The Most Astounding truth ever made known by revelation
Genesis 1: 1
“Genesis” means “beginning” or “origin.” Thus, the book of Genesis is the book which tells about the beginning of all things. In Genesis we learn that God was “in the beginning” (1:1). He existed before all things for He is the Creator of all things.
Some of the “beginnings” recorded in Genesis are: (1) the heavens and the earth; (2) all plant, animal, and human life; (3) all races, nations, and languages; (4) agriculture, music, arts and crafts; (5) marriage and the family. The beginning of God’s plan to save man is also recorded in Genesis. This plan includes the beginning of (1) sin; (2) sacrifice; (3) prophecies of the coming Savior; (4) the nation through which the Savior would come; (5) the tribe from which the Savior would come.
Book of Genesis opens with the greatest material fact in our life today --Unbelievable and Amazing Facts about Space, Planets and Universe that we live in! We become aware of this when we step out under the stars at night and look up. Even the most ignorant of us ponders what the countless star out there --, these brilliant lights in the heavens. We wonder at the movement of the heavenly bodies. Man has stood and gazed in awe and wonderment at this sight for centuries. At last we have begun to probe out into the universe around us and have discovered that we live in a great galaxy, a diffuse body of stars and planets -- millions of them. Our own galaxy is three hundred thousand light years across and it's just the home base of us in the universe. First base is out yonder and center field is WAY out. In this great ball park, we know of over a million bases out there, galaxies like ours. Our minds begin to blow a fuse when we start thinking like that, yet Scripture opens with this -- right on that very note. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" -- and man. That is the story of the beginning -- of Genesis.
Genesis is not only a history. Obviously it would have little significance to us if it were only that. But the book of Genesis is one with a tremendous message which can be declared in one statement. It reveals to us the inadequacy of man without God. That is the whole purpose of the book, and, as such, it strikes the keynote of all subsequent revelation of God. It reveals that man can never be complete without God, that he can never discover or fulfill the true meaning of life without a genuine personal relationship with an indwelling God.
Now this inadequacy is revealed to us in three realms, realms in which each of us live. First it is revealed in the realm of natural relationships, through what we call the natural sciences: cosmology, the study of the universe, its origin and make-up; then geology, about the earth, all the manifold aspects of it that we think we know so much of today; and biology, the study of life itself in all its manifestations. These natural relationships circumscribe our contact with the physical world around us. The second area is the realm of human relationships. This takes in what we call sociology, psychology, psychiatry, along with all the other "psychs”. Finally, it is revealed in the realm of spiritual relationships, such as theology, soteriology and philosophy. In all three of these vital areas, including many of the particulars with which we are concerned, the book of Genesis reveals that man apart from God is totally inadequate. This one message echoes throughout the book like the sound of a bell.
Let us begin where the Bible begins, at the only place to begin, in order to understand the world in which we live and the life we live within it. The God of the Bible is the Creator of the universe -- a transcendent, all-knowing, all-powerful being who has always existed and is the sustainer of all things. He says, "It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens." "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me." (Isaiah 45:12, 46:9) "I am...who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."Because God is infinite, He is also said to be transcendent, which simply means that God is exceedingly far above creation and is both greater than creation and independent of it. What this means is that God is so infinitely above and beyond us and our ability to fully comprehend that, had He not revealed Himself, we would not know or understand what He is like. But, thankfully, God has not left us ignorant about Himself. Instead, He has revealed Himself to us through both general revelation (creation and our conscience) and special revelation (the written Word of God, the Bible, and the living Word of God, and the incarnation of Jesus Christ). Therefore, we can know God, and we can know how to be reconciled to Him and how to live according to His will. Despite the fact that we are finite and God is infinite, we can know and understand God as He has revealed Himself to us.
