Glory Be to Our Great God | Day 28 - God is Creator

Give Thanks to the Creative, Life-Giving God

Creation 9 by Daniel Heller

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. - Genesis 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. - John 1:1-3

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm. - Psalm 33:6-9

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” - Revelation 4:11

In the beginning it pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, to create or make the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good. - The London Baptist Confession of 1689

All things bright and beautiful,
all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful,
the Lord God made them all.
- Cecil Frances Alexander, “All Things Bright and Beautiful”

Lord of all creation
Lord of water, earth and sky
The heavens are your Tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on high

And God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth
- Marc Byrd & Steve Hindalong, “God of Wonders”

Legos and All Things Bright and Beautiful

For as long as I can remember, my childhood was always filled with Legos. From preschool to middle school, I would find myself playing with my army of minifigures in their Lego town on my bedroom floor after finishing my homework. My imagination ran wild through creative fields of stories and characters as I played with them, and, looking back, I wonder how much of my parents’ budget was dedicated to Little Me’s next Lego present. Legos gave me and generations of children the outlet to create all sorts of objects by stretching our artistic and engineering muscles.

Here’s an interesting question: Is the entire universe and all therein like a bunch of Legos? Well, yes and no. We see both around and within us all sorts of natural elements, materials, and liquids that shape everything we see. But where did everything come from? Has all this stuff that makes up all the planets and stars always been here? Or was there a starting point for our universe? In fact, if there was a starting point, what caused that spark of creation to occur? Did all that we observe come with instruction manuals like Legos? Or is there something or someone who not only started everything but brought all things into being?

According to the Bible, we only have to look at the first verse to find our answer: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).

Lord of All Creation

“Creation” seems like an obvious and assumed reality to us, but as Christians, we must be clear about what it means in light of God’s divine decrees and against opposing views from secular and other religious voices. Stephen Wellum provides this helpful definition: “Creation is the external work of the triune God by which he freely has produced heaven and earth (the universe) out of nothing (ex nihilo) and has imparted all things their natures.”¹ Wayne Grudem defines the doctrine of creation as “God created the entire universe out of nothing, it was originally very good, and he created it to glorify himself.”² Both definitions assume the historic, Christian confession since the early creeds that God is the “almighty, creator of heaven and earth” (Apostles’ Creed) and “of all things visible and invisible” (Nicene Creed). From these, we see clearly that God is not dependent on creation, but creation is totally dependent on God for its existence. In light of this, let’s unpack these theological definitions biblically through the following affirmations.

First, the Triune God created all things according to his divine decree and, therefore, is the sole agent of creation. Herman Bavinck writes that “Holy Scripture, accordingly, teaches that the Triune God is the author of creation. Scripture knows no intermediate beings.”³ Let that sink in: it is not a random spark of impersonal chance that made a big bang that started life, nor the slaughter-fest of lesser deities. Bavinck continues, “Creating is a divine work, an act of infinite power and therefore is noncommunicable in either nature or grace to any creature, whatever it may be. But Christian theology all the more unanimously attributed the work of creation to all three persons in the Trinity.”⁴ As we learned previously, each person of the Trinity acts inseparably in the work of creation because “they subsist in and share the one simple indivisible divine nature. As such, creation is one act of God, not three distinct acts.”⁵ It is God the Father who spoke creation into existence through his only-begotten Son, the Word, through whom all things were made (John 1:1-4; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16) and perfected it by the Holy Spirit (Gen 1:3; Job 33:1; Ps. 104:30).

Second, God freely chooses to create all things in a direct, immediate, and instantaneous act without any change or degree of exhaustion to his divine nature. Wellum writes “Creation is not an act in time or its first event. It involves no succession of moments; instead, God creates instantaneously the entire space-time order.”⁶ In Genesis 1, we see that God creates the entire universe in six days all by his direct speech, and we notice the clear distinction between God the Creator and the creation he has made and how. John Frame writes, “God acts as Lord. He needs no helpers; he need not fear that the creation will somehow harm him. He cannot be confused with the world, for it does not emanate from his essence, but has its own distinct nature.”⁷ Thus, God remains omnipotent, immutable, and impassible because he does not lose any power since creation is an effortless act. Furthermore, in Genesis 1-2, we see how God is directly involved in creating every detail of the universe, and his creation is immediate, not accomplished through an intermediary or instrument.⁸

Third, God created all things without any pre-existing means—in other words, ex nihilo or “out of nothing.” Let me further clarify what ex nihilo means with Millard Erickson’s remark: “When we speak of creation out of nothing, however, we are not thinking of nothing as a something out of which everything was made. Nothing, rather, is the absence of reality.”⁹ Contrary to both ancient paganism and modern evolutionary theory, “God is all that is needed for creation to occur.”¹⁰ The only thing, or person, that has always been and ever will be is the eternal God because “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). God alone is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise because “you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev. 4:11). The author of Hebrews states that “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Heb. 11:3). It was caused not a random chance at “an infinitesimally small singularity, a point of infinite denseness and heat,”¹¹ nor a co-eternal material outside of God that all things exist.¹²

The Universe Declares Your Majesty

Much more can be unpacked regarding the doctrine of Creation, and I’m embarrassed I can’t go deeper than the above.¹³ However, God’s creation significantly matters in our lives in ways big and small, and here are but a few of the many implications this doctrine has for our lives.

