The story is told of the teacher who asked her class to write down what they thought
were the 7 great wonders of the world. They could be the ancient wonders or the modern
wonders. The choices were many and one little girl could not finish her list. The teacher
said just read what you have and maybe I can help you. The little girl said “I think the 7
wonders of the world are to touch, to taste, to see, to hear, to run, to laugh, and to love.”
This was a surprise to the teacher and the whole class for they were all thinking along the
lines of the Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, and the Golden Gate Bridge. But this
little girl was thinking, not of the wonders that man had made, but the wonders that God
had made in making us in His image. Man is the wonder of the world, and even of the
universe, for we know of no creature in heaven that has been given greater honor than
man. Jesus never became a Seraphim or Archangel, but He did become a man who did all
of those things the little girl listed as the wonders of the world. Our goal in this message
is to show that Jesus is the Creator of the universe.
JESUS IS THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE
Man has created some marvelous wonders, for he was made in the image of God and
creating is a part of his nature. The world is filled with works of art and architecture that
witness to the fact that man is a creator, and that he has been given the gift of creativity.
It is impossible to judge who has been the greatest creator of wonder and beauty in the
history of the world, but it is no problem determining the greatest creator in the
universe, for the Bible makes it clear that this honor and title goes to the Son of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 2 of this great book of Hebrews says that it was through Jesus
that God made the universe. God spoke the Word and said, “Let it be,” and Jesus was
the Word that made it happen. He was the agent of creation, and everything that is
wondrous and marvelous about creation is due to His power and wisdom. It is clearly
stated that he created in many other passages.
A. THE WITNESS OF SCRIPTURE.
Later on the author of Hebrews says in Heb1:8 &10 “But to the Son He says: "Your
throne, O God, is forever and ever;-You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of
the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.” This is God’s testimony to the
fact that His Son is the Creator. If you do not accept God’s testimony there is no higher
authority to appeal to, and so you take God’s Word for it, or you reject God as your final
authority.
In John’s Gospel it is stated as strongly as possible for it says in John 1:1-3 “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not
any thing made that was made.” This is as comprehensive as a statement can get. If it
was made, Jesus made it. If we could turn all of the stars and planets over and find the
mark of the Maker it would say MADE BY JESUS. What was made without him?
Nothing! The origin of the universe is not found in any mysterious power, but in the
person of Jesus Christ.
John 1:10 “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not.” The world was created by those very hands that were nailed to the cross for
our redemption. The creature turned on the Creator, but even killing him could not rid
the world of him, for he had the power to take his life back again. He made all life, and so
he could make it again when man took it from him.
Col 1:16 “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” It is not only all that we can see,
but all that exists that we can never see that is a part of his handiwork as Creator. We do
not see the atoms out of which all matter is made, but these invisible energy packets have
their origin in the mind of Christ. There are realms of beings other than man also in the
universe, and they too have their origin in Him. Nothing, and no being, has an
independent existence, for he is the reason for all that is. If it is real, it is because Jesus
made it real.
"...yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for
whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came
and through whom we live" (1 Corinthians 8:6). This makes it clear that the Father and
the Son are one, and that all creation came from both of them. There is no point in trying
to decide if the Father created or the Son, for they both did equally. Those who try to say
the Bible contradicts itself by sometimes saying the Father created and other times the
Son, are ignoring the plain fact that the Bible clearly teaches that they are one, and all
that each does the other does.
These verses leave one with no alternative but to believe Jesus is the Creator of all
things, or to deny the Bible as their authority. Those who believe the Bible can see that
Jesus is the greatest Creator in the universe because he is the Creator of the universe. It
is a universe and not a multiverse because it all came from the same mind. There is a
unity in the entire nature of all that exists because it is not the work of many, but the
work of one mind.
Even when Jesus came into the world in human flesh and took on some of the
limitations of manhood he still continued to be a Creator. His first miracle was at the
wedding of Cana where he changed the water into wine. This was a direct act of creation
where something that did not exist was brought into existence immediately by the power
of his word. He did the same thing when he fed the four thousand and the five thousand
by turning a small portion of food into a large supply by the power of his word. In some
of his healing miracles he had to create new tissue, muscles and nerves on the spot. When
he raised Lazarus he had to give him a great deal of new tissue, for his body was already
decaying. When he first made Adam he took lifeless dirt and breathed into it the breath
of life and made a living man. He took the lifeless body of Lazarus and breathed into it
the breath of life and restored him to life again. Jesus demonstrated that he was the
Creator even in his manhood.