Let us reflect on the awesome beauty and depth of the first statement.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”(Genesis 1:1)
This first verse of the Bible is saying, "The beginning of time and space and matter came about in this way, God created the heavens and the earth." That has been called one of the most philosophical statements ever made in the hearing of men. It gathers up in ten English words (seven in Hebrew) the answers to the fundamental questions which every person faces when he really begins to think seriously about his life and the universe in which he lives. First, we ask ourselves, where did creation come from? What is the world made of? And what holds it together? What are the main elements of the universe? Was creation planned or accidental? If planned, why? Who is responsible for creation?" Driven by a passionate inquisitiveness, man has been attempting to answer those questions ever since he first appeared on earth. He seeks to explore the universe and the world in which he lives. What do you see around you? You see two great classes of things -- the heavens and the earth.
This verse also tells us that God was acting before time when He created the universe. Many other verses from the New Testament tell us that God was acting before time began, and so, He created time, along with the other dimensions of our universe: We are told nothing about the origin of our God. The living God is without beginning or end of days; he is from eternity to eternity. He himself had no cause; and he has no external life-support system; he is self-sufficient. You notice that there is no family tree, no divine genealogies, spelled out in the first chapter of Genesis. “God of the Bible is the eternal self-existent one, before everything else there was God. He was the God who had made men in his image and likeness; The Bible affirms that the world has not always been here. Things are not "as they always have been". Scientists who understand things like the Law of Thermodynamics will tell you that this law shows that there was a beginning to the world as we know it. Though the world had a beginning, God has always existed. He was there before the beginning began. God is the uncaused cause, the one who has always been and always will be. He is the architect of our world and the Creator and the Source of Creation.
There was nothing at all before Genesis chapter one verse one except God. There wasn't even a single proton. A proton is an infinitesimal part of an atom. A proton is so small that in the dot on top of the letter 'i' on your hymnbook could be gathered something like five hundred thousand million protons - just in that dot. Some men imagine a billionth of a proton and then call it a singularity. Now there are those who say that in the beginning that singularity was all there was. There was no space, no darkness, no dimensions. There was no time. There was just this speck in the beginning, and then one day it exploded, so some claim, in a big bang and that made the universe. In that speck was Mozart, and Einstein, and Hitler, and Leonardo da Vinci, and Shakespeare, and Jesus. In that speck was love and patience and forgiveness and hatred. In the beginning was the speck, and today Wales is worshipping that speck, but the Bible says that in the beginning there was nothing whatsoever. There was God alone, and everything that man has discovered, all that is known, and all that is yet unknown, was made by God. No speck is eternal; no speck was there in the beginning, and every speck there is was made by God. Today there is not a single proton in the entire universe that can pipe up and claim, "I at least was not made by God." The Lord God made them all. The Bible has no word for 'universe' or 'cosmos' it simply talks of, "the heavens and the earth" and that embraces all there is everywhere whether you go out and out and out, or down and down and down, or in and in and in. Outer space as well as all that's in this world, everything in heaven itself and everything on, under and above the earth was created by God.
The first verse also begins with the greatest observable fact known to man: the existence of the universe, the heavens and the earth and it links to that the greatest fact made known by revelation: the existence of a God who creates. There is thus brought together in this simple verse at the beginning of the Bible the recognition of the two great sources of human knowledge: nature, which is discoverable by the five senses of our physical life; and revelation, which is discoverable only by a mind and heart illuminated and taught by the Spirit of God. These things "are spiritually discerned," says the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Both of these sources of knowledge (Nature and Revelation) are from God, and each of them is a means of knowing something about God. The scientist who studies nature is searching ultimately for God. One great scientist declared, "I am thinking the thoughts of God after him." That is an excellent way to describe what science basically is doing. Also, those who seek to understand the Bible, to grasp its great themes and to understand the depths that are revealed there, are likewise in search of God. Nature is designed to teach us certain facts about God, but revelation is designed to lead us to the God about whom nature speaks. Therefore the two are complementary. They are not contradictory in any sense, but complete one another.
The main elements of the universe are evident in this phrase, "the heavens and the earth." ' i.e., the planet on which we lives with its relationship to the solar system in which it moves, and beyond that the endless reaches of gigantic space, involving vast galaxies almost unimaginably removed from one another. It was the Bible that first said that the number of the stars is beyond computation. It declares that God "stretched forth the heavens" (Isaiah 51:13) into limitless expanse which can never be measured, and filled it with stars which are as numerous as the sands upon the seashore, (Genesis 22:17). Yet to a primitive observer looking into the heavens, the visible stars are not uncountable. They are a vast number but they do not seem impossible to count. But the Bible flatly states that the number of the stars can be compared, literally, to the number of the grains of sand upon the seashore. Modern science has now established this to be true. Man cannot possibly begin to assess the number of the stars.
