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The
author of Hebrews now arrives at the
famous portion
of
his letter in which he vividly
illustrates the active, persevering faith he has been
encouraging his readers to retain.
The
point
of
the
enti re chapter is self-evident: true faith does not
turn
back from following'Christ in the hour of
testing; it perseveres unto the saving of the soul.
The
history of the Church is filled with men and
women who have endured afflictions and trials for
the cause
of
Christ, and the true character
of
their
faith
ha
s
been
vindicated by their steadfastness.
OUf author
joins
examples from the previous 4,000
years
in
order to prove his point. From the very
beginning of the world, God's Word has called for
and produced faith in the lives of those whom he
has graciously drawn unto himself through the
gospeL
Through this chapter,
OUf
author encour
ages these Hebrew Christians to bear up under
their current trial s,and to
realize
present .
sufferings for Christ's sake do not give them
reason to leave the battlefield. Like those who
have gone before, they are now called upon to
endure courageously the afflictions
of
evil men.
t
is important to note that chapter is not an
extended discourse on the natnre of ustifying faith.
t is an inspired account of how faith works (what
faith produces) in those who are
ju
stified from
their sins through Christ's righteousness and blood.
As
the
Lutheran commentator Lenski wrote,
t
is
more exact to say that we have the essence
of
true religious faith, the heart
of
what the Scriptures
call saving faith. .
I .
n t r o d u ~ ~ ; o n to
the Hebrews Hall of
Faith
. . . ' . . .
A. Savilig
faith
does
not draw back from
its pursuit of God s
.
promises 00:37.
39)
In
quoting
r ~ n i
Habbllkuk,
~ u r
author
Was
directed
by
the Holy Spiri t to see a parallel
be
tween the two situations. Habbakuk was wrestling
with the question, Why are the righteous some
times punished along with the wicked? Why is their
present condition so often marked by hardship and
suffering? God's
an
swer came along two lines:
the wicked oppressors of God'speople will
be
punished, and the righteous must submit them-
selves to the will of God. Suffering is part of
God's plan to purify them from sin, draw them
closer to himself, and to accomplish other holy and
jus t ends, which the Lord mayor may not choose
to reveal. The important thing is that the justified
man lives in his faith , He does not give in under
the pressures
of
tribulation. He knows trials
proceed from the hand of his loving heavenly
Father, who has everything under control, and who
works all things together for good
to
those that
love
him
(Romans 8:28). Therefore, he does not
draw back. This is the context of chapter 11. The
men and women
of
faith discussed are illustrations
of this principle. Each of them were given great
and precious covenant promises, and each had to
endure enormous hardships and testings as they
sought to inherit them. In many instances, they
never received what was promised, yet they
continued in faith and obedience throughout their
lives, counting God faitbful and his promises sure.
B. Saving
faith
is identical to
the
Old
and
New
Testaments: Christcentered
To feel the full force of this point, we must
remember our author's purpose. He demonstrates
New Testament faith
from the Old Testament
(cf.
Romans 4). This is certainly a compelling argu
ment
for
the essential unity
of
the Old and New
Testaments contra Dispensationalism) (Luke
24:24-27,44-45; John 5:45-47; Galatians 3:26-29;
Hebrews
3:
1-6).
t
is not as
if
old covenant faith
was focused upon works and reward While that
of
the new is more esoteric and intangible, focusing
on Christ, heaven, and the afterlife.
The
faith
of
the godly in both
testaments
received its
strength
to
endure through the
Messiah.
Moses, the r e t ~ s t man in the Old Testament, left
Egypt because he would rather endure suffering
for the cause
of
Christ than enjoy the pleasures
of
sin for a season. Abraham, the greatest of the
patriarchs, and the father
of
all who believe, looked
ahead to and rejoiced in Christ's day (John 8:36).
Chapter 10 concludes by reminding us that the
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promise for which all of these great men and
women hoped was not fulfilled in their lifetime, the
implication being that the Messiah had not yet
been born. They enjoyed many glorious privi
leges, revelations, and visitations from Jehovah, but
the greatest of his promises, life and salvation
through the Messiah, was not realized. The author
then draws a poweIful ethical implication from the
expectancy of Old Testament faith.
f
heir hopes
are to be realized,
if
their labors, sufferings, and
patience are to be vindicated, believers on the
other side of the Messiah s advent must pick up
where they left off. f they were able to undergo
so
many trials and testings, and patiently bear with
so many delays and obstacles
in
the realization of
their faith before the Messiah s glory and grace
was fully revealed,
how much more should we,
who now possess the fullness of salvation bless
ings
fOJ
which they longed, persevere in faith and
obedience dnring the many sufferings and tribula
tions which God places in our wa
y.
Like them, we
will endure only as the eyes of our faith are
focused on the Christ, who now is more than a
promise. He has conqnered sin, Satan, and death,
and he now reigns at God s right hand, angels,
principalities, and powers being made snbject to
him
C. Saving faith is OBEDIENT, PATIENT,
and
PERSEVERING.
In
each
of
the histories before
us
it
is the
active obedience, patience, nd perseverance
of aith that is commen.ded to
us.
Faith shows
itself in obedience to the revealed will of God. At
God s command, Noah built an ark in an age when
it had probably not yet rained (at least as it does
now). At the command of God, Abraham left his
family and journeyed 1,500 miles to an unspecified
location. Moses confronted the most powerful
world ruler in his day because
of
faith
in
God s
promise to deliver Israel. Samson slew thousands
of
Philistines with his bare hands . Jehovah made
many promises to these individual
s
and they
believed them, enjoyed tlJem and lived in their
light.
Mo
reover, they patiently endured many
del
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order
to
suffertvith
God's people?
And
what
about those
who bad endured torture, cruel mock
ing, scourgings, and martyrdom for the faith?
These
Hebrew Christiaiu. had not
yet
been called
upon to give that final token ofloyalty to the cause
of
Christ. So while our author seeks to encourage
them
through their history, he
meekly
chides them
as welL
They
have
not
yet
endured quite as much
as they may think. They need to stop pitying
themselves, living in fear, and recover their ancient
zeal
for the
cause of Christ and his Church. For
their profession admits of no retreat, no treasonous
abandonment
of
principle, no fear
of
man. Their
faith,
if
real, will enable them to follow
in
the
footsteps of these men and women of faith, and
patiently endure sufferings for Christ's sake.
The lessons for us are
no
les s compelling. As
the evils of the
day have increased,
our
faith
in
God's
promises
of
kingdom expansion and victory,
andin
his
plan
of salvation, the gospel of Jesus
Christ simply and powerfully preached, have
lessened. Our individualism, materialism, and
selfish aims are more pronounced. Compromise,
defeatism
, and despair are rife throughout the
Christian community. Very few are undertaking
great works
of
missionary endeavor, planning for'
the next millennium of the establishment of the
kingdom
of
King Jesus over ,all
the
earth, or
expecting
Christ's
enemies to be defeated in our
day and
God's promisestothe
Church fulfilled.
We hear many stories of moral defeat and doctri
nal error, but scarce few of victory over tempta
tions, faithfulness to duty, and passion for Christ
and his
Word.
But
this is exactly to what this
chapter calls us. t calls us to plan for victory
in an
age
of
defeat
and
compromise. t de
mands
that
we
be firmly
persuaded of
God's
promises
when our,faith
is
assailed by
the
hordes
of
godless
men on every
side. t
encourages us to give our all in living the
Christian
life,
making
disciples
of the
nations,
and
extenditi
g
ite borders
of Zion even
though
the
battle
calls for
our blood,
sweat,
and
tears. In short, this
chapter
calls upon
us
to realize
that our
earthly experience is
not
about personal comfort, ease, and affiuence,
or
even the
peaceful enjoyment
o God's
covenant ,promises.
t
s about warfare,
obedience, hard work, and
perseverance
through sufferings. This is the sort
of
faith God
had been giving his people for 6,000 years. The
coming of his Messiah 2,000 years ago does not '
release us from our obligations to suffer with
Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David; it intensifies
them. And yet, glory be to God, because we live
in that great day
of
the Messiah for which they
longed,
we
can also expect greater grace and
victory in establishing the kingdom
of
Jesus Christ
over the face
of
the entire earth (Isaiah II :9) .
