Our Creator God is invisible. How then do we know God exists?
How can you know something or someone is there if it is invisible?
Well, there are many invisible things in this world that are known to exist:
- Air is invisible but we can sense its movement.
- Memories are invisible but we remember many things that have happened in
our lives.
- Ideas are invisible but they can be expressed and accepted.
- Electricity is invisible but we harness its power for many useful things.
To know the existence of something that is invisible, one can examine the
indirect evidence. This certainly applies to knowing with certainty
that God exists. He has not left us without a witness to His reality,
majesty and power. Because God has provided to every human being
the knowledge of His existence, every person has the opportunity to have
a relationship with their Creator.
Scripture Passages: Rom. 1:20, Psalm 19:1-4, Psalm 8:3-5, Job 38:4-12
Main Thought: Since God has provided knowledge of Himself
through the creation itself, every person has the
opportunity to know His Creator.
Outline:
1. The invisible God gave us visible evidence to convince anyone.
1.1 The creation had a "cause" or beginning
because scientifically it is impossible for it to be eternal.
1.2 The creation itself is the evidence of
an external, "divine" being -- called the Creator or God.
1.3 Being created, the creation reveals a
Creator with unfathomable power.
2. The invisible God gave us universal evidence to communicate
to everyone.
2.1 As the Creator, God knows how you communicate
and how to communicate with you.
2.2 God's evidence communicates to every person
in every language.
2.3 God wanted you to know He exists in no
uncertain terms.
3. The invisible God gave us majestic evidence to confound all.
3.1 That the tremendous variety of life on
this planet can all coexist speaks of a profoundly wise Creator.
3.2 The complexity of life and its beauty
all reflect the beauty and majesty of its Creator.
3.3 The staggering library of information
encoded into each cell's DNA points to an intelligent Creator.
4. Conclusion -- Man can and should strive to understand all
things in this creation. He must also realize and
acknowledge the glory of the One and Only able to create all things,
establish all laws, and fix all boundaries
for us.
For
since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal
power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from
what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Rom. 1:20 NIV)
1. The invisible God gave us visible evidence to convince anyone.The creation had a "cause" or beginning because scientifically it is impossible
for it to be eternal. There is a significant branch of science which
deals with the laws of thermodynamics. This is a big word but it deals
with some very real effects we see every day. And scientists have
repeatedly been able to demonstrate these laws in nature and in the laboratory.
I might also add that they are accepted by Evolutionary and Creation Scientists
alike. Let's examine the first of these two laws -- now stick with
me for a few minutes for there is a powerful truth in this.
The first law deals with energy conservation -- that
the total quantity of matter and energy in the universe is constant.
In the real world, this means that you cannot get more miles on the road
than you have gasoline in the tank. Otherwise, you would be creating
energy without a source! That would be a real "tiger in your tank!"
The gasoline in your tank is used by the engine to push the car along.
Energy that was available to the car from the gasoline was changed to heat
which eventually dissipated into the surrounding air. The energy
was not destroyed; rather was changed to another, less usable form.
The first law applied on a universal scale means the mix of matter and
energy changes form but never lessens. In fact, it changes to less
usable forms, but it always remains the same total quantity.
The second law deals with the effect of matter and energy moving
from complex, ordered states to less complex, disordered states.
So what does this mean? Consider the room of my children. In
a state of order, everything has a place. At the end of the day,
the orderly state of the room has changed to one of random mess.
It happens every day! Likewise, return to the home of your youth
for a visit. What was once new is now wearing out, breaking down,
and suffering from decay. This is the second law in action!
Orderly states of matter tend to go into disorder given enough time. No
mechanism exists to keep the order indefinitely. So the quantity of matter and energy in the universe are constant -- first
law. Matter and energy always tend to go from order to disorder given
enough time -- second law. These verifiable, demonstrable facts state
categorically that this universe must have had a beginning because it will
irrefutably have an end! Go far enough into the future and you would
see a universe that has converted all matter and energy into complete disorder
with no way to reverse the process. The fact that the universe had
a beginning means it is not eternal and must have been created!
The creation itself is the evidence of an external, "divine" being --
called the Creator or God. The universe is an awesome sight to behold.
In considering what is there, one must acknowledge the order, design, and
incredible complexity it this universe and on the earth. The earth
itself is unique among the observable planets -- the only one with just
the right conditions for life. Just enough oxygen, water, heat, light,
land that are all necessary for physical creatures. Consider it would
only take a 1% variation in the distance of the earth from the sun -- closer
and earth would be too hot for life, farther away and it would be too cold.
Our Creator has designed it to be just right for life to exist and thrive.
Being created, the creation reveals a Creator with unfathomable power.