First, if God has made all things, then God’s original design is good, and he made all things for his glory. From creation, we see that God is not a being of chaos but of order, and he has designed all things according to his good and wise design. We read in Genesis 1-2 that God created male and female, marriage, sex, procreation, the family, and human society to reflect his glory and our joy in him. Furthermore, God commands the first human couple to have dominion over all creation by being faithful stewards who work and keep it (Gen. 1:28-30; 2:15). Yet, sin has distorted much of God’s original good design in various ways. We see sin’s effect on the natural/material world all around us, whether it is disease or natural disasters, but we also see human sinfulness distort and rebel against God’s good design, from sexuality (Rom. 1:26-27) to the worship of creation (Rom. 1:21-25). Yet the Bible declares that God has created all things according to his ordering not for our detriment but for our flourishing because “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (Jam. 1:17). Therefore, if all creation declares the glory of God (Ps. 19:1-6), we too were created to glorify him and enjoy him with all that we are as those made in his image (Gen. 1:26-27).

Second, God’s creation is the stage where God’s story of redemption and re-creation takes place. When Adam and Eve sinned against God in Genesis 3, sin spread not only brokenness and death through all mankind but also distortion throughout the cosmos. And yet, this was no accident that God didn’t foresee. Creation and the subsequent Fall of Man were all part of God’s eternal plan because he didn’t have a “plan B.”¹⁴ As Wellum writes:

Creation also establishes the '“original situation,” prior to sin, in human history. Accordingly, it speaks of creation order norms, proper relationships, and something of the ideal. Yet, we know from Scripture that creation is not anend in itself, but a means to a larger end. As the divine plan unfolds over time, we discover that God is bringing the goodness of his creation and the presence of his kingdom to its telos in a true and final image-Son-Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, and a new creation for the good of his people and the supreme magnification of God’s own glory (Ps 115:1; Isa 48:11; Rom 11:36; Eph 1:3-14; Phil 2:6-8).¹⁵

God orchestrated the greatest rescue mission on the stage he created that we call home. He accomplished this by sending the eternal Son of God, the Word through whom all things were created, to take on creature attire. The creator became one of the created and gave his life to pay the penalty of sin for the same created subjects who rebelled against him. The same Word through which the Father spoke the universe into existence is the same Word that was crucified on a wooden cross by humans he created. However, “it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb. 2:10). It is this Jesus “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:19-20). One day, all creation will be remade when he comes again to reign forever.

If the entire cosmos is a stage, then God is not only the director but the main character of this story in which the set and the rest of the cast, including us, make much of his glory. Thus, since all creation was made by him and for him, it makes sense that the purpose of us humans is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”¹⁶

Father, thank you so much for creating me. You created all things from the galaxies in outer space to every grain of sand on all the beaches of planet Earth. Every square inch of creation, including us humans made in your image, was made by you for you to the praise of your glory. However, ever since our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned against you, sin has corrupted and distorted all creation, including us, your imagebearers. But thank you so much for not giving up on us and your creation by sending your Son to save sinners and one day restore all things. Help us to live in light of you being our creator and owner of our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

1. Stephen J. Wellum, Systematic Theology, Volume 1: From Canon to Concept (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2024), 794.

2. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 338.

3. Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend, 4 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003-2008), 2:420.

4. Ibid., 2:421.

5. Wellum, Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 794-5; See also John Webster, God Without Measure: Working Papers in Christian Theology, Volume 1: God and the Works of God (London: T&T Clark, 2016), 83-98.

6. Ibid., 798.

7. John M. Frame, The Doctrine of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co., 2002), 295.

8. Wellum, Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 798-9. I would say that this point is additional support for us to avoid any form of macro-evolutionary theory, including theistic evolution, as God is the direct cause of all creation. Although theistic evolutionists will state that God creates through the Word, the Son, through “natural processes” of evolution, that notion still goes against God’s direct, immediate, and instantaneous creation.

9. Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 342.

10. Wellum, Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 801.

11. Andrew May, "What is the Big Bang Theory?" Space.com, last modified January 29, 2025, https://www.space.com/25126-big-bang-theory.html.

12. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 340.

13. For resources to explore more aspects of the doctrine of Creation:

The Age of the Earth (General):

• Articles with interactions between Young Earth and Old Earth: https://www.desiringgod.org/series/how-old-is-the-earth/articles

• J. P. Moreland and John Mark Reynolds, eds., Three Views on Creation and Evolution (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999).

Young Earth Creationism Resources:

• Douglas F. Kelly, Creation and Change: Genesis 1:1–2:4 in the Light of Changing Scientific Paradigms, 2nd ed. (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Mentor, 2017).

• Gordon Wilson, Darwin's Sandcastle: Evolution's Failure in the Light of Scripture and the Scientific Evidence (Moscow, ID: Roman Roads Press, 2023).

Against Theistic Evolution: J. P. Moreland, Stephen C. Meyer, Christopher Shaw, Ann K. Gauger, and Wayne Grudem, eds., Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017).

Full disclosure: I hold to biblical Creationism, however, I have not studied in depth the debates between old-earth and young-earth views.

14. See the post on how God is Covenantal, specifically on his divine decrees.

15. Wellum, Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 414.

16. Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 1.