THE ACT OF GOD
In these two words, “God created,” God reveals to us Himself and also reveals to us what He has done. He has acted; He has created. Without debate and without argument, God is affirmed and His creative act is declared in two short words. Creation is the act of God, the act of Elohim, the One who is “the God of the whole earth” (Isa. 54:4).
The One who reveals the act of Creation declares that He is the One who created. The Revealer is the Creator. We know Him initially as Revealer, and because of His Revelation in Scripture we know Him to be Creator. Without His Revelation we would neither know Him nor His creative work. We would live in darkness, ignorant of our origin and of our uniqueness, and the cosmos would be an enigma. We would not know Him as Creator, much less as Sovereign and Redeemer, if we did not know Him first as Revealer—but He has spoken (see: Revelation). And because of His Self-disclosure we know Him, and we know His work of Creation. We know that Creation is His act.
We know what we know about His act of Creation because it is God’s will for us to know. He has chosen to give Revelation and to inform the creature of the origin of all things. If He did not will for us to know, we could not and would not know. Knowledge flows from Revelation, and Revelation flows from Will. With clarity and without equivocation, Genesis 1:1 affirms that God created.
Repeatedly, other passages of Scripture substantiate Genesis 1:1 by affirming the fact that Creation was a Divine act. Consider the following:
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon
and the stars, which You
have ordained (Ps. 8:3);
The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all its fullness, You have founded them (Ps. 89:11);
Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands (Ps. 102:25);
May You be blessed by YHWH, Who made heaven and earth (Ps. 115:15);
You established the earth, and it abides (Ps. 119:90);
Happy is he who has the God of Jacob . . . Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them (Ps. 146:5-6);
You have made heaven and earth (Isa. 37:16);
The everlasting God, YHWH, the Creator of the ends of the earth neither faints nor is weary (Isa. 40:28);
I am Yahweh who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself (Isa. 44:24);
I have made the earth and created man on it (Isa. 45:12);
For thus says Yahweh, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it; He founded it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain (Isa. 45:18;
My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens (Isa. 48:13);
He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion (Jer. 10:12; 51:15);
He is the Maker of all things (Jer. 10:16);
You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You (Jer. 32:17);
Thus says the Lord who made it, Yahweh Who formed it to establish it (Jer. 33:2);
He Who forms the mountains and creates the wind . . . Yahweh God of Hosts (Amos 4:13);
All things were made though Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (Jo. 1:3);
You should turn . . . to the living God, Who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them (Acts 14:15);
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth, visible and invisible (Col. 1:16);
God . . . has . . . spoken to us by His Son . . . through whom He made the worlds (Heb. 1:2);
You are worthy, O Lord . . . for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created (Rev. 4:11).
The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all its fullness, You have founded them (Ps. 89:11);
Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands (Ps. 102:25);
May You be blessed by YHWH, Who made heaven and earth (Ps. 115:15);
You established the earth, and it abides (Ps. 119:90);
Happy is he who has the God of Jacob . . . Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them (Ps. 146:5-6);
You have made heaven and earth (Isa. 37:16);
The everlasting God, YHWH, the Creator of the ends of the earth neither faints nor is weary (Isa. 40:28);
I am Yahweh who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself (Isa. 44:24);
I have made the earth and created man on it (Isa. 45:12);
For thus says Yahweh, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it; He founded it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain (Isa. 45:18;
My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens (Isa. 48:13);
He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion (Jer. 10:12; 51:15);
He is the Maker of all things (Jer. 10:16);
You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You (Jer. 32:17);
Thus says the Lord who made it, Yahweh Who formed it to establish it (Jer. 33:2);
He Who forms the mountains and creates the wind . . . Yahweh God of Hosts (Amos 4:13);
All things were made though Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (Jo. 1:3);
You should turn . . . to the living God, Who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them (Acts 14:15);
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth, visible and invisible (Col. 1:16);
God . . . has . . . spoken to us by His Son . . . through whom He made the worlds (Heb. 1:2);
You are worthy, O Lord . . . for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created (Rev. 4:11).
Also consider: Ex. 20:11; II Ki. 19:15; I Chron. 16:26; Neh. 9:6; Job 10:9-12; 28:25-27; Ps. 19:1; 33:6-9; 24:1-2; 65:6; 74:16-17; 94:9; 95:5; 96:5; 100:3; 104:2, 5, 24; 119:73, 90; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; 136:4-9; 145:10, 13, 17; 146:6; 148:5-6; Prov. 3:19-20; 8:22-31; Ecc. 10:5; Isa. 37:16; 40:12; 42:5; Jer. 10:12-13; 33:2; 51:15; Mk. 13:19; Acts 4:24; 7:49-50; 14:15; 17:24-28; Rom. 1:20; 11:36; I Cor. 8:6; Eph. 3:9; Heb. 1:10; 3:14; 11:3; Rev. 10:6; 14:7.
The testimony of Scripture is unambiguous and emphatic; it is impossible to mistake its claim. Both the Old and New Testaments affirm that all that is was created by God. There is no tentativeness in this assertion. Nor is there an attempt to prove or convince the reader of Scripture that Someone made something. God’s divine act is merely reported repetitively, thereby instructing us that the best apologetic is affirmation.
To speak of origins
and not to attribute all things to God in the speaking
is to speak fallaciously.
Creation is a fact,
and it is His act that established the fact.
and not to attribute all things to God in the speaking
is to speak fallaciously.
Creation is a fact,
and it is His act that established the fact.
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