in the beginning are the first three words of the book of genesis, the first book in the bible. but it’s really the fourth word that is the most important – GOD. genesis 1.1 (niv), in the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth. those are ten words in english, seven in the hebrew language which the old testament was originally written in.
we all ask the question, what is all this? what is all this creation i see? how in the world did it come into being? when did it begin? how did it begin and who did it? and this one simple phrase tells us. in this phrase comes together two great sources of human knowledge.
one of the ways you and i get knowledge is through GOD’s revelation. GOD just shows us. HE just tells us things. that’s what the bible is all about, GOD showing us what HE wants us to do. HE reveals things to us.
HE also made some things. a second way you and i have some things revealed to us is through nature. we can look at things that GOD has made and see what HE’s done. nature and revelation – both are useful when it comes to learning what GOD wants us to do. science and observation, looking at nature by itself, you can’t discover GOD by that alone. you get a clue that maybe something is going on that’s bigger than me but we need GOD also to reveal HIMself to us. that’s why HE gave us nature and the bible both. that’s why HE created the heavens and the earth and why HE gave us the book of genesis to tell us HE created the heavens and the earth.
sometimes people want to use science to discover GOD. cut out the revelation part altogether as the source of knowledge and say all we’ve got is science. but we can’t do that. GOD doesn’t work that way. HE has chosen to work in invisible ways. HE’s chosen to work through faith. trying to discover GOD solely through nature is like saying you want to discover love with a steam shovel. it just won’t work. it’s the wrong instrument. if you and i want to discover GOD, we’ve got to have HIM reveal HIMself to us.
nature is devised to teach us truths about GOD. who made the heavens and the earth? if GOD made the heavens and the earth, and HE knew that someday HE wanted to show you and i some things about HIMself, do you think it’s an accident that there are things in HIS creation that are perfectly designed to express to us who HE is? no. GOD made the heavens and the earth because HE could show us some things about HIMself.
just a thought from the front porch…
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