GOD IS CREATOR

In a clear and simple way, these lines teach their religious message—using a simple pedagogy for the simple people to whom they were spoken centuries ago. That religious message to be taught is that God is the one who made everything. He made everything with absolute ease. He did not have to sweat and toil. He made everything without the need of any previous materials, for that is what creation is-differing from manufacture, or growth, where raw materials are needed to shape or feed upon. It is only God who can create i.e., who can make something out of nothing at a single word.

We do not have to believe that the “days” were days of 24 hours. They seem to be a dramatic way in which the writer shows that everything that we can think of owes its origin to God.

This description can be quite in agreement with the theory of evolution. The “days” could be great stretches of time in which the “seeds” planted by God, or the process started by Him, unfolded and grew. What the writer of the Bible is anxious to stress is that the whole process was begun by God who designed it and who executed His design.

The theory of evolution does not remove the need of God but rather shows the magnificence of His plan for the development of our wonderful universe.

The Bible account shows, too, that everything in the universe is good. We should not be afraid of the world but should be full of joy and confidence in it. For it all comes from God, and whatever comes from Him is good.

SUMMIT OF GOD’S WORK

We have had a glimpse of the splendor of God’s creating work. It is as if He has prepared a wonderful stage for a drama. The stage is set with beautiful scenery in the back-ground, with splendid props on every side.

Everything is ready except for one important thing—the main actor! Why has God created the skies and the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars, the animals in all their beauty?

All these wonders wait for their lord and their master, for the one who will make use of them all. God has prepared them all for His masterpiece, for the crown and summit of His creation. He has made them all for man. Man is the main actor for whom this fabulous stage has been set.

MAN ENTERS

We can turn to the Bible to watch the entry of man into the universe:

“God said, `Let us make mankind in our image and likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, over all the wild animals, every creature that crawls on the earth.