Only in the Bible contains scientific facts that pre-date scientific discovery by several thousand years. The following are examples of remarkable statements found in the Bible, now verified by science. It was the Bible that said the earth is hung upon nothing (Job 26:7). In that poetic way it describes the mysterious force of gravity which no one even yet understands but which keeps the earth suspended in its relationship to the sun and the other planets. The earth literally hangs upon nothing. Greek mythology claimed that the god Atlas was holding the earth on his shoulders. But thousands of years ago, Job said, He it is who spreads out the northern skies over emptiness and hangs the earth over nothing.” What a remarkable, yet simple statement of fact. The earth is suspended in space—held up by nothing. How did Job know this scientific fact? The Old Testament prophets wrote as they were moved by the spirit of God. 2 Peter 1:21 says “For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
The fact of the earth was round was also recorded in the Bible about 3000 years ago. The prophet Isaiah 40:22 spoke of the “circle of the earth. “It is God Who sits above the circle (the horizon) of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; it is He Who stretches out the heavens like [gauze] curtains and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,”” Solomon wrote, that God “When He prepared the heavens, I [Wisdom] was there; when He drew a circle upon the face of the deep and stretched out the firmament over it,.” (Proverbs 8:27) Indeed, the Bible declared this fact by inspiration of God.
Ancient people were afraid of the sun, moon and stars. They thought they were alive—that they were animals or gods. Eclipses are an example of what people feared. An eclipse happens when the sun’s light is blocked by the earth or moon. This was frightening to people long ago. Some thought eclipses happened when the moon was mad at the earth and turned its face away. The Chinese believed that an eclipse was caused by a demon or some huge animal that would eat the sun and moon and then would give them up again. But, the God of the Bible, Jehovah, told Jeremiah (10:2): “This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them. ” God then reassured Jeremiah that the planetary bodies were not gods, demons or animals, and that He, the Almighty Creator alone was in control of His universe. Thousands of years before scientists discovered that the planetary bodies were inanimate; the Bible contained this scientific fact.
God is in control and positioned the earth at just the right distance from the sun for perfect temperatures to sustain life. This is unlike the planet Mercury, for example, where temperatures vary from Minus 300 degrees to plus 800 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, our oxygen supply on earth is produced by photosynthesis in green plants generated by the sun. All our food supply is dependent upon the sun. These facts indicate a benevolent Creator who has provided the potential for a perfect Garden of Eden setting when His plan is fully accomplished for man.
Until modern time’s people thought the ocean floor was saucer shaped and sandy. But, over 3,000 years ago the Bible spoke of the valleys and mountains of the sea. In Psalm 18:15 “Then the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were uncovered At Your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.” God asked Job (38:16 NIV): “Have you explored the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?” The prophet Jonah was thrown off a ship and spoke of falling to the bottom of the mountains in the sea. (Jonah 2:6) The Atlantic Ocean contains an undersea range of mountains 10,000 miles long. The Marianas Trench in the Pacific is so deep that if Mt. Everest (29,000 feet high) were dropped into it, the peak would still be a mile below the water’s surface. Thus, the Bible spoke of the valleys and mountains of the sea thousands of years before scientists discovered them.
In the 1800s, Matthew Maury, an officer in the United States Navy, was amazed that Psalm 8:8 spoke of the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas..” Paths of the sea?— he was determined to find them. Maury discovered that the oceans have many paths or currents, which are like rivers flowing through the sea. Maury wrote the first book on oceanography and became known as “the pathfinder of the seas”— “The father of modern navigation.” Maury received his idea about ocean currents from reading psalms written about 3,000 years ago and thus, the Bible led the way to scientific discovery.
