This week we are going to start a series going through the Belgic Confession when I am preaching in the evening. The Belgic confession is a wonderful pastoral and thoroughly biblical document that has served the Churches of the Lord Jesus Christ for about 500 hundred years.
We are starting with Article 2 because we are walking through the attributes of God in the Lord’s Supper meditations and will be touching on most if not all the attributes mentioned there.
Article two of the Belgic confession speaks of the two books of God: Creation, and the Bible. They are written by God to reveal God and give glory to God. As Christians both of these books are very important. In a sense you cannot split these two books. The Word of God tells us about the God of creation. And all of creation testifies to his Word. They go together, and to separate one from the other is to understand neither. His word is both the basis for creation and recreation, and creation and recreation flows from his life-giving word.
The Two most beautiful books.
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Creation
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Bible
Creation
In article 2 of the Belgic confession we read: “We know him (God) by two means: First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe;”
Now before I go on, I want to ask you all a question that the Belgic Confession already assumes. The question is this: “As a child of God, Do you know him by looking at the universe? Do you see him, and experience his glory and majesty? His love and care, his preservation, and constant government of the Universe?” The fact that the sun came up this morning is a sign that God is in control. As Psalm 19 so poetically states, “In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.” He is the creator of all you see. He made it, fashioned it.
He not only created everything from nothing. He also preserves it. The fact that you are breathing, the fact that you have eyes to see, hears to hear, and mouths to sing in this worship service is because God is persevering and ruling the universe. All of Creations is shouting and proclaiming the glory of God. In this way creation fulfills the purpose for which is was created. There is so much we have not discovered yet. There is so much we do not yet know or have not yet seen. But all things great and small are right now declaring the glory of God! “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
. And not only does he preserve it, he governs it all. All of creation is under his reign and obey the sound of his voice. From the mighty storms to the smallest insects. He governs many things indirectly through the laws that he has set in place. All the laws of mathematics, and geometry. The Laws of Science and Physics. The laws of chemistry. Every law that is law is his law. He is a king that reigns with order and goodness. These laws are discovered as we read the book of creation more and more. We see his creativeness, his care, and his reign more and more the more we read this book. And the more we see about creation, the more we are simply left without excuse if we do not believe.
I love how we confess that “creation is before our eyes as a most beautiful book.” Not beautiful because we “feel” it is beautiful, but it is beautiful because God made it so. Creation has what one might call intrinsic beauty, that is not dependent on whether we think it is beautiful or not. You want to know why there is such beauty in the world, because the greatest artist painted it.
We do not determine what is beautiful, but we discover beauty. We discover the beauty that is already there. I am more and more convinced that beauty is not subjective. There is spectacularly little disagreement when it comes to works of art. Think of the great David statute by Michelangelo . Or why some pieces of music outlast generations of people. If it was subjective then how come the modern age still loves ancient music.
Or why is this place a tourist destination for people from every corner of the world. It does not matter where you are from you think this place is beautiful. Is that not interesting. If you are Chinese or American, Indian, or German you have the same taste in beauty.
There is a absoluteness in beauty as there is in truth. In Fact beauty should push us toward truth. Because all truly beautiful things are true, and truth is beautiful. There is inherent beauty in landscapes in the intricacies of an ecosystem, in the smallest insect to the greatest planet. God made it; therefore, it proclaims his power, glory, and might, and therefore it is beautiful.
And all he has created is like a spectacular novel where every single part of it is like so many letters that come together to make words, and paragraphs and chapters, and this story book is one of the most exciting, beautiful stories ever written. The heavens declare the glory of God the skies proclaim his handiwork. Looking at creation should cause us to rejoice! When the sun comes up, or when we look at the night sky, they are speaking in words that all should understand. Does not matter where you live, or what language you speak, creation communicates with us all. With every human, from every tongue tribe, language and people. This is exactly what Psalm 19:3 says, “There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Creation is Good for humanity, because we belong to it. We fit in it. It tells us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. We are dependent. We need creation. We are caretakers of God. He uses us in his work of preservation and governing. Creation needs humanity. Humanity needs creation. But we all know something is wrong don’t we? There is flooding, hurricanes, drought, earthquakes. There is pollution, misuse and abuse of Gods bounty in creation. We know there is a problem. The problem was that sin broke every relationship that we have. When our relationship with God was broken, then our relationship with each other was broken, and our relationship with creation was broken.
