Foundational principle #1 – GOD IS/GOD CREATED

Part 3 – BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW FOUNDATION #1 – GOD IS/GOD CREATED

God is/God Created

Gen. 1:1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This may be the first and maybe most important verse ever written.  Because if this is true everything else, we come across in the bible is possible.  The flood, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna in the wilderness, the virgin birth, Jesus walking on water, calming the sea, feeding the 5000 and the 4000, all the healings and most importantly the resurrection and finally His second coming and our eternal hope.

There are only two competing views of creation.  Either God created or Nothing created. In other words, God created something or Nothing created something. 

The grand story line of the bible is God is/God created, Man made in his image, God speaks, God commands, Man’s fall disfigures the image of God, God redeems

GOD IS:

The bible reveals who God is and all his many attributes.  When we come across these texts it is important to recognize them as important aspects of the God whom we worship.

Therefore, our first foundational principle is that GOD IS/GOD CREATED.

As we read the scriptures, we find many of God’s attributes.  Including God is eternal. 

GOD IS:  A few scriptures: on God being eternal or everlasting.

• Psalm 90:2 – Before the mountains were born Or You brought forth the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
• Genesis 21:33 – And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.
• Isaiah 40:28 – Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is unsearchable.
• Deuteronomy 33:27 – The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms;
• Romans 1:20 – For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
• Exodus 3:14 – And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’
• Ephesians 3:11 – This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
• 1 Timothy 1:17: “The King eternal, immortal, invisible”

God created

God indeed created the heavens and the earth, and then he rested on the 7^th day and called all his creation very good.  Gen 1:31. This includes you and me.

Gen. 1:31 And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Text on GOD created:

• John 1:3 – All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
• Colossians 1:16 – For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
• Colossians 1:17 – And He is before all things, And in Him all things hold together.
• Rev 4:11 – Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
• 1 Cor 8:6 – yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
• Psalm 33:6 – By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.
• Jeremiah 10:12 – It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.
• Isa 45:18 – For thus says Yahweh, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it a formless place, but formed it to be inhabited), “I am Yahweh, and there is none else.

These are but a few of over 100 verses which speak of God as the creator

Because God is and because he created, we who have been born again are born of an incorruptible seed by the living and enduring word of God

1 Pet. 1:22-25 – Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a love of the brothers without hypocrisy, fervently love one another from the heart, ²³ for you have been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴ For, “ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, ²⁵ BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.” And this is the word which was proclaimed to you as good news.

The first foundation stone in a biblical world view – God is and God Created

Summary table: Two competing views of Creation – God or Nothing

Before Time, Matter and Space
God was and is and will ever be Gen 1:1 Ex 3:14 Ps 90:1-2	There was nothing
God created something Gen 1:1	Nothing created something
God designed this something for a purpose and His Glory Rev 4:11 Eph 1:9-10 Isa 43:6,7	In Nothing’s creation everything evolved with no plan and the result of everything will be meaninglessness
God’s design includes man in his image, put here for a purpose, to love one another and care for the creation and to love, know and obey God Gen 1:26-31	In Nothing’s creation there is no love, no right and no wrong, no ultimate meaning. Just each person doing what is right in his own eyes
God’s creation leads to a eternal life of joy and fullness in a creation which displays His Glory to its fullness Eph 1:5-6 Eph 2:4-7 John 15:11	Nothing’s creation ends in a dark, dead, cold universe.
God’s final result – The opportunity to be in Paradise with God Rev 22:1-5	Nothing’s final result – -459⁰F.  No life just a cold dark assimilation of space, time and matter
Access to this paradise? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Acts 16:31 Rev 21:3-4	Access to Nothing’s dark cold universe. All are invited to the end result of nothingness.  Anything you said, any love you gave, and achievements in this life ultimately are meaningless

God created/God exists is the first key principals of a Biblical worldview.  Since God exists eternally and created everything else with a purpose then also our individual lives are meaningful and have a grand purpose set firmly in the will of God.  If God does not exist, we are no more than fizzing bags of chemicals who exist with no purpose and for no reason. If there is no creator, then our life is meaningless and we live we die and nothing we did while we were alive has any real or lasting meaning.

If God did not create then nothing created.  I want to suggest “something” must come from “something or someone”.  If there is nothing, then nothing can be created.

Look at the chart above, clearly for our lives to have meaning it must start with God.

Here are some additional scriptures on creation and purpose of creation:

• God gives everything meaning – Psalm 104
• We have Assurance (hope and faith) by knowing God created all things – Hebrews 11:1-3
• No creation, no Jesus, no hope.  Jesus as the creator and savior who came into the world. – John 1:1-18
• All things created for him, i.e. for his purposed not man’s purpose – Col 1:16
• God created all things by his will – Rev 4:11
• Because God created we know we are wonderfully made – Psa 139:13-16

God is/God created is the first worldview principle.  Once we understand the truth of this then all other worldview principles follow from this one. 

It is comforting to know and to understand God created all which exists. It gives us hope and faith and assurance for all other things.  If there were no God, then all life would be meaningless.  Meaningless often leads to despair.  People without the God of the bible have no real hope for their today, for tomorrow, or for eternity.  Such a sad way to live.