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.

SINGING TO THE LORD

 

Singing to the Lord

As one who has had a go at writing Christian songs, I am always curious as to why churches choose to sing the songs they do. There’re those exclusive psalmodist congregations that sing only versifications of the 150 psalms of the Bible, some doing this without any musical accompaniment, while there’re others where anything seems to go!

I’ve often been curious of those subheadings found in some of the psalms, such as (as per the NIV), “For the director of music. Of David. A psalm” and “For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song” and “For the director of music. To the tune of ‘Do Not Destroy.’  A psalm of Asaph, A song” and “For the director of music. For flutes. A psalm of David.”

Clearly there’re differences between singing being accompanied by stringed instruments than that with wind instruments. Obviously, mood setting has been considered. Who hasn’t heard the mournful tones of a cello or the upbeat notes of a happy woodwind? Of course, the tunes and the instruments used must suitably accompany the words. In the case of church worship, the words must reflect God’s words, the very Word of God. Otherwise, instead of praising God we will be pleasing ourselves. And there’s rub: Who are we trying to please in our songs of worship, ourselves or our God? If it is God, we shall need to make sure that our songs are pleasing to His ear. This is where culture comes in.

We can run the whole gamut from staid unaccompanied psalm singing in the western isles of Scotland to those exuberant handclapping arm waving gospel chorus songs of the deep south of USA. Both are beautiful in their own way. The idea of congregational singing is twofold, a) To praise God. b) To edify His people. Yet, there is also a third idea, and this is where things can go so wrong: To evangelise the “unchurched.” It would seem to me that the last point ought to be left to the preaching of God’s Word, i.e., the sermon, and not to singing God’s praises. However, there would be nothing wrong with keeping reaching the lost in mind when composing songs for Christian worship.

Amazing Grace by the converted ex-slave trader John Newton (1725-1807), sung to the traditional tune arranged by John Barnard (b. 1928), was popularised by e.g., pop singers Rod Stewart, also Julie Covington, not forgetting the Scottish pipes and drums versions! And who doesn’t like How Great Thou Art? Or who hasn’t sung (Psalm 23) The Lord’s My Shepherd to the tune Crimond at the funeral of a loved one? The Westminster Shorter Catechism Q&A 1 springs to mind here even when thinking about psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Therefore, there are both the vertical (towards God) and the horizontal (towards man) involved in congregational singing. And we need to keep in mind that not everyone who is singing is a Christian convert!

One of the go to verses of Scripture regarding congregational singing is Colossians 3:16. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16). Note that it’s to be Christ’s word that is teaching and admonishing us while we are singing to the Lord. Thus, the horizontal and the vertical aspects of worship songs. Usward and Godward! That great church reformer, John Calvin has the following to say about this verse,     

“Under these three terms [Paul] includes all kinds of songs. They are commonly distinguished in this way – that is psalm is that, in the singing of which some musical instrument besides the tongue is made use of: a hymn is properly a song of praise, whether it be sung simply with the voice or otherwise; while an ode contains not mere praises, but exhortations and other matters. He would have songs of Christians however, to be spiritual, not made up of frivolities and worthless trifles.”[1]

Calvin adds elsewhere,

 

“Songs composed merely to tickle and delight the ear are unbecoming the majesty of the Church, and cannot but be most displeasing to God.”[2]

It’s as if the Apostle Paul had Scottish and Irish pubs in mind, the ones where, as the night progresses, they pull out guitars, fiddles and tin whistles, as they all break into fervent song, “And do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord’ (Eph. 5:18-19). Some Christians are so fixated with that word wine in these verses that they miss that Paul is saying something like, “Have you ever seen and/or heard a drunken choir? Have you seen how the singers put their hearts and souls into their folk (and sometimes bawdy) songs? Well, see you Christians, you ought to outshine and out-sing them by the infilling of the Spirit when your speaking to one another in song as you make melody to the Lord!” Yes, singing God’s praises both manward and Godward.