This does not mean that we cannot still see the value in it, but we do not know how to cultivate that. Just like all people see we need human relationships, but struggle as sinner to form healthy relationships, so there is so much scientific evidence that we need creation, and yet somehow, we do not know how to cultivate it without God. We generally fall into the extremes of worship, or miuse and abuse.
There is a wealth of scientific research that supports the premise that spending time in nature is really, really, really good for you. Being outside makes us happier, less stressed, more creative, and more socially connected. It can improve short-term memory and focus, reduce inflammation, lower blood pressure, fight against anxiety and depression, and boost our overall immune systems. Plus, access to fresh air and natural light supports healthier respiratory function and more balanced circadian rhythms, supporting better, deeper sleep. People who exercise outside report feeling happier, more confident, and more energetic than those who opt to exercise indoors. These are secular studies, but the Christian is not surprised. If it is Gods book it is good to be reading it.
But somehow so many people still struggle to cultivate their stewardship, care, and relationship with creation. Why? Because the relationship with the creator of creation is broken. They refuse to read the book of creation in the way that it was meant to be read. To the Glory of God. And that is where the power of the cross is not just the redeeming power for humans, but in Jesus we have the creation being renewed and restored. In Christ we learn how to rebuild that relationship not only with each other but creation that was broken at the fall. And we recognize more and more of God in creation.
For creation is not only beneficial to us, but more importantly it tells us about God! What does it tell us about God? I think Romans 1 is the best commentary here. Romans 1:20, “for since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – has been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” It reminds me of that old kids’ song, “My God is so great so strong and so mighty, there is nothing my God cannot do. The Mountains are his! The rivers are his! The skies are his handiwork too! My God is so bid so strong and so mighty there is nothing my God cannot do.” You want to show and tell you little children who cannot read or write how big your God is, tell them that God made Table Mountain. God made all the mountains, rivers and the sky! They will understand. Creation is language little children understand surprisingly well if we would read that book to them.
AS a Christian we should be growing in our relationship with creation. But creation wont bring us into relationship with God. Even though it clearly shows us that there is a God.
Alexander Tsaiaras was professor of medicine and chief of science visualization at Yale university in the medicine department. A while ago he did a talk on a project, he was involved with to visualize the growth of a human from conception to birth. He is not a believer, but listen to what he said,
“The magic of the mechanisms inside each genetic structure…. The complexity of these, the mathematical models of how these things are indeed done are beyond human comprehension even though I am a mathematician I look at this with the marvel of how do these instructions sets not make these mistakes as they build what is us. It is mystery, it is magic, it is divinity. …Or look at the instructions sets from the brain to every other part of the body. Look at the complexity of the folding [that happens to the brain]. Where does this intelligence that a fold can hold more information come from?... And it is not just our own existence, but how does the woman’s body understand to have genetic structure that not only builds her own, but then has the understanding that has enabled her to become a walking immunological cardiovascular system that can actually nurture this marvel that is again beyond comprehension, the magic that is existence that is us.”
The magic that is existence that is us. You hear that. Not a believer. But he says things like, beyond human comprehension. It is mystery, it is magic, it is divinity. God is the God of creation beloved, and his power and divine is clearly seen in what has been made! That includes you! People are without excuse! There is enough in creation. Unfortunately, sin has so blinded them, their rebellion is so complete that creation is not enough to bring them worship. It is only in opening the second book that your receive the key to the first book. O that the church of Jesus Christ would open this book often, would explore this book, would see themselves as part of this book.
Before we move on to the second book, allow me to make three observations.
