[11/10/19]
I arrive now at the chief question in regard to Creation. What’s the point? Why did God, Who in His perfection is complete and lacking nothing, in need of nothing, decide to do this? The simple answer, and one well known to every believer, I think, is that this was done to magnify the glory of God. It is most assuredly a marvel to consider that God, fully knowing every least detail of all that would transpire in Creation, fully knowing the personal anguish that would lie ahead in His own act of redemption on behalf of that Creation, and the ages of patience needed as His creatures labored on in their fallen condition, undertook the project anyway.
So, then, there is a clear answer to this in that very moment, that central point of utmost significance which we sum up in the cross. It is not, however, the cross that is central, but the Son of God crucified. I could go back to Paul’s word to the Corinthians. “For I determined to know nothing among you except Christ, and Him crucified” (1Co 2:2). Arguably, the same can be said of God. If it were not the case that God looks upon even the redeemed and sees not the fallen creature, but the creature restored in the Son, then I should think the story might very well have ended with the Flood, if ever it even got that far. But God in His Triune self saw from before the beginning how this would work out and said to Himself, “This is good. This is very good.” You see it at each step as He sets out to create. You see it come to a head, as it were, in the creation of man, and with the work complete, the assessment is offered that ‘it was very good’ (Ge 1:31). Now, we must bear in mind that this assessment was made with full knowledge of all that would ensue. It was made with full knowledge of the serpent and its poisonous words to Eve. It was made with full knowledge of Cain’s murderous jealousy, of all the evils of man, of the events that led to the Flood, and of the failings of Noah’s children so soon afterwards. It was made with full knowledge that peoples like the Canaanites would arise and lead God’s own chosen ones not merely astray, but into the vilest of practices. It was made with full knowledge of the reprise in alternate form of those same heinous practices in our own age, in spite of having the benefit of Christ revealed. It was made with full knowledge of that sad pronouncement that John made as he laid out his gospel. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (Jn 1:10-11). It’s like coming home for Thanksgiving and being turned away at the door, only infinitely worse.
But, God, in spite of all this, said, “This is very good.” Why? Because, as much as we like to think that all of this was made for us, that is only partly accurate. The more accurate answer is that all of this was made for Him, to make manifest His glory, and to demonstrate to one and all what He and He alone is able to achieve. No other could do as He has done, and even if we were to imagine one who could, we would be hard pressed to come up with one who would. So, God is glorified in His Creation, even in its fall, He is glorified, because without its fall, there could be no redemption, and that central, universe-effecting act of redemption is the primary glorifying act in this whole thing. That said, it must be recognized that judgment glorifies God as readily as salvation. There is a reason that Aaron was told not to mourn the death of his sons when they were slain for perverting the order of worship. Judgment glorifies God, and where God is glorified, the priest of God must not mourn, but rejoice that God is in fact glorified.
So, there it is: The chief end, not only of man, but of all Creation, is to glorify God and, in the case of man, at least, to enjoy Him forever, as the Westminster Catechism reminds us at the outset. But, those who are punished can hardly be thought to enjoy Him, can they? No. As to the animals, we don’t know, but if there is enjoyment, it seems to be of a lesser form. This, however, leaves me with the nagging question of why? If God was already complete in Himself – and He was and is – then why did He need His glory magnified? Why did He need an audience to appreciate that glory? Well, let me stop me right there. Who said He did? Perhaps the whole thing, properly understood, was not undertaken so that we might see His glory, but so that He might see it. This goes beyond need. It’s not that His ego needed assuaging. It’s not that He was bored and wanted to amuse Himself. Father did not turn to Son and say, “Hey, check this out,” and the Son reply, “Oh? Here, hold My beer.” Yet, the Trinity found cause to create that which would manifest the glory of God, and redound to His name. Why?
This is the question that the philosophers have sought to answer for long ages, although they did not always recognize just what they were asking. It began with the question of why man was here, how it was that he came to be an intelligent being with will and skill to fabricate all that he has made, to fashion tales and songs and otherwise lend beauty to this world, or destruction; it depends on the man. To this, the believer answers, with Paul, “In Him we live and move and exist” (Ac 17:28). He is the why and the how of existence. But, it leaves us yet a bit short of why God chose to do what He has done. What would be the effect were all of Creation simply skipped? God would still be God. He would still be complete. He would still have fellowship, for He has fellowship in Himself. But, God was pleased to bring about the eventuality of a wedding for the Son. I don’t know that we have much cause to seek further cause than this: God was pleased to do so.
