GOD'S WORK OF CREATION

 

GOD’S WORK OF CREATION

Westminster Shorter Catechism 9

Quest. What is the work of creation?

Ans. The work of creation is, God’s making all things out of nothing, by the word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

Introduction

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Have you ever tried to imagine nothing? Try it! At last, here’s something the kids can try at home. Kids, try to imagine nothing. Now, if you’re honest with yourself you’ll admit that this is an impossibility. If you imagine an empty space, then you are imagining an empty space, not nothing. Therefore, how would you describe nothing? We use words like empty and void, to describe idea of nothing. Yet, who among us can picture emptiness without thinking of space? If we say that a bucket is empty, we are referring to the space in the bucket. And when you really think about it, technically that space is not nothing. It’s a space!

Now, you’re probably wondering why I’ve got you doing mental gymnastics. Well, in the following we’re looking at God’s Work of Creation. And if you know anything about God’s work of creation, you’ll know that: a) God made all things of nothing. b) He did it by the word of His power. c) He did it over the space of six days. And d) It was all very good. This is what the Bible teaches.

The WSC Q&A 9 summarizes this teaching of the Bible thus: The work of creation is, God’s making all things out of nothing, by the word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

God’s Creative Power

God made all things out of nothing by the word of His power. The writer to the Hebrews says it like this, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were made of things not visible” (Heb. 11:3).

Now, this is not a very easy verse for us to wrap our minds around. Let’s see if the NIV can help us any. “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible.” So, the invisible became visible by the word of God’s Power.

Now, I understand this to mean that what was only an idea, or if you will, an invisible thought in the mind of God, was brought into actuality. Therefore, God’s invisible thought became visible by the appearance of the visible universe. To be sure, there are some created things that remain invisible (such as angels and, until microscopes were invented, bacteria and germs). However, this I believe is what the Westminster Shorter Catechism means where it says that God made all things of nothing by the word of His power.

Now then, we’ve got a slight technical problem here, don’t we? It’s not absolutely true to say that creation came from nothing. There’s no such thing as nothing, remember? So, what is the Westminster Shorter Catechism driving at? Well, if you or I have an idea for something, let’s say a painting, or a dream home, it is invisible to everyone, isn’t it? It will stay invisible until the paint hits the canvas or until the building is started. So, what was a concept concealed in your mind will remain invisible or unknown, unless and until you reveal it.

There are two ways you can make the invisible visible. You can either reveal what’s on your mind by speaking words. Or you can make your invisible thoughts visible by using materials to make what you have in mind. God even made the materials He used to express what He had in mind.

Now then, God makes the invisible visible to us in two ways. He reveals His mind to us: 1) By the things He has made. And 2) By His spoken Word as recorded in His infallible Word the Bible.

It was only after the Fall, and because of the Fall, that man now needs the written Word in order to know the revealed mind or revealed will of God. Before the Fall, Man had a personal and intimate relationship with God. For, unlike the animals, man was made in the image and likeness of God. And before the Fall man knew exactly where he fit in relation to God’s creation. He was to rule over it as God’s representative on earth. Therefore, man knew the mind of God through God’s talking to him. This is what we call Special Revelation. And man would also know the mind of God through the things God had created, including man himself. This we call General Revelation.

However, God has not revealed the entirety of His mind to us. As the Lord says in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

So, what does all this have to do with God creating all things from nothing by the word of His power? Well, the main thing we need to understand is that when God speaks, He is revealing His mind. Therefore, creation is the revelation of God’s mind, as is His written Word. As the Psalmist puts it, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Psa. 19:1-4). As the Apostle puts it in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead…”

However, we need to be careful here, don’t we? Since the Fall of man, we need the written Word of God to properly understand His creation. Without the written revelation of God man will come up with any number of theories to explain what the universe is all about and how it got here.

There are groups of Christians who use the Bible to show people the foolishness of believing in the “Big Bang Theory” and the “Theory of Evolution”, for instance. One of these groups publishes the “Creation” magazine. The full title of the magazine was Creation Ex Nihilo. Creation Ex Nihilo is Latin, and it simply means creation from or out of nothing.

Technically speaking there is no verse in Scripture that says God made creation from “nothing”. There are a couple of verses from the uninspired Apocrypha that state it this way. For example, Second Maccabees 7:28 is not the Word of God, but it says there: “…Look at the sky and the earth. Consider everything you see there, and realize that God made it all from nothing…”

So, from the point of view of man, where there was once “nothing” then “something”: i.e., creation appeared. And we understand this simply to mean that God spoke the creation He had in His mind into being. In or at the beginning He verbally, audibly and tape-record-ably spoke His mind. And as He did so, creation appeared, wrapped in His Word. The power of His spoken word in the beginning continues to hold creation together. As a picture-frame encloses a painting so the spoken word of God frames creation. “The worlds [or the heavens and the earth, the universe] were framed by the word of God” (Heb. 11:3).

So, we see then, that the spoken Word of God is indeed powerful. It brought all creation itself into being in the beginning. And it has kept all creation together till this very day – that’s power! The Psalmist puts it poetically, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth … For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psa. 33:6, 9).

