Tag Archives: creation

Out Of The Black Hole

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OUT OF THE BLACK HOLE

“‘In the generations before us, God let all the different nations go their own way. But even then He didn’t leave them without a clue, for He made a good creation, poured down rain and gave bumper crops. When your bellies were full and your hearts happy, there was evidence of good beyond your doing.’ Talking fast and hard like that, they prevented them from carrying out the sacrifice that would have honoured them as gods — but just barely.” Acts 14:16-18 (The Message).

Strange what humans can come up with when they deny and let go of the truth! When superstition takes the place of reality, reason and common sense go out of the window. Gods becoming men has no foundation in fact and no evidence to prove that it could or did happen. Why? Because gods do not exist. They are the fruit of perverted human imagination.

But what about Jesus? Wasn’t He God come to earth as a man? A thousand times, yes! So what’s the difference? The difference is, firstly, that God exists. We have the evidence of creation, its design and unity, and the goodness and blessing we receive from it, not as concrete proof but as evidence of a Being of supreme goodness, power and wisdom who exists and who created the universe.

Secondly, we have the evidence of prophecy. God’s entire plan was laid out in detail centuries before it happened. If God prompted men to write about it accurately in advance, He must exist. How else can anyone explain prophecy?

Thirdly, we have the resurrection. The greatest legal minds have worked hard to disprove the resurrection but the evidence is overwhelming. Jesus died on a Roman execution stake and three days later He walked out of the tomb. He appeared to over five hundred people in a body that could be touched, that could eat and yet was able to do more than our mortals bodies can do.

Fourthly, how can we explain the church if there were no God, no Jesus and no Holy Spirit? Without the supernatural power of God at work in people, convincing them of the truth and changing their lives, no one would have bought the apostles’ story. It was too far-fetched if it were not true and too dangerous to embrace a fantasy that could cost them their lives in a hostile world.

Fifthly, what about the Bible? Both internal and external evidence points to a unique book which cannot be explained apart from God. It was written over a period of 2000 years by more than 40 different authors from many walks of life and yet it is a comprehensive story and presents a unified picture of a God whom human imagination could never invent.

There is one factor that is missing in most of the people who hear the apostle’s message — faith — not a leap-in-the-dark kind of faith but a rational acceptance of the evidence and a step towards God to which He immediately responds.

“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible….And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:3, 6 (NIV).

What is it that prevents people from accepting the overwhelming evidence of a God who is both powerful and loving and passionately desires a relationship with His human creation? It’s that stubborn independence woven into our nature through Adam’s choice that refuses to come under His authority and live His way.

But when we do, we find, to our absolute amazement and delight, that life makes sense, has meaning and purpose and is filled with joy and peace that makes no sense and has no explanation outside of God. It’s like stepping out of a black hole into the glorious light of the midday sun.

What’s In It For Me?

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WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

“‘David, of course, having completed the work God set out for him, has been in the grave, dust and ashes, for a long time now. But the One God raised up — no dust and ashes for Him! I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. He accomplishes everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.

“‘Don’t take this lightly. You don’t want the prophet’s sermon to describe you:

“Watch out, cynics, Look hard — watch your world fall to pieces. I’m doing something right before your eyes that you won’t believe, though it’s staring you right in the face.'” Acts 13:36-41 (The Message).

The forgiveness of sins — that’s what the cross is all about! Sin is the one great barrier between us and a holy God. “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.” Habakkuk 1:13 (NIV).

God created a perfectly functional world. Everything fitted together with everything else in perfect harmony and functioned as one, reflecting the same perfect harmony within the Godhead. He also created man, forming him from clay and filling him up — which is what the word “create” actually means — with His own image, male and female in perfect union.

He separated the woman from the man and brought them together again to live in a union that reflects the oneness of God. Because of the intimate connection between humans and the natural world, when man chose to disconnect himself from his Creator and make his own rules, the entire created order followed suit and became dysfunctional. Conflict replaced harmony in the plant and animal world, making life a battleground instead of an orchestra.

Life on earth should have been a perfect reflection of life in the presence of God. Therefore, from God’s perspective, everything that is imperfect is sin because it falls short of God’s glory. Even what we consider “natural”, like sickness, disabilities, accidents that cause brokenness, decay and death are alien to God and are therefore classified as sin and demand blood sacrifice to atone and cleanse its pollution.

Jesus’ death on the cross did not only pay for man’s sin. It also paid for the pollution and disruption that man’s rebellion caused in the whole of creation. Even the entire universe was affected by that one choice.

“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” Colossians 1:19, 20 (NIV).

The expectation of those who believe in the finished work of Jesus on the cross goes beyond this life into the life beyond the grave. “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Romans 8:20, 21 (NIV).

The forgiveness of sins Jesus purchased for us on the cross brings with it the promise of the restoration of the entire creation to its original state and purpose. When we receive the gift of forgiveness, we become a part of God’s design to restore all of creation and to complete the work He began; a perfect world in which He can live in union with man that can never be disrupted again.