I I The Confident Expectation of Saving Faith
(Hebrews
11:1-2)
A. Faith is confident of the
truth
of God's promises.
Hypostasis
(substance) implies essence or
fundamental reality , i.e.,
that which is real.
Faith
persuades
God's
people
of the
reality
and
certainty of his promises. It reveals with
startling vividness what cannot necessarily be seen
with the eyes, i.e., verified with the senses or as
yet
completely experienced
not fide ism r
existentialism).
This great truth is implicit
throughout the chapter. Faith enables the Christian
to embrace the unseen, unfulfilled promises of God
with an assurance and confidence that strengthens
'Tairh
enables
the Christian
IU
embrace
the
unseen,
unfulfilled
promises
of God
with ari assurance
and confIdence that strengthens
him to triumph over the Hesh,
rhe
world, and
the deviL
him to triumph over the flesh , the world, and the
devil. Our New'Testament translators usually (and
properly) translate the word confidence (cf. 2
Corinthians 9:4; 11:17; Hebrews 3:14). {The single
other
appearance
of
the word is in Hebrews 1:3,
where the
Son is called the express image of the
Father's hypostasis .
There,
essence
is proper '
referent
of
the
WOrd For
our author is declaring
that the Son possesses the fullness
of
the divine
essence in himself: autotheos.} What enables
faith to overcome the many obstacles which
our
'
heavenly Father is pleased to place before it? A
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Spirit-wrought assurance that God's promises
cannot fail. Regardless of what we see with
our
eyes, God's Wordis more trustworthy .
than
our experienc.e and deeper
than our
understanding.
t
is this conviction that it
lighted in the subsequent histories of God .s people.
Now what gives faith this character and thus
enables it to persevere?
1. Faith enables man to submit to God's Word.
All men do not have faith
(2
Thessalonians 3:2).
It is exclusively God's gracious gift and sovereign
prerogative
to
place it in the hearts of his people
(John 3:3-8; Ephesians 2:8,9). By nature, man is
enslaved
to
his unbelieving views ofGod, himself,
and the world (Romans 1:18-23; 3:10-18). In this
fallen condition, he will alway s reject the Scrip
tures, and life and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Yet when the Word and Spirit
of
God regenerate
man,
he
undergoes a supernatural, radical transi
tion from death to life, darkness to light, sin to
righteousness, ignorance to knowledge, u n e l ~ e f to
faith (Acts 2:37; 10:17; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Eph
esians 5:8; Colossians 3:10). He is enabled to
receive, understand, and believe whatever is
revealed in Scripture
as
coming from th.e true and
living God, who canDot lie. He therefore rejects
his own sin dominated outlook on life. He now
assents that there is
no
higher authority than the
voice of God spealdng i n the Scriptures, and that to
live on the basis
of
his own principles, ideas, and
experiences, is the height of creaturely arrogance,
irrationalism, and impiety. Recognizing hi s own
depravity and alienation from a holy and just God,
he accepts, receives, and rests upon Christ alone
for salvation,
as
he is freely offered in the gospel.
He then dedicates himself to walk in obedience to
God and his law out of love for tbe risen Son of
God. The point here is quite simple. The very
nature of saving faith, being the creation of God in
tlle heart of his elect,joining them to Christ, and
introducing a radical reversal of the governing
principle inman, guarantees its perseverance.
Faith, then, is a transfer of allegiance from man to
God and his Word. Where faith is genuine, submis
sion to God is certain.
2. Faith overcomes all objections
against God's Word.
God
does not give us everything he h
as
prom-
ised all at once. There are many h o p e for
blessings which
as
yet remain unfulfilled (lCorin-
thians 15:50ff; Hebrews 2:8; John 3:2). A startling
contrast often exists between our present experi
ences and what God has revealed in Scripture.
God promised Abraham
th
e land of Canaan yet he
never enjoyed title to one square foot
of
it (except
the Cave at Machpelah, which he purchase
d:
Genesis 23:17,18). Isaac was the seed of promise,
yet God commanded Abraham to sacrifice him.
We currently possess eternal life in Jesus Christ,
yet
we
continually struggle with SiD and face
inevitable death. God proclaims in Scripture that
we are now ju st, innocent, and righteous in his
sight through Christ's imputed righteousness and
shed blood, yet we struggle with sin. God has set
Christ at his right hand, there to triumph victori
ously over all his enemies, but today we see his
enemies proliferating on every side, and his Church
scattered and confused. These dilemmas are tests
of faith. Will we continue believing God's Word
when our experience seems
to
contradict those
promises?
The ability
to
view life from God s
perspective as revealed in Scripture, and to
count upon his Word even when our 'daily
experience may seem
to
contradict it, is the
essence of persevering faith. The man of faith
has forsaken his own depraved and man-centered
views
of
life, and now contents himself with being
God's humble servant, and thereby confidently
awaits the fulfillment
of
those promises
fOl
which
he hope
s.
He knows that he is a mere creature,
Witll
a very limited, mostly selfish perspective, and
that he will always stray
if
he makes his own
experiences and views the guiding principle ofhis
life. Saving faitll will thus overcome all objections
against God' s Word, whether Illey spring from our
own unbel ief and lethargy or are introduced by the
darkened minds of unbelief.
B.
Faith
enables
us
to possess
and
enjoy
promises not yet fulfilled.
The two phrases
in
verse 1,
things hoped
fOl
and things not seen are parallel, Both refer to
the many great and precious promises God has
revealed in his Word, which though we currently
possess and enjoy by faith, we
do
not
fully possess,
understand, or enjoy them
as
we one day will.
This condition is what theologians have called the
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now
ut not y ti aspect of
our
present Christial1
experience.
On
the one hand,in ,Christ we possess ,
all.things, On the other hand, we are strangers
and pilgrims
in
t1 is world. We are n s i ~ f i e d from all
our
sins, ,yet w still need forgiveness. In Jesus _'
Christ,
we
hav.; been made the heirs of
aU God's
promises,
but we
have not yet experienced their
consummation. That full and final salvation
experienc.e must wait for the dawn of the per
fected
kingdom
of clirist. The delay. does not
make the
promises any less'preCious,oi'
~ a l .
,
1. It'embraces God's promises
as
its
God's promises.
He
is delighted by the mercies of
God revealed in them and is ~ m p o w e r e i l through '
them to continue in fafth and obedience. t is , he
quality of God's promises; the hope they produce in
the soul, that enables the just
mim
to persevere ' :'
through affiicti9n (philippians 3:7-i
1), Whe,D
we
survey the'lives of the godly in eVery epoch of the
Church, God's promises have always been the'
means of grace' by which they were enl\vened to
undertake dangerous and energetic exploits'in
. Christ's name..
It
wa:s t1Je promise of Christ's'
Spirit and presence that strengthened the apostles
and Christian brothers' to read the gospel'of
. own present possession'. .
Jesus Christ with such zealand faithfulness , '
Faith
enables a man to possess.apd enjoy with thfoughout Palestine,
Asi MinOr,
Rome, and from
confidence wh,athehas
not yet fullY
' realized
in
his
there to the uttermost parts of the then known
oWn
personal experience. '
The
fact that we world. It was the hope of the martyr's crow'n that
struggle 'wiih sin does not weaken our righteous enabled so many millions of Christians to go to
standing in.Jesus Christ.
Thetwo
millennia sepa- their deaths with composure, confidence, andjoy .
rat;ing
Abraham
and Christ did
not
keep the former
It
was the hope
of
a refoirmid Church,
it
godly and
from
believing God's promises, and joyfully antici- secure state, anda :hristianiZed u ~ o p e that
pating
the
,great day of the Messiah. The fact that encouraged the
ReformetHo
undertake such a
we see evil
men
going fron;ibad t9 worse all ,dapgllrouswork. 'An4
it. Will
the promise.of ,'
aroand gaining authority andpowe.t, does not., : christ's yictoriousxdgn at 'Ciod;s right ,hand and ,
negate the; 'leof CIirist over tht'earth ,a:rid the ' :: . theex'tension 6fliis\dng'dom v ~ r flll th,e-earth that
Father's promise to mni'of the. h r i s i i ~ n i z ~ t i o n of " will enable' (0 fe]nice.onthdield of battle, and
the nations'. ,For our cqnfidence in God 's promises, enter our Own great fight of FtffJictions with,ihe
once again, is never
~ s e d
upon purper.soilal
.