Aren’t you glad that God has revealed to us that He is the Creator? To be sure, the triune God is our Redeemer, and we praise Him for our salvation. But isn’t He then deserving of double praise because He is also our Creator? Let’s make triple praise, for God is our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. If we are going to strive to give Him the glory He is due, we need to study God as Creator as well as Redeemer.

It seems to me that the Reformation got the Lord’s Church back on track with regard to Redemption. The Reformers showed us that God alone is Redeemer, not the Church, nor the individual. But not only did the Reformers teach us from the Bible about God as Redeemer, but they also instructed us about God as Creator.

However, it seems to me, that it’s only since the advent of the Theory of Evolution, it’s only since the onslaught of the Theory of Uniformitarianism, and Materialism, that Christians, generally speaking, have begun to rediscover God the Creator. In other words, the Reformation showed the world that the Creator is the Redeemer. But nowadays we need to show the world that the Redeemer is the Creator. That’s something worth thinking about. The Church on earth doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We interact with the world. The great issue facing us today is the issue of Creation.

So, we’ve seen that God is the Creator. And that His work of creation is that He made all things from nothing, so to speak, by the word of His power – His creative Power. But let’s now consider His creative Pattern in relation to His creative Power.

God’s Creative Pattern

God took six days to make all things from nothing by the Word of His power. It’s been asked why God took so long! He could have made the heavens and earth in six seconds! Yet we read in Exodus 20:11, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

So, we see then that God followed a pattern when He made all things from nothing by the word of His power. The pattern is six days work to one day’s rest – the seven-day cycle. God finished His work of creation on the sixth day. And we are told in Genesis 1:21 that on that sixth day, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

So, from God’s point of view in regard to creation the pattern was rest, six days labour, then rest. Or you might say, Sabbath (which means “rest”), six days work, then Sabbath. Thus, the seven-day cycle.

Now, you might ask: How long did God Sabbath or rest before the first day of creation? The answer to that question is easy. Before “In the beginning” time did not exist. Therefore, the question is redundant. Time is a creature, which is to say that time itself is part of creation. In the beginning God created space, time, and matter. He created space into which He placed matter, and He did this over the time-period of six days.

So, the clock of time began ticking only at the first moment of creation. At the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void. On Day 1 God the Spirit was hovering over the face of the waters and God created light and separated it from the darkness. On Day 2, the earth’s atmosphere. On day 3, the land and sea were separated, and the plants were made. On day 4, the sun the moon and the stars. On day 5, sea creatures and birds. On day 6, land creatures and man. On day 7, God rested from creating.

Now then, in Genesis 1 we read the refrain, “So the evening and the morning were the first day … the second day … the third day…” and so forth – right up till the sixth day. But when it comes to the seventh day, we don’t hear any such refrain. The seventh day would appear to be open-ended – at least for God. However, He has set a pattern or cycle in place for His creation.

And why wouldn’t God set a pattern of time in His creation? How else would Adam know when to “down his gardening tools” and spend one day every seven in the special worship of God if God hadn’t set the pattern in creation? God’s intention then for man (who was made in His image and likeness) was one day’s rest for every six days work – just like his Creator.

That God put Adam to work in Paradise before the Fall is not in question. Adam was employed by God to tend and to keep the Garden (Gen. 2:15). So Adam would count the days – “…the evening and the morning were the first day … the second day…” and so forth. And God was most helpful to man in that He said, “Let there be lights in the firmament to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years” (Gen. 1:14). So God then put His creative pattern in place when He made all things from nothing by His creative power.

Now then, I mentioned the Theory of Evolution. I also mentioned its bedfellow Uniformitarianism. Uniformitarians, for example, believe that the Grand Canyon was carved out by a constant trickle of water over millions of years – uniformly. Uniformitarianism promotes the view that there is evidence on earth of vast geologic ages. This lends itself to, nay, it’s a necessity for the Theory of Evolution. As the theory goes, for man to have evolved to his present state, evolutionists need many millions of years to account for their millions of supposed gene mutations.

Why am I telling you this? Well, I want to show you that this type of thinking is on account of the Fall of man. But the tragedy of it all is that many Christians have capitulated to this type of thinking. And the touchstone appears to be how one understands the length of days in Genesis chapter one verse one. “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth…”

The question is: Are those six days really six twenty-four-hour DAYS? Or are they six vast geologic timespans? Well, Exodus 20:11 informs us that the LORD made the heavens and the earth in six days. This we take to mean six literal 24-hour days! And when we read through Genesis 1, we read the refrain, “So the evening and the morning were the first day … the second day…” and so forth – right up till the sixth day.  And we’ve already noted that God did this to set the pattern for man whom He created in His image and likeness. Therefore, it would be a very strange thing indeed if the Hebrew word “yom” or “day” in Genesis 1 referred to vast geologic ages. To be sure the first six days are indeed special days, God days, Divine days, but geologic ages in the Uniformitarian sense? Read Genesis 1. There’s nothing Uniformitarian about these days, what with plants, trees, land animals, birds, fish etc. appearing, each at God’s command!