The Bible also talks about seasons, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”.” (Genesis 8:22) Job also stated (28:26): “When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters, when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it.” Centuries later, scientists began to discern the rules for the rain, calling it the water cycle. The sun evaporates water from the ocean, which then rises to become clouds, then falls back to earth as rain and collects in streams and rivers, finally making its way back to the ocean. That process repeats itself again and again. About 300 years ago, Galileo discovered this cycle. But amazingly the Scriptures described this cycle centuries before. The prophet Amos (9:6) wrote that “It is He Who builds His upper chambers in the heavens and Who founds His vault over the earth, Who calls to the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth--The Lord is His name..” How did Amos know this? Actually, scientists are just beginning to fully understand God’s decrees or rules for the rain.
It is difficult to wrap our minds around the concept of infinite space and one Supreme Being who created all things. Well has the Psalmist said, in consideration of the immensity and the minutiae of God’s providence over all his works—“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:6-7) No, we cannot; but Oh, what a awe-inspiring sense of mingled reverence, love and adoration fills the heart, when thus we catch a glimpse of the intellectual and moral glory and majesty of our God!Men have always been seeking to understand the mysteries of the universe, but most have never looked beyond their own pride or superstition. Indeed, the “wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.” (1 Corinthians 3:19) When men become humble before their God, when they see their own littleness, only then will they begin to realize that their benevolent Creator has prepared the Heavens and the Earth for them, and that He has also planned for mankind’s ultimate blessing throughout eternity. In God’s due time, the mysteries of His vast universe will be open to explore and understand. “
This vast cosmos is just one aspect of our Creator’s grand design. As scientists explore the microcosm of the human cell, they are discovering amazing revelations in a world called DNA—deoxyribonucleic acid. It has been determined that the amount of information in human DNA is roughly equivalent to twelve sets of The Encyclopedia Britannica—equal to 384 volumes of information. The actual size of a DNA strand is only two millionths of a millimeter thick. (Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, ‘96, p. 334) Viewed through the primitive microscopes of Darwin’s day, life was an uncomplicated cell of protoplasm—a virtual blob of jelly.
But, now, end-time discoveries have shown an amazing universe of complexity and activity within the living cell. Scientists who were so sure of the evolutionary theory are now beginning to accept the concept of what they term intelligent design. As Bible says “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.…” Psalm 139:13-14.
How did it all begin?
The question of how is the question, primarily, which occupies science. The origin of life on planet Earth has long baffled the scientific community. Although many theories have been proposed, there is no consensus as to how life first originated on the Earth. The natural processes that scientists have theorized to explain the origin of life are far too complex to be explained here. But from a Biblical perspective all of these theories contradict the Genesis. If life can only propagate "according to their kinds" as proclaimed by the Bible, it would be unacceptable to embrace the concept of life arising from non-living matter. Even if the change occurring within each individual step of the transformation was so minuscule and so gradual that such steps could be argued as acceptable Biblical propagations, the overall transformation from lifeless matter to living creatures over time cannot be accepted.
We are seemingly in a contradiction between the Bible's claims and the theories of science. Science proclaims that life originated on our world through natural processes; the Bible declares that life can only originate from God. Although the contradiction between the two cannot be bridged by any other acceptable translation of the Creation Story, it must be noted that no scientific theory on the origin of life has proven conclusive, nor has any been accepted as a standard model. Until such a natural process is proven conclusively, or at the very least, survives the scrutiny of the scientific method, we cannot reject a divine origin of life either. It is possible that the essential missing pieces of the natural-process puzzle are lost forever because they are of divine origin. It is logically acceptable to believe that only the God of the Bible is capable of creating life. Question about origin of life answered in the first verse of the Bible. We have not only the wonder of the universe, but the mystery of its origin is also disclosed. "God created everything”.
When did it all begin?
