He that built all things is God. — Hebrews 3:4

The most fundamental issue of our faith is that God exists, and that he is the first cause behind all that we see about us, of our very selves, indeed of even the unseen spiritual realm. "In the beginning God ..." is the eloquent testimony of God’s ultimate primacy with which the sacred scriptures open.

This primacy marks God as the ultimate authority to properly direct his intelligent creatures, and we instinctively revere such power and majesty. But when we further learn of God’s grand character, that "God is love" in all his motivations, so thoroughly just that he will not himself infringe on this principle for any cause, and in every way intelligent and wise beyond our comprehension, we are properly compelled by our deliberations to respond with obedience, sacred reverence and devoted love.

God’s First Creative Act

The first of God’s creative works was the Logos, by name Michael before his descent to Earth to become our Redeemer, where he received the name Jesus (savior), and the title Christ (anointed). John affirms that Jesus was "the beginning of the creation of God" (Revelation 3:14). The word "beginning" is from the Greek archee, which means "a commencement" or "chief (in various applications of order, time, place or rank)" (Strong’s Concordance #746). John used this word 23 times in his writings. In each case he intended the first and primary meaning, and in each case the common version of our Bible correctly translates it "beginning." Jesus preceded all else.

The same thought is expressed in Proverbs 8:22, 23. "The Lord created me the first of his works long ago, before all else that he made. I was formed in earliest times, at the beginning, before earth itself." (Revised English Bible) In this passage Jesus is the personification of Wisdom (verse 1). Christians from the earliest times applied this text to Jesus in his pre-human existence, and the title "the Wisdom of God" is expressly applied to Jesus in Luke 11:49 (compare Matthew 23:34).

No wonder Paul designates Jesus "the firstborn of every creature" (Colossians 1:15). It then pleased God to use Jesus as his agent of creation thence forward. "By him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible ... all things were created by him ... he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Colossians 1:16, 17).

Notice the two words "by" in this passage. The first is from the Greek en, properly "in," the second dia, properly "through." This is consistent with Paul’s other declaration that "There is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things ... and one Lord Jesus Christ, by [dia, through] whom are all things" (1 Corinthians 8:6). God is the Great Creator. His agent, in or through whom he executed hiswork, is his dearly beloved son Jesus. "Through him all things were made" (John 1:3, NIV).

In the Begininng . . .

These familiar words of Genesis 1:1 refer not to the very beginning, when God was alone, nor to the creation of his son, nor to the creation of the angelic hosts. The beginning here is of the visible creation we see about us. When this occurred "the morning stars sang together, and all the [angelic] sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7).

Since Jesus is elsewhere designated "the bright and morning star" (Revelation 22:16), and Lucifer before his deflection was "O day star, son of the morning" (Isaiah 14:12, margin), perhaps these were the "morning stars" which sang with joy at the formation of Earth.

Certainly John was aware of the opening of Genesis when he penned the opening of his gospel, affirming that at that beginning Jesus, the Word of God, already was. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God" (John 1:1). John opens his first epistle in almost the same way. "That which was from he beginning ... the Word of life ... was with the Father" (1 John 1:1, 2). "When he set the heavens in place I was there ... when he made the earth’s foundations firm ... I was at his side each day, his darling and delight" (Proverbs 8:27-30, Revised English Bible).

Thanks to God our Creator

How thankful we are to him for life and joy. How thankful we are to have his guidance, by moral precepts implanted in the human heart, an inborn sense of conscience, and the regulating instructions of his Word. How thankful that he is an ultimate authority for all the issues of our existence.

This issue of THE HERALD is devoted to God as Creator. We begin with an examination of the creative days of Genesis chapter one. In elegant language, God has provided an account of the central work of each of seven epochs preparing Earth as the everlasting home for his human family. The details of these days are examined in Highlights of Creation.

Though God rested from his creative activity on the seventh epoch-day, he had in mind another creation, a New Creation, as an act of mercy and kindness not only toward the elect, but to benefit even the non-elect during the Millennial Kingdom. Indeed, without the New Creation, the Old Creation would never secure its release from the thralldom of sin. Old Creation, New Creation traces some interesting scriptural parallels between the two works.

The scriptural record is clear. God in the beginning created a single human pair, Adam and Eve, who became the parents of all living humans. Therefore Eve is the one woman who is the mother of all women living today. Likewise all living men can trace their parentage back to one man, Adam. But we can advance forward in time to locate another man with the same distinction, father Noah. In the fascinating article Creation, Evolution, and DNA we consider some recent biological evidence supporting the contention that all living women descended from one woman, and all living men descended from one man, that is consistent with identifying these forebears as Eve and Noah respectively.

Since Darwin published The Origin of Species, the Creation-Evolution debate has continued strong. Clearly it has pleased God to use natural processes to produce variety and diversity among living forms. But recent scientific evidence increasingly accords with the Bible that different "kinds" of life were established distinct from others, at different periods. The article The Creation-Evolution Controversy considers this evidence, and explains some of the intense problems exponents of evolution theory face today.

The next article, Does Scientific Evidence Point to a Creator?, reports some surprising evidence from modern physics, astrophysics and cosmology, which explains how precisely the physical laws of the universe have been adjusted and balanced in order to allow the physical existence of life as we know it. (Not just any "big bang" would work!) This intriguing information is pushing the scientific world to face the logical requirement for an overriding intelligence in the formation of the universe.

Among the testimonies of Genesis disputed almost as much as special creation is the narrative of the flood "whereby the world that was, being overflowed with water, perished" (2 Peter 3:6). But unknown to many, remarks about a catastrophic deluge only a few thousand years ago have been permeating scientific literature in recent years. The latest findings draw from a variety of scientific disciplines, and the various strands are pieced together for us in the article The First World, The Flood, and Current Scientific Consensus. This is state-of-the-art material. Much of it has appeared in science journals in only the last two years.

Finally we close with an article titled Jehovah, the Omniscient, a verse by verse study of Job 38. How wonderfully God speaks to Job about the majesty of creation. How has all this greatness come to be? "Declare if thou knowest" implores the Heavenly Father. And if not, then let us trust the great wisdom so mightily displayed throughout creation. Let us trust our great Creator, and never fail in our faith to trace his goodness, and trust his providence, even when outward circumstances turn difficult for us. What a God! What a Caretaker! What a Creator!