Maker Of Heaven And Earth Series

But here in the Creed, I think Father is meant to build on the word “believe” and to make the point that the God in whom we place our trust is a personal God. This is not some objective force in the universe. God has personality and relates to us in the ways that the fathers of antiquity related to their children...they received their shelter and food and clothing as gifts from their father who worked on their behalf; they were carefully trained in the father’s trade and given greater responsibility and freedom as they grew; they were expected to maintain the standards and reputation of the family as set by the father; and, eventually, they would receive the inheritance of all that the father had. “I believe in God the Father.”

Then comes the word “Almighty.” With each word or phrase, the Creed is getting more specific about this very particular God in whom Christians trust. Some came from homes of poor or even enslaved fathers. They weren’t given much and they inherited less. This God is not just any father, but an almighty father. This is a father of prominence and importance.

I’ve told this story before, I think, but I will never forget one day on the bus coming home from Kindergarten. My school was in another town, and so the bus dropped me off where my father worked, which happened to be the local high school, where he was the Vice Principal. On this particular day, some boys on the bus were giving me a hard time and like any self-respecting young girl I responded with “I’m going to tell my daddy!” They didn’t seem to think that my daddy would amount to much, and so I told them that my daddy was the Vice Principal of the high school. They didn’t believe me, however, and decided to get off the bus with me to call my bluff. I walked up to the high school doors and rang the bell, as I always did in those after-school hours. My father answered the door as the boys gathered round. “Aren’t you my daddy?” I asked. “Yes, I am” he said, and those boys took off like someone had lit a fire in their shoes. I believed in my father almighty.

When we talk of God abstractly as “the Almighty,” philosophical types like to raise questions like, “If God can do anything, can God make a rock that God can’t lift?” “Can God make a four-sided triangle?” and other nonsense. To me, the term “almighty” is not a technical description so much as it is an expression of confidence and respect. Certainly God can technically do more than we can even imagine, but if you start getting into creating rocks God can’t move, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. “I believe in God the Father Almighty” is my way of saying “My dad is tops, and if you don’t believe it, just come to the door with me and see.”

As proof of that, God turns out to be not just a high school Vice Principal but the maker of heaven and earth. We have come to a point where we can place our trust in God because the God we proclaim is the one who made the earth and the heavens and everything that is in them, including us. “Maker of heaven and earth” is a very general phrase, but when you think about what it implies about the nature of God, it will blow you away. Our greatest minds are still working on simply discovering the nature of what has been created. We are still working on how the body functions, how the stars and planets operate, and how ecosystems work.