Many years ago I wrote the words and tunes for many Christian songs, two of which, Good Shepherd and Back To Life/Exalt His Name, were used for congregational singing when I pastored a church. Yes, yonks ago! The songs seemed to be God-glorifying while being congregation edifying, and maybe even evangelizing! The usual musical accompaniment was guitar, piano, with a clarinet thrown in for good measure on occasion. Being of Scottish extraction, the tunes were recognizably Celtic sounding. Much of the material put out by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty is Celtic sounding, at least it is to me. However, I produced my material before I had even heard of these guys! Be that as it may, I was encouraged to read about Keith Getty in the following,  

 

“To write songs for the church is a beautiful, fun (sometimes), and laughable activity. But most songs that are written (in the case of songs we have written, at least 95%) never should be heard. We estimate Keith has written or recorded five hundred to a thousand tunes per year for the last seventeen years, in order to come up with what is a relatively small handful of songs that we’re pleased with and known for. Kristyn has countless journals and Word files and scrap pieces of paper with lyrics that never made the cut.”[3]

I wonder if a song I wrote with the following verses of Scripture in mind will ever come to anything? It’s more of a contemplative mournful cello than a happy woodwind kind of song:

“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matt. 5:18). “Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law (Psa. 119:136).

 

Father, look in my eyes;

What do You see in there?

Father, tears in my eyes;

My cross is hard to bear.

Rivers, water running down, flowing to the ground,

Men don’t keep Your Law, O God.

Men don’t keep Your Law.

Saviour, I look in Your eyes;

What do I see in there?

Saviour, tears in Your eyes;

Your cross is hard to bear.

Rivers, blood is running down, flowing to the ground,

Jesus kept Your Law, O God.

Jesus kept Your Law.

 

Father, You kept Your Word;

You poured Your Spirit out.

Saviour, You are the Word;

You poured Your Spirit out.

Rivers, Spirit running down, flowing to the ground,

Men will keep Your Law, O God.

I will keep Your Law.

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[1] John Calvin on Colossians 3:16.

[2] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Bk. 3.20.32.

[3] Sing! How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church, B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee, 2017, 135-6.

THE EXECUTION OF GOD'S DECREES

 

THE EXECUTION OF GOD’S DECREES

      Westminster Shorter Catechism 8

Quest. How does God execute His decrees?

Ans. God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence.

Introduction

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God has foreordained everything that comes to pass. Therefore, what we see happening around us is God expressing His mind. To be sure, we mere mortals have trouble comprehending why many things happen. But when we look at the Scriptures we can see clearly that everything in creation is running according to God’s eternal plan.

In the following we’ll be looking at a subject very much related to what we have already considered in Westminster Shorter Catechism 7. Before we really get going here, we need to note what’s up ahead in the Catechism. WSC Q&A 9 goes on to tell us about God’s work of creation. And Q&A 11 goes on to tell us about God’s acts of providence.

Therefore, we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves at the moment. What we’re dealing with here is not so much: What are God’s works of creation and providence? But rather, the question is not what, but how? How does God execute or “carry out” His decrees? We are told therefore, in this Catechism answer, that to execute or “carry out” all the decrees God had from all eternity, He created all things, and still to this day constantly upholds them.

Creation

There are twenty-four elders around God’s throne in heaven who attest to God’s creating and upholding His creation. They’re the ones who cast down their crowns before His throne saying, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created” (Rev. 4:11). Thus the Triune God created all things by His own will. All things came into being by an act of His will.

So, we see then that God willed creation into being. Therefore, creation itself is in accordance with the will of God. God, from all eternity decreed to create creation, this creation. Therefore, this creation is the creation God wanted.

Think about it, there must be no end to the amount of possible creations God could have created, yet He had this model in mind. Of course, we’re thinking about this in terms of men. But the Triune God, the Almighty is not a man like us. That’s why the Lord in Scripture says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9).

So, we need to be careful not to engage in mere speculation about the deep things of God. We need to stick with what we know from Scripture. However, we do know that God has made the heavens higher than the earth simply because He decreed it to be that way. However, there’s nothing wrong with asking the question: Why did God decree it that way? And if we can’t find the answer to that question from Scripture, then fair enough! But surely this is a more Biblical approach to Scripture than the “blind faith” approach. The “blind faith” approach asks no questions of God’s Word. “Blind faith” is happy with broad generalities. “Blind faith” says that whatever God has done is fine but never asks what God has done!

But that’s not the way it is with real Christianity, is it? Real Christians want to glorify God in everything. Therefore, the real Christian wants to know, if possible, why God chose or decreed to create this creation and not any other possible creation.