Another fundamental question, relating to the great mystery of time, is closely tied to the question "When did it all begin?" Bible says, "In the beginning," (Genesis 1:1). What a wonderful answer! We humans seem to be fascinated by this question of "When?" We are always asking one another, "How old are you? If we are denied an answer we become highly curious. So it is with this question of the age of the universe. On the basis of certain Biblical statements it is even printed in some books that the creation originated in 4004 B.C. But, the fact is, the Bible does not say anything about the age of the earth. It simply makes no comment. In fact, Bishop Ussher, who is responsible for that figure, was an Irishman who lived in the 17th century determined the date of the universe creation to be 4004 B.C. by adding up the ages of all the people in the Old Testament. By coincidence or not, that date corresponds closely to the end of the last ice age, after which modern civilization began to appear. Then, the views on the origin of the universe were forced to change dramatically in 1929, when Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe was expanding. The observations of the universe conflicted with the notions that the universe remained in a static state. Galaxies were discovered to be moving away from each other and from the earth. Their rate of recession implied that the expansion of the universe started less than 20 billion years ago. Observational evidence suggested the universe was neither static and unchanging, nor 6000 years in age. Construction of new theories on the creation of the universe, or modifications of the old ones would be necessary. Mankind moved closer towards comprehending the universe.
The Bible suggests in many places that time is an elusive mystery to man, and modern science is beginning to confirm that. The 90th Psalm says, "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past," (Psalms 90:4). And in Second Peter we read, "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," (2 Peter 3:8).
The Bible puts this whole matter of time and of the age of the earth beyond man's knowledge. Jesus said to his disciples. "It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority," (Acts 1:7). This suggests that all the clocks with which we try to determine age may be really basically wrong, whether they are scientific clocks, or those supposedly derived from History. We do not know, and increasingly we are discovering that we do not know how old the earth is. But that is exactly what the Bible says.
Who is behind all this?
Finally, we come to the great philosophical question, “Who is behind all this?" The Bible answers with but a single word, "God." There you have what is essentially the boundary of life and thought, as far as man is concerned -- God. Man can never escape the thought of God. There has never been a society or civilization discovered on the face of the earth that does not have a concept of God and of worship. Man is a worshiper by nature. He must worship something, and the reason for this is very simple. It is because everything around him and within him speaks of the existence of super personality, a being of great intelligence, power and wisdom who must exist somewhere. Man can never escape that thought.
But who is behind all this? As Paul said to the men of Athens, "The God whom you ignorantly worship, whom you have labeled 'the unknown God,' him we proclaim to you," (Acts 17:23). This is the God whom most of science attempts to eliminate from its planning and its thinking today; whom the vast majority of people take no cognizance of and try to rule out of their lives. The God whom men ignorantly worship, the unknown God, the God whom men will not name and cannot name. "Him," Paul says, "we declare unto you." We know his name. He is Jesus of Nazareth. Bible says “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." (John 1:3). "All things were created by him and through him," (Colossians 1:16). And one day, as Paul writes to the Philippians, all creation and all things within creation shall bow the knee, and shall confess with the tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, (Philippians 2:10-11). Is it not strange that though we cannot feel beyond God, we cannot think beyond God, we cannot move beyond God, and there is no way to eliminate him from our lives -- nevertheless we constantly attempt to live as though he did not exist? He is the greatest fact of all, yet we do not want to acknowledge His presence, we do not want to talk about his work, we take no cognizance of his mind, his thinking, and his wisdom.
Man lives out his days, the Bible says, within the boundaries of God. God stands at the end of every path on which man is, and also at the beginning. As Paul said to the intellectuals on Mars Hill in Athens, "In him we live and move and have our being," (Acts 17:28a). He is the Inescapable One:
The Bible completely avoids the utter ridiculousness of some of the early myths about creation and origin, found in other religions. In this creation account there is nothing that needs to be laid aside as man's knowledge increases. This is true of the entire opening chapter of Genesis -- a most remarkable passage in that respect. Later, the Bible takes these two words, the heavens and the earth, and expands both, disclosing a remarkable knowledge of nature which anticipates by many, many centuries the discoveries of modern science. That is another proof that this book is not of man. It comes through man, but from God.
