Discussion:

Psalm 104

Verse 31 says, “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works.”

Why would God rejoice in His creation?

Primarily, because it is a reflection of Him. It manifests His glory. Creation is about the glory of God. It displays His power, providence, wisdom, creativity, love and joy.

God for the first time was arrayed in visible attire when, in the creation of the world, he displayed those glorious banners, on which, to whatever side we turn, we behold his perfections visibly portrayed.^[1]

• 1 Peter 3:3 adornment: κόσμος (that which serves to beautify through decoration)
• Psalm 19:1-2 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
• Romans 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Creation is intended to draw us to consider the Creator. Creation is a window. Though it has been dirtied by sin, it still reflects glorious truths.

Therefore knowing about creation should draw our mind’s attention and heart’s affection beyond creation to God. We should be awed by the mountains and moon, rivers and rain, sun and stars, sky and seas. But even more so, we should be awed by the One Who created those things with a word. Understanding creation should lead us to greater worship.

The essentials:

• Creation out of nothing
• special creation of mankind
• original goodness of creation

Peripheral:

• six literal 24 hour days or six distinct periods of time (the word yom is flexible. You can be a God-centered, conservative, Bible-believing, gospel-focused Christian and believe either way. Too often fundamentalists have acted like the 24 hour period is the Christian belief and everything else is mere liberalism. That just is not true.)

We are also not going to discuss evolution. There is a brief article on the website that lists some helpful resources on that topic if you are interested.

Discussion:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Who is the subject of the verse? What did the subject do? When did He do it?

Subject:

God is the subject of creation. We find out from verse two that the Spirit was there. And John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16 confirm that the Son was active as well. So, when we think about creation, we do so in a Trinitarian mindset. Father, Son, and Spirit each had unique and complementary roles in the work of creation. God the Father creates through the Son and by the Spirit.

Verb:

God is the subject. What is the verb? Created. God didn’t just see the beginning, He caused it.

Object:

What did He create? The heavens and the earth. This is called a “merism” which is a poetic figure of speech in which parts represent the whole. Similar to “searched high and low” which means, “searched everywhere.” Heavens and earth are a poetic reference to the totality of creation.

I find it interesting that the word “heavens” is plural in the Hebrew. If you read through the first chapter of Genesis, you will see many uses of the word “heavens.” There seems to be three different uses in the chapter. First, is a reference to what we would call the sky. Second, is a reference to what we would call space. Third, is a reference to what we would call “heaven.” By the way, not all scholars agree on this (or anything for that matter), but I think this is what Paul means in 2 Corinthians 12 when he speaks about being taken up into the third heaven. Anyway, if God created the heavens, the sky, outer space, and heaven, then it appears as though there is nothing He did not create.

When:

Beginning. Of what? Anything other than God.

Creation is not eternal. We are not dualists who believe that God and creation have existed simultaneously throughout eternity. God has always existed. Creation had a beginning.

Means:

How? Through His word. Later, “God said.” We already spoke about the Trinitarian implications, but I think it is interesting that Jesus is called the word and both the Greek and Hebrew words for Spirit can be translated as breath. God speaks. God breathes. And the heavens and earth are created. Some have said that God was both a prophet speaking and a poet singing creation into existence.

Distinction:

We have a number of various ANE creation accounts, but the biblical cosmology is distinct. Genesis distinguishes YHWH from Baal and other ANE gods in its insistence on the distinction between Creator and creation. God did not form out of preexisting materials, nor out of His own substance. Rather, He spoke into being that which did not exist.

Creation out of Nothing: Ex Nihilo

“before God began to create the universe, nothing else existed except God himself.”^[2]

Romans 4:17 calls into existence the things which do not exist (calls being that which is not being)

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

The author of Hebrews is not stating that God created out of some sort of invisible materials. He is instead pointing to the idea of an ex nihilo creation.

I would also like to point out the critical word “faith” which is the topic of the entire context of Hebrews 11. We trust these things. Not necessarily blindly, but also not needing proof beyond the Spirit testifying through the Scriptures.

