We Believe: Maker of Heaven and Earth
After the Nicene Creed asserts that we believe in “One God, the Father, the Almighty,” we begin to explore his characteristics. The first and most fundamental of these reflects the opening statement of the Bible itself: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
From that sentence onward, Scripture leaves no question that there is one God and Creator of everything in existence. Other cultures—other religions—allow room for gods of the sun, moon, sea, air, and many other things, or even consider those elements gods themselves. The Bible asserts that there is one God, and one alone, and he is the maker of everything.
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The Maker Who Delights in Creation
In the poetic prelude we receive in Genesis 1, God first creates the heavens, the sea, and the land before populating them. In our society, following the advent of modernism, we’ve often become preoccupied with figuring this out on a literal level and forget the message. We try to discern whether God created in seven 24-hour days, billions of years, or if Genesis is trying to paint an orderly account of creation at all. It misses the point of what this opening song of the Bible aims to convey: God is the Creator; he has made everything in the universe for himself and his glory.
The story of creation is the story of God bringing order out of chaos. We first see an image of darkness and turbulence before God speaks light into existence.
Genesis 1:2-5 (trans. Ronald Knox)
Earth was still an empty waste, and darkness hung over the deep; but already, over its waters, stirred the breath of God. Then God said, Let there be light; and the light began. God saw the light, and found it good, and he divided the spheres of light and darkness; the light he called Day, and the darkness Night. So evening came, and morning, and one day passed.
The imagery Genesis then uses to describe creation evokes the later tabernacle and temple—or, rather, those spaces reflect the Genesis 1 picture (or perhaps it is better to say that their imagery mirrors the creation account). At the end of each day’s creation, God calls each one “good.” Scripture time and time again that God’s fingerprint is on the world—that his existence is evident in all that he has made. St. Paul tells us,
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
We see, from the very finely-tuned order of creation, that a Creator exists. As N.T. Wright describes in his classic, Simply Christian,
When we look at the world and see beauty, order, complexity, and life, we are seeing signs of the God who made it and loves it.
N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense
The Maker Who Delights in You
On the sixth day, God created human beings in his own image. In the middle of his temple, he placed an image of himself. Then, looking at all that he had made, he called it “very good.” We, too, are made for his pleasure, and he seems to take the most exceeding pleasure in us. We are most fully ourselves when we do the same in him. As St. Augustine so famously prayed,
You rouse them to take delight in praising you: for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it comes to rest in you.
Augustine, Confessions (trans. Thomas Williams)
Creators in His Image
If we are made in God’s image, as Genesis 1 asserts, we also bear his identity as creators, and he rejoices when we express this craftsmanship. He employs humans to steward his creation and give it names (Genesis 1). He later provides detailed plans for Israel’s most excellent artisans, Bezalel and Oholiab, specifically, to construct the elements of his tabernacle and empowers them and those who worked with them to do so.
The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you…
Exodus 31:1-6
Even in our fallen state and world, the glimmers of the Image of God shine forth and bring God glory. When we create, we embrace this identity. The enemy who tempted us to our Fall is an agent of chaos, not order. He, from the beginning, has wanted us to run from our true identity. Therefore, creating that which is good, true, and beautiful is no less than spiritual warfare. In his book Adorning the Dark, writer and singer-songwriter Andrew Peterson writes,
[The Enemy] wants to quiet you. So sing. Let the Word by which the Creator made you fill your imagination, guide your pen, lead you from note to note until a melody is strung together like a glimmering constellation in the clear sky. Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor, too, by making worlds and works of beauty that blanket the earth like flowers.
Andrew Peterson, Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making
The Maker Who Mends
The Maker Delights in His Son
We need not live long, however, before we face the trials of this life. We face the pain, heartbreak, and brokenness that this world affords. While there is order, there is also much chaos brought about by our rebellion in the Garden of Eden. And yet, our Lord is not content to let chaos continue forever. He immediately begins a rescue mission, not just for humanity, but for the world.
This begins with the Father sending his Son into the world, bringing the Kingdom of God with him. After 30 years of living on earth as a human being, Jesus began his ministry with his baptism by John the Baptist at the River Jordan. As the Spirit descended upon Jesus, the Father expresses his delight:
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:17
Because Jesus then accomplished our adoption as sons of God through his death and resurrection, we know the Father is also pleased with us. However, what the Father accomplished by sending Jesus the first time will only be finished at his return.
The Maker Makes Anew
The Creator will create again. He is creating again. God the Father has sent his Son to rectify our wrongs and, in doing so, open the door for the world to be perfectly recalibrated. The artist Makoto Fujimura writes,
The Bible begins with Creation and ends with New Creation. Everywhere in between, Creator God (the grand Artist) beckons the broken, but creative, creatures (the little-‘a’ artists) to create shalom/peace in the face of our “Ground Zero” reality all around us. God sent God’s Son, Jesus, to be the reconciler and redeemer—to set the world right, and to exhibit God’s love in the world. Jesus, God incarnate, spoke in parables and exhibited artistic qualities that inspire me as an artist. We are created to be creative, though as fallen creatures we are bound to twist these good impulses to boost our egos and cover up our insecurities, or—worse yet—create weapons of mass destruction.
Makoto Fujimura, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making
Like the gold used to mend broken pottery in kintsugi art, God is restoring a world more beautifully than when it was first created, and he invites us—his Church—to be part of that effort, both preaching his gospel and living it out until Jesus returns to bring the New Creation to completion. On that day, the world, for the first time since the Fall, will dwell in harmony once more:
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
Isaiah 11:6-9
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Image: Garden of Eden by Thomas Cole (1828). Courtesy of The Carter Museum. Digitally edited by Jacob Davis.
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