The Design of Natural world is to point us in to spiritual reality.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (Psalm 19:1)
“The heavens declare the glory of God." The book of nature has three leaves, heaven, earth, and sea, of which heaven is the first and the most glorious, and by its aid we are able to see the beauties of the other two. Any book without its first page would be sadly imperfect, and especially the great Natural Bible, since its first pages, the sun, moon, and stars, supply light to the rest of the volume, and are thus the keys, without which the writing which follows would be dark and undiscerned. Man walking erect was evidently made to scan the skies, and he who begins to read creation by studying the stars begins the book at the right place.
Comparatively little progress has been made in the science of astronomy until the invention and numerous improvements of the telescope. Advancements in mathematics, as well, brought mankind into closer touch with their vast universe. In the past decade, for example, the orbiting Hubble Telescope made an astounding discovery. The telescope was pointed at a very small area of the sky which appeared black and empty. In order to get the deepest probe possible the telescope remained pointed at the exact same spot night after night with its lens wide open to collect enough light to register the deepest expanse of the universe. The exposure lasted 100 hours. Then, in a small point represented by a grain of sand held at arms length, a myriad of galaxies were discovered. Each of these galaxies contained an estimated 100 billion suns. From this and other astounding data, astronomers estimate that throughout the universe there are over 100 billion galaxies containing 100 billion suns each.
The more scientists learn about the immensity of the universe, the more they question, “Where did such a vast amount of energy and matter originate?” Many theories have been expostulated by science—none of which completely satisfy as an answer, for none are provable, and all of these theories require a great deal of faith. The Bible answer is clear, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Indeed, the more one searches the Scriptures, the more one discovers that God has provided ample evidence of the verity of His creative power, which, if reviewed without prejudice, will convince even the skeptic there is an Almighty Creator of this vast universe.
One of the marvels of the Bible is that it uses language that communicates with people of the most primitive and limited understanding, while at the same time it still has significance, and inexhaustible meaning, to the most erudite and learned of men. It addresses itself with equal ease to all classes of mankind. No other book that I know of has that distinction.
The supreme concern within God's heart in giving us the Bible has been, through the centuries that we might understand what goes on in the human spirit, affecting everything we do. He has deliberately made the physical to correspond to the spiritual in such a way as to illustrate to us what is going on within. Dr .F.A. Filby said it rightly that “The material world is designed to produce parallels -- parables -- of the spiritual. There is indeed a spiritual law operating in the natural world, and God put us on a planet where light is separated from darkness for our spiritual education as well as for our physical needs. There is a spiritual, as well as a physical reason, for the pattern of creation and he who divorces science from true religion will never be able to come to a real understanding of the world. “
Granting this to be true, then it is evident that the physical and spiritual or heavens and earth are used to illustrate the fundamental difference which exists between human and divine life. God is not man. He operates quite differently from man. But it is his intention that man should share his life, and live as he lives. Obviously, then, we must learn a wholly different way of living. That is the supreme subject of the Bible: how to live on a different level of life -- the level on which God intended man to live.
This is declared very specifically in Isaiah 55:8 and 9, in which God says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9 )
The Apostle Paul represents the same distinction in writing to the Corinthian church. He says, For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:11)
If we are ever to understand ourselves, and life around us, we must understand the lessons that are illustrated by the physical universe. The universe was designed to teach these. We are in a universe which is mainly mystery to us. We know very little about it and in any direction we choose to go we soon come to a place where we can go no farther. Bible begins with the answers to questions that scientist cannot answer. What is it that keeps the universe going? Where did we come from? Who made us? Why are we here? Yet in spite of the fact that the study of the universe is the theme of science today, science hasn't found an answer to any of these questions.
Now to these questions, Genesis supplies answers, the only answers that fit. It reveals to us that the key to human life, including the material universe and the mystery of our own nature -- plus that invisible realm of spirit life we know little about -- is spiritual, not physical or material. That is why we can never know ourselves or the universe or God by studying nature. We'll never understand it that way. Ultimately we run up against a closed door. It becomes so complex we cannot grasp it. Why? Because the Bible tells us the key is in the spiritual realm. When we take this book and open it up, we discover that we are moving past all the discoveries of science today into a realm to which science has not yet come where we have answers to these questions.