When the real Christian considers the fact that God could have willed any one of an infinite number of possible creations into existence, he marvels. And he concludes that this creation must be the best possible creation God could have created for His own purpose. Otherwise, God would not have created the creation He created – as revealed in Genesis chapter one.

Now to be sure, there is any number of different things God could have done even with this creation model. However, it is God’s purpose for creation that is the key factor. God created this particular creation for a purpose. What is that purpose? Well, contrary to popular belief God didn’t will creation into being just so that man could do his own thing and try to ignore God. No, God decreed and willed this creation to appear simply for His own glory. For what is the chief end of man and every other thing? It’s to glorify God!

Now, some people (especially children), think God created creation because He was lonely. They think that God wanted someone to talk to, so He created man in His own image and likeness. But we know already that God is the Triune God, three Persons yet one God. The three Persons of the Godhead have an intrapersonal relationship with each Other. So, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had each Other to talk to from all eternity. Therefore, God didn’t will creation into being because He needs it.

You and I might get a car because we need a car. We need it to get around the place. Or we might buy some food because we need to eat. Well, God doesn’t need any created thing to be or to help Him be. God is self-existent, self-supporting. He is self-sufficient. Mere words fail to truly describe God as He is in and of Himself. God Himself describes Himself as the “I AM THAT I AM.” Therefore, God is the “always was, always is, and always will be” One. He is the eternal “I AM”. So, creating creation didn’t change God.

For instance, God didn’t expend any energy when He willed and spoke creation into being. He didn’t need to rest on the seventh day because He was tired or anything like that. God does not change. Therefore, creation didn’t change the Being of God. Creation did not and does not have any effect of God whatsoever. What God did in creating – and does in providence – is execute His decrees.

He had a plan from all eternity, and He put that plan into action. We call this action Creation and Providence. We’ve looked a little at creation and we’ve seen that God willed creation into being. And the purpose is for His own glory. If you will, God gathered His thoughts and set them in concrete on the six days of formation, as a glorious monument to Himself. No offence to bricklayers and such like, but perhaps it would be a bit more poetic if we said that God crystallized His thoughts in creation to reflect His own glory.

Now, we know that creation isn’t a stagnant and sterile place. We know that because we aren’t stagnant and sterile. We know this because things move in creation. Creation itself is not static. Stars run their courses in the night sky. Animals roam, birds fly, fish swim, grass grows, trees produce their fruit. The seasons come and the seasons go, and the weather changes.

So, God’s creation is not like Stonehenge, a pile of stones standing upon each other and nobody’s sure why, when, or for what. Creation isn’t a stationary object. It’s a moving and active thing, isn’t it? Some things remain relatively stable and in one place like Stonehenge. Yet even Stonehenge is going somewhere, isn’t it? The whole of the cosmos is in a state of swirl and twirl! Yet it’s all going somewhere.

So, we ask the question: What causes the cosmos, creation to swirl and twirl? What keeps the cosmos swirling and twirling?  What keeps the grass growing and the weather changing?

Providence

God from all eternity decreed to keep on upholding His creation. Have you ever seen those people with all the plates on the TV or in the circus? They balance spinning plates on the end of sticks. At any given time, they might have a dozen or more plates spinning on the ends of these poles. And just when it looks like one of them is about to stop spinning and fall to the floor and smash to smithereens, along comes the man to put some more spin on the plate. Well, that’s nothing like the way God upholds His creation! No, you see, God doesn’t have to run around looking for things that need to be upheld because they are about to collapse.

First off, God is everywhere present at once. He’s Omnipresent. Therefore, He doesn’t have to run around His creation. He is already there. And God is all-knowing. He’s Omniscient. Therefore, He always knows what’s going on everywhere in His creation. And finally, God is all-powerful. He’s Almighty, Omnipotent. Therefore, He is the One who sets things in motion. He is the Creator. He is the One who keeps everything in motion. He is the Preserver or Sustainer. And let’s not forget, He is the One who stops the motion of things. He is also the Destroyer, “The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy” (Psa. 145:20).