Yet, at the beginning of the 20^th century C. I. Scofield in his, at the time, extremely popular Reference Bible, wrote under Genesis 1:1 in the second note, “The first creative act refers to the dateless past, and gives scope for the geologic ages.”[1] This “dateless past” with its geologic ages became what is known as “The Gap Theory”. The Gap Theory posits an immense time period between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. It is alleged the Devil, and his demonic angels, rebelled in the beginning of this vast time period. But the Gap Theorists get into all kinds of difficulties with the fossil record. They’re left with the unbiblical notion that God created plants and animals before their respective formation days as recorded in Genesis chapter one.

But anyhow, without going into the length and breadth of it, this Gap Theory left the barn door of Christianity wide-open. And so, the enemies of God and creation marched right in and hoisted their skull and crossbones!

The great Southern Presbyterian RL Dabney met these Darwinists head on. His refutations, which he wrote around the 1880s, can be found in his “Discussions” books. He called the Darwinist belief system, “Anti-Christian Science.” However, it would seem that Dabney’s sterling refutations tended to fall on deaf ears. The rest is history. The Darwinists began to paint Creationists as ignorant country hicks. So, the Church retreated, and Pietism set in like rigor mortis.

It wasn’t until the early 1960s that some Christians began a concerted counterattack against the Trojan-Horse of Darwinism and its attendant geologic ages. They stood upon the platform of Scripture. But the battle is yet raging, and Christians are only now just warming up. And, in my opinion, there is one major weapon that is not yet obvious to the many Christians who are now beginning to wake up and join in this battle against Darwinism.

That major weapon has to do with the very character of the Triune God. It’s the 4^th Commandment of God’s Moral Law, which is an expression of who God is. Of all the Ten Commandments, only the 4^th specifically reminds us of God’s work as Creator. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work … For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exod. 20:9, 11).

This Day of Rest is grounded in creation. It is a creation ordinance. “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Gen. 2:1-3).

If we lose sight of the pattern, one every seven, then we lose sight of God as Creator. If we blur the distinction of the Sabbath rest-day, then all days become workdays. And if there is no rest-day then we lose the weekly witness to God as Creator.  We work for six days because God worked for six days creating the heavens and the earth. We rest from our labours one day in seven because God rested from His labours on one day of the seven.

Take away the 4^th Commandment and you won’t take away God as Redeemer. But you will remove a huge signpost telling the world that our God is the Creator! God is not just the Saviour of this world. He is its Creator! The 4^th Commandment reminds us of this once every week, but only if we become “still” before God on that day. Therefore, the one day of rest for every six worked, reminds us of God’s work of creation as Creator. Yes, it also points us to God as our Redeemer. For He is the One who has prepared our future eternal Sabbath or rest.  He did it by having His Son as a Man lay down His life to salvage mankind and the creation they live in. And those who believe in Him will live forever with Him in His saved creation, in His recreated heavens and earth. Therefore the 4^th Commandment illustrates God as Creator and Redeemer.

And the 4^th Commandment points us to the moral character of God our Creator and Redeemer, because the Ten Commandments reveal the moral character or nature of God. So, if you do away with the 4^th Commandment (as some Christians foolishly try to do!), you do away with a vital weapon of the Christian’s armoury. This is akin to going off to fight a great war while forgetting to take an aircraft carrier with all its payload with you! It’s to fight with your right arm tied behind your back – maybe even both arms!

The Christian Sabbath, Sunday rest day is ingrained into Western Society. Shops and factories, businesses remain (or used to remain) closed on this day. So why give it away? I believe the Church today has well and truly lost the balance the Reformers regained. The Church of the Reformers saw God as Redeemer AND Creator – balance! The Church (i.e., Christians) today tends to view God mostly as Redeemer only. To be sure, God is acknowledged as Creator. However, His role as Creator has been far subordinated to His role as Redeemer. The Doctrine of Justification, as important as it is, has been emphasized to the point of the neglect of other equally important doctrines, such as the Doctrine of Creation.

Anyway, be that as it may, the 4^th Commandment also reminds us of the moral nature of God’s creation. Again, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day” (Gen. 1:31).

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In the beginning God’s creation was morally very good. Could God, after the Fall, look at everything He had made and see that it was very good? If not, why not? Because the Fall of Man spoiled God’s very good creation. And what is it that mars God’s very good creation? It’s the breaking of God’s Moral Law, isn’t it? And the curse that comes with it. The Creator had to become our Redeemer to save us from His wrath because man has broken and continues to break His Moral Law, which includes the 4^th Commandment. Remove the 4^th Commandment and you remove the one and only commandment of the ten that specifically reveals God as the Creator!

Conclusion

The weapons we use for tearing down the strongholds of this world are the perfectly balanced Law and Gospel of the Bible as expressed in the Reformed Faith. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…” (2 Cor. 10:4-5).

So, it’s the Word of God we use to fight our battles – the Word of His power. Pray that He will speak the Word of His power to our generation – to bring it back to life.

God’s creative power and His creative pattern is summarized in the words of WSC Q&A 9: The work of creation is, God’s making all things out of nothing, by the word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

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[1] Gary North, Rapture Fever, p. 166.