Bible Basics Explained | FaithSampel

Day 2 | Hebrews 11:3 | Creation

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Hello and welcome back to Bible Basics Explained. I’m Kris Langham, and once again we are talking about faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. We’re back in Hebrews 11, and in verse 3 we run directly into a sticky point in the world of faith: science. Specifically, creation. Let’s read at verse 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” (Hebrews 11:3).

So our chapter on faith begins with our understanding of creation. Rather fitting for me actually. Before I believed in God, this was my sticking point. I was a scientist. Aerospace engineer in fact. And if you wanted me to have faith in something, I needed evidence. For that matter, I still do. So what about evidence for creation?

Well, I’ll save the full science talk for another series, but consider with me quickly the beginning of the universe in light of the basic laws of science. We know the universe had a beginning from simple number theory. If you start counting at negative infinity, it’s impossible to arrive at two thousand something. So there must be a start. At some point time began.

And at some point space came into being. And matter. And energy.

Let’s apply the laws of science.

Conservation of Mass: Matter can neither be created nor destroyed.

So where did all the matter come from? There is no scientific law nor test nor observation that can validate nothing creating something. I am not arguing for or against evolution here. This is before that. And the Big Bang theory offers no scientific explanation for nothing becoming something. It had to happen. Had to. And yet it violates conservation of mass. Unless there is something outside this universe that created the mass from nothing. Next law of science.

Conservation of Energy: Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.

Again, energy could not have existed for eternity past, so it must have a beginning. The Big Bang offers no scientific explanation for nothing creating energy. It had to happen. And yet it violates Conversation of Energy. Unless something outside the universe created the energy from nothing. And one more scientific law: entropy.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that order cannot come from disorder in a closed system.

All things naturally move toward disorder. Now the universe has a phenomenal amount of order in it. So where did it come from? If the universe is a closed system, then the scientific laws insist that something outside of the universe must have added it.

So in order to be an atheist and still believe the laws of science, then you must believe that the major scientific laws were broken at some point by nothing. For the atheist, nothing created time, space, matter, energy, and order.

Now science does not lead you to that conclusion. That conclusion violates scientific law. So believing it requires faith. That is faith in nothing.

But what if you trusted the scientific laws. Well, they all tell you that time, space, matter, energy, and order must come from something. They cannot create themselves. However, there is nothing in the known universe that can create them. So it would require something outside the known universe to create them.

Now consider Genesis 1:1.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

Beginning - that’s time. 

God - something outside the universe. 

Created - that word in Hebrew literally means to make something from nothing. 

The heavens - space. 

And the earth - matter. 

So God, outside the universe, created time, space, and matter. What happened next? God said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). That’s energy. 

And the very next thing, He “separated the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:4). That’s order.

Time, space, matter, energy, order. How is it that Genesis 1, written well over 3,000 years ago, gives a direct explanation for the problems brought up by the laws of science, some of them formulated in the last two hundred years? That’s pretty amazing.

Now I recognize there is much more to the science and God question. And we will be recording a plan on science in this Bible Basics Explained series. But when it comes to faith, we should all recognize our options here: the universe as we know it either came from nothing or from something. The laws of science tell us nothing cannot make something. So option 1 is put your faith in nothing. It breaks the laws of science, and there is no atheist solution for this apart from sheer faith. But you can choose to believe it on faith. Option 2 is put your faith in a Creator. No laws of science broken, but it still does take faith.

So back to Hebrews 11:

“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” (Hebrews 11:3).

Many of us believe that. But not everyone agrees. I read the story of a young man, Jewish by descent but not by faith. He was, in fact, an atheist. As a boy he grew up in bitter poverty through World War I in Romania. Sometime later he wrote these words, “It was not just that I did not believe in God or Christ, I hated these notions, considering them harmful for the human mind.” 

Although he was an atheist, he admits that he was sad that there was no god. He even prayed once - speaking to the God he didn’t believe in, “If, perchance, you exist, which I contest, it is your duty to reveal yourself to me.”

Meanwhile, in a small village far away, an old carpenter was also praying. Only his prayer came with faith. He prayed that God would let him lead one Jew to Christ before he died.

So what happened to the two men after they each prayed? Well, with some 12,000 little villages in Romania, the young atheist felt “irresistibly drawn” to that one, and strangely enough, directly to the old man’s house. The man gave him a Bible, one that he had prayed over for quite some time.

The young atheist was Richard Wurmbrand. He read the Bible and believed it. He found faith. Not faith in the impossible, nor faith in the make-believe. He found faith in something beyond what he could see. Faith in God. What happened to Mr. Wurmbrand? We’ll come back to his story tomorrow.

For now, read again the words of Hebrews 11, and consider what you believe and the difference that faith makes in your own life.

Next: Read Hebrews 11:3 & Genesis 1:1-4

For Thought & Discussion:

1. What do you believe about the creation of the universe? How do you think that belief affects the way you live?
2. It’s been said that it takes more faith to be an atheist than to be a Christian. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

All verses are quoted from the NIV.

Romania stories retold from Jesus Freaks (1999 Albury Publishing), and Jesus Freaks Vol II (2002 Bethany House) by dc Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs, and from Extreme Devotions (2001, The Voice of the Martyrs).