“LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”
This song of Moses is recorded in the book of Psalms. It’s kind of a nice surprise to read Moses speaking here, since most of the Psalms where penned by King David, some 400-500 years after the time of Moses. Moses makes a very important point in this song: God, existing from everlasting to everlasting, with no beginning or end, by His own creative act actually gave birth to the world; the entire world and everything in it, including you and me. Think of it!
Many centuries later, in the book of Revelation, the very last book of the Bible and the last inspired written portion of scripture, we have a glimpse into heaven. The apostle John - one of the twelve and who described himself in the gospel of John as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” - years later, while exiled on the Isle of Patmos as punishment for his faith and now an elderly man, received the startling series of visions he was instructed to write down.
In chapter 4 of Revelation, John is taken into the throne room of heaven, where there are several amazingly described creatures and activities happening, culminating in the “24 elders” casting their crowns before the throne of God and saying:
“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.” Rev 4:11
Here we observe God in heaven being worshiped, and what is the reason He is deemed worth to receive all glory, honor, and power?
God is the One and only Creator
And for many, therein lies the rub. If there is an actual Person who is The Creator:
· He has set the stage
· He is the producer and director
· He calls the shots
This is the one and only reason for the huge spiritual attack on the Genesis account of creation. If we can instead take Darwin and the “millions and millions of years” of evolutionary processes, we can then wash our hands of the idea of a higher moral power to whom we are accountable to and just do our own thing.
In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul hones in on this precise evil thinking that keeps rebellious humanity from the knowledge of God:
“For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie,
and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,
who is blessed forever. Amen.” Romans 1:25
Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984), evangelical theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor, wrote an entire book surrounding this, which I highly recommend: The God Who is There. The rules of morality – think the 10 commandments – are not relative, they are absolute. This means they are objective and apply to every single person on the planet of every time in history, whether he or she agrees with them or not. God is the creator. This is His playground, not ours.
When it comes to how we live our lives and what God expects of us, it means very simply that there is right and wrong. Thankfully, because God is pure love, living by His moral code brings nothing but blessing, peace, health, protection, and life. Think how it would be if the Creator was a tyrant! Of course, we cannot perfectly keep His moral code, so we need – and thankfully are able - to accept the sacrifice of the only man Who could – Christ Jesus – as payment for our violations of that code (aka sin) in order to enjoy a free and vital relationship with the living God.*
However, the moral code stands, and the standard for living is set. Many clearly reject that there is any such thing as “right and wrong,” preferring to excuse their deviations from the moral code with a relativistic philosophy: “My truth is my truth and your truth is your truth.” No. One truth, and, again, the reason for this is that we are all His creation; we are not our own.
The Moral Consequences of Rejecting God as Creator
Going back to the book of Romans – tough reading for many in this modern day of moral relativism – Paul writes (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of course) that God actually releases those who reject His ownership based on His creating role into further depravity, which manifests most clearly in sexual perversion. Paul writes:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”
Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever; Amen.
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”
Just look out your window....
King David similarly described how man cannot with any integrity deny the existence of a thinking, sentient Being having created the earth and all it contains when he wrote in Psalm 19:
“The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
I pray as we greet this new day that dawned the same way on earth – as all others have and will – due to the power God has through Jesus Christ to hold the entire universe together (Colossians 1:16-17), that each of us in our hearts will give thanks to our magnificent Creator and will join our praises with the heavenly host, saying,
“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.”
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*Interested in knowing how to enter into a personal relationship with God through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Say a Salvation Prayer and Receive Jesus Christ Today. Of course, the saying of a prayer is the reflection of a monumental and life-changing heart decision, but this is a good guide. Feel free to contact me with any questions: rebecca.montrone@gmail.com
With the way the world is now, it is so reassuring that when you know Whose you are and that HE made you a child of God, you can be at peace and still see the Goodness of God all around you. Your future is so secure IN HIM!!!!