So, if a hair falls out of your head, God did it. If a sparrow drops out of a tree, God did it. If a man drops dead, God did it! As the Apostle Paul says, “For in Him we live and move and have our being…” (Acts 17:28). It is God who sets things in motion. He keeps things in motion. And He stops the motion of things. If it’s not God who does these things, then who or what is in control of God’s creation?

Now, to be sure, no human being would drop dead were it not for sin, (not necessarily his own sin). The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Dying then has everything to do with God. For it was God who placed mankind under His judgment on account of our sin, Adam’s sin. And it’s on account of God’s curse that creation groans for rebirth (Rom. 8:22). Yet God is not the author of evil, which is to say that He didn’t cause man to sin. Man sinned against God of his own volition, his own free will. But we won’t get too involved in that now. (We’ll get into fee will in more depth when we get to WSC Q&A’s 11-19. And we’ll even find out more about God’s providence in Q&A’s 11-12).

For now, all we need to know is that Adam was the cause of mankind’s fall. And that God cursed the ground on account of Adam’s sin. If Adam were a plate spinning on the end of an upright pole, he refused the touch of the hand that would have kept him in motion. And you and I and all the rest of mankind rejected God in him. As fallen and shattered plates we don’t want God to put a hand anywhere near us in this our unregenerate state! Thus Man, the image and likeness of God, in Adam, like a clay plate, fell and shattered into pieces on the ground out of which he was formed.

Yet, God didn’t destroy His creation and man along with it. No, He continued to maintain and sustain it, which is to say that He continued to provide for His creation, even though the state of His creation had been altered due to the fall of man. So, when it comes to God’s providence, or God’s “looking after” His creation, things changed after the Fall.

God’s relationship to His creation before the Fall was different to Hs relationship to it after it. God’s relationship to His creation is always in covenantal terms even before as well as after the Fall. The Covenant, i.e., the everlasting Covenant of God, always remains the same. However, the terms of the administration of His everlasting covenant change. Whereas before the Fall God related to His creation creationally (I’ll explain what I mean by creationally in a moment), after the Fall God dealt with His creation redemptively. So, before the Fall the terms of God’s Covenant were creational. After the Fall the terms of God’s Covenant were redemptive.

Now, as you know, man was the crown of God’s creation. He was made in the image and likeness of God. Man was to rule over God’s creation as God’s vicegerent or God’s vice-regent, which is to say that man under God was to rule as king over creation.

Man was to go forth and multiply to God’s glory. He was to subdue the earth to God’s glory. And He was to rule over all the earthly creatures to God’s glory. In a word, man was to do all things in creation to the glory of God his creator. So, we see that God then dealt with man before the Fall in terms of the creation. This is what I mean by God dealing with man creationally.

When God made Adam, He wrote His Moral Law (which is summarized in the Ten Commandments) on his heart while entering into a Covenant of Works or Life with him. God put the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the middle of the Garden to test Adam as man’s representative. Although God knew the outcome from all eternity, God wanted to, as it were, see if Adam would remain faithful to God’s Covenant. (We’ll be looking at this in more depth up ahead, but for now I’m simply trying to establish God’s relationship to His creation at this very moment). God’s providence or upkeep of His creation, therefore, before the Fall, was all in terms of the creation itself, which is to say that His everlasting Covenant was, if you will, “built into” creation.

All of creation was held together in terms of God’s everlasting Covenant, which is to say that all things were governed in accordance with God’s eternal Moral Law; which is summarized in the Ten Commandments. The profound statement on a bumper sticker says, “God’s Law or Chaos.” Thus, the entire cosmos before the Fall was ruled by God according to His Covenant Law.

What we’ve just been talking about, and what happened after the Fall, is summed up in the words of the Lord’s Prophet Isaiah, “The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty [or proud] people of the earth languish. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left” (Isa. 24:4-6). Man then has broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, the curse has devoured the earth.

So, what does all of this have to do with the providence of God? Well, before the Fall God’s creation produced life in abundance by the providence of God. Every green herb flourished; every fruit tree was prosperous. Every wheat field, every crop was a bumper harvest. And all of this was because God had blessed His creation. But when man broke the everlasting Covenant in Adam God cursed the ground for the sake of or on account of man (Gen. 3:17).