It is interesting that every time man devises a bigger telescope, the universe
"grows bigger." We find there is even more out there every time we
develop a sharper, clearer, longer-reaching set of eyes. That the
immense universe was created -- currently between twelve and fifteen
billion light-years across -- tells us the Creator has unfathomable power,
infinite power, power that our finite minds cannot truly conceive.
We can only acknowledge the greatness of it. Yes, the Creator has
given us visible evidence which is enough to convince anyone that He is
real, divine, and powerful beyond measure.
The
heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice
goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm
19:1-4 NIV)
2. The invisible God gave us universal evidence to communicate to
everyone.The question naturally comes up -- can everyone really understand the evidence
that God has given? As the Creator, God knows how you communicate and how
to communicate with you. The human body is made up of about 70 trillion
cells. I'm not really sure how big one trillion is but I know it's
an incredibly big number. Every one of these 70 trillion cells contains
DNA, the complex genetic code which completely describes the creature's
features -- blue eyes or brown, tall or short, large nose or petite. Our
complete physical makeup is described in one DNA cell. God wanted
to be sure that each creature could grow up and live on His earth so He
encoded the complete blueprint 70 trillion times! God knows exactly
how you are made, how you function, and how you communicate.
God's evidence communicates to every person in every language. On a
show called "Star Trek," the space travelers visited many imaginary
places with all sorts of imaginary life forms. Fortunately, they
had a computer with a program called "The Universal Translator."
It presumably could interpret the basic message from any life form and
translate it into English. It worked most of the time, so it was
not quite universal, but it was close. Let's imagine you have a "universal
translator" -- a small, credit-card sized device you keep in your shirt
pocket. This device would instantaneously translate any language
into English. In fact, it translated into "American English" and,
in fact, the particular dialect of "American English" you speak.
Imagine the way the "global village" we call the world would open up to
you. You could go to any country, any culture, any peoples, and immediately
understand and communicate with them. The distinction of language
would no longer be an issue.
This is how God has communicated His creation evidence to us.
Anyone, no matter where they live, can look up to the nighttime sky, out
across the majestic landscape, or down at the earth and its many varied
creatures. God's message of order, design, and complexity in the creation
is language independent -- truly a universal message.
God wanted you to know He exists in no uncertain terms. God has
created a universe that declares His glory, power, and deity to everyone.
In His wisdom, God created a message that everyone could understand.
This He did for you. He wants you to know Him. He wants you
to know that He created all things, including you. He wants you to
find meaning in life through finding Him, your Creator.
When
I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the
son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than
the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:3-5 NIV)
3. The invisible God gave us majestic evidence to confound all.That the tremendous variety of life on this planet can all coexist speaks
of a profoundly wise Creator. There are grasses brown and grasses green.
Fruit trees, flower trees, and leaf trees. There are birds with no
feathers and birds with feathers colored as a rainbow. There are
tiny insects and enormous elephants. There are fast but flightless
ostriches, and slow but faithful turtles. God has created an incredible
variety of life forms and creatures that can all coexist on this planet
designed specifically for us. The array of creatures and their cohabitation
tell us that our Creator is profoundly wise.
The complexity of life and its beauty all reflect the beauty and majesty
of its Creator. What genuine artist ever painted without a part of
himself reflected in the work of art? In the same way, our wise Creator
has poured Himself into this universe, His "work of art." The beauty
created here reflect the beauty and majesty in the heart of our Creator.
The staggering library of information encoded into each cell's DNA points
to an intelligent Creator. DNA is the blueprint for life. It could
hold the equivalent information a dozen Encyclopedia Britannica's. All
this encoded onto a single cell. How? Why? It confounds our
brains to even consider how awesome is a single act of God's creative energy.
To consider all His works -- as the Psalmist lamented:
"What
is man that you are mindful of him...that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:4,
NIV).
Conclusion
As a human being, you can and should strive to understand all things in
this creation. You must also realize and acknowledge the glory of
the One and Only Creator, who is able to create all things, establish all
laws, and fix all boundaries for all humankind.
Listen to the questions of your Creator. If you can provide an
answer, you have no need of God. If you have no answer, then you
must acknowledge Him as the Creator, you as His creature, and your thankfulness
that He has revealed Himself to you:
- Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
- Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
- Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone--while the morning stars sang together and
all the angels shouted for joy?
- Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when
I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I
fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This
far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?
- Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place...?"
(Job 38:4-12 NIV)
God asked a man named Job over 70 such questions that were (and are) unanswerable.
Job questioned God's right to do some of the things he had experienced
in life, including some particularly tragic circumstances. After
hearing this barrage of questions from God, Job repented in dust cloth and
ashes. Job could only humble himself before a great and might Creator
who does not answer to His creatures. Nevertheless, our Creator God
has provided for every person the knowledge of His existence in a way that
you and I can understand and accept. Can you and I do any less than
Job did? Let us be ever humble as we are reminded each day of the
reality of an awesomely great Creator God.
| © 2001, Randy Lariscy. |
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