, . " zeal, o ~ f i d e n c e , aijd power necessary
to r o s ~
experiences', and
it
is certainlyl1oi'based upon the ' "
ecutethe
l \ ~ l e against Satan
t( )
itsfullest..
condition of world at, any P3Jticular time in ' , " ,
. _ .
.'
..
3. Itpatieritly end,tires per&(malhistory_
It
is
a t h e r g r o ~ n d e d
upon
904's
infallible akn d ' 'I d 'I ,
. . d ' S H , G d ' we ess an tempora e ays.
prormses contame in cppture . as, .o prom-' .... ' ' .. ' '. ' " ,
ised some particular t e ~ s i n g to the Church"? ,Does ' . - ' Faith
fiXes
our gaZe upon the wonderful ~ o m - ,
it
appear impossible that
it
can
9 m ~ t f u e ? Let
ises
of so
that' we are m ~ r e < i v e r w h e l t l l e d at
God be true but every man a liar. I t the . God 's gracious Qrovisions
to
'us, his)
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'will, promises,' and power by ihe measure of
our
own puny and finite understanding. He is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or
imagine.
f
his is to be our attitude, however, we
must have more confidence in God's promises than
we do in
our
'personal experiences. This does not
mean that
we
go through life as blind optimists, but
that we ground our entire confidence in the bare ,
power of the spoken Word of our covenant keep
ing God. His' grace is sufficient for us; not one
good word of all hi,S promises can eyer fall to the
ground.
C. Faith
is the wellspring
of hope
(Romans 8:24).
Faith is the foundation
of
hope. It is faith in the
unshakable promises of God that produces hope
within us. Hope is not wishful thinkiIig.
I
hope
we
can go on vacation this year. Biblical hope
is
that
Spirit-produced
o n f i d ~ n e
that
what
God has said,
he will also do. So central is hope
to the Christian life that Paul could say, We are
saved by hope (Romans 8:24), Hope has been a
frequently recuiTing theme in this epistle. In living
for Christ, we are to show the full assurance of
hop
unto the end (6: 11). , We have been born
again unto a better
hop
than even the Old Testa
ment patriarchs enjoyed (7: 19). Hope inspires the ,
Christian to obey God zealously throughout the
entirety of his life, and to undertake great works
for'hiskingdom
1
Corinthians
9:
10; Colossians
1 5). Hope motivates us to believe God's Word
when everything around us seems to undermine its
truthfulness, authority, and relevance, Hope gives
us the ability to rejoice during trials (Romans 5:2-5;
12: 12; Hebrews 3:6) and patiently submit to God's
will during them
1
Thessalonians 1 3).
t
is hope
iu God's faithfulness that keeps us from sinking
into despair as
we
endure
the
trials (Psalms 33:18,
19; 42:5 ,11; 43:5). Without hope in God's prom
ises, that
he
will fulfill them, that
he
rewards our
obedience arid honors our faith; there is no incen
tive to live the Christian life.
t
is faith that in
spires this hope, keeps
it
enflamed, and motivates
the believer to come to Christ and to seek in
im
all necessary grace (Matthew 8:10; 9:2; 15:28).
D. Faith achieves
the
victory
and
is
therefore
rewarded by
God
(8:2).
Verse 2 motivates us to follow in the footsteps
of the men and w(jmen of faith
he
is about to
discuss.: The alwients are commended for their
confident trust in God's,Word
that
enabled them to
persevere courageously througbout life.
What
makes Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samson, and
Rahab such sterling examples of faith to us? They
took God at his Word, embraced his promises, and
refused to limit his power by the bounds
of
their
own understimding. They confidently anticipated
the fulfillment
of
his Word and did not draw back
from that faith in the hour
of
testing.
t
was this
faith that was rewarded throughout tbeir lives,.as ,
they .enjoyed material prosperity, deliverance from
enemies, and many descendants.
It
was this faith '
that-was
c ~ n s t i m m t e d
when the Messiah entered
upon the scene
of
human history
2,000years
'ago
and obtained the eternal redemption
of
his Chinch.
III. The Foundation of Saving Faith: The
Genesis
Creation Account
(11:3)
, In beginning his illustrious roll call
of
faith, our
author begins where the Bible does, with the
creation
of
the physical universe
by
the s
poken
word ,
of
God. The book
of
Genesis not only
contains the creation narrative, but
it
is also the
source of the majority of the faith biographies in
this chapter. More importantly, if faith, as
he
has
already written, is unshakable confidence in the
unseen, unfulfilled promises of God, then
Scripture's testinlony concerning the creation of
the world is a fundamental proving ground for true
faith. Will we accept
God's
Word concerning the
origins
of
this world? Will we trust him even
though we were not prese
nt
when he created the
world? Will we continue to submit to his revelation
in the face of so many attacks against biblical
creationism by unbelieving scientist and professing
friends of Christ?
If
not, we will
be
in no position
to accept his word concerning
the
recreation or
redemption
of
the world through Jesus Christ. For
in both instances, saving faith ,
SUbmits
to God's
Word, distrusts man, overcomes objections, aIld
believes God. This verse is'not only foundational
for all tbat follows in this chapter, but for the entire
Christian worldview, and therefore, we must seek
to understand its richness and saving power in our
lives.
The simple point of verse 3 is that God did, by
the power of his own word, create everything we
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see around us. The biblical doctrine of creation
affirms that when there was nothing but the triune,
self
. existent, all-sufficient God, he created the
matter from which this universe
waS
constructed,
and beautifully and wisely ordered it all as
it
now
appears. In. the words of our Confession;
It
pleasecre
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for
the manifestation
of
the glory
of
his .eternal power,
wisdom,
llI1d
goodness; in the beginning; to create,
or make
of
nothing,
the
world, and all things
therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of
six days, and all very good" (4.
1).
Both the
substance and farm
of
the universe originated with
the eternal God. Man, however, will never be able
to understand or accept this account.
of
he origin
of the uni-verse unless and until he is regenerated
by the
power
of
the Holy Spirit, submits his reason
to God, and surrenders his heart to Christ. Let us
begin by considering the implications
of
this verse
for a Christian view
of
history, God; man, Scrip
ture, and Christ.
A. Faith is based
upon
the
biblical
doctrine of
creation.
1. The biblical doctrine of creation means
that human history had a definite
beginning and purpose.
Contrary to the evolutionists; cultural relativistS;
and every other garden variety
of
unbelief, human
history is not an unconnected hodgepodge
of
random, meaningless events, and this orderly
universe did not spring from chaos plus incalcu
lable eons of time. The living and true God,
according to the Scriptures, is the Creator
of
this
universe and therefore of human history. This
wotld and its history sprang into a sudden, defined
(exhaustively known and interpreted by God before
it
existed), and meaningful existence around 6,000
years ago. According to the Christian worldview,
history has meaning and purpose
because t
originated in the mind of an all-wise, poweiful,
good, and
just
God, who created man to serve and
glorify himself. History thus becomes the unfold
ing
of
God's providential, covenant dealings with
man,
and
reaches its destination in the person and
work of Jesus Christ, the second and greater
Adam who rescued fallen man from the abyss of
sin and depravity
in
which Adam's wretched
choice plunged him. Only biblical Christianity,
"According
:6 the
Chriitian
worldview,
. ' . , . 1 . . :
hiswry:his
me;illing
and purpose because it
II - , ' . , . , , .
i g i n t ~ d ip. the
IIlind
of an l l ~ : w i s e pO
,
wer-
ful, good, and
u s ~
Qod, wh. )
createdman
' j
to
serve
and glorify himself."
.
; : ;
therefOre, preserves true meaning and purpose
in
'
history, provides hope forman 's deliverance'from
his rebellious, destructive tendencies, and pre
serves human ratiotlality, experience, and science.
Negatively stated, if God did not create this
universe, then there
is
no r tion l explanation fat
its origin; no reason for its existence, and no
purpose
to
history.
We
are
left
with
an
utterly
unexplainable existente.
