The Creation
From the Series—Creed
April 2, 2004This evotional continues our Creed series.
I think twenty-first century Christians living in the western world have overlooked and underappreciated creation. Brian McLaren says, “Modern men and women have lost their connection with creation. We’re always insulated from it by shoe leather, cotton-polyester, glass, metal, plastic, HVAC, and screens of many kinds.” Gary Thomas pushes the envelope even further. “If we don’t appreciate the out-of-doors, then maybe we don’t appreciate the Creator.”
Last week I was on a flight from Arizona to DC. I probably spent more time looking out the window on that flight that I have in years. I’ve never been to Arizona so I was amazed by the azure sky and multifarious cacti. I got some postcards for my kids with pictures of Camelback and Superstition Mountains—majestic mountain formations. Psalm 65:5 says, “You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness.” And I’m not sure we’d fill-in-the-blank with the next verse. We’d don’t typically associate mountains and righteousness, but the Psalmist says, “You formed the mountains by your power.”
I did a little reading and a little sleeping. Then we got about 180 miles out from BWI airport and I looked out the window. We were flying over cloud cover. The billows were absolutely breathtaking. And I had this thought: we take airplanes for granted, but no one in the history of humankind had ever seen what I saw until less than a hundred years ago. Job 37:15 says, “Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge.”
Romans 1:20 says, “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”
Here’s the bottom line: Creation reveals the personality of the Creator just as art reveals an artist or music reveals a musician.
In the Beginning
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good.”
If there is any passage in Scripture that is understated it has to be Genesis 1:1. It has such infinite implications, yet it is stated in such simplistic terms. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
We take those words for granted, but prior to the 20 th century, some of the leading scientific minds didn’t believe in a beginning. They held to what was known as the steady state theory. It wasn’t until a series of scientific discoveries by the likes of Christian Doppler and Richard Tolman and Edwin Hubble that scientists came to the conclusion that the universe is actually expanding. There was actually some resistance to the idea. Stephen Hawking says, “Many people do no like the idea that time has a beginning probably because it smacks of divine intervention.”
I don’t think you can prove or disprove Creation. I think it is something that has to be accepted by faith. Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command.” So creation is an article of faith. The Nicene Creed says, “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. Through him all things were made. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” Creation isn’t something you can prove or disprove. It is something we believe by faith. But that certainly doesn’t mean it’s illogical or irrational. I think it’s super-logical and super-rational. Let me try to explain it this way.
The most complicated clock in the world is the Jens Olsen astronomical clock in Copenhagen, Denmark. The clock took more than 40 years to build at a cost of more than $1 million dollars. It has 10 faces and 15,000 parts. The clock computes the time of day, the days of the week, the months and years and the movements of the planets for 2500 years and is accurate to 2/5th of a second every 300 years. What’s even more amazing is that some of the 15,000 parts in the clock will not move for 25 centuries. Now let me ask you a question.
If a tourist were taking a tour of Copenhagen and asked the tour guide who made the clock and the tour guide told him that nobody made the clock. In fact, about 40 years ago there was an explosion—a big bang in Copenhagen. And all of a sudden the 15,000 parts that makeup the clock starting working together in perfect synchronization. Would any logical person believe him? Or course not. Why? Because as human beings we have the ability to recognize something that is the result of intelligent design.
Consider a few of these facts.
The sun is 93 million miles away. That is an astronomical distance, yet astronomers estimate that if the earth were 1% closer to or further away from the sun we would burn or freeze. There is no margin for error!
The atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, with traces of carbon dioxide, argon, hydrogen, helium, and other gases. There is an incredible atmospheric balance maintained as humans inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide and plants convert carbon dioxide to oxygen. If our atmosphere was 25% oxygen the entire planet would be highly flammable. According to meteorologists, the probability of a forest fire being ignited by lighting increases by 70% for every 1 percent increase in the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere. There is no margin for error!