B. THE WITNESS OF SCIENCE.
Man’s choices as to the origin of the universe are reduced to two. It either came by
chance circumstances, or it came by the mind and power of a Creator. Those who choose
chance as their source of all reality will often criticize those who choose a Creator by
saying they do so by blind faith. This is a major mistake in thinking, for the fact is, it
takes far more blind faith to believe that all the marvelous order and design of the
universe came by sheer chance than by the working of an intelligent mind.
What are the odds of the universe coming about by means of chance? Some have
calculated this and have come to this conclusion: “Calculate, if you like, the odds against life
ever coming about spontaneously. Take an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper and put the number
"1" in the upper left-hand corner. Type zeros after it, single-spaced, until you fill up the
whole page with zeros; turn the sheet over and type additional zeros upon the entire page.
Continue filling pages with zeros until you produce a volume three inches thick. Compile
enough volumes to spread across the whole United States. Stack volumes until they reach
past the moon. That is the number of volumes necessary to contain the number of chances to
one that life would ever come about by spontaneous generation. Not impossible, but highly
unlikely. To hold that position, one is exercising faith, not upholding evidence, which is
overwhelmingly in his favor. Such a position is held basically because, as Wald says, one
chooses not to believe in God.”
Dr. Hugh Ross in his book The Creator and the Cosmos gives another example of the
odds against chance being the cause for the precise balance of electrons to proton mass.
He writes, “One part in 1037 is such an incredibly sensitive balance that it is hard to
visualize. The following analogy might help: Cover the entire North American continent
in dimes all the way up to the moon, a height of about 239,000 miles (In comparison, the
money to pay for the U.S. federal government debt would cover one square mile less than
two feet deep with dimes.). Next, pile dimes from here to the moon on a billion other
continents the same size as North America. Paint one dime red and mix it into the billion
of piles of dimes. Blindfold a friend and ask him to pick out one dime. The odds that he
will pick the red dime are one in 1037.”
We can only conclude that it takes an amazing kind of faith to believe in chance.
The odds of chance being the cause of what we have in this world are similar to the
chance of the works of Shakespeare being produced by an explosion in a printing
factory, or as the result of monkeys scampering across the keys of a typewriter over
many centuries. The bottom line is this: It takes more faith to believe in chance than
to believe in Christ as the Creator of all.
Now faith is essential also to our belief that Jesus is the Creator of all the universe,
but it is a faith that is based on the combined sources of Scripture and science. In
Heb. 11:3 we read, “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.” Science now
confirms this completely, for it has established that all the material universe is made
up of atoms, which are unseen, and which are basically energy. Many authorities in
science conclude that matter is congealed thought. It is very close to what we call an
idea. Christian theologians have said the universe is really a thought in the mind of
God. Jesus spoke it all into existence. It was first a thought in his mind before he
created it, and it is still in existence by the power of his thought. Mind is behind it all,
and mind is what sustains it all. To turn from Christ to chance is to reject all that the
Bible says, and all that has been learned by modern science as to the nature of matter.
The greatest Creator in the universe is not chance, but it is Christ.
The study of the design of the universe is what supports the Christian faith that Jesus
is the mind behind all that is made. There was a time when Christian faith and science
were at odds. Much of this was the fault of Christians because they based their beliefs
about the universe on the authority of Aristotle, and when he was proven wrong the
scientific world thought they had proven Christian faith wrong. All they proved was that
Christians had built on the wrong foundation. If the Bible alone is the authority on which
we build there is no conflict between science and the Christian faith. Robert E. Kofahl
has written,
“To believe in divine creation does not make one "unscientific." It is logical
and satisfying for the person who desires to place his faith in the intelligent,
purposeful Creator God, rather than in dumb atoms. This faith is not
satisfying to the person who desires to trust in chance and dumb atoms in a
purposeless evolved universe. The choice between these two faiths is a
religious choice, not a scientific one. It is an act of faith. But the believer in the
God of Creation finds that he has much scientific evidence, which supports his
choice. This evidence is the whole vast system of interdependent design
features which can be seen in the nuclei of atoms, the laws of physics and
chemistry, in the fitness of the earth-sun-moon-galactic environment which
affords the human race the only known habitable home in the entire universe,
in the complex designs of living things, and, most persuasively, in the personal
nature of man--intellect, affections, moral capacity and will. To believe our
personal nature was designed and created to show forth and glorify the
Creator is better than to believe we are nothing but slime improved by chance
without purpose, without goal, without reason for existence.”