Our
experience is
,reduced to a chaotic accumulation of unrelated
facts to 'which
arty
:meaning
at allmay
be assigtied.
We lack any rational foundation for
our
knowledge .
claims and scientific enoeavors. The very fact
that man cannot live in terms of these unbelieving
foundations; but must instead bdrrow from the
Christian worldview those necessary foundations
to think, speak, and reason, is proof,
as
Cornelius
Van Til so wisely statect, that Christianity is abso
lutely true; because withQut it, one cannot prove
anything else. It is the necessary foundationior
everything else. The tragedy
of
fallen man is that
, he prefers
to
live in an abyss.of meaninglessness
and despair rather than admit his
needof
divine
wisdom, submit
to
God's Wo(d, and
cQme
to Christ
as the realization of God 's plan for and in history.
2. The doctrine of creation gqarantees that God is
in sovereign control
of
all things.
In Scripture, creation and providence are
inseparable. God takes care
of
his creatures,
provides for their physical and spiritual needs
imd
controls every single event,
v ~ n
evil and calamity,
that occurs for the glory of his own name (Job
37:3; Psalm 36:6,104:24-26; 135:6; Proverbs 16:4;
Isaiah 45:6-8; Daniel 4:35; Acts 2:23; 17:25-28;
Matthew 10:29-31). Contrary to Deism, God is not
the master watchmaker who wound up the world, .
then left
it
to run according to certain natUral
principles.'
God
the creator is God the Preserver
and Controller of all. He causes all things
to
happen according to the counsel of his own will
(EpheSians I:II;Psalin33:10,ll). Eventhe
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sparrow thaUlills to the grounil is'known and " , . . ,
guided by God (Matthew 10:29). The arrow that is
inadvertently shot into the air finds its
ai
,his ' '
command (1 Kings 22:34). The die thrown comes
up six at
God s
decree (Proverbs 16:33):
The
" i
thunder and lightening are his poweiful voices (Job:
28:26; 37:3). The doctrine of creation, therefore,
is
a great source
of
comfort to
God s
people', for Gqd
not only made
the
world, aod all things
in
it, but l1e .
watches over, preserves, protects, and provides',for
his creatures. Moreover, because God is in cqntrol
no natural disaster is going to occur which will . . '
wipe out mankind and destroythe planet. The
more man has lost his confidence in Creator God,
the more preoccupied he has become with
cata
strophic asteroids, alien invasions, global warming,
overpopulation, and various other impending
disasters that threaten human existence as we .
know it. God, however, has sworn that nothing will
take place to threaten man's life on earth again:
Until his plans to restore fallen humanity through
Chris and erect Christ's kingdom victorious over
all the earth are fulfilled, the s ~ s o n s will continue,
and no mOf( worldwide natural disasters will occur
that will threaten that plan (Genesis 8:2022).
3. The doctriue of creation obligates all men to
worship and10ve the living and true God.
Because God created man
in
his
own
image,
man is obligated to worship and serve his Creator.
All
men know this to
be
the case.
We
must
not
allow unbelieving man to define himself. Godhas
revealed himself to all men through nature and
in
man' s heart, and therefore, all men know (in one
sense) that the God of the Bible exists, and that
they owe thei r lives to him, and that they are gUilty
of treason against heaven if they withhold praise
and obedience to
him
(cf. Romans 1:19ff). As .
Panl goes on to say, however,
the
unbelieving man
suppresses
the
truth in unrighteousness. The
task
of the Christian, therefore, is not to ,convince the
unbeliever
of
things'he does not already believe,
but. to force
him
to face the truth of which he is
already convicted. Note how Paul does this at the
Areopagus (cf. Acts 17:22ff). He does not set
out
to prove anything. He proclaims the troth that God
has made all mim, including the Romans, lhat they
are rebels frail). his law, and that their only hope is
repentance and faith
in
the Messiah, whom God
has raised from
the
dead. We
must
follow
Paul s
. authodtative eXllmple and press
the
demands
of
:creation upon
the
unbeliever's conscience. The
, Ul,believer is guilty of rebellion against his creator
; He enjoys so many good gifts from his hand, yet he
, does not surrender his life to him. f he remains in
. his. ost condition, ,that same Creator WIlD offers
, salvation from sin through Christ will
become
a
vengeful Godwho will punish
him in
hellfire
forever. To give up the biblical doctr ine of
ere
.
ation, tberefore, is to wipe out any
need for
the
gospel o Jesus Christ. Redemption, as we shall
See, standS or falls with creation. f
we acquiesce
to
modem
scholarship on the doctrine of
creation,
we
must succunlb to unbelief and
skepticism on the doctrine
of
redemption in
Jesus Christ. Finally, the godly
cannot doubt
that
the modern aversion to
the
creation doctrine stems
from the guilty conscience of the modern man,
who will do everything he can to escape the
consequences of his creation by God to love and
obey God.
4. The doctrine of creation is the foundation
for the rest of Scripture.
Scripture's infallibility, authority, arid allsuffi
ciency are inseparable
from the
biblical doctrine
of
creation. In every major section of the Bible, the
biblical doctrine of creation is affirmed.
1) In the Pentateuch - Genesis 12; Exodus
20:11; 31:17; Deuteronomy 4:32.
2) In the Histories 2 Kings 19:15;2
Chronicles 2: 12; Nehemiah 9:6
3) In the Psalms -
Psalm
104:2430;
115:15,16; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; 146:6
4)
In
the Prophets Is'aiah 37:16;
40
:12;
Jeremiah 32:17; 33:25; Amos 9:6
5) In the Gospels - Matthew 19:4; Mark
13:19; 10:6; John 1:3,10
6) In the Apostolic Writings - Acts 4:24;
14:i5; 17:26; 1 Corinthians 11:9; Colossians
1:16,20; 1 Timothy 4:3; Revelation 4: 11; 14:7.
One cannot subtract creationism from the
Bible
and retain eithe r Christianity or confidenct'; in the .
Scripturt';s. hey stand
or
fall together. f the
God of Scripture is not the divine Creator of this
world, then not only is Genesis
in
errol', but the
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entire collection of
:>ritings
w h i ~ h we beliey,e to be
God s
inspired Word is el\posed as fraudulent,(OJ; ,
minimally, as'providing no help in,
n d ~ r s t a n d i n g
t h ~
origin and purpose of the universe) as well.
Fqr
,
not
only,does each portion of Scripture presuppose,
and tellch that God is the Creator and Goyerpor, ,
this universe, but each claims
\0
be God s inspired,
infal lible Word to man, God 's creatures. But
if
God
is not the Creator, then
they
coptain error.
A.t d i {
the Bible is wrong at even one, ~ o i n t i
is
wrong
at every point. Away with the Kantian dualism
that would saVe faith by relegating itto an un
knowable realm of
n y s t e r y w h ~ r d a c t s
rationa)
ity, and verbal propositions do not matter.
The
,
Bible s claim iscoI]1prehensive. H clajms to spe,ak
with absolute authority concernjng everything .
about which it speaks, and
it
speaks about every,
thing. Hence, e see how dangerous the cavalier ,
attitude is that many professing Christians demon
strate towardqeatiopis
m
. They are wiling to
consign the creation account to myth, fiction, Or
poetic device. They want to appear respectable
before
the "scientific community," They certainly
would not dream of questioning the so called
"scientific method." What they fail to under-
stand is that t 'e moment lie cease believing and
defending biblical creationism, the source of
our faith is immediately overthrown, the Scrip-
tures of the Old and New Testament.
It is now evident why adherents of the various
natoralistic explanations of the origin of the uni
verse, such as the older Darwinian evolution or its
modern cousins, i.e., 'Gould's punctuated equilib
rium hypothesis, so arduously continue their siege
against the creation account of Genesis 1-2.
Animated by the father of lies, the devil himself,
they are persuaded that if they can ever overcome
Christianity's
commitment to supernatural creation,
then the entire structure will corne tumbling down.
Like a lengthy siege of an ancient castle, i one
bombards the walls long enough, a breach will
eventual ly be created, allowing the entrance into
and pillage of the once'impregnable stronghold.