So, this means that in the providence of God creation itself began to work against fallen man. The broken Covenant meant a change in God’s relationship with His creation. It would be difficult now for man to go forth and multiply after the Fall. There would be stillborn children, sickness and death at various ages and stages. It would be much tougher for man to subdue the earth. Man would have to live by the sweat of his face. He would have to battle against thorns and thistles to produce his food. If he overworks the land, the land grows tired and needs to be rested before it will produce again. If he tries to force the land to produce by pumping it full of chemicals or whatever, he defiles the land and the streams and rivers around it.

He would no longer rule over the animals the way he did before the Fall. They would turn against him, and he would have a difficult time taming and domesticating them. The world languishes. It has become weak and feeble – and fallen man along with it!

So, you see then, that after the Fall God still upholds all things. The sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky still run their courses. Season gives way to season, and the grass still grows on the earth. However, the arrangement for God’s providence has changed. Creation remains in bondage on account of the broken everlasting Covenant. But God, by His grace has provided for the removal of His curse upon the ground and creation’s bondage. This He decreed in the counsel of the Godhead in eternity past. This He executes in space and time.

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“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption [or decay]…” (Rom. 8:20-21). God executed His eternal decree to deliver His mankind (including the creation in which man dwells) from the curse and bondage by sending His Son as Deliverer. “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law…” (Gal. 4:4).

So, from the time of the Fall of the first Adam (and all of Mankind in him) God has dealt with His creation redemptively, which is to say that His providential maintaining and sustaining of creation has been in terms of the Covenant of Redemption/Grace.

Conclusion

When Westminster Shorter Catechism 8 says that “God executes His decrees in His works of creation and providence” we now know that this is simply God putting His eternal plan for His own glory into action. And, that it’s all done in accordance to His own everlasting Covenant. In eternity past He decreed to create all things and in time providentially to sustain them. But also, in eternity past He decreed to redeem His creation in time. Therefore, not only is God the great Creator but He is also the Great Redeemer.

As the Prophet Isaiah puts it, “You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from everlasting is Your name” (Isa. 63:16b). And as the Apostle Paul puts it, “For it pleased the Father that in [Jesus] all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:19-20).

Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world – the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. In the execution of His decrees God by His wonderful acts of providence has provided us with a wonderful Saviour in Jesus Christ His Son. As the Apostle John records in Revelation, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created” (Rev. 4:11).

So, How does God execute His decrees? God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence.

DINOSAURS

 

Dinosaurs

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What space do dinosaurs take up in your head? Some kids are obsessed with them, even able to name them all! In the 70s we had Tyrannosaurus Rex which morphed into the band T. Rex. Apart from that and Dino, the Flintstones’ pet, my knowledge of dinosaurs as a kid was very limited. I never gave them much thought. And there’s the rub: dinosaurs are all in the mind! Please let me explain…

 When converted by the grace of God in my early thirties I began wondering where dinosaurs fit. On what day were they created? Were they all consigned to extinction by comet or global flood? How did they fit into the ark if some survived the flood? What does the word ‘dinosaur’ mean anyway? ‘Terrible lizard’? Does the Bible anywhere mention these creatures? What about dinosaur fossils? So, I was happy in my ignorance – until I became a Christian.

Where do dinosaurs fit in the minds of the Christian whose thinking is transformed by God’s revelation in the Bible? (Rom. 12:2). Therefore, dinosaurs have to do with one’s worldview. Whereas the Evolutionist believes these creatures underwent a series of evolutionary changes over millions of years only to become extinct by a huge comet hitting the earth, the Creationist believes God created them on days five and six of creation week and that many of them became extinct during the flood in Noah’s day. The most obvious explanation for the disappearance of most of these creatures is the global flood. Evidence? We’ve already mention fossilisation (caused by being rapidly buried by sedimentary mud that has turned to rock).  

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The Evolutionist needs millions of years to try to accommodate his supposed molecules to man, goo to you series of developments. Whereas the Creationist holds that the Bible teaches that God thousands of years ago made creatures designed for life in the air, land, and sea. He created prototypes of modern dogs, let’s say wolf-like creatures, same for cats, birds and fish etc., animals that could adapt to life in a world and environment that would become fallen and therefore hostile. However, just as Great Danes and chihuahuas have a common ancestor, each creature today is a variation of what God originally created. Any dinosaurs on the ark would only need to have been juvenile, averaging the size of a sheep today. Those outside of the ark would have perished but keep in mind that many sea creatures would have survived, perhaps as indicated by today’s crocodiles and alligators etc.