God wants the Son married, and married to those who are mere creatures. Why? Because it pleased Him to do so. For this to transpire, it was necessary to make man. For man to be made required the rest of this universe. It apparently required angels and the like as well. For man to be a fit bride for the Son, it would be necessary for man, like Son, to have moral agency, a will and a choice. Anybody who’s ever raised a child knows the agony inherent in that necessity, for no child, however sweet-tempered, ever grows into exactly the adulthood the parents envisioned. They make their own choices, grow through their own experiences, become their own persons, and while the parents may be able to influence the course of this new life by wise counsel (or poor counsel, as the case may be), yet the end result is up to the child who grows.
So it was with Creation in some ways. This does not leave us with a watchmaker God as the deists might propose, Who, having set everything in motion, now simply sits back to see how it all works out. For one, He already knows how it all works out. For another, He knows because He remains intimately involved with this Creation. We might say it was His lifework, and I’m not sure we should be far wrong in saying so. He knows how it works out because He works it out. He arranges everything as suits His plan and purpose, to bring about the full maturation of the children of God.
Here, from our more limited perspective at least, is another pronouncement of the purpose of Creation. The purpose of Creation is to bring the children of God to fullness. It is a training ground, if you please, a lifelong gymnasium in which we grow strong in spirit, developing the moral fiber needful to a child of God. Yet, even in this, we are hopeless apart from the work of God in us, as the Son redeems and the Spirit renews.
[11/11/19]
This idea that all of Creation is here for the purpose of our growth is, sadly, inclined to give us something of a swelled head. It ought, rather, to fill us with utmost humility, that God Who was in need of nothing chose to do all this that we might be, and that we might not merely be, but might prosper in our being. I can think of no development more utterly stunning than that God has done this and we have the inestimable benefit of it.
As it happens, we have been watching a series on the Andes the last several days, and it is indeed a beautiful and rugged place, by all that we are seeing. Yet it seems every person they choose to interview has an overly developed attachment to the land. Repeatedly we hear the interviewee talk about how the mountains call to them, know them, love them. The mountains are worshiped. There’s no other way to interpret this. For some of the more tribal sorts, this is probably no surprise, but to hear the same worshipful tones from those who at least appear to be a bit more cosmopolitan is jarring. It should be. It was jarring when ancient cultures did so. This is as much an evidence of corruption as were the practices of Greece or Rome. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has bene made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Ro 2:20-21). The passage is familiar. We hear in Paul’s words a particular jab at the philosophical curiosity particular to Greek and Roman culture, but this is really no different. They who worship mountains and count them alive and aware have every bit as much ‘exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image’ (Ro 2:23a).
The mountains shout forth the magnificence of God Who caused them to rise up. Yes, I am sufficiently aware of those geological forces by which this was done, but dear scientist, that is but half an answer. It is the how without the why. And seemingly through all ages, man has looked to these mountains and thought, ‘here I draw nearer to God’, or ‘surely this must be where gods reside’, and so mountains have ever had an outsized place in our thoughts. But they have a purpose. They show forth the glory of God. They demonstrate by their seeming permanence the true and eternal permanence of the God Who brought them into being. They demonstrate by their changing that indeed everything in this concrete, physical universe is temporary. Only God remains, forever on His throne, overseeing the wonders of the universe in their totality and in their most minute detail, for so long as He determines that universe continues to suit His grand and glorious purpose.
It is a wonder to me, I must confess, that the whole business has not simply been folded up and done away with. After all, if the coming of the Son of Man, His mission of rescue completed, His atoning death offered and accepted, and His royal self ascended to be seated upon His righteous and eternal throne in heaven was the central, indeed the only point of Creation, then why bother with this lengthy postscript? Be assured of this: There is a reason. God will not be satisfied until the full number of the elect has come into being and come into adoption into His family.
Thus, we hear that very Son say, “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Mt 24:29-31). Understand that God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1Ti 2:4). Yet, it is also the case that for many, His final words are, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! Behold, your house is left to you desolate” (Lk 13:34-35a).
