(We opened with a youtube video featuring David Attenborough reciting the words to the famous Louis Armstrong song: “It’s a Wonderful World” for a BBC nature program commercial. It beautifully illustrates the splendor of God’s creation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIEA5sX7W9Q).
We do indeed live in a wonderful world.
ILLUS: In 1968, an Apollo 8 astronaut named Bill Anders took pictures of the earth from his spacecraft that have since become widely published. Looking back on his trip into space, Anders said of our planet:
“It was the only color we could see in the universe”
And there’s a reason for that.
Our world is remarkably designed for life.
ILLUS: Scientists have determined we’re in the “goldilocks” region of our sun. We’re not too far away, not too close… we’re JUST RIGHT. (The “goldilocks” region)
If we were much closer the sun we would be cooked to death. If we were much farther away, we would be frozen solid.
More than that, IF - during its next orbit around the Sun - the Earth were to deviate by only a fraction of an inch every twenty miles or so we would either fry or freeze with a year. That’s how unique and spectacularly privileged our orbit of the sun is. We are in the Goldilocks region of the sun.
In fact, our planet is tilted (with regard to sun) in very a “Goldilocks” kind of way. As the earth revolves around the sun, it does so at a constant 23 degrees on its axis. Because of that “tilt” our planet is able to support far more life than if we were perpendicular.
If the Earth wasn’t tilted, the poles would be colder, the equator would be hotter … and less of the earth’s surface would be livable.
(PAUSE)
Now, some night, look up at the moon.
Our moon seems to be a lifeless dust ball in the sky.
And that’s because it is.
Even though the moon is roughly the same distance from the sun as we are, it’s temperatures range from 214 degrees above zero to 243 degrees below zero.
No life can exist on there.
But if it weren’t for that lifeless moon, our oceans would be dead.
The moon’s magnetic attraction on earth creates the tides on our oceans.
If the moon were much bigger or closer, the ocean tides would overwhelm us with repeated waves the size of tsunamis. If it were much smaller or farther away – tides would be almost nonexistent and life in the oceans would be impossible.
Now those are just a few of the reasons that we live on a wonderful – life filled – world. It’s not too much of one thing, or too little of another. It’s JUST RIGHT.
And there’s a reason for that.
In the beginning - God created the heavens and the earth.
God created our planet to be like nothing else in the universe.
Now, there are people - even scientists - who dispute that.
They claim that the earth didn’t need God to get the job done.
They are driven to explain this world in naturalistic terms. But because God would be a SUPER naturalistic influence – they reject His involvement as being irrational.
So, in place of God, they substitute another force: something they call “The Theory of Evolution.
They believe that the earth is just a chance result of monumental explosion - The Big Bang - and that life itself has evolved from goo to you over a period of millions of years. And they believe this evolution will occur on countless other planets thru out the universe, because (they say) it’s just a scientific fact of life that life evolves from nothing.
Now there’s a problem with that.
NO ONE has ever observed the kind evolution they propose.
No scientist has ever created life in the lab.
And they can’t point to any new life forms in the past few 100 years.
And even in the fossil record, there is absolutely NO evidence of evolution ever taking place where one species evolved into another.
Evolutionists counter that you can’t observe this because it takes millions of years to do this. And they maintain that you’re not likely to see any new form life on earth because life has evolved to a point of perfection that can’t be improved upon.
In other words, Evolutionists have a foolproof theory. It CAN NOT be disproven. There are no criteria by which their theory could ever be disproven. Thus, you couldn’t disprove it if you wanted to. And they don’t want to.
In science, any theory that has NO WAY of being disproved, is inherently false. It’s bad science and it’s a bad scientific theory.
Now this reality has led several ATHEISTS to accept the idea that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
ILLUS: A leading champion of atheism named Antony Flew recently said that an intelligent creator
was the only logical explanation for the origin of life and the complexity of nature.
He said: “DNA has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce life, that intelligence must have been involved”
(Chicago Sun Times, 12/10/04. Also, see my 1/11/05 blog: www.pontiacbible.org/brian).
In other words: The world is just too complex to be understood without God.
There’s a Georgetown professor named Patrick Glynn turned from atheism to a belief in God. He wrote: “Ironically, the picture of the universe given to us by the most advanced 20th century science is closer … to the Book of Genesis than anything offered by science since Copernicus.” (God: The Evidence)
ILLUS: An astronomer named Allan Sandage was an atheist until he was 50. He said he was nagged by mysteries whose answers were not to be found in the stars. One of those mysteries:
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Sandage began to despair of answering that question through reason alone, and so at age 50, he willed himself to accept God.
“It was my science that drove me to the conclusion that the world is much more complicated than can be explained by science. It is only through the supernatural that I can understand the mystery of existence.”
(an article by Sharon Begley in “The Saturday Evening Post” Jan/Feb 1999)
Allan Sandage (and others like him) have had questions that science can’t answer.
But the Bible can:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
If you don’t believe that…
If you don’t believe that God created the heavens and the earth by the power of His Word. THEN you don’t really have any answers to offer this world and you don’t the kind of faith that can change people’s lives.
Hebrews 11:3 tells us that “BY FAITH we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
Then 3 verses later Hebrews says this: “… WITHOUT FAITH it is impossible to please God…” Hebrews 11:6
People who don’t believe God has created this world in 6 days will always be unsure in their faith.
But someone might say “Ah, but Jeff - that 6 day thing - that was just in Genesis 1. That was NEVER meant to be taken literally. Genesis 1 was a kind of poetry. It was never meant to be taken as fact.