Without faith it is impossible to please God
The Bible says that we must accept by faith the fact that God exists: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). If God so desired, He could simply appear and prove to the whole world that He exists. But if He did that, there would be no need for faith. “Then Jesus told him, ‘because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (John 20:29).
That does not mean, however, that there is no evidence of God’s existence.
The Bible states, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” (Psalm 19:1-4).
Looking at the stars, understanding the vastness of the universe, observing the wonders of nature, seeing the beauty of a sunset—all of these things point to a Creator God. If these were not enough, there is also evidence of God in our own hearts. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us, “…He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.” Deep within us is the recognition that there is something beyond this life and someone beyond this world. We can deny this knowledge intellectually, but God’s presence in us and all around us is still obvious. Despite this, the Bible warns that some will still deny God’s existence: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). Since the vast majority of people throughout history, in all cultures, in all civilizations, and on all continents believe in the existence of God, there must be something (or someone) causing this belief.
The Bible also warns us that people will reject the clear and undeniable knowledge of God and believe a lie instead. Romans 1:25 declares, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” The Bible also proclaims that people are without excuse for not believing in God: “For 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” (Romans 1:20).
People claim to reject God’s existence because it is “not scientific” or “because there is no proof.” The true reason is that once they admit that there is a God, they also must realize that they are responsible to God and in need of forgiveness from Him (Romans 3:23,6:23). If God exists, then we are accountable to Him for our actions. If God does not exist, then we can do whatever we want without having to worry about God judging us. That is why many of those who deny the existence of God cling strongly to the theory of naturalistic evolution—it gives them an alternative to believing in a Creator God. God exists and ultimately everyone knows that He exists. The very fact that some attempt so aggressively to disprove His existence is in fact an argument for His existence.
Innocence is the acceptance of a thing without good reason, without sure evidence. Faith, on the contrary, is the acceptance of a thing because we have indisputable evidence of its reality, its truthfulness and its reliability. Upon examination of the evidence throughout this vast universe both telescopic and microscopic, it seems more credible to believe in an Almighty Creator than to believe in the admitted flaws of scientific hypothesis. “By faith we understand that the universe was prepared by the word [command] of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are invisible.” Hebrews 11:3 (ISV)
Our concept of God determines how we relate to Him. Those who see Him as distant and impersonal may be surprised to know He “speaks” personally to everyone—even to those who deny His existence. Since He wants us to know Him and have a personal relationship with Him, He continually seeks to communicate with us. But without hearing His voice audibly, many people are unaware of Him. Even Christians can develop insensitive spiritual ears.
For those who are willing to hear, God’s voice can be discerned through a variety of sources. The most obvious one is the Bible, but He can also call to us through the spoken or written words of other believers. He even speaks through circumstances and the wonders of His creation. I think we would all be amazed if we knew how many different ways our loving heavenly Father tries to get our attention.
The Incarnation of the Son of God unites earth to heaven. God's greatest revelation of Himself to man is in Jesus Christ. Revelation is the disclosure of truth previously unknown. Before the coming of the Son of God to earth many varied forms of revelation existed. Belief in the existence of God is innate. Since man is a rational, moral being, his very nature provides him with intuitive knowledge. As the mind of a child begins to unfold, it instinctively and intuitively recognizes a Being above and beyond the world that he experiences.
It is impossible for us to know conclusively whether God exists and what He is like unless He takes the initiative and reveals Himself. We must scan the horizon of history to see if there is any clue to God's revelation. There is one clear clue. In an obscure village in Palestine, 2,012 years ago, a Child was born in a stable. He lived in obscurity until He was thirty, and then began a public ministry that lasted three years. He was destined to change the course of history. He did what people can't do. Jesus performed miracles. He healed people...blind, crippled, deaf, even raised a couple of people from the dead. He had power over objects...created food out of thin air, enough to feed crowds of several thousand people. He performed miracles over nature...walked on top of a lake, commanding a raging storm to stop for some friends. People everywhere followed Jesus, because he constantly met their needs, Jesus Christ showed God to be gentle, loving, aware of our self-centeredness and shortcomings, yet deeply wanting a relationship with us. Jesus revealed that although God views us as sinners, worthy of his punishment, his love for us ruled and God came up with a different plan. God himself took on the form of man and accepted the punishment for our sin on our behalf.