We believe in creation ex nihilo “before God began to create the universe, nothing else existed except God himself”

Philosophical and Theological Dangers:

Spectrum Representing Views on the Relationship between Creator and Creation

(Transcendence)                                                           (Immanence)

<—————————————————————————————>

Materialism                  Deism                   Christianity                      Pantheism

By declaring belief in God, we have already been rescued from one philosophical error, that of materialism or naturalism (politically: Marxism). Matter/nature is all there is. There is no God, no spiritual realm, etc.

If we add to this belief in God an acknowledgement that there was a beginning point of creation and the fact that God’s original creation was good and only subsequent to creation was evil introduced, we have also rejected dualism. When you think of dualism, you can think of Star Wars. The force has both a good and a dark side and these balance each other out. God, however, has no dark side and is never balanced out.

We have rejected materialism and dualism, but there are still two other beliefs which we should examine: pantheism and deism.

Pantheism:

As said before, that which distinguished the Jewish cosmology from other cosmologies was the insistence that Creator was distinct from creation. The melding together of God and the universe was not confined to the early centuries B.C. Rather, it exists today in many forms of animism and new age spirituality. It is called pantheism which literally means “all is God.” This theology states that everything is God or that everything is a part of God. Thus there are videos on youtube of men and women gathered around stumps in the forest and crying out that “god” has been killed.

We must maintain the distinction between Creator and creation. This stage is not God. It is not a god. It is not part of a or the God. It is a stage and was made out of wood and stone which are not God nor a part of God. There must be a distinction.

Deism:

Some people, however, take this distinction and imply that God is therefore distant from His creation. This is called deism and was the theological conviction of many, especially around the time of the founding of this nation. Deism views God as a divine clockmaker. He created the world like a giant clock, He wound it up and is just letting it slowly unwind while He sits back and watches.

Colossians 1:17 “in him all things hold together” (perfect tense)

Hebrews 1:3 “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (universe: “all”)

Transcendence and Immanence:

Transcendence (deism affirms, pantheism rejects) and Immanence (pantheism affirms, deism rejects): Creation is distinct and yet dependent upon Creator.

Discussion: What are the implications for understanding that all of creation was created, that God is the Creator, and that creation is distinct from and yet dependent upon God?

Implications:

• God did not create the world out of some deficiency in Himself

He created it to display His glory (Psalm 19), display His love (Psalm 136 – note the repetition of the proclamation of the steadfast love of the Lord in creation and redemption [the exodus narrative]), display other attributes (Romans 1), as a people and praise for His Son, etc.

This should humble us. As Psalm 144 says, who are we that God would consider us at all, much less set His love upon us. We are dust and vapor. And yet He loves us and redeems us from our slavery.

• God is in no way dependent upon His creations

He is not served by us like the ANE gods were served by their worshippers. The polemic against Canaanites gods was that they couldn’t do anything. They had mouths, but couldn’t speak, feet, but couldn’t walk, etc.

• Psalm 50:9-12 I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.
• Acts 17:24-25 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

• God has ownership over all things

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

• God has absolute rights over creation and can do whatever He wants with what He has made

• Isaiah 45:9-12 Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”  Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: “Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
• Psalm 115:3 Our God is in the heavens, He does all that He pleases.
• Psalm 135:6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

• God is alone worthy of all glory and honor and splendor and delight

Revelation 4:11 Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.

Which leads us back to where we began. This should cause us to consider our Creator and to respond to Him in awe and reverence.

You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you. (Augustine, The Confessions)

Helpful resource:

http://theresurgence.com/mark_driscoll_2006-06_answers_to_common_questions_about_creation

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^[1]Jean Calvin and Henry Beveridge, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Translation of: Institutio Christianae Religionis.; Reprint, With New Introd. Originally Published: Edinburgh : Calvin Translation Society, 1845-1846. (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), I, v, 1.

^[2]Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology : An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 1994), 262.