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Behemoth and Leviathan as described in the Book of Job are worthy of deep study. ‘Look now at behemoth, which I made along with you; he eats grass like an ox (Job 40:15) and ‘Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?’ (Job 41:1). Of course, Job lived after the Flood, perhaps around 1800BC.  Therefore, behemoth and Leviathan may have become extinct as have many other animals since then. However, the bottom line has to do with whether your worldview is based upon Evolutionary theory or Biblical revelation. We all look at the same things, ‘dinosaur’ fossils etc., but arrive at different conclusions. Some, called ‘Theistic Evolutionists’, try to marry both views. They get into arguments over carbon dating, the age of the earth etc. I favour Occam’s razor, i.e., Biblical creation. Paul warns, ‘See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ’ (Col. 2:8).

RAISING MY EBENEZER

 

(Excerpted from The Unfaithful Bride & The Faithful Groom, a book by Neil Cullan McKinlay & D. Rudi Schwartz)

Raising Our Ebenezer!

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I’ve come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood.[1] 

If we may be permitted to, as it were, “kill two birds with the one stone” (no pun intended), in the hymn quoted above, Robert Robinson would have us sing, “Here I raise my Ebenezer, Hither by Thy help I’ve come”. Raising an Ebenezer (as mentioned elsewhere in this book), is in reference to the Israelite practice of placing stones of help, stones of remembrance, stones of testimony, witnesses to great events in history, i.e., God’s mighty works, such as Israel’s crossing the River Jordan to enter the Promised Land (Josh. 4:1-7; 19-24, Judg. 3:19, 26). Spiritual songs, like these stones, are reminders, historical landmarks, to us of His mighty works. Yes, setting stones and singing songs has long been the practice of God’s Church. For, even in the beginning the angels sang when God laid the earth’s corner stone (Job 38:6-7).

Of Jesus at His Triumphal Entry, we are told that “the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out’” (Luke 19:37-40). Whether stones of help or hymns of praise, we must not remove reminders of the mighty works of God done in the Church’s past. Therefore, psalms and old hymns need to be included as part of the contemporary bride of Christ’s repertoire, lest we forget by Whose help we have come hither. In the ancient, the old, and the new, we must continue to raise our Ebenezer.

The hymnbook of the Church has never been canonised. New songs can and should be added to the praise repertoire. And there are indeed new songs that remind us of our sinfulness and frailty. Every time I sing “In Christ alone” my heart melts but it is also strengthened at these words,

 

In Christ alone, who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save

’Til on that cross, as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin, on Him, was laid

Here, in the death of Christ, I live

No guilt in life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life’s first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of Hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

’Til He returns or calls me home

Here, in the power of Christ, I’ll stand[2]

 

The composers of the song above brilliantly follows in the footsteps of the Psalms to teach us,

By faith, our fathers roamed the earth

With the power of His promise in their hearts

Of a holy city built by God’s own hand –

A place where peace and justice reign.

By faith, the church was called to go

In the power of the Spirit to the lost

To deliver captives and to preach good news,

In every corner of the earth.[3]

God Himself has raised an Ebenezer, the Ebenezer, the Rock, Jesus Christ: “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily” (Isa. 28:16). “This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’  Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12).

Celitc Woship - Come Thou Fount:  Purifuse AU V49 B2 16x9 VO1

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[1] Robert Robinson, (1735-90), Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. (Ebenezer  ”stone of help”).

[2] Stuart Townend & Keith Getty, In Christ alone, (Music and Lyrics: Copyright © 2001 Thankyou Music (Adm. by CapitolCMGPublishing.com excl. UK & Europe, adm. by Integrity Music, part of the David C Cook family, songs@integritymusic.com)( https://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/song/in-christ-alone/).

[3] Stuart Townend , Keith Getty & Kristyn Getty, By Faith, (Music and Lyrics Copyright © 2009 Getty Music Publishing (BMI) (Adm by SongSolutions info@songsolutions.org) and Thankyou Music (Adm. by CapitolCMGPublishing.com excl. UK & Europe, adm. by Integrity Music, part of the David C Cook family, songs@integritymusic.com) (https://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/song/by-faith/)