Creati()nism is the foundation of the
entire
Christian system, the Scriptures, and
as we
shall now
see, of redemption itself. f the
w o r l d ~ o u n d us sprang from chance and time,
then Christianity, far from being a rationally
defensibkpositipn, e ~ o l H e S Just another
l l p e r ~ t i . ;
, tioll that varjous.men I)ave heldil1tb.eirjourn.ey . '
from I p ~ ~ r
ro
Qjgher forms pf.1jf .
I
5. The doctrine of creation sets the fouiIda:tibn for
Christ's redemptive
worle in
'history.. h . i
The
same ScriptiinJs rela.t'e nHm's fall futo sin,
,
God s
promise of
a
Savior, the various covenailts
God made prepatihg his people to embrace the
I
Messiah; and tIle histo;icafevents of Christ;sbirth,
life, death, resurrection, and a s c e ~ s i b h . How shall
we trust Scripture at these' pOInts if we reject its
first and most fundam,ental doctrine, that the hving
..j - ' , - _:
-
and true God fonned this wide globe by
his
own
power and fot his own glory, to be the panoramIc
stagk upon which'ihe great drama of redemption
w6nld be p e r f b h n ~ d ?
If
Gbd is not the'Creator of
: . . , . / ' . . i '
the universe, then there is no sin that needs aton-
i1l;/1 Apart froIlithe i b l i ~ a l o l l t of the origin ;
of
the universe, Christ becomes an enigma,
just
another strange e l i g i o ~ s spirit ~ h o ~ p p e a r e d in it
,world of chance and mystery, 'but he
S
not the Son
of God come down from heaven to save
God s
elect froJll their sins. Biblic l-l creationism shows
' , :.. " I
us that Christ is necessary because though man
was created upright, he has urned away froJll his '
Creator in unbelief and disobedience.
t
shows us
that our Savior is the eternal Son of God, the '
Creator of the world, Who is not only fullY God, but
also fully man in one person. It prepares is to
understand that the scope
of
Chris\'s work is
I,lot
just to redeem us to God and heaven , but to
redeem and recreate the entire world, and bring
the blessings
of
salvation "far
as
the curse is
found."
B. Faith precedes knowledge.
In the first two words of verse 3, our author
makesan astouriding claim that has vast implica- '
tipns for every area of life. He writes, "By faith
we understand." The textual referent of his claim
is creatiOIi.
t
is through faith that we come to
understand and accept the original creation of this
universe by the spoken word of the living God.
That is, hibllcal creationism is embraced
through faith n the unerring, certain Word of
God. We believe
it
not because God has an
swered all our questions, but because once he has
spoken,
i t
is our duty to submit, believe, and adore.
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After that submission to his Word, his Holy Spirit
opens
OUf
hearts (affection, will, mind) so that the
numerous evidences supporting creationism can
be
embraced, and we can patiently await the resolu
tion
of
all our questions.
The phrase itself, "by faith we understand," is
worthy
of
consideration on its own merits. Its
meaning is clear. As God's creatures, we must
first believe God's Word before we will understand
even one area of life correctly. Augustine, em
bracing this as foundational to the Christian
, worldview (epistemology), wrote,
I
must believe
in order to understand." The first step
in
coming
to understand the universe, man, and God, is to
recognize that we are God's creatures, unable to
arrive at any truth without his aid, and submit our
reason and experience to his infallible Word.
Reason and experience are necessary tools, but
they can perform their God-given function properly
only in submission to God and his revelation. The
modern man has completely twisted the biblical
order around, and the Church has gone along with
his skepticism. He refuses to believe unless and
until he understands completely, until all his ques
tions, doubts, and criticisms are answered. "Prove
it to me," he cries, and I will believe it. While
there is nothing sinful about providing proofs for
the certainty
of the Christian worldview and giving
an answer for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15),
there comes a point, however, when we must
challenge unbelieving thought. We can give
unbelieving man lengthy, inexhaustible lists of
proofs for the Christian worJdview in general and
creationism in particular, but until
hi
s eyes are
opened to the truths of God's Word,
he will
a/ways misinterpret the evidence The demand
for proof apart from submission to God's Word is
evidence of impiety and rebellion against God, and
the Christian must not give in to i t for a moment.
For such a request is not objective science,
it
is a
presuppositional bias against the truths
of God and
his Word. The duty of God's creatures is not to sit
back in doubt and judgment of God's Worp, but to
receive
it
as absolutely true, and await for God's
good providence in resolving all difficulties with our
understanding of its claims.
1. Sin has made man foolish in his thinking
(Ephesians 4:17-24).
That manmust believe in order to understand
necessarily follows from his fallen condition.
When mankind fell into sin, that fall
affected every
part of man
's
being. t left his heart darkened
by
sin and alienated from God.
It
determined his will
toward evil and lawbreaking.
His
f f e c t i o ~ s
delighted in evil and hated the light. And his mind,
what of his mind? t
became engulfed
ill a
multitude of
errors that rendered i t
inCapable
of understanding even one aspect of created
reality
correctly; Scripture brings this out time
and again. The apostle Paul condemns the
unbe
lieving Athenian worJdview as ignorance of the
truth (Acts 17:23,30) . In Romans I :19ff,
Paul
clearly teaches that because fallen man refuses to
submit to God's revelation of himself in nature, he
becomes futile in his 'thinking, i.e., by turning away
from the light and wisdom of God,
he
is immersed
in his own superstition and error. Later, Paul
writes that as a result
of
sin, there is not one man
who understandS (3:] 1). Sinhas rendered man
incapable of understanding himself, this World, or
God correctly. He will pick up on this theme (the
noetic effects of the fall) again,in his letter to the
Ephesians, All Gentiles,
Le
unbelievers, walk in ,
the futility of their thinking and have their under
standings darkened (4: 17,18), In turning away
from God, unbelievers reject the only sO,urce of the
truth, the living and true
.God.
The world, defined by John as the portion of
mankind that remains in rebellion agaip.st God and
his Christ, hates this teachil)S of Scripture.
What
,
do you mean that no unbeliever can understand this
world correctly? How arrogant you Christians
are
You
are the most bigoted and intolerant folk
imaginable,
Look
at the great buildings we have
erected, the schools we have established, the
scientific theories we have devised, the psychplogi
cal analysis we have performed," Yet, the Chris
tian must respond, which is more arrogant: to
require submission
to
the Creator's voice as the
necessary foundation for all inquiry, whether
religious, scientific, logical, Or otherwise, or for
man, God's creature, to maintain that
hds
doing
just
fine in his rebellion against God, and that
he
needs no help from his Maker to investigate,
understand, or subdue the earth? Moreover, the
Christian claim is not that the nnbeliever's intellec
tual darkness makes him unable to build, tl1ink, and
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reason, but that it turns his natural,
o d ~ g i v e n
abilities to ungodly ends, the destruction of Christ s
kingdom, and hinders him from having a true
understanding
of
this world as God s creation,
dedicated to
his glory. He can cohtinue to rnake
contributions to science and medicine, think, and
reason, bllt only because he borrows from the
Christian woddview,.and cannot really eScape the
light of the knowledge of God diffused throughout
crea tion and even in his heart. As long; however,
as the unbeliever rejectsthe light of God s Word,
his thinking is futile; in biblical terminology,
he
is a
fool. He will misuse whatever scientific theories
God blesses him to discover to remove forcibly the
Creator from his throne, use education to train
generations to war on God, and ~ v i s e philosophi
cal systems designed to nullify, circumvent and
escape the truths of
God s
Word.
2. Regeneration restores man to correct thinking
(Colossians 3:10).
Only regeneration, i.e., the new birth, can
restore mans ability to understand life correctly,
i.e., from God;s point of view as revealed in
Scripture (John 3:3).
t
is only the new man who is
renewed unto knowledge, has the blinders
of sin
removed by the saving work of tIle Holy Spirit, arid
is given a heart that gladly submits to God s Word.
A consistently Christian worldview will maintain
that iegenerationnot only entitles a man to Christ s
righteousness and all the blessings of restOred
fellowship with God, but
it
will also insist that
it
restores mans lost ability to understand himself,
God, and the wotld.
3. Faith is the ability to submit to God s
thinking revealed in Scripture.