Not only are we traveling through space at the speed of 66,000 mph, our planet is rotating at approximately 1,000 mph so we make one full rotation every twenty-four hours. If the earth rotated too slow, one side or our planet would be barren desert and the other side frozen tundra. If the rotation was too fast, the winds would be unbearable. Jupiter, for instance, rotates once every 10 hours and has winds in excess of 1000 mph—everyday is a bad hair day on Jupiter. There is no margin for error!
Our planet is perfectly synchronized to sustain human life. The question is this: is that the result of random chance or intelligent design?
Astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle said in an address to the British Academy of Science, “Let’s be scientifically honest. The probability of life arising to greater and greater complexity by chance through evolution is the same probability as having a tornado tear through a junkyard and form a Boeing 747 jetliner.” He calculated the chances of life being the result of random chance as being 1 in 10 40,000.
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling good if I call heads or tails and get it right. That is a 1 in 2 chance. 1 in 10 40,000 is virtually incalculable.
The 2nd law of thermodynamics states that all matter, if left to its own devices, will move toward chaos or disorder. In other words, some assembly is required. Junkyards don’t become jetliners!
Does it take faith to believe God created the universe? Absolutely! But in all fairness, it takes faith to believe in evolution by random chance.
Chaos
Genesis 1:2 says the earth was “formless and void.” The theological term is ex nihilo. God creates “out of nothing.”
A few years ago I heard about a musician named John Cage who is famous for his composition 4’33”. It is four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence—in three movements! The pianist sits facing the keys and does nothing for four minutes and thirty-three seconds.
By the way, his friend the painter Robert Rauschenberg was so inspired that he did a series of painting—blank white canvasses.
You can call that music and art if you want to, but in my humble non-musical and non-artistic opinion, that seems like making nothing out of nothing. And as human beings we’re pretty good at making nothing out of nothing. Some of us are even good at making nothing out of something . But what makes God unique is His ability to make something out of nothing. And that is what He does in Genesis 1:2. He creates ex nihilo—out of nothing.
John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
I love what Dallas Willard says in The Divine Conspiracy. “Today we think people are smart who make light bulbs and computer chips and rockets out of ‘stuff ’ already provided! He made ‘the stuff’!”
Did you know that astronomers estimate the existence of approximately eighty billion galaxies? That is more than ten galaxies per person! And God started with nothing. Think about the infinite beauty. And God started with nothing. Think about the different colors and scents. And God started with nothing. Creation is God’s way of saying, “Look what I can do with nothing.”
Think about the implications: if God can create the universe out of nothing, imagine what He can do with your life. If he can turn silence into a symphony of music and if he can turn darkness into a rainbow of colors, then imagine what he can do with your life. If He can speak the universe into existence, then is there anything He can’t do?
I think creation puts our problems in perspective. In the opening sequence of Lawrence Kasden’s Grand Canyon, a tow-truck operator named Simon talks about the significance of the Grand Canyon for him. “The thing that got me was sitting on the edge of that big old thing…those rocks and those cliffs…they’re so old…And one of us? That’s a piece of time too small to give a name…Those rocks are laughing at me, I can tell. Me and my worries.”
I Corinthians 1:26 says, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him.”
God loves making something out of nothing! That is how He glorifies Himself. He loves turning nobodies into somebodies. Martin Luther said, “God created the world out of nothing. As long as you are not yet nothing God cannot make something out of you.”
The Miracle of Sound
“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
The word “said” is the Hebrew word amar which can be translated “to challenge.” God challenges the silence and the darkness. He says, “Let there be light.” And the first sound waves begin their journey through the universe.
I think it’s tough for us to even begin to comprehend this kind of creative power—the power of speak things into existence.
One of the most frustrating things about parenting is having to repeat yourself over and over and over again. It can drive you crazy. Whisper “candy” from 100 yards away, and the kids will come running! But sometimes it’s like pulling teeth to get kids to do something they don’t want to do. “Don’t make me tell you again,” “If I have to tell you one more time,” “I just told you,” “What did I just say,” “I’m not telling you again.” Sometimes our words are so impotent that it is tough to imagine the power of God’s voice.
