Chapter 3: God and his Universe
chapter 3
God
and his
universe
As the Creator, God shapes and fashions and brings bare being into form–a form which is truly reflective of the One who fashions it. And when God is finished with this process what he has made speaks of the God who made it.
The Goodness of Creation
Genesis 1 tells us over and over again an important thing about this creation: In verse 4 we read, “And God saw the light, that it was good.” The phrase that it was good is repeated in verses 10, 12, 18, 21 and 25. And verse 31 sums up the whole of God’s judgment: “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” This is not a relative judgment, but a judgment of the holy God who has a character and whose character is the law of the universe. His conclusion: Every step and every sphere of creation, and the whole thing put together–man himself and his total environment, the heavens and the earth–conforms to myself.
Everything at each of the various levels of creation fulfills the purpose of its creation. The machine part of the universe acts with perfect machineness. The animals and the plants act with their animalness and their plantness in perfection. Man stands at his particular level of creation as being in the image of God and having a reference upward rather than downward, and God is able to say that man, too, in his mannishness at this particular point in spacetime history, is equally good: “Man conforms to myself on his level of creation.”
Thus we find a doxology of all creation–everything glorifying God on its own level. The machine as machine praising and glorifying God, the man as a man, and everything in between, doing likewise. Even though many of these beings are not at all conscious of what they are doing, they are speaking for God in all his wonder and glorifying him in fulfilling the purpose for which they were made. There is no sin. Each thing stands in a proper relationship to God and speaks of what God is. And because each thing is functioning in the total context of what God is (God’s being there as the Creator) and because each is functioning perfectly on the level for which it was made, all things are fulfilled on their own level–the machine, the animal, and man himself.
Tillich would tell us that man equals fallen man. But in Genesis the mannishness of man is to be found not in his fallenness, but in the circle in which he was created; it is to be found in his being in the image of God and in relationship to the God who is there. The infinite, triune God himself can look over all that he has created and say, “This is perfect, man is good–body and soul, male and female. The entire man is good. The unity of the individual man is good.” Thus we find here a complete rejection of the common notion that the Fall was sexual in nature, that taking the fruit was actually a reference to the first sexual act. God looks upon man and woman together and says, “All of this is good,” and in Genesis 1:28 he tells them to have children.
As we come to the end of the account of creation, we stand in the place of wonder. Creation is past. And yet that does not mean that God ceases to be able to work into the world that he has made. God is not a prisoner of his own universe. By divine fiat God can change the universe that he has created just as by divine fiat he brought it into existence in the first place. There was, for example, a fiat changing the universe after the Fall of man. And that God can work by fiat into the universe he has made is an important thing for twentieth-century men to comprehend. We will take it up in detail later.
Day
Before we move on there is a point we need to consider. This is the concept of day as related to creation. What does day mean in the days of creation? The answer must be held with some openness. In Genesis 5:2 we read: “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.” As it is clear that Adam and Eve were not created simultaneously, day in Genesis 5:2 does not mean a period of twenty-four hours. In other places in the Old Testament the Hebrew word day refers to an era, just as it often does in English. See, for example, Isaiah 2:11, 12 and 17 for such a usage. The simple fact is that day in Hebrew (just as in English) is used in three separate senses: to mean (1) twenty-four hours, (2) the period of light during the twenty-four hours, and (3) an indeterminate period of time. Therefore, we must leave open the exact length of time indicated by day in Genesis. From the study of the word in Hebrew, it is not clear which way it is to be taken; it could be either way. In the light of the word as used in the Bible and the lack of finality of science concerning the problem of dating, in a sense there is no debate because there are no clearly defined terms upon which to debate.
Creation and the Existence and Character of God
In contrast to all Eastern and most modern theological thinking, Genesis makes plain that the world as we have it is not an extension of the essence of God. The fact of creation prevents this conception. And the whole of the Judeo-Christian tradition rooted in this portion of the Bible and the whole of the Bible itself constantly bears testimony to that idea. The world is not just a dream of God but is really there, separated from God and possessed with an objective reality. But it does speak of what God is. In fact, it speaks loudly and clearly of what God is in four different areas.
First, the external world, even as it stands now since the Fall, speaks of existence itself. As I have pointed out before in reference to Jean Paul Sartre, the basic philosophic problem is that something is there rather than nothing being there. Being exists. Therefore, the first thing that the external, objective world speaks of is the existence of God as truly being. That is, the universe is there, existence is there, God is there.
Second, the universe has order. It is not a chaos. One is able to proceed from the particulars of being to some understanding of its unity. One is able to move ever deeper into the universe and yet never come upon a precipice of incoherence. We find this emphasized in Genesis 1 which points out that God made all these things to produce after their own kind. Here is order. And so it is with the God of Scripture. He is not the philosophic other, nor the impersonal everything, nor that which is chaotic or random. He is a God who is (and I use this word carefully and worshipfully) a reasonable God.
