12 Passages Every Christian Should KnowSample

The Creator: Remembering God Making All Things

By faith, we understand that the universe was created by God’s command so that what is visible was not made out of things that were visible. Hebrews 11:3

The Creator is greater than the creature … [God is the] chief fountain of goodness whence all those various goodnesses in the world do flow. Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God

Before the world was made, nothing existed but God. Before God fashioned the universe through the power of his creating word, God was fully content and entirely complete. Before time began, God existed for all eternity past in perfect joy, harmony, and pleasure with himself—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When God created the world, he did so out of his own free will and kind favor. Out of the overflow of his goodness, God created a world that would enjoy his blessings, bask in his glory, and participate in his good purposes. God did not need to create the world. Neither would God be dependent on his creation in any way. God would not depend upon creation to serve him as if he were needy. He would not rely upon creation to praise him, as if he were lowly. And, he would not need the cosmos to love him, as if he were lonely. The beautiful and good world that God made poured forth from the beauty and goodness that brimmed out of God’s perfect being.

The story of creation is a foundational part of the narrative by which we can understand our own lives and God’s cosmic purposes that are unfolding around us. Our deepest inclinations, greatest longings, fiercest objections, biggest hopes, and deepest fears can all be explained by the way in which God originally created the world. When God first created the world, the cosmos revealed God’s glorious character. Even now, as a reflection of God himself, the created world reveals the truth about who God is. Despite its current sinful state, creation still gives echoes of a good and perfect world that once existed. In fact, the present world groans and longs to be fully restored to a state of perfect bliss. Crucial for establishing believers in a life of correct faith and godly living, the narrative that recounts the origins of the world is vital to the life of a Christian disciple.

Studying the creation story will help believers learn about truth, goodness, beauty, freedom, justice, and dignity. As realities fundamental to human experience, these truths form a solid foundation for a full and flourishing life. For all people, the breathtaking narrative that recounts God creating the world reminds people that humans are created beings who must answer to their Creator. As we live in this broken world, the creation account in Genesis 1:1–2:3 is as hopeful as it is instructive. It reminds us of God’s certain promises to rescue the world from the pain of its present condition through an amazing work of recreation, restoration, and renewal. Even in the story of creation, God calls people to himself, summoning them out of the destruction of the present to fully participate in God’s redemptive work of new creation.