The Bible says, ‘For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him' (Colossians 1:16). Every created thing, from the vastest galaxy to the tiniest particle in the universe, owes its existence to Jesus Christ. There is not an atom, a molecule, a neutron, a proton, a photon, an electron, a quasar or a quark which is not his by right of creation. But He chose to leave eternity and submit himself to the limitations of time and space. He became ‘obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross'. He knew exactly what would be involved in his earthly mission.
He exchanged the perfect harmony of heaven for the turmoil of life on earth, with its pressures and pains, trials and tensions, conflicts and crises. He exchanged being worshipped by angels for being reviled by his enemies. The one by whom ‘all things were created' (Col-ossians 1:16) had to borrow a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-41), a donkey to ride into Jerusalem ( Luke 19:28-40) and a coin to give an illustration (Luke 20:19-26). The one who owned every square inch of Earth was so poor that he had ‘nowhere to lay his head' (Luke 9:58). The one who created water as a liquid compound with its molecule made up of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms (H2O) had to ask someone to give him a drink when he became thirsty ( John 4:1-7). Even in death his body was laid in a borrowed tomb (Matthew 27:57-61).
These are spectacular picture of what it meant for the one who created all time, space and matter to step into their limitations. It was a humiliation without para¬llel. C. S. Lewis said, ‘The Eternal Being who knows every¬thing and who created the whole universe became not only a man but (before that) a baby, and before that a [foetus] inside a woman's body. If you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a crab.’ Yet even this gets nowhere near the staggering truth of what happened when Jesus laid aside his heavenly glory and chose to become human, a truth made even more amazing when we realize that he did this ‘for our sake'.. Praying to God the Father, Jesus spoke of “the glory that I had with you before the world existed'” (John 17:5). Our minds are incapable of grasping the splendor of God's glory, which is so wonderful that even the highest angelic beings cover their faces in his presence (Isaiah 6:2).
Have you ever asked yourself the question? Why did Jesus Christ “The Infinite became an infant”?
Bible says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.(John 3:16). This desire and love in God's heart not only moved Him to create us. It also urged Him to go through a process so that He could enter into us and make us His expression. He, the infinite God, humbled Himself to become a finite human being named Jesus Christ. In Him, all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt, and through Him, all the fullness of the Godhead was expressed. Everything He did, said, and thought was a pure expression of God in humanity. This brought the highest delight to God, for in Jesus Christ, His eternal purpose began to be fulfilled in that a man was fully expressing God. Then the Lord Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified on a wooden cross in order that through death, the God-expressing life that resided within Him could be released and made available to us. He then resurrected from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit. As the life-giving Spirit, God is able to dispense everything that He is and has into us so that we can become exactly what He is—the expression of God in humanity. Unlike any other revelation of God, Jesus Christ is the clearest, most specific picture of God revealing himself to us.
God cared for us enough that he sent his Son to die in our place, for our sins. Now we can be fully forgiven and begin an unhindered relationship with God. Like love and acceptance, most of us want to find fulfillment in life. The God of the Bible offers the most fulfilling life possible. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)He also said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."(John 6:35)So, the God of the Bible promises to quench that inner longing that nothing else seems to satisfy.
The new life in Jesus, frees us from the devastating hold and effects of sin, guilt and death (Rom. 8:1). The resurrection power of Jesus provides us the Power and Grace to live an abundant and everlasting life filled with righteousness, joy, peace and happiness.
Dear friends, The single most valuable Prayer you can pray from the depth of your heart to God is: Most merciful God, I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I am sorry for my sins because I have offended you, I know I should love you above all things, I confess that I am a sinner I believe that the most loving and gracious Lord Jesus Christ Died for my Sins, Thank you for taking all of my sin upon yourself on the cross. I want to receive your forgiveness and enter into a relationship with you. I plead you to come into my life as my Savior and Lord, to be my God from this day forward, and to make me into the person you've intended me to be. Amen. God Bless you
+ Bishop. Lalachan. M A.
bishop.malalachan@gmail.com
