I want to begin this post with a multiple-choice quiz. The question to be answered is twofold; Why does anything exist and why do I exist? There can be only one correct answer, and if you get it wrong it has both present and eternal consequences. Please choose from the following answers:
- There was a “Big Bang” which produced energy and matter from which came, over millions of years of time, everything that presently exists, governed by laws that produced order and design from chaos. Out of that came man (me) as the product of slime plus time, wherein over a thousand mutations over millions of years my species evolved from distant cousins who I can visit at the local zoo, as they were not as privileged as I was in the evolutionary process.
- Aliens/extraterrestrials from another planet or dimension, millions of years ago seeded our planet, a planet which has always existed. From that seed came all of natural life including man, who in our own ingenuity have determined how to best thrive and survive (for an average of about 70 years).
- The world and everything in it were created by a cosmic supercomputer and is a game within that computer, and for which we all are unknowingly programed to be part of the game itself. (Think Twilight Zone)
- The omniscient, self-existent, self-sufficient, incorruptible, infinitely good, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful eternal God created, for His glory, the heavens and the earth and everything in them including man, whom He creates in His image and likeness to share in His glorious existence; finding our greatest joy, our greatest pleasure, our ultimate satisfaction, significance and security in knowing, loving and being loved by Him under His sovereign authority.
- In the beginning there was no one and nothing and from that came everything.
- I don’t know, can’t know and don’t care.
You can find the correct answer (#4) in the Bible within the book of Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and in Genesis 1:27, where we are told of His creating man in His image and likeness and that He blessed them, asserting His good intentions in creating them (us) for His glory (Isaiah 43:7).
All the other answers in the quiz come from the evil intentions and corrupted imaginations of a rebellious mankind (Genesis 6:5). They are a part of our foolish effort to suppress the truth of the infinitely glorious God as creator, and to thus deny our dependence upon Him for all of our good and our accountability to Him for how we live our lives in this world in relationship to Him and to our fellow man. We want to be the captain of our soul and the masters of our fate, determining for ourselves right and wrong, accountable to no one but ourselves. (Psalm 2). Thus, we live in contradiction of God’s righteous nature and character and in opposition to His sovereign rule over our lives.
The term suppress means to conceal, to keep something from being revealed or disclosed. In the passage in Romans 1:18, it is speaking not only of our suppression of the truth of God as creator, but also our suppression of the the truth of God as…
..Holy (Isaiah 6:1-5), as being of infinite dignity and value, majestic in the perfections of His eternal being, awesome in power and infinite in wisdom, immutably and indestructibly good in His essence – the only source of good in all the universe, abounding in mercy and grace, who exists with, but not as part of His creation, and thus who alone is worthy to be known intimately, loved supremely, trusted explicitly, obeyed perfectly, worshiped exclusively, glorified unashamedly and enjoyed eternally as the most glorious, most desirable and most necessary being in the universe; the One who created us upright, worthy of living in His presence where we would know only fulness of joy and pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)
..the sovereign ruler of the universe (Isaiah 33:22) and all that is in it, working all things according to the wise counsel of His will, His glory and the good of His people. (Ephesians 1:11) (Romans 8:28)
..the righteous lawgiver, (Isaiah 51:4) who establishes and maintains order in His universe through laws and commandments that are given to ensure and secure the happiness and wellbeing of the creation, while upholding the glory of the creator.
..the just judge, (Genesis 18:25) who is to be feared and reverenced as the One who alone has the right and responsibility to sentence men to an eternity in Hell for the transgression of just one of His righteous laws, who is at the same time worthy to be deeply loved, worshiped and adored as the One who can and does forgive all of our Hell deserving sins through our faith in God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Colossians 1:12-14)
It is only through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ that we can be saved from God’s expression of His judgement and wrath for our arrogant suppression of His truth (Romans 1:18); which I will look at more comprehensively in my next post.
Grace and Peace ×
Amen brother enjoyed this post!