| The Christian Life | February 1944 |
Only Fools Doubt
Gods Glory in the Heavens
“O LORD, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all.” (Psalm 104:24.) “The heavens relate the glory of God; and the expanse telleth of the works of His hands.” (Psalm 18:2—Leeser) Like David, our admiration is aroused when contemplating the mighty works of the Lord. They prove that the power and wisdom of the Lord are beyond even the imagination of man. Consider His ability to create life, to regulate infinitely small electrons and atoms, and to send illimitable gigantic suns speeding through boundless space.
It is only within recent years that man, after much study, has begun to realize the complexities of all life and matter. And the more he studies, the more it begins to dawn upon him that he really knows very little about such things. An accurate, though brief, description of the development of the earth is found in the beginning of the Book of Genesis. This record, written thousands of years ago, agrees closely with the latest findings and deductions of science. No human mind witnessed the creation, hence no human being could possibly have described it so correctly, except by the revelation of God.
Genesis 1:1,2, reads, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” These words inform s that the earth was already in existence before the first creative day began. Divine power had already created it, but it was shapeless as yet and lifeless—not suitable for the habitation of man. The expression, “In the beginning,” takes us back beyond the seven creative days of Genesis, and shows that the earth already existed when the week of these days began.
We are informed in Job 38:4-7 that “all the sons of God shouted for joy” when the Lord “laid the foundations of the earth.” This is evidently a reference to the angelic creation which was already in existence when man was created. This reference, “when I [the Lord] laid the foundations of the earth,” must not be understood to refer to any physical support of the earth. It is just another way of saying, When the Lord began the creation of earth.
Job 26:7 reads: “He … hangeth the earth upon nothing,” a statement which, in view of the limited scientific knowledge of those remote times and the prevailing belief that the earth was fiat and had some sort of physical support, must strike one as divinely inspired. “And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”—expressing that the power and the energy of God were at work.
God said, “Let there be light and there was light.” (Gen. 1:3) This light was not the light of the sun for we are informed in verses 14-19 that the sun was not made to give light upon the earth until the fourth day. What the nature or source of this light was, is not certainly known. Obviously, however, had the Genesis account of creation been humanly conceived, the appearance of light would have been made to coincide with the appearance of the sun. “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Gen. 1:5) Thus, in simple language is described, symbolically, the obscure beginning and the gradual progress toward completion of the day’s work. The Hebrews, in accordance with this Scripture, reckoned the day from evening to evening.
The length of the creative days is not mentioned in the Bible. They were not twenty-four hour days, as the sun did not become visible on earth until the fourth day. All available evidence seems to indicate that the creation of earth was a gradual process, extending over many thousands of years. There is no reason why we should limit these creative days to twenty-four hour periods, when we consider that a number of days referred to in the Bible are longer periods of time. For instance, we read that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” (II Pet. 3:8) Also, Genesis 2:4, “in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” “The day of temptation in the wilderness” was a forty-year period. (Heb. 3:8) Besides, the same Hebrew word used for day has also been translated in a number of other places in the Bible as “time,” proving that the translators recognized that this Hebrew word indicates a period of time, and is not necessarily restricted to twenty-four hours.
The creative work was carried forward by our Lord during succeeding days, or periods of time, when “He divided the waters which were under the firmament,” and “the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind,” when the sun and the moon and the stars became visible upon the earth, when the waters and then the earth brought forth living creatures after their kind, and finally the creation of man in His own image.—Genesis 1
The more we learn and understand the works of God, the more we are amazed. Wisdom, power and thought are manifested everywhere. We are filled with reverential adoration at the glory of the Lord.
But, this is not all. The universe teaches us still another lesson. All activities of the universe are in accordance with certain fundamental laws and rules, some of which man has discovered, and are applied by him daily in solving his problems, and in doing his work. For instance, we have learned that electricity travels at the rate of about 186,000 miles a second—never faster, never slower. And it always follows certain well defined rules. There are never any exceptions. These rules are never broken.
The same order may be observed in the movement of the planets and the stars. The enormous distances in space, the immense size of many of the stars and the tremendous speeds at which they travel, stagger the imagination. The accuracy of their movements through the heavens proves that they are governed by certain laws, and that their movements are orderly and controlled.
Man has learned that a bar of steel of a certain quality and thickness will support a definite weight and each similar piece of steel will support exactly the same amount of weight. Man, therefore, can build accordingly, without fear that a building or a bridge will collapse; for he will know exactly how much stress he may safely place upon it, how much weight it will stand.
Man can plan profitably because of the dependability and constancy of these laws. Man can rely upon the uniformity and constancy of the material with which he works. He cannot change the natural laws according to his fancy. He can accomplish things only by complying with and taking advantage of these laws. It is quite evident, therefore, that if man wishes to accomplish anything, he must learn these laws and use them as his guides. These laws govern the whole universe, and happy are we, if, under divine guidance, we endeavor to cooperate in the purpose of this Great Creator of all these marvelous works.