Third, the universe speaks of God’s character. God not only is and is a God of order and of reason, but God is good. He created a universe that is totally good, and, as it originally came from God by fiat, this too speaks of him.
Fourth, the universe speaks of God as a person. When God made man in his own image, he stated something more fully about himself than he has in any other part of the whole scope of the universe. Angels would also speak of this, but the Bible’s emphasis is on man, and it is man that we all know. In the midst of that which is, there is something personal–man. And this gives evidence of the personality of the great Creator of the whole. If God had stopped his creation with the machine or the plant or the animal, there would have been no such testimony. But by making man in his own image, the triune God who communicates and who loves prior to the creation of all else has created something that reflects his personality, his communication and his love. Man can be communicated to by God, because, unlike non-man, man has been made in the image of God. Man is a verbalizing being, and God can communicate to man in verbalization. Man thinks in propositions, and God can communicate to man propositionally in verbalized form.
For example, in Genesis 2:16 we read, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Here we learn that God was in communication with man prior to the time of man’s fall. God was in fellowship, a relationship of love, with man. Notice that this communication is not just a first-order, contentless, existential experience but rather true, propositional communication.
Immediately following Adam and Eve’s decision to eat the fruit, there is a further indication of God’s propositional communication: “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called to Adam and said unto him, Where art thou?” (Gen. 3:8-9). Then, after Adam and Eve answered God’s questions, God spoke to them in a series of great propositional statements. Man stood in communication with God both before and after the Fall.
It is likewise true that men communicate among themselves. Each time one man communicates with another, whether he knows it or not, even if he is the greatest blasphemer that ever lived or the atheist swearing at God, even when he swears, even when he says, “There is no God”–he bears testimony to what God is. God has left himself a witness that cannot be removed.
The universe, therefore, speaks of Being existing. It speaks of order and reason. It speaks of a good and reasonable God, and it speaks of a personal God.
The end of man is to stand as a finite, personal being in personal relationship with the infinite, personal God who is there. When we hear the first command of Christ to love God with all our heart and soul and mind, we are not faced with just an abstract duty–a devotional exercise separated from all that is reasonable. Rather we have an infinite reference point that gives meaning to all of our finite reference points. This infinite reference point not only exists, but is personal and can communicate with us and we with him, an infinite reference point whom we may love.
This is the purpose of man: to love God on a personal not a machine level. Other things in the universe are properly on a machine level: the hydrogen atom is a machine. The star system is a machine. Their relationship to God is mechanical. But any time we come to a service and sing the doxology mechanically, we have made a mistake: We are not praising God on the level of who we are.
Of course, man is called upon not just to love God but also to love other men. And suddenly, in this setting, this kind of love becomes a sensible statement. Even the unbelieving man or the blasphemer who falls in love testifies, whether he knows it or not, to the fact of what God is. As bare being exhibits the existence of God, as an originally good universe exhibits the moral goodness of God, so the communication of man to man, and one man’s loving another (whether in a man-woman sexual relationship or in the relationship of friendship), testify to what is.
God can say, “Do you want to know something of what I am like? Look at creation as I made it.” The universe is not an extension of the essence of God, but in all its parts it does speak of him.
The man-woman relationship is no longer a mockery, or a curse, as it often is for modern man. We know that God did not make man as an individual to stand alone for very long, only being able to love God. For while loving God was the purpose of his creation, God quickly gave him a counterpart–like himself, yet different–that immediately opened up love and communication on man’s own level. Therefore, each time we see a truly loving man-woman relationship or a truly loving friend relationship, while these things have great value in themselves, yet we see something more than just mannishness loving mannishness. Each of these at the same time stands as a testimony of who God is.
This is a testimony even after the Fall, as we read in Romans 1:19-20: “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.” The point here is that “from the creation” (since the moment of creation) the things that God has made are a testimony to his being, to his goodness and to his personality.
Creation at Peace with Itself
When God made creation, creation was at peace with itself. Genesis 1:29-30 might indicate that the food of both men and beasts included only vegetable life. This is not explicitly stated here but it might be implied. A change in man’s relationship to the rest of creation may be indicated when God spoke to Noah, instituting another set of covenants and bringing about a change in the flow of history: “Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things” (Gen. 9:3). God may be saying something like this: “Previously I gave you all the green plants for food, but now every living thing is yours to eat as well.” God does say, “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand they are delivered” (Gen. 9:2). The full implications are not clear, but considering the restoration of creation, it is clear that at creation, creation was at peace with itself. This does not necessarily mean that trees or even fish or animals might not have died of old age, but rather that there would have been no fear of non-being (such as man has) and no fear of violence.