Well, no. That’s not true.
In the 10 Commandments God established a six day work week for His people, and commanded that His people were rest on the 7th day: “For IN SIX DAYS the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:11
If (as some suggest) the 6 days of creation were actually representative of millions of years of time, there are lots of folks who are in for a really loooong work week. A literal 6 day period of creation was the example (in the 10 commands) for a literal 6 day workweek.
And in reality why would God need any more time to get the job done?
What possible reason would God need for millions of years to create the world?
Is God just not big enough to do that in 6 days?
My God is.
My God is big enough … that there is NOTHING that He cannot do.
My God is big enough to command something to happen and it’s going to happen
My God is big enough to simply speak… and things come to life.
“By Faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s COMMAND...” Hebrews 11:3
Now this is going to effect how we look at God.
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, so that men are without excuse.”
In other words: How we view God’s creation effects how we view His eternal power & divine nature. If we don’t believe He couldn’t create the world as He said He did then we’re not going to be open to believing in His power or divine nature.
And as Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Viewing the heavens as being God’s handiwork should bring us to our knees in worship.
ILLUS: Sojourner Truth (a black woman who escaped slavery just before the Civil War – and crisscrossed the nations speaking of the evils of slavery) was shaken at one point in her life by what she saw in the heavens. In a biography about her it was said that
“... God revealed himself to her, with all the suddenness of a flash of lightning, showing her, ’in the twinkling of an eye, that he was all over - that he pervaded the universe -’ and that there was no place where God was not.
After the experience, Sojourner remarked, ’Oh God, I did not know you were so big.’”
(In her Autobiography as told to Olive Gilbert)
ILLUS: Abraham Lincoln once said, “I never behold (the heavens filled with stars) that I do not feel I am looking in the face of God. I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up, into the heavens and say there is no God.”
When gazing upon the stars of the heavens even the mightiest come to the conclusion that God is worthy of praise.
Revelation 4:11 describes a scene around the throne of God - and speaks of mighty elders who cast their crowns before His throne and declare "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, FOR YOU CREATED ALL THINGS, and by your will they were created and have their being."
(PAUSE)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
You know, there’s a reason why this is the FIRST verse in our Bible.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” is not just a statement of fact. It’s a declaration of a truth. That truth is that God cares for me.
He cared for me so much that He created an earth that was made for my needs.
Now, when some scientists look at the universe they don’t see that. What they see a planet that is just a speck of dirt. A puny, insignificant clod of dirt in the vast universe. And (as a result) they don’t see us as being that valuable either. They see us as unimportant observers in a greater scheme of the universe.
Arthur C. Clarke who wrote “2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY” had this to say about God:
“If there are any gods whose chief concern is man, they can’t be very important gods.”
But that’s not true.
God, throughout His Bible - repeatedly tells me I am important.
Psalm 121:2 says “My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
That’s saying my since God is powerful enough to make the heavens and the earth the way the Bible says He did, then I can count on Him to always be able to help me.
My God is not only just able – He is willing to help me is because He DOES place such a high value on you and me. God has declared all through the Bible that we are His “chief concern.”
In Psalm 8:3-9 the Psalmist asks:
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
This passage tells me two things:
1st – YES, God does care for me.
Now, it’s an odd thing to be looking up into the heavens and then to believe that God wants to crown me with glory and honor. That God wants to place all of creation under my feet.
But whether it’s odd or not… it’s true.
God MADE us.
And when He made us, he made us to be a little lower than the heavenly beings.
He made us in His image and in His likeness.
He made us to have a purpose in His creation.
He made us in such a way that we would know that we are unique in all of creation.
So, first, Psalm 8 tells me God does care for you and me.
But - 2ndly - Psalm 8 tells me that when God created the universe He was just having a good time. It was finger play for Him
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him…”
God wasn’t even breathing hard when He got done.
He created all the stars and the moon and the sun… and He never broke a sweat.
It was all finger play for Him.
ILLUS: Do you remember when you were little children and they’d have you “paint” using your fingers on a piece of paper. It was fun. And it was enjoyable because we could create something with very little skill being involved. It was “finger play”.
When God created the Universe… it was finger play for Him.
But when God made us His chief concern - when He set in motion His plan to rescue us from our sins - Isaiah says God bared His holy arms:
“The LORD will lay BARE HIS HOLY ARM in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.” Isaiah 52:10
The Psalmist says God was just playing when He created the universe, but - when God sent His Son to die for us… Isaiah says He rolled up His sleeves.
The creation cost God nothing.
Our salvation cost Him everything.
We’re told that as Jesus prepared to face the cross He spent time in intense prayer and in the midst of His prayers He sweated drops of blood.
And as He was being led to His crucifixion, Scripture tells us He was slapped, beaten, and whipped. He had nails driven through His hands and feet into the wood of His cross. And then He was lifted into the air… to hang between heaven and earth for 6 terrible hours until He died.
And when He died on that cross
The earth was shaken
Rocks were rent in two
The sky was darkened
And the curtain the temple of worship was torn.
The day that Jesus died on the cross God rolled up His sleeves to change our lives. He paid a terrible price so that our worlds could be changed.
Peter wrote: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. I Peter 1:18-19
God paid a terrible price that our salvation. But as far as He was concerned – as beautiful as this world is - it would never truly be a WONDERFUL world until He had done everything He could do to redeem us.
Because God’s intention was always to give us wonderful world where we would always walk beside Him and receive all the blessings He could give. Compared to that world, the one we inhabit now is just a pale reflection of what He has yet to offer us.
