by Al Dyck
Remember the early 80’s, when ‘awesome’ was the word for anything that impressed us? The overuse of the word may have diminished its meaning somewhat, but how often do we stop to ponder what this word means when applied to our God? How often do we dwell on His absolute transcendence? He is far above us and rules over all of creation. “…for you created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” (Rev. 4:11).
We only have to look at the first sentence of The Bible to see this. First we see, “In the beginning God…” When we go all the way back, there was nothing and no one but God. He alone existed, and this fact places Him over and above anything and everything. Jn 1:1-3 testifies In the beginning was the Word… All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being…”
The completion of that first Biblical sentence is, “God created the heavens and the earth.” Have you ever built a house, made a clay pot, sewn an outfit, crafted a nice wooden table, or even created a beautiful garden out of a pile of dirt and weeds? We as humans like to make and create things; some of us are more creative than others. Yet, we always start with materials, a plan, or help from someone else – we don’t go it alone. But God needed none of this; all the necessary resources – the inventive design and the materials – were within Him alone.
The phrase, “God created”, and the subsequent verses in Genesis 1 reveal the extreme power of God, enabling Him to create everything we experience in our world (and all that we have yet to discover). Acts 17:24 says:
The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
He made everything in all of its uniqueness and majesty – galaxies, lions, cobras, lilies, and humankind. Here in Acts Paul is saying that this great God does not dwell in temples made by “measly human hands”. He’s so far above us and all that we create – how could we even think to restrict Him to a human temple in a single place on this earth?
How did God create? Well, that remains a mystery and a debate. But, what we can see from Genesis 1 is that “God said, God separated, God called, God made, God placed, God created, God blessed,” and so on. He did these things by himself (although the Trinity is revealed in v.26, “Let Us make man in Our image”) and of his own initiative. How can we miss his transcendence? He is so great and powerful that He literally spoke creation into existence with the power of His word. God stands far and above us in his creative power. Who can begin to come up with anything as beautiful, vast, and awesome as God?
By rights, He is the Lord of Creation and its ruler – even of humankind. It’s not a popular view today that we have to give accountability to our Creator (in fact, “creator” isn’t a popular idea either). Yet popular or not, if anyone desires to be a Christ-follower, she must choose to yield herself to the Lordship of Christ. A man must choose to submit himself to follow his Creator’s design for his life.
Though we’re focusing on the transcendence or the whole “otherness” of God, creation shows us that we cannot separate the intimate relationship between God and humankind. In the midst of His creativeness, power and majesty, we see in Genesis 3 that God came near to the man and the woman, apparently “to hang with” them. He wasn’t “so great” that He couldn’t be known to Adam and Eve – instead, He sought them out, walking and reflecting with them in the cool of the evening.
Even today we can know God and share this intimacy. Yet at the same time, He still remains totally other than us. Adam and Eve help us see that though He comes close, we cannot “blow off” His commands. When we do that, part of the consequence is that there is a distance put between God and us – it’s the consequence of sin. It’s a reminder that we must fear God and stand in awe of Him.
In the Genesis story, we see that His creatures’ rebellion didn’t thwart His plans. Satan was and is still unable to rise up greater than God. The event of the Fall of Adam and Eve, and their banishment from Eden, demonstrates both His greatness and closeness: while He bans and forbids, He continues to open the way for us to come close in Christ. (John 14:6 & Romans 3-5)
How can this help us relate the gospel to post-moderns? First, we should regularly point out His power and majesty in creation. We can facilitate people connecting with God through helping them to see that His character is exhibited in the world He has made.
Second, we ought to be creative ourselves because God is living in us. We need to release creativity in our day-to-day ministry, especially in the communication of God’s Word.
Third, though God is all-powerful and calls us to yield ourselves to His Lordship, He doesn’t force it on us. He beckons us to come. The intimacy He sought with Adam and Eve shows that He wants to be near us. I think the popularity of some recent literature like Journey of Desire, Sacred Romance, Wild At Heart and others shows us that people genuinely crave this intimacy. There is real value in focusing on this ‘romantic’ or ‘friendship’ aspect to God’s intentions of relating to His creation.
Fourth, in these early chapters of Genesis, God gave humankind responsibility for the earth. It seems as the world is going more and more green-conscious, that Christians should lead the way in caring for God’s creation! We can fulfill His mandate and at the same time have an effect in helping post-moderns see that we take God and His creation seriously.
Fifth, we must consciously work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12) maintaining the tension of a transcendent and immanent God. He is at work in us, and in His world.
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