This renewed ability is not a fideistic leap into
the void. Philosophers of various stripes relegate
faith to the realm of mystery. Faith, they claim, is .
not really concerned with this world, rationality,
and is not subject to the same demands
as
science.
Therefore, it really doesn t matter whether the
historical claims
of
the Bible are true,
or
if the
Jesus of the Bible.never really existed. Some
theologians have foolishly said that even
if
some
one found Jesus body, they would sill be Chris
tians. On the contrary; the C.hristian.maintains that
faith is the most rational, most scientific and most
historical thing imaginable, and that
it
will never do
to separate history arid science from faith and
spirituality. For faith enables a man to submit to
the sourCe of rationality, science, and historical . ,
trutli, the triune God of the Bible . Christiariity must
expose unbelieving science, logic, and historiogra-
phy as miserably biased against t b.eiJ1.tth; engulfed
in darkness, and unable to come to a knowledge
of
the truth, because they refuse to begin
d
end
their pursuit
of
truth in self-conscious submis-
sion to t e God
of
Scripture
Any toning down
of
this claim renders Christianity to the realm
of
make
believe, to the land
ofNarnia
. n maintaining it, we
are recognizing the Creator God ofScripture as
the only source of true knowledge about anything, .
and that apart from submission to him,darkness,
bias, and depravity are mans only options.
4. Only the Christian, therefore, truly understands
the world and man s place in it.
Such a claim is terribly unpopular today, but it is
the onlyposition thatbiblical Christianity l l o ~ s
Multiculmralism, eastern philosophyllogic, and
simple relativism have destroyed mans confi.dence
in
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Job out of the whirlwind, he says, Where wast
thou wh en I laid the foundations of the earlh?
Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who deter,
mined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or
who stretched the line upon it? Whereupon were
the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the
corner,stone thereof, When the motning stars
sang together. And all the sons
of
God shouted for
joy? (ASV)God is challenging finite man who
believes
himse.1f
competent to search out the deep
things of God. t the beginning of those deep
things is the creation of this universe. God's
argument is masterful; man is not capable of
understanding the wonders
of
the created order
and the origin of the universe. How then can he
believe himself competent to understand the
workings of God's providence in 11istory and the
divine purpose behind pain and suffering? This
verse is
an
indictment of all scientific methods,
e.g., naturalistic evolution, that seek to determine
the origin
of
the universe apart from submiss
io l
to
God. Such methods demonstrate great rebellion
against God and terrible pride on man's part.
Autonomous science, i.e., science that does not
submit itself to God's revelation about the origin of
the universe, is based upon blind faith in man, his
theories and opinions, and is not true science at all.
For while claiming to take into account all the
facts, it ignores the most basic of
all facts - man
was not present at the creation of the universe,
and if he is to learn anything about it at all, he must
believe the authoritative word
of
the Creator-God.
2.
God alone can reveal the origin
of
the universe ,
In The Early Earth, John Whitcomb wrote,
God alone can tell us how the world began,
because no man was there to see
i t
being created,
and even
if
a human observer had been present, he
could not have understood fully what he saw apart
from God' s interpretation. As the all-knowing,
all-powerful Creator
of
the universe, God alone is
competent to reveal its origins. Hence, we take
the Genesis creation account, Scripture 's universal
testimony to creation, and the passage before us,
as
absolute facts revealed from the Creator. He
created the universe by his spoken word, in the
space of six days, and all very good; Such a claim,
it is admitted, is wonderful beyond our comprehen
sion.
t
reveals a God
of
infinite power, glory,
greatness, and self-sufficiency, and One who
cannot be manipulated by man in the least. As
God alone, however, is the Creator
of
all that we
see, and as he has given us an authoritative ac
count of his creative work
in
Holy Scripture, we
accept his testimony at face value.
t
is the only
option for God's creatures. Ifwerebelliously
refuse to accept his.word, then no explanation for
the universe exists, human rationality and experi
ence are left with no foundation , and man is left
in
ignorance, skepticism, and despair.
3. Faith teaches
us
to submit to God's Word.
Onr belief in the truthfulness and historical
accuracy
of
the Genesis creation account is based
on faith in the Word
of
God, our Creator and
Redeemer in Jesus Christ. Faith is confidence in
the Word
of
God, submission to it, and reliance
upon God that he will not deceive or mislead us.
Christians accept creationism first and foremost
because we believe God's testimony revealed in
Scripture. Yes , the facts and evidences 'validating
God's claims are plentiful and additional ones are
being discovered daily. Christian scientists, today
more than ever, are uncovering the secrets
of
this
created world that both support creationism and
give the Christian great reason to rejoice. Faith,
however, does not believe in creationism be-
cause man s scientific experiments back up
God s claim, but
b ~ c u s e
once God has spoken
his Word on the subject, it is the ultimate au-
thority for our lives and final resting place for
our faith. Hence, belief in creationism is more
than a scientific question; it is a moral one.
Not to
believe
in creationism
is an act
of
rebellion
against the Creator a refusal to surrender to
his Word in reverent awe'
and
obedience.
Such treason is what expelled Adam and Eve from
the Garden
of
Eden, and it will prevent unbelieving
modem science from attaining the
heightsit
could
if it submitted to God and his Word.
This is a distinctive
of
biblical Christianity and
vital element of true science. We do not accept
creationism because we have accumulated all the
available evidence and conclude that a Creator is
the best explanation for the origin
of
the universe.
Such
a
method
begins
with
neutrality toward
od
and hopes
to
establish
his
claims
inde-
pendently of
his Word. In accepting God's
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claims in Scripture, we
do
not asceud from our
reason
or experience to God. On the contrary,
according to this passage,
we
begin with God and
Scripture,
which
serve as theonly reliable basis for
our
reasomng
and experience, and descend from
there to a humble investigation
of
the created
world. Only as we submit ourselveino God's
Word does
our
reason assume its rightful position
as the
humble
servant
of God's
truth and thinking,
and
our
experience"its
place
as
the
awed.investiga
tor
of God's wonderful world. Only then will we
see the evidences for what they re.ally are, certain
proofs of the glories of the triune God
who
created
all things
by
his own power. This is more than a
semantic difference. The method
vi
'
pursue in
determining that God
is
the Creator
of
the universe
wiU determine whether 'we, like the various phi
losophers, will base
our
faith upon
human
rational
ity aud experience,
or
like the patriarchs and
apostles, upon the revealed Word
of
the Creator on
the basis
of
human rationality and experience. f
the former, then we w llinevitably reject the claims
of Scripture
that seem to contradict
our
reason and
experience, andemhtace only
thosethat we
have
independently verified. As Candlish wrote,
When
d r ~ infeiinces for myself concerning the
Author
ofcreation,
...
whenI reaSOn out from his
works the fact
of
his existence, and
the
chief
attributes
of
'
iUs
character" ..1 am
conscious of
a
certain feeling
of
superiority.
The Deity
becomes
almost,
in
a
certain
sense, my creature, " the
product
of
my o,,
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of
fundamental proof for the evolutionary hypoth
esis lead evolutionists to abandon their naturalism
and embrace the truth? ' No. Not finding any
evidence to support the evolutionary development
of man,'they reinterpret the facts so that the)r fi t '
the tbeory. Thomas Huxley anticipated rnore
modern versions
of
natural evolution
by
falling
back nponthe materialist's greatest safety net:
time. Huge amounts
oftime
are involved in the
entire procesS, and therefore, evidences of past
stages of development bave long since perished.
Stephen J. Gould, a leading Harvard scientist, says '
tha t this lack of intermediate forms is exactly what
we should find.
He
endorses a hypothesis called
"punctuated equilibril m." This view states that;
natural e l ~ t i o n occurs very quickly, within one or .
two generations, and that
traCes of
previous or
intermediate forms do not exist in great numbers.
Both
of
these theories are wonderful proof
of
the
presuppositiollai bias of
all unbelieving science.
Finding that the facts
do
not fit the theory, evolu
tionists
do
not give up their theory; they reinterpret
the facts to fit the theory. They remain convinced,
even though 11 0 evidence in any form exists
today, that evolution must be true. In other words,
they refuse to change their fundamental assump
tions in the light of the evidence. They have
granted their presuppositions revisionary immunity.
They have attained the status of a holy faith.