First creation is Gods book, which we should read, study, love, enjoy. This means also caring for and governing under the direction and care of the heavenly Father. We must all do this in our own small way. An we must see sin against creation as sin against creator.
Second, and this is a point I think is very important in our day and age. There are no real contradictions between scientific fact and the Bible properly interpreted. We need not be afraid of science. If God created the world, and God wrote the Bible, they will complement each other always. 100% of the time. Where it looks like they might disagree is due to our ignorance. Where they seemingly disagree, we should just patiently and prayerfully continue to study both. It is important to note here that we must look at creation through the lens of scripture. And not the other way around.
Third, inquiry in sciences right and proper. It is an investigation of one of God’s books. When a scientist studies creation or when a child goes to school and studies math, geography, astronomy, biology, Chemistry, physics, or any other discipline they are theologians in the sense that they are learning and Studying about who god is.
Fourth: God is reconciling not just us individually to himself – but all things. All things means all things. WE were meant to live in creation
Finally, before we move on, God is our creator and worthy of our worship and adoration. Creation should cause us to stand in awe of the power of God.
The Bible
Yet despite all this, this wonderful book of creation, like we said, only leaves people without excuse. It convicts people but does not bring them to the truth. It does not mean it cannot lead people to the second book, but it cannot show us what the second book can show us.
That is why We confess, “He makes himself more clearly and fully known to us by his holy and divine word as far as is necessary for us in this life, to his glory and to our salvation.” More clearly and fully. There is greater clarity, and a deeper knowledge in the second book of God. When we look at the creation we see God but only through a mist. We can make out by creation that there is something beyond ourselves, but what that is we cannot fully make out. We are blinded by our own sin and ignorance. Until we open this book – the Bible - It becomes clearer. And not only does it become clearer but we also learn more about God in the Word then in creation.
In fact only when we read the second book can we interpret the first book correctly. Article 2 speaks of we: "We know Him by two means". We here refer specifically to believers. I am privileged to be able to benefit from the book of nature, for God has opened my eyes and so enabled me to read it, because of his revelation in the second book. Because of His work, I can read something of what God has written in creation. That is to say, I am made able to appreciate the things He created, including the smells and textures of the flowers, the speed and agility of the mouse, the mosquito with wings that carry it though they're so very thin, the way the birds find their food. By God's grace I am made able to see something of my Father's greatness and glory.
Indeed only after reading the second word do I understand that not only is it a mighty , powerful and orderly God, but it is a Heavenly father who created all these things. I know only throught he second book why the first book is full of natural disasters. This is not only the world of a creator God, but that “this is my Fathers world, and to the listening hear all nature sings and round me rings the music of the sphere!” A God who cares so deeply for you and I and all that he has made that he sent his Son into this Cosmos to die for us.
We are going to talk a lot more about the Bible over the coming weeks so I will not say much now.
One thing I do want to point out is how much the scriptures speak about creation. It is amazing how much the second book asks us to read the first book of creation in order to live well in our day to day lives. Constantly God is showing us how to live by teaching us through the everyday things in creation. He says look at the stars, and count. He says look at the mighty animals – these are my pets! He says look to the ant to learn how to work. He says look trees planted by water and see how they grow. He says look to the birds and don’t worry. Look to the grass and see how quick it comes and goes. He says be sly as foxes. He says wheat and weeds, or vines, thrn bushes, and cedars, . He says he more ancient than the mountains. His voice is mightier than the crashing of the mighty waves. Creation says there is a God. AS the song goes, “How can you say there is no God when all of creation calls his name!” The Bible tells us who the God is and tells us to look to creation. These two books fit beautifully together. It is God gracious two volume set given by our Father so that we might know him, enjoy him, and worship him.
Take time to read these books. Take time to study. Especially you students. Now you are spending so much time reading the book of creation! May you see your studies as the study of God. Seek truth. Seek beauty. Enjoy it. rejoice in it. And worship HIM! For that is our aim for time and eternity.
Amen