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Original Christian illustration by Jim Sutton: A picture
representing the original creation of God, as He spoke the
physical universe into existence. (See the Holy Bible for
details.)
The Bible teaches us plainly that God created the universe, the
earth itself and all that lives on the earth. This
teaching begins with the very first verses in Scripture:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the
face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over
the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be
light"; and there was light... (Genesis 1:1-3,
NKJV)
No human being was around when the universe was created.
Adam, the very first human, had not been created. An
assumption that can be made from Scripture is that angelic
spirit beings were already created. As I understand it,
there was a vast spiritual realm in existence, and then the Lord
decided to create the physical universe as we know it.
Angels did not know what to make of this new thing, this
physical reality made up of matter and physical energy.
One thing we do know, because God has revealed it to us in the
Bible, is all things were created and are sustained to this day
by the Word of God. The Lord literally spoke all things
into existence. We know that all things were made by
Christ, the Eternal Son of God, who is not a creation of God,
but is God and is with God forever. While our human minds
and human experiences may fully grasp how the Son and the Father
are both God (and so also is the Holy Spirit), we can understand
that God says this is so.
For example, the Bible says: "God, who at various times and in
various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has
appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the
worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express
image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His
power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high..." (Hebrews 1:1-3,
NKJV)
And in another place, the Scripture says:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was
made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the
light of men... ...That was the true Light which gives
light to every man coming into the world. He was in the
world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not
know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive
Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the
right to become children of God, to those who believe in His
name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
(the Gospel of John, 1:1-4, and 1:9-14, NKJV)
Both the Father and the Son were directly involved with creating
the universe, the planet earth, and all living things. The
first chapters of Genesis give an amazing amount of information,
even though it seems like a very simple story. The Bible
makes it clear, for example, that the universe was in place
before there was light. Then it says that God created the
atmosphere and the great expanse that stretches between earth
and stars. And it says that the sea, the sky and the earth
were filled with living things. Last of all came human
beings.
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our
likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over
the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He
created him; male and female He created them.
(Genesis 1:26, 27 NKJV)
Just like the stars of heaven, the birds in the sky, and the
pebbles in the sea, we human beings are the creation of God.
Unlike the stars of heaven, the birds in the sky and the pebbles
in the sea, we are fashioned by God in His own likeness.
Jesus Himself is the perfect image of God, as we saw in the
passage quoted above. In Christ, God's full character and
power shine through in perfect glory to the Father. And
the human race also once reflected that character of God in ways
that were mostly lost when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of
Eden.
Nevertheless, we hold a special place in God's heart. So
much so that He sent His only begotten Son to this world to live
and die among us, so that anyone who believes in Him might be
saved. It is not God's will that any human life should be
utterly lost or wasted, lived in vain. It is not God's
will that anyone should die and spend eternity in darkness,
separated forever from God's perfect life and light. It is
God's desire that we should all come to know the truth and be
rescued from the spiritual death that keeps us from knowing and
loving Him with our whole heart.
Take a look at the creation all around you. Look at how we
are made, and look at the trees, the flowers, the sky and
clouds, the seas, the soil itself and all the vast and
incredible beauties of this universe. We can see in all
these things the eye and heart of God. He is filled with
light and the love of beauty. All that He makes is
astonishing in its complexities and symmetry. Even in the
chaos of a mighty storm or raging wildfire there is order in all
the details, and the destruction itself prepares the way for new
life.
We understand only the tiniest fraction of the workings of this
universe. All our learning is as nothing compared to what
there is to know. Yet even the little understanding we have managed to acquire enables us to do some pretty scary
things. We can travel to the moon, we can send probes out
beyond the solar system, and we can destroy whole cities with a
single bomb. Mostly, we know how to ruin things. But
we have also managed to figure out how to do some good along the way.
And yet we are so slow to believe in God. Our bodies, and
all living things (and even the earth itself), are essentially self-maintaining. So
far, we cannot make a house, an automobile, or a pair of pants
that can repair themselves, maintain themselves or reproduce
themselves. Yet we seem to think it possible for the
universe, the earth, and life itself to do so, and to have
simply popped into existence by chance. If there is one thing greater than our desire for
understanding and wisdom, it is our propensity for utter stupidity.
I have faith in God, and in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I look to His Holy Spirit to instruct me, to guide me, and to
enable me to know God's will for my life. I thank God for
the Bible, given to human beings and kept by God's own hand.
I thank God for the message of His Word, and for the life
offered to all people through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. I thank
God for His mighty saving grace that seeks us out, saves us,
sets us apart for good works, and keeps us until the day of Christ's appearing.
If not for God's love and saving grace, what hope would we have?
Jim Sutton
The above graphic may be used by Christian believers in various kinds of
personal witness, for church programs, and other Christian
activities. There is no charge for this use, so long as
the copyright/credit info is included with the image or a link
back to this site is provided.
To use the graphics on this site,
right click the image (Mac users hover the mouse cursor over the
image) and select the "Save As" or "Save Image As" and save the
file on your computer's hard drive. Images not saved to
your computer will not work properly (especially animated GIF
files), or will likely suffer broken links in a short time.
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