Consider the faith commitment
of
unbelieving
science from leading
20 '
century scientists. Some
ofthe
following qnotations reveal that modern
evolntionary science
is itself a religion, an .d its
adherents do not try to cover this fact.
1) D. H Scott, in his presidential address in
Nature
magazine
9129121)
- "A new generation
has grown np which lmows not Darwin. Is even
then evolution not a scientifically ascertained fact?
No We must hold it as an act
of
faith becanse
there is no alternative."
2)
D.
M .
S.
Watson, Professor
of
Zoology at
London Univei'sity - 'Evolution is a theory univer
sally accepted, not because it can be proved to be
true, but because the only alternative, 'special
creation,' is clearly impossible."
3) W. T. Caiman,
of
the zoology section
of
the
British Museum - "We all, eventhe yonngest
of
us, profess to accept the doctrine
of
evolution, if
only as a convenient weapon with which to meet
the fundamentalists."
4) Pierre Teilhard de Cardin, the Jesuit
paleontologist who discovered the Piltdown
and Peking Man':' "Is evolntion a theory, a syStem,
or a hypothesis?
t
is mnch more - it is a general
postulate to which alf theories, all hypotliesis, all
systems must henceforth bow and which they must
satisfy in order to be thinkable and true. Evolution
is a light which illuminates all facts, a trajectory
which all lines
of
thought must follow - this is what
evolution is.
5. Science is impossible apart from
submission to God's Word.
From tlle Christian perspective, it is impossible
to do science of any form apart from submission to
. God al)d Scripture. They are the foundation apart
from which man is precluded from understanding
anything else in this world correctly.
If
we are to
. answer the fool as his folly demands,
we
mustalso .
affirm that science is impossible on the basis
of
the
unbeliever's worldview. For denying a sovereign
Creator-God who gives meaning and order to this
universe, and tbus serves
as
the foundation for our
rationality and experience, the nnbeliever is'forced
to do science upon the twin pillars of timeand
chance. n short, he must build something upon '
nothing. There is
no
evidence snpporting his .
claims .
He
has religious commitments that he .
refnses to give
up
becanse to do so would open
him up to the searching gaze
of an
all-knowing,
just
Creator. Van Til gives a wonderfnl illustration of
the irresolvable dilemma facing all unbelieving
thonght that rejects God and his Word. "Suppose
we think
of
a man made
of
water in an infinitely
extended and bottomless ocean
of
water. He sets '
his ladder npon the water and then attempts to
climb out
of
the water. So hopeless and senseless
a picture must be drawn ont
of
the natnral man's
methodology based as it is upon the assnmption .'
that time or chance is ultimate. On his assumpt\on
even the laws of logic which be employs are
products of change. The rationality and purpose
that he may be searching for are still bound to be
products of chance."
6. Faith ill the Word
of
God rests Upon
two infallible testimonies.
In conclusion, we must not think that the
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believer and the unbeliever are both left with
unjustifiable faith claims. On the contrary, the
Christian's
faith
in
the
Creator's
Word is grounded
upon two
absolutely certain foundations.
i. The Self-At testing Voice of God
Speaking
in the
Scriptures
Our
faith
in
God 's Word
is
based upon nothing
short of the authority of God speaking in Scripture.
There
is
no
higher
authority than God. He is the
Creator and Preserver of this universe. His voice
comes with unquest ionable authority and absolute
certainty. This does not
mean
, however, tha t
Christians accept
Scripture as a
blind
leap
in
the
dark. We do so upon the testimony
of
God himself,
who
is
truth itself. The authority
of
the Christian
faith rests
not
upon
man
or
the church's
testimony,
but upon the voice of the living and true God
speaking
in
Scripture, whose authority cannot
be
questioned,
and
whose
light
is the necessary
foundation to understand even one fact in the
world correctly. To go beyond h i ~ God and his
Word
to vindicate the Christian s
ystem
'is
to
receive another authority with greater fear and
submission than God. As our Confession testifies,
The authority
of
the Holy Scripture, for which it
ought be
believed and obeyed, depends not upon
the testimony of any man,
or
Church; but wholly
upon God, who is truth itself, the author thereof:
and t h e r i t is to be received becau'se it is 'the ,
Word of God (cf. Proverbs 22:17-21; 2 Peter
1:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 1 John 5:9; 1
Thessalonians 2:13).
ii.
The
Eternal Witness of the Holy Spirit of
God in the Heart
of God's
Elect
The only
men
who will be able to receive the
testimony
of
God with the faith that it demands are
those who have been regenerated
by
the Holy
Spirit, whose ultimate allegiances have been
changed from man to God. The certainty
of
the
Christian'Scriptures re'
st in
the fact
that
they are
the inspired Word of God; the persuasion that they
are so comes from the internal witness
of
the Holy
Spirit, taking our blinders off so that we might once
again
recognize, love, and believe
the
voice
of our
Maker speaking to us, and giving us the faith to
receive his Word in spite
of
all the criticisms and
doubts of fallen man.
D. Faith leaves us in ;lwebefore the creative
word of the omnipotent Creator. .
1: God created the woild
by
his word
(GeneSis 1::3 6,9,14,20,24; ~ a m 3:3:6,9).
We nOW
tumto
the,specific words chosen by
the Hoiy Sl?irit to reveall lle
~ g i n
of this visible
universe.
To
create implies
ici
or>ler
prepare,
dispose,frame.
t s variously translated n the
NewTestament: perfect (Matt, 21:16; Luke 6:40; 1
Corinthians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 13:11), prepared
(Romans 9:22; Hebrews 10:5), and restore (Gala
tians 6: fl. t is the word sometimes utilized in the
LXX
(the Septuagint) for God's original creative '
act by which he made the world and all things in it
(cf. Psalm 89':38(7). The perfect tense may be ,
used to stress the finished or completed n \ture of
creation from the time God spoke; nothing was
missing, o make this world a fit dwelling place for
man
and testimony
of
God's greatness and glory.
The
word refers to the six day process wherein
God once for all fashio.ned nd arranged the
universe to be'
the
dwelling
place
of
man
, and while
it would include the popular, concept creation ex
nihilo, its primary referent
is
the preparation and
arrangement
of
ttie entire universe. In Genesis,
we learn that
God
initially
created
a
mass
Qfraw '
material froni which he then formed each part of
the universe' on its appropriate day. This material,
though good in itself, was'described by Moses as
being
"without form
or
void," implying that the
world
was not ye t inhitbitable until
God so
ordered
and fashioned it that "there remained, no want, no
defect,
no imperfection
h ~ r e i n
(Gouge). The
fundamental truth here is that the liVing and true
God actively created every aspect of this world by
his oWn power, shaped in into the form
we
now
see, and continues to t ule and preserve
it by
his'
power and wisdom.
Accepting the Genc:sis creation,accoutit as
truthful, the writer affirms that God spoke
or
called
the world into existence.'God's
~ r d
here
is the
powerftil, express ion of his will to create'and order
this universe. Scripture repeatedly stresses that
the world and all its components were called into
existence and fashioned by the cOIIll11andof God's
voice.
In
the
Genesis
creation account, each day
begins with "And God said" (Genesis
1:3,6,9,11,14,20,24). David affrrms,that the heav-
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ens were maoe by the word
of
the,Loro, and all
the host of them by the breath of his mouth
(Psalm 33:6). By the word of the Lord is meant
that this entire universe came into existence and
was arranged by the sheer power and authority of
God's command (cf, 33:9). The Psalmist later
affirms the same in 148:5, when he writes, For
he
'
commanded, and they were created. Peter also,
speaking under the inspiration
of
the Holy Ghost
and in complete agreement with the Old Testament
creation accounts, affirmed that the heavens were
made by the,word of God (2 Peter 3:5).
By God is meant the ttinne God of Scripture,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person in the
Godhead played an active role in the creation of
this world. Our author, complimenting John's
account in his gospel, previously affirmed the Son's
role in the creation of this world, stating that it was
through him thatthe worlds were made (cf. 1:3;
John 1:1-3). Moses testifies that
it
was the Holy
Spitit, who hovering over the face of the waters,
gave order and life to all things (Genesis
1
4).
