything out of nothing.”
If we really want to understand
God’s work in creation, then we should first read Genesis 1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth.” Simply put, God created everything that isn’t God. At first, God alone existed, then He created
things that were not Him.
We really can’t get our minds around
this. We can’t imagine a universe where only God exists. But God exists independently
of all that is, and that blows our mind. It was only when God created the
principles of the universe our world becomes in any way recognizable.
God is capable of creating all
things without any help. He is infinitely intelligent, infinitely strong, and
infinitely powerful. It makes no difference whether God created all things in six
twenty-four hour days or over eons of time—there are no limits on what He can
do.
In the beginning, God created
everything that isn’t God. He is outside of everything created. He spoke it all
into being, and made it all from scratch.
Nevertheless, the Bible reveals
something else that is fascinating about God.
2.
God didn’t create all things by himself.
He used co-creators.
God created everything out of nothing,
but He didn’t created everything all at once. Whether we believe He did it in
six days or six billion years, once He began to create, He made use of what He
created to make more creation.
In the Genesis creation account,
there’s a repeated phrase during each of the six days of creation—“let there be.” Grammatically, this
phrase is a command, but it is a particular kind of command—in the “jussive”
mood. It isn’t a command of direct creation, but a command for others to make
it so. He doesn’t simply say, “I will make animals now,” but tells the earth “bring
forth some animals”--like a captain ordering sailors to lower the main sails.
It is not a creative command, but an order demanding action.
In verse 11, He says, “Let the land produce vegetation.” In verse 20, “Let the water team with life.” Verse 22 to the animals, “Be fruitful and fill the earth.” Verse 24,
“Let the land produce living creatures.” Verse
28 to the people, “Be fruitful, fill the
earth and subdue it.”
Another repeated phrase in Genesis 1
is “after their kind.” God did not specifically
create every animal, but made them to reproduce. One mark of biological life is
reproduction. God expected creatures making other creatures, living and
thriving to enrich the whole of creation.
Now, here’s where it gets deep! Why
did God use animals to make other animals and life to make more life? He could
have made all the elephants or zebras he wanted just by waving His hand. He
could have made the whole world at once. But instead, He got the whole creation
busy making more creation! He created a
world rolling and boiling with life, every piece of it creating more growing
and thriving for its own sake as well as bringing glory to Himself.
There can only be one answer why He
did it--God loves life! He doesn’t just respect, admire or appreciate life--He
actually must loves it!
Let me illustrate. Let’s say two
women enjoy flowers. One woman has pictures of flowers on her wall, on her
dishtowels, and on all her dresses. She even has artificial flowers around her
house. But the flowers themselves are messy and hard to manage, so she just has
pictures of them. She really doesn’t love flowers—she just likes them.
But the other woman has a garden. Every
day she digs in the dirt and tends that garden. She doesn’t want dead images of
flowers, she loves the life in
flowers. She loves the smell of them, the wildness of them, the craziness of
flowers, how they sometimes grow in weird directions, and how no two of them
never look the same.
God enjoys the craziness of
creation, as each living things takes its own direction. Creation is constantly
changing, and He loves it. It is the endless diversity of the life force He has
created that God loves, the diversity of each bloom on the tree of life gives
pleasure to God. God didn’t create creation to be tame and compliant, but to
express its individuality and joy. Every part of God’s creation expresses some
new glory to God.
Which brings us to our third fascinating
fact about creation:
3.
God will uncreate everything He Creates.
Creation has an expiration date,
known only to Him. Everything alive will one day end.
He did not create this current
creation to exist forever, but to fade and die. The same is true of you. You will
cease to be. All you have collected will be scattered.
Here are some places where the Bible says
this.
“To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to
die.” Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8.
“For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are
dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and
it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But
from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is
with those who fear him, and his righteousness with
their children’s children.”
Psalm 103: 14-17
“Our days may come to seventy years or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly
away.” Psalm 90:10
“The end of all things is near. Therefore, be alert
and of sober mind.” I Peter
4: 7.
Nothing
last forever. The earth will one day spin into the sun. The sun will die out,
or explode, scattering its bits into the galaxy. The galaxy will wind down and
fade out, until not a single ember of a single sun will burn.
But
cheer up! Like Jesus said, we should not lay up our value in things that will
die. Don’t hold on to what doesn’t last. Value the eternal, not the temporary. The
only thing that really lasts is our connection to our Creator.
Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14 reminds us; “Now
all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his
commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every
deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Which brings us to our fourth
fascinating fact about creation:
4.
After He uncreates creation, He will recreate it.
This truth was hidden in the Old
Testament, but it is revealed in the New.
“Then I
saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away,” Revelation 21: 21. Heaven and earth will be destroyed.
Then God will recreate them.
“For
the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the
will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be
liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of
the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been
groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not
only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan
inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our
bodies.” Romans 8: 20-23.
Many people think that their soul is
an immortal thing inside a mortal body—a ghost in a jar of clay. But that is a
Greek concept, not a Christian one. Christian’s believe in the resurrection of
body and soul together. Our bodies will be recreated. Not only our bodies, but
all of creation will be remade by God—a creation that is immortal and
glorious.
This is a very deep mystery. After the end
of all things, God will remake creation. We will be resurrected into indestructible
and incorruptible bodies. We won’t age or fall apart, but will enjoy Christ
forever.
The Bible teaches this, but we may only
dimly understand it. God makes the world, breaks it, and then remakes it. Our
world is only Earth 1.0, but version 2.0 will soon be released. As Christ was
resurrected bodily, so our bodies will be recreated and will enjoy the glories
of a physical existence as well as a heavenly relationship with God. In creation,
and the glories of being heaven with Christ all at the same time.
God’s isn’t done with the rest of creation.
It will be restored, too, when we are recreated. All of creation groans for the
manifestation of the sons of God—us—which is a prerequisite for the new
creation. God loves creation so much that He creates it—not once, but twice.
If God so loved His creation that He will
create it twice, then how much should we love it? We have been placed here to
care for it. Shouldn’t we love creation too?
If God cares enough to create us twice,
how much should we love one another? We are not just caretakers of creation,
but caretakers of each other. Christ
loved creation enough to die for it. Should we not love it enough to live
responsibly within it?
One day creation will be finished, and it
will be wonderful. All flesh will see it together, and He shall reign forever
and ever.
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