The purpose of Creation, then, is to direct man to Christ, just as the purpose of the Law was to make clear to us that we could not please God in our own righteousness, having none, but rather had need of recourse to a Savior. If our perceptions of nature leave us worshiping and serving nature, we have utterly missed the point and the purpose. This, I think, describes those who have made a movement, a religion if you will, of environmentalism. Yes, we are stewards of this creation, but not as servants of creation. No, we are sons and servants of the Most High, and it is Him and Him alone we serve, Him and Him alone we honor and glorify. He shall have our worship and our obedience. That should, assuredly, give us cause to tend to this weak echo of the Garden, for the world is His and all that is in it, and by tending to the least of His creatures, even so, we tend our God and King, Jesus the Christ, by whom and for whom all things are created that were created.
“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col 1:16-17). “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (Jn 1:3). “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To God be the glory forever. Amen” (Ro 11:36). I can think of no more fitting thought to conclude this portion. What is the purpose? “To God be the glory forever!” And all creation shouts, “Amen!”
[11/12/19]
You know, I thought I had completed this topic yesterday, but this morning’s reading has brought me to one further comment in regard to the purpose of Creation. As it happens, the Bible reading plan has me in Hebrews 9 this morning, which chapter completes with this most wonderful message. “But now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men once to die and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him” (Heb 9:26b-28).
I observe this: The consummation of the ages came about in the manifestation of the Son, which is to say the manifestation of God on earth. These two are so intimately connected as to be inseparable. As I write that, I am mindful that there are three occasions that find God manifested on the earth. The first is in those dawning days in Eden, when Adam and Eve walked with God and knew fellowship with Him there in the garden. The last is yet to be seen; that time the author of Hebrews looks to, when Christ appears ‘a second time for salvation without reference to sin’. And then there is this pivotal moment in the middle, at the consummation of the ages, when the very Son of God, having been a man among men for some thirty odd years, took upon Himself the sins of all who were His own, past, present, and future, and offered Himself up as the only fitting sacrifice for such sin. Sin demanded blood be shed in atonement, and as the author of Hebrews labors to make clear, the blood of bull and sheep could not truly address the issue, even temporarily. It needed a better sacrifice, and that better sacrifice came and dwelt among us. He offered Himself, the sinless One given that we might, at His return, know that salvation without reference to sin. For sin is taken away, ‘as far as the east is from the west’ (Ps 103:12).
What do you see in that? Here is the One Who was, Who is and Who is to come, thrice manifested in the midst of His Creation, and ever with that central purpose of salvation. Man could not be saved except he was first created and fallen. Adam in his sinless beginning did not fully know his need for God, else we might suppose he would never have fallen in the first place. Adam in his current state has a clearer awareness of his need, and yet finds himself to readily able to set aside that sense of his need and suppose himself sufficient to the task of righteousness. And thus is he reminded of his need once more when his sufficiency is found wanting. Adam in his future state has no reference to sin, but has constant and tangible reference to Christ, for God once more dwells among His people, and His people are once for all finally arrived at such a state of grace as leaves them shorn of all sin, freed of all temptation, and holy as He is holy, able to see Him as He is, face to face, for having died once, they have been cleansed entire, judged children of the Most High, and welcomed home.
Come back, though, to that central, crucial moment the author points us toward. The consummation of the ages is in the manifestation of the Son. The purpose is achieved. Creation has fulfilled its purpose in that the Son came, the Son lived a life of perfect sinless obedience to every last matter of God’s law. He lived the one life that could save according to the Law, and as such died not for His own sins, but in obedience to the demands of the Law, that God might be found just in justifying sinners like you and me. In that moment, the debt of sin paid in full for every believer, every last one of those whom the Father has determined to give to the Son as a gift, as a bride, as brothers and sisters for all eternity, was put paid. This was the consummation, that in that singular moment, the futility to which all Creation had been subjected by Him who subjected it was given an endpoint and an absolute assurance of restoration. “It is finished.” That has been our story for over two thousand years now. It doesn’t look finished to us, but that is because we remain finite beings in a temporal universe. But, from the heavenly, eternal perspective, Creation has already been perfected, indeed was in its fashion perfect from the start.
For Creation has perfectly satisfied the plan of God in bringing Creation into being. How could it not? Its purpose is fulfilled because the work of the Son on its behalf is finished. The debt is paid, and the future outcome made certain. It awaits only the passage of time, time given to man in God’s compassion, that all who are the elect shall find their moment of salvation, and shall have sufficient opportunity and assistance to come to that point of maturity needful for their entry into heaven’s eternal reward. Now, that’s a purpose worthy of our beautiful, compassionate God!