This view is held by a host of scientists, and even by those who do not profess to be
Christians. They are just convinced that the evidence supports the reality of a Creator
rather than chance as the origin of the universe. One of the leading Physicists of our day,
Dr. Freeman Dyson, said when he received the Templeton Prize, “Atoms are weird stuff,
behaving like active agents rather than inert substances. They make unpredictable
choices between alternative possibilities according to the laws of quantum mechanics. It
appears that mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent
inherent in every atom. The universe is also weird, with its laws of nature that make it
hospitable to the growth of mind. I do not make any clear distinction between mind and
God. God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our
comprehension.” John Archibald Wheeler, the former president of the American
Physical Society and professor of physics at Princeton University, who received the
Einstein Award, likens all existence to an idea. Numerous others agree, and this fits
perfectly with Jesus being the Creator of the universe. He is the Mind that is the source
of all the energy that the universe is made of. When science studies the universe it is
studying the mind of Christ.
Dr. Gerald L. Schroeder in his book The Hidden Face of God, from which I have
gotten the above quotes and information, points out that the insights of Einstein have
shown that material reality is a form of condensed energy, and if you heat any matter in
the universe hot enough it will revert to pure energy. All matter is congealed energy, or
another way of saying it is, all matter is thought in concrete form. It is an invisible idea
that has become visible by its energy being compressed into a form that can be seen by
human eyes. This is the scientific confirmation of what the Bible says in Heb. 11:3, “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.”
When we begin to study specific examples of the wisdom and design built into
creation, we cannot help but praise God for what He has done through Jesus. It is
incredible that people can continue to believe in chance when they see the evidence. But
man does not like the alternative, for the only alternative to chance and evolution is God.
So they go on defending mindless chance as the author of such marvels as the following.
We all know that dolphins are very intelligent, and that is why they can be trained by
man. But does anyone believe they developed the amazing sonar power that they have?
This power is not just better than man’s development of sonar used in submarines. It is
not even just ten times better. It is over 100 million times better than anything man has
been able to develop. Are we to believe that chance gave them this superior sonar that is
far beyond what the most intelligent creature on the earth, which is man, can develop?
Did they get this by means of evolution over many millions of years? Or is this a gift
from their Creator? It takes more faith to believe this is due to chance than to believe it
is a purposeful gift from the mind of Christ.
Some of the most outstanding scientists of our time have urged that Creation be
taught in the schools, and not limit the exposure of young minds to evolution alone as
the only theory of the origin of the universe. They have seen the design and
intelligence in the creation, and they see it is the most logical explanation of its origin
to be the mind of a Creator. For example, “Wernher Von Braun was one of the
world's first and foremost rocket engineers and a leading authority on space travel.
His will to expand man's knowledge through the exploration of space led to the
development of the Explorer satellites, the Jupiter and Jupiter-C rockets, Pershing,
the Redstone rocket, Saturn rockets, and Skylab, the world's first space station.
Additionally, his determination to "go where no man has gone before" led to
mankind setting foot on the moon. Wernher von Braun is, without doubt, the greatest
rocket scientist in history. His crowning achievement, as head of NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center, was to lead the development of the Saturn V booster rocket that
helped land the first men on the Moon in July 1969.” What were the views of such a
man of science? He tells us in a letter he sent to the California State Board of
Education. Here is a copy of that letter:
“Dear Mr. Grose:
In response to your inquiry about my personal views concerning the "Case for
DESIGN" as a viable scientific theory for the origin of the universe, life and
man, I am pleased to make the following observations.
For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the
necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the
universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it
all. In the world around us, we can behold the obvious manifestations of an
ordered, structured plan or design. W e can see the will of the species to live
and propagate. And we are humbled by the powerful forces at work on a
galactic scale, and the purposeful orderliness of nature that endows a tiny
and ungainly seed with the ability to develop into a beautiful flower. The better
we understand the intricacies of the universe and all it harbors, the more
reason we have found to marvel at the inherent design upon which it is
based.