Scripture's message is,clear: when we contemplate
the work of God in creating this universe, we must
not do injustice
to
the work of any
of
the glorious
persons within the Trinity. God the Father spoke
the world into existeflce, through the power of God
the Sail, by the superintending presence of God the
Holy Spirit.
Scripture's emphasis that this world
camejnto
existence and was arranged in good order through
the command of the tTiune God is fundamental to
the Christian fruth. It implies that this world, and
everything in it, is wholly dependent upon God for
existence and sustenance, and that it sprang forth
from God's mind and hand at a definite time and
for a definite purpose.
t
presents
to
us a God
of
infinite power, glory, resources, self-sufficiency,
and order. t obligates us to fear, adore, and serve
our great and glorious God. On a practical level,
biblical creationism impresses us with the glory of
God. As we stand in amazement before his
splendor and might, we come to view ourselves
properly, as creatures, unwDlthy of dod s thoughts
and goodness to us, wholly indebted to him, and
without hope except through his sovereign mercy
cf.
Psalm
8;
Hebrews 2:5ff).
2. God created the world out of nothing when
there was nothing but himself.
The second
half of
verse 3 reveals the result
of
the exercise of God's creative command. At his ,
command, the entire visible realm that
we
now see
around us came into existence. t sprang forth not
from previously existing matter, like the visible
materials which we now see around us, hut from
the instantaneous exercise
of God
s creative
power. What men see has
come
to he
by
means
,of God's spoken word,'
it
has received its exist
ence in this way alone (Lenski). When nothing
existed but the ever hlessed, all-sufficient God, he
called into existence everything that we now see
around us. Conservative theologians and creation
' ists term tlus process creation x nihilo i.e. , out
of nothing. This visible world did not spring from
like visible elements. God did not make this
world's material from other materials that existed
earlier or were, as some have erroneously sup
posed, eternal. The Bible' s statements and the
philosophical commitment to the eternity of matter
are irreconcilable. God created this entire world
(the singular variant - that which is seen) from
scratch; when nothing existed but himself
We cannot avoid the truth that the origin of this
universe by the voice of the living God is not the
domain ofthe scientists and philosophers, but for
the pious, who will submit themselves to God's
sure testimony. Man will never be ahle to emhrace
biblical creatiDlusm until the word of
God holds
more sway over his heart and mind than does his
fallen reason. It is not that the biblical creation
doctrine is unreasonable, or that it cannot
be
lovingly investigated and explored by helieving
science. Yet, in order to receive
God s
Word, the
'Spirit of Christmust regenerate man s heart.
t
should be evident now why in discussing faith our
author begins with c1eation. t is the first and
grandest proving ground of faith: will we bow our
hearts, check our investigations, and subdue our ,
wills to God's explanation of the origin and purpose
of this universe? f not , then we have
not
yet
learned our first lesson
in
the school
of
religion and
are not fit to pass out
of
the foyer into the more
.beautiful rooms of redemption and life in the
kingdom of heaven.
3. God created the world in
the
space of six , 24 hour days
Faith in special creation by the spoken word of
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the omnipotent God has been severely undermined
in
the
past
century by various proponents
of
the
l o n g d a y or d a y ~ a g e theory. This view main
tains
that
each
of
the .six days
of
thecreation week
represent various ages ofnndefined length in
which
this woFid gradually came into existence.
Not only is this view erroneousfrom a historical
grammatica .exegesis of-the relevant passages, but
also
it
exists primarily to accommodate discoveries
of "science" that are radically opposed to biblical '
creationism. We might say that this view is a ,
compromise, a half-way house between creation-
"1\1an will never be able [
embrace
biblical
creationism unrilthe
" '
mel ofC ,] holds
more
sway
over
his he:lIT and
mind
than
docs his fallen reason.
ism
and
evolution, a place where the Christian can
ma,intain his formal allegiance to
Scripture while
enjoying the
re
spectabilityof modem science.
Because of the issues at stake, and the light
afforded by various texts, any treatment of biblical
creationism must give at least cursory justification
for the old, orthodox view. Simply put,
i t
has been
the conviction
of
God's people for thousands
of
years, and
it
is Specifically affirmed by leading
adherents of the orthodox faith, inclnding our own .
Westminster Confession, that God
created this ' .
world
iothe
space
of
six, 24-hour day
s.
Howmay
this view be justified froni Scripture? Though
many exegetical and theological arguments can be '
advanced to support it, we will confine our investi
gations to Genesis 1-2.
1)
The Genesis narrative presents itself as
straightforward narrative history; it is not myth.,
saga, or divine drama, and the language is not
metapliorical or allegorical. The framework
hypothesis is clearly imposed upon Scripture, not
derived from it: Jesus Christ viewed Genesis 1-3
as historically reliable (Matthew 19:4;Mark 10).
2)
The Genesis narrative is the revelation of
the God of Scripture, of infinite power and glory,
who in this chapter reveals the origins of this world
to all who will snbmit to his Word. Such a revela
tion will always be a stumblingblock to'those who
refuse to submit their scientific endeavors to the
word of the Creator.
3) The Genesis narrati
ve
does not allow for a':
gap theory or the existence of previously existing
material. Genesis 1:2 cannot be interpreted "And
the earth became without form and void .. " It is a
perfect absolute,
i.e
., a statement of existing fact.
When God created the physical materials from
which he formed the earth,
it
was 'originally shape
less
; i.e., uninhabitable. The events
of
Genesis 1:1-
2 occurred, therefore, on the first day along with
the 'creation oflight. .
. 4) The Genesis narrative does not leave room
for multiple creation accounts between 2:3 and 2:4.
The
book of Genesis is arranged in toledoths,
generations 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10,27; 25:12;
25:19; 36:1,9; 37:2; Matthew 1:1). Moses
tirst
gives a summary of
the
leading events of a given
person or era, then proceeds to reveal the outcome
and significance ot his life. Genesis
i
is a sum- .
mary
of
the events
of
the creation week, and
Genesis 2:4ff is the outcome of the creation week,
the history of Adam and Eve and the unfolding of
God's redemptive plan.
5) The "days" yomand yamin) of the
Genesis narrative are not figurative for "ages."
a Yom is clearly defined as "evening and
morning" at its first appearance 1 :5). f yom islo
be
taken figuratively, so must "evening" and '
"morning." This cannot be justified according to
the principles of sound hetmeneutics.
b. Yom preceded by an ordinal adjective in
nonprophetic literature is never figurative.
c
Yom
occurring in the plural in nonprophetic .
literature is never figurative.
d
Yamin days)
is contrasted to yeats in
1:
14.
e
Yom
is ruled by the greater light, the sun
(1:15,19). How then can the day he a fignrative
one1 Is the sun figurative also? .
6
The Genesis narrative is presupposed as .
the foundation
of
the Sabbatical cycle: six days
work andone day rest.(Exodus 20:9-11; cf, Gen
esis 2:2-3). f God did
not
create for six days and
rest
for
one, the divine example/incentive behind
the fourth .commandment is removed.
Because 'are cornmitted to a 24-hour
Genesis day, and
to
the reliability of the various
chronologies of Scripture which plaCe the time
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from Adam to Christ at about 4,000 years, many
Bible scholars view this earth as approximately
6,000 years old. Now one might be tempted to
ask, ,ooes the age of the earth really matter?
The allswer is absoluteiy. Though the Bible is
not a
sc
ientific text, wemust receive all of its
infomation
with reverence and submission. To
reject its plain teachirig
at
one point by consigning
it
to myth or saga, is to question the authority
of God, set man up as judge over the text, and
remove the ultimate foundation of Christian tbeism:
a sovereign God who suddenly, for his own pur
pose and glory, spoke this world into existence . .
Moreover, to allow that the earth is billions of .
years old is not a matter of indifference. Many of
those maintaining this view do so to escape the
biblical account of the history of the earth and the
divine purpose behind history, the manifestation of .
redeeming grace in Jesus Christ. Other professing
Christians, by accepting the findings of so-called
science and history conducted by unbelievers
On
the basis of philosophical atheism/agnosticism,
foolishly compromise tbe faith and accept presup
positions and findings that are absolutely contrary
to orthodox Christianity revealed in Scripture.
4. God created the world
very good
God's assessmen
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