Q: What else did God create?
A: God created all things by his powerful Word, and all his creation was very good; everything flourished under his loving rule.
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31
The discussion around creation always results in a wide array of opinions and conjecture. The important details regarding creation are not so much the how, but the why. Whether creation took six literal days, as related poetically through the creation narrative in Genesis, or whether it took millions of years as indicated by extrabiblical evidence. What we can say with certainty is: God through the direct intention and action of every person of the Trinity accomplished his creation - no part of creation exists, or came about, outside of his direct will.
We can also say with certainty that, keeping in mind God’s absolute sovereignty, the physical means of how creation was accomplished is not of paramount value and in no way impacts the unifying message of Scripture, that is: how God, for his glory, redeemed a fallen creation through the work of his Son.
So, what is the “why” of God’s creation? As with all that God does, his glory is the ultimate goal of his creation. Psalm 19:1 states “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” All creation is intended to reflect the glory of, and direct us towards the worship of, our creator. However, the tendency of a darkened heart, one that is not illuminated with the revelation of the Holy Spirit, when faced with the Creator’s glory reflected in his creation is to mistakenly worship creation as god. Romans 1:25 “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator”
God also reveals his character through his creation, Romans 1:19-20 “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” The characteristics of God revealed through his creation is what we call general revelation. What we cannot see through creation is his plan of redemption, that can only be known through Scripture as revealed by his Holy Spirit, through what we refer to as special revelation.
As we discussed last time:We are unique in creation, in that, we alone can claim to be the image bearers of God. God created us in his image and, he also gave us roles that reflect his image. As he is sovereign and rules all things, likewise, he put his creation under our stewardship. Genesis 1:28-30 “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so.” We are not at liberty to neglect the responsibilities of this role, nor are we called to reign with sovereignty ourselves, though this is something we are quick to pursue.
Our pursuit of this sovereignty, leads us to the one thing God has not created. Genesis 1:31 says “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good”, all that he created was “good”, it was according to his exact design and intention, perfect. James 1:13-14 says “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by Go’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” God is not the author of sin, he is not the creator of evil, we are responsible for pursuing our own sovereignty and choosing evil.
As stewards of creation, when we chose to rebel, creation also bore the curse of our rebellion. Genesis 3:17-19 says "And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you” additionally, Romans 8:19-22 “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
In spite of our rebellion, God continues to work all things to his glory, and our good. We look forward in eager expectation to God’s gracious plan of redemption come to fruition. God’s renewed creation in perfect fulfillment of his original mandate of Genesis 1. Once, two people, now the entirety of God’s elect, living in perfect community and stewardship, reigning and ruling with Christ over his creation.
Revelation 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”