While the admission of a design for the universe ultimately raises the
question of a Designer (a subject outside of science), the scientific method
does not allow us to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the
universe, life and man are based on design. To be forced to believe only one
conclusion - that everything in the universe happened by chance - would
violate the very objectivity of science itself. Certainly there are those who
argue that the universe evolved out of a random process, but what random
process could produce the brain of a man or the system of the human eye?
Some people say that science has been unable to prove the existence of a
Designer. They admit that many of the miracles in the world around us are
hard to understand, and they do not deny that the universe, as modern
science sees it, is indeed a far more wondrous thing than the creation
medieval man could perceive. But they still maintain that since science has
provided us with so many answers, the day will soon arrive when we will be
able to understand even the creation of the fundamental laws of nature with a
Divine Intent. They challenge science to prove the existence of God. But,
must we really light a candle to see the sun?
Many men who are intelligent and of good faith say they cannot visualize an
electron? The electron is materially inconceivable and yet, it is so perfectly
known through its effects that we use it to illuminate our cities, guide our
airliners through the night skies and take the most accurate measurements.
W hat strange rationale makes some physicists accept the inconceivable
electron as real while refusing to accept the reality of a Designer on the
ground that they cannot conceive Him? I am afraid that, although they really
do not understand the electron either, they are ready to accept it because
they managed to produce a rather clumsy mechanical model of it borrowed
from rather limited experience in other fields, but they would not know how to
begin building a model of God.
I have discussed the aspect of a Designer at some length because it might
be that the primary resistance to acknowledging the "Case for DESIGN" as a
viable scientific alternative to the current "Case for CHANCE" lies in the
inconceivability, in some scientists' minds, of a Designer. The inconceivability
of some ultimate issue (which will always lie outside scientific resolution)
should not be allowed to rule out any theory that explains the interrelationship
of observed data and is useful for prediction.
W e in NASA were often asked what the real reason was for the amazing
string of successes we had with our Apollo flights to the Moon. I think the
only honest answer we could give was that we tried to never overlook
anything. It is in that same sense of scientific honesty that I endorse the
presentation of alternative theories for the origin of the universe, life and man
in the science classroom. It would be an error to overlook the possibility that
the universe was planned rather than happening by chance.
With kindest regards.
Sincerely,
(signed) Wernher von Braun
The point I am trying to make by all of these quotes from great men of science is
to show that the belief that Jesus is the greatest Creator in the universe is not a far
fetched idea without support of sound reason and evidence. The Christian does not
need all of this evidence, for the Bible teaches it clearly and that is sufficient, but all of
the support of science backing it up gives us what is needed to appeal to the skeptical
world. Jesus gave evidence to support his claim to be the Son of God, and we need to
give the world some evidence to believe that faith in what the Bible says is not blind
faith, but faith that is moving in the direction that the light is pointing. It is easier for
unbelievers to look into the claims of the Bible when they see the evidence of science
to support what it claims. Science becomes an important ally in reaching a skeptical
world with the truth of the Bible. And that truth is that Jesus Christ is the greatest
Creator. This will be even more evident in the new heaven and earth He will create,
for all of the awesome wonder and beauty of this world are just the warm up. The best
of the best of His creative power and genius is yet to be seen by those who
acknowledge Him as the Greatest Savior as well as the Greatest Creator. Let me
conclude with a poem I wrote on a passage in Colossians.
JESUS IS FIRST, Based on Col. 1:15-20. This can be sung to the tune of Hymn to
Joy by Beethoven
He's the image of Deity,
Icon of God's own Being.
In Him invisibility
Can by human eyes be seen.
First Born over all creation;
All that is was by Him made.
All things both in earth and heaven,
He their foundation has laid.
Visible and invisible,
All was created by Him.
Every power conceivable,
Was created just for Him.
He existed before all things,
No exceptions can be found.
He's the source of power that brings
Order by which all is bound.
He holds everything together,
And He's the Head of the church. T
here is no need to ask whether
We should for another search.
He is the very beginning;
He's the firstborn from the dead.
None can over Him be winning;
He is supremely ahead.
God was pleased to have His fullness
Dwell so completely in Him,
And through His divine completeness,
Reconcile all things to Him.
Nothing on earth or in heaven
Will make God suffer a loss,
For peace He has just the weapon,
Through His blood shed on the cross.
