Why did God create the heavens and the earth knowing that the outcome of this creation would be that He would have to intervene and save what he created with Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross? The only answer that I’ve been able to come up with that ends up making any sense is that God created us for the same reason that he saved us: love. Just as Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame for the joy set before – the joy being us reconciled to God – God chooses to create us for the sheer joy of it and for His love for you and me.
The thought that God rejoices of His creation is important. Some people seem to think that this world is all there is, and become very materialistic. That is a misconception that we as Christians often need to stand against. The trick is that many Christians have gone to the opposite extreme, almost aligning with some forms of Eastern Mysticism, saying that the material things of this world are all evil. Both of these extremes are wrong. God created physical things, and, as we read through Genesis 1, He calls them good. On the other hand in Romans 1:25 we see the charge that people “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”
This world is not a place that we just want to survive so that we can go to Heaven. It feels that way sometimes, but that’s not the true picture. There is much here that is good and we can enjoy it. The heavens still declare the glory of the Lord. We can still see His handiwork is the creation around us. We can still enjoy wonderful blessings and good things in this world. Life is good, indeed! As Paul says in Philippians 1:21, “to live is Christ!” We may certainly be ready to leave this world, but if living is “Christ,” then life must be truly good.
However, we also know that this world has become corrupt, and that it groans to be relieved of our sin and destructive behavior. (Romans 8:22) We can no longer be completely at home in this world, and it is right to long for the home that Jesus ascended to Heaven to prepare for us.
When we read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” we are seeing God’s divine initiative and action at work. The verb we translate, “created,” is only used when God is the subject of the sentence. Everywhere this word is used it is only God who creates. When people create, they are using what God already made and reallocating resources, putting them together differently, for a new purpose. When God creates, He takes nothing and makes something. (We call this creating ex nihilo.) In that divine initiative and action, motivated by God’s love for us, He will not abandon us to this fallen world. He promises in Isaiah 65:17, “Behold, I create (same verb as Genesis 1) new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.”
Creation and Re-creation; the God who made this entire physical world, will re-make it and purify it. Until then, living in Jesus’ forgiveness, we have already become part of that new creation, and we can rejoice even in this world because of God’s love, and the joy He has in us, and us in Him.
O God, help me to see Your handiwork in this world and to rejoice in what You have made. Help me to live in your promises of redemption and re-creation so that I can live with hope as I wait for You. Amen.
The thought that God rejoices of His creation is important. Some people seem to think that this world is all there is, and become very materialistic. That is a misconception that we as Christians often need to stand against. The trick is that many Christians have gone to the opposite extreme, almost aligning with some forms of Eastern Mysticism, saying that the material things of this world are all evil. Both of these extremes are wrong. God created physical things, and, as we read through Genesis 1, He calls them good. On the other hand in Romans 1:25 we see the charge that people “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”
This world is not a place that we just want to survive so that we can go to Heaven. It feels that way sometimes, but that’s not the true picture. There is much here that is good and we can enjoy it. The heavens still declare the glory of the Lord. We can still see His handiwork is the creation around us. We can still enjoy wonderful blessings and good things in this world. Life is good, indeed! As Paul says in Philippians 1:21, “to live is Christ!” We may certainly be ready to leave this world, but if living is “Christ,” then life must be truly good.
However, we also know that this world has become corrupt, and that it groans to be relieved of our sin and destructive behavior. (Romans 8:22) We can no longer be completely at home in this world, and it is right to long for the home that Jesus ascended to Heaven to prepare for us.
When we read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” we are seeing God’s divine initiative and action at work. The verb we translate, “created,” is only used when God is the subject of the sentence. Everywhere this word is used it is only God who creates. When people create, they are using what God already made and reallocating resources, putting them together differently, for a new purpose. When God creates, He takes nothing and makes something. (We call this creating ex nihilo.) In that divine initiative and action, motivated by God’s love for us, He will not abandon us to this fallen world. He promises in Isaiah 65:17, “Behold, I create (same verb as Genesis 1) new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.”
Creation and Re-creation; the God who made this entire physical world, will re-make it and purify it. Until then, living in Jesus’ forgiveness, we have already become part of that new creation, and we can rejoice even in this world because of God’s love, and the joy He has in us, and us in Him.
O God, help me to see Your handiwork in this world and to rejoice in what You have made. Help me to live in your promises of redemption and re-creation so that I can live with hope as I wait for You. Amen.
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