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Day 4: GOD MAKES

THE CREATOR AND HIS CREATION

Go back and read Genesis 1:1. Who is the first character introduced in this story? It is God, the Lord of all things. Already present; already existing. Outside of all that is. By introducing God as the preexistent Creator of everything, the Bible reveals a profound truth: All creation belongs to him. It is his. Because he made everything, God has the right to determine how everything works. To say what is right and what is wrong. To say what is good, beautiful, and true—and what is not—in every area of existence. The flow of time. The speed at which every planet in our solar system orbits the sun. What humans are, and what we are not. No area of creation is outside of his authority.

And that authority isn’t limited to one person of the Trinity either. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equally in total authority over everything because all were present and involved at the beginning. The Father and the Spirit are the most apparent, with God the Father the declared creator of all things, and the Spirit of God moving, preparing for the work of creation to begin (Genesis 1:1‑2). But what about the Son? Where was he in the beginning? John’s Gospel provides the answer as its first verse calls back to the opening line of the Bible: “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1 NIV). The Word who was with God and was God, and came into the world as the man Jesus Christ. Jesus, God the Son, “was in the beginning with God” (verse 2 NKJV), and all things were created by him, for him, and through him (verses 3, 14, 17). He sustains everything, holding all things together, with the same authority that the Father and Spirit have over creation (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3).

THE SCANDAL OF THE CREATION STORY

People don’t object to the creation narrative because it’s ludicrous or intellectually dishonest. In truth, it is no more or less intellectually credible than the belief that the universe as we know it exists, effectively, by accident. They object because, if there is a Creator who made everything, we are not autonomous beings. If we came into the world as the result of the equation of time plus matter plus chance successfully adding up again and again and again, we are beholden to no one. We don’t have to worship, and more pointedly, obey God, because that God isn’t real.

But if the creation narrative is true, and so is the rest of the Bible’s narrative, for that matter, it’s a different story. It means the God who made everything is in authority over everything, including us. He is not a distant deity content to let us run amok, doing whatever pleases us. God has a plan for his creation, a design for how it works, and a purpose he is working toward. He is so personally invested in his creation that when we tried to deviate from his plan—to do our own thing—he revealed himself to the world by entering into it as the man Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus put his authority over all creation on display with signs and wonders, forgiving sins, refuting human tradition, and even overcoming death itself. And to him, as Lord over all creation, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess his authority, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10‑11).