For completeness, we must consider the possibility that perhaps Satan’s rebellion had already brought fear and violence into the world prior to man’s revolt. This cannot be related to anything the Bible explicitly says, but neither is it excluded as a possibility. This, of course, was C. S. Lewis’s view. John 12:31; 14:30 and 16:11 do speak of Satan as the prince of this world. Perhaps he was the prince of this world prior to man’s revolt or even prior to man’s creation, and not just after man’s fall. In Isaiah 14:12-17 (which I do think refers to the fall of Satan) verses 16 and 17 would fit into this concept. In other words it would have been Satan in his primal revolt who brought fear and violence into the world of non-man and thus introduced abnormality. Two facts we do have: (1) This would have occurred after the original creation out of nothing and (2) Satan did revolt before the revolt of man.
History Is Going Someplace
History is not just static as some existentialists or Eastern thinkers would tell us. History is really going someplace. Just as there is a beginning (from a creation ex nihilo), history flows and goes on into the future. Scripture also indicates that a time will come when creation is returned to peace with itself. Romans 8:21-23 says, “. . . the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, the redemption of our body” (ASV). Verse 20 has already indicated that the creation was not always this way. And there is coming a day when the creation will be restored. It is the same time when the bodies of the Christians will be resurrected.
The phrase in verse 23 indicating that we are yet today waiting for the adoption is interesting. In one sense, a Christian is already adopted (this is considered in the first part of Romans 8), for the Christian having accepted Christ as his Savior has already had his guilt removed, has been justified and is now the child of God. Nevertheless, we wait for an adoption that does not come until the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of our bodies. This full adoption which involves the change in the external world of ourselves (the redemption of our bodies) is associated in verse 23 with the redemption of the whole of creation. Notice too that everyone and everything is in this: “The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together.” We are all caught. Things are not what they were, but they will be at the time when Christ comes back and our bodies are raised.
We have, I believe, a description of this period in Isaiah 11:6-9: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.” This passage does not speak of a psychological change in man’s view of nature, but an objective change in the external world.
There is, of course, some difference among Christians as to just what period of time this refers to. There are two possibilities. One is that there is a millenium in which Christ reigns on earth for a thousand years before eternity. This is the opinion that I hold. Some Christians think that these passages refer to eternity. Nonetheless, whether they refer to eternity or to a millenial reign of Christ, it makes no difference to our point here: The creation which God made was at peace with itself and will eventually be restored to peace with itself. In other words, there will come a time when all creation once more speaks, not only of the existence of God and his personality, but also of the goodness of God as the original creation exhibited that goodness.
There is, therefore, in Judeo-Christian thinking in contrast to modern thinking a flow of history–an absolute beginning and an end of the present era of history.
Just as the world was “subjected to vanity” when man fell, so when man is fully restored in the future on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, creation will be restored on the same basis. Every restoration rests upon the finished work of Christ. This includes (1) the restoration that opens the way for the sinner to come back to God, be justified, be counted a child of God, be given purpose in the present life and put into communication with God now, (2) the future restoration in which the Christian’s body will be changed at the second coming of Christ and (3) the restoration of all things to the character of the original creation.
Therefore, we read in Revelation 4:11: “Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were [existed], and were created” (ASV). So, as we have pointed out, we first praise God because he is the Creator of all things. But surely there is something wrong with the world we are confronted with now. Whether we look at ordinary modern man or the tortured works of modern artists or the world around us, there seems to be a flaw. And indeed the flaw is in man, but it is also in the world around us which is not at peace with itself. The testimony of creation as to the existence and personality of God still stands in the objective universe and in man as man. But as we look out over things and see the sin of man and the creation itself at war with itself, we are left with a problem. As the world now is, its testimony to the goodness of God is not clear. The fifth chapter of Revelation points out what is needed and stands in unity with the statement concerning the original creation in Revelation 4:11. Redemption is the key. It is the Lamb of God who is able, when nothing else in heaven above or earth beneath or under the earth–in other words nothing in creation itself–is able to bring the needed change. The solution was Christ’s redemptive work in history, in space and in time, as the Lamb of God.
We are therefore told in Revelation 5:9-11 that man sings to the Lamb of God because man is redeemed: “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood men out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” The same structure is evident in verses 12-14: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain [notice this is the past tense because it is past history] to receive the power, and the riches, and the wisdom, and the strength, and the honour, and the glory, and the blessing.” Following this verse comes something that is surely related to what we have seen in Romans 8 as to what will happen in the future: “And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped” (Rev. 5:13-14–ASV). They worship. They adore. Because at that time in the future all will have come to rest and will be in its place on the basis of Christ’s redemptive work as he died on the cross.
Other portions of Scripture implicitly (not explicitly) support this. The ark, for example, not only carried Noah but also the animals. The covenant with Noah in Genesis 9:12-13 and 16 includes not only men, but also every living creature and “the earth.” The blood of the Passover in Israel covered not only the firstborn of the Jews but the firstborn of their beasts.
There is to be one great paean of praise to redemption–a redemption that will include not just man but the whole of creation, a time when creation will again speak of the great facts of which it spoke originally. Its existence shows the existence of the God who is. The mannishness of man says God is personal. And all creation will say, “God is good.”