Vocal Range
The word “Word” in John 1 is the Greek word logos and it is one of those kaleidoscopic words in Scripture. It means language—the expression of an idea. It means logic or reason. It means revelation—the sum total of everything God has ever said. And it means power. Ancient philosophers used the word logos to refer to the force that structured the universe.
When we hear the word “Word” we tend to think of linguistics, but if you really want to understand the word you need to think in terms of physics. I think we sometimes forget that sound is first and foremost a form of energy.
Scientifically speaking, the human voice is simply sound waves with different frequencies traveling through space at 1,100 feet per second. The average male speaks at a frequency of about 100 hertz and the average female has a higher pitched voice at about 150 hertz. You’ve got your Barry Whites and Whitney Houstons who have lower and higher voices, but the vocal range for humans is between 55 and 880 hertz. Our voices don’t go any lower than 55 hertz or any higher than 880 hertz. That’s our vocal range.
Our voices are pretty much good for one thing. We use our voices—whether we’re singing or speaking, whispering or yelling—to communicate. We have slightly different pitches and volumes and tones, but we’re all doing the same thing. We’re using sound waves to express ideas. So when we talk about “sound” or “words” or “voice” we tend to think in that range between 55 and 880 hertz. But God doesn’t just use his voice to say stuff! God uses his voice to create stuff!
Psalm 33:6 says it this way. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made. He spoke and it came to be.” Matthew Fox says the “word” “does not mean ‘word’ as understood linguistically, but rather an irresistible creative energy exploding into voluptuous and prodigious creativity.” If you want to understand the voice of the Lord you need to understand the physics of sound.
The human vocal range is between 55 and 880 hertz. Our hearing range is between 20 and 20,000 hertz. Anything below 20 hertz is inaudible and is called infrasound. Anything above 20,000 hertz is inaudible and is called ultrasound. When sound gets outside that range between 20 and 20,000 hertz it can do some amazing things!
Infrasound—sound waves below 20 hertz—have the power to cause headaches and earthquakes. According to zoologists, infrasound helps elephants predict changes in weather and helps birds navigate as they migrate. Infrasound can be used to do everything from locate underground oil to predict volcanic eruptions.
On the other end of the sound spectrum, ultrasound has the power to kill insects, track submarines, break glass, perform non-invasive surgery, topple buildings, clean jewelry, catalyze chemical reactions, heal damaged tissues, pasteurize milk, break up kidney stones, drill through hard materials, photograph unborn babies, and, of course, drive dogs crazy!
I guess what I’m trying to say is that there is a lot more to sound than meets the ear! We tend to think of “words” and “voices” and “sounds” linguistically. And God can speak audibly. But God doesn’t just use words to communicate. He uses words to heal and reveal and create. God’s ability to speak isn’t limited to our ability to hear.
You may say, “I’ve never heard the voice of God.” The truth is that everything around you is an echo of the voice of God. It was once a sound wave. Helmut Thielicke says, “Everything comes from the Lord who utters the majestic ‘Let there be’.”
Here’s an amazing thought. Sound waves never stop traveling. According to physicists, if we had enough high-powered equipment we could capture everything you’ve ever said. Everything you’ve ever said is somewhere in space. But that isn’t my point. According to the Doppler Effect, the universe is still expanding. That means that the original “let there be” is still creating galaxies at the outer edges of the universe!
Word Up
Jesus’ way with words is unparalleled. But Jesus didn’t just use words to communicate. He used words to heal and cast out demons. Matthew 8:16 is a classic example. It says, “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirit with a word and healed all the sick.”
All it took was one word.
There’s another story in Matthew 8. A centurion asks Jesus to go heal his paralyzed servant. Jesus is willing to go, but the centurion replies, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed.”
All it took was one word.
Matthew says that Jesus was astonished. If you “astonish” the Son of God, you’re doing something right! “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” The centurion took Jesus at his word. That is what faith is all about. As the old saying goes, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.”
Here’s a verse to meditate on this week. Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”