Reverend Tony Zekveld

I was asked to write on the "Biblical God." My aim in this article is that you may meet Him in the pages of Scripture (the Holy Bible) through the lens of the very first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1. Meet Him now from the first chapter of the Bible as He reveals Himself through His Word and Works.

The Biblical God: Our Starting Point

Starting points are important. If we do not begin in the right place, neither will we end up in the right place. Your starting point is of crucial importance otherwise you are going to end up in the wrong place!

This is also true for religion. According to the Bible, "there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12). If the starting point is man's own cleverly devised religious beliefs and his word, it's going to end up wrong.

Therefore, the Bible says that if man is to have the right starting point, he must begin with His Creator, the Biblical God, and what He says. This is where the Bible begins. The very first line in the Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.." The existence of the Biblical God is not debated here. His existence is not on the table for discussion. We don't need to try to prove that the Biblical God exists! He shows us Who He is. He is the powerful God. He is the God who speaks. Therefore, He is also a personal God, the God who relates with man.

His existence is declared but also asserted for our submission. "In the beginning, God . . . " If you have a Bible and you read the first chapter, you will see that the name of the Biblical God is mentioned no less than 35 times in 31 lines. There may not be any other substitution for the Biblical God as our starting point. In numerous places in the Scripture, God confronts the false image that men have about who God is. For example, the Biblical God says, "To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal and compare Me, that we should be alike? (Isaiah 46:5).

Or,

"thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it..." (Isaiah 44:6-7). Or, those "who changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man..." (Romans 1:23). I have given a few examples.

In the pages of Scripture, the Biblical God shows us who He is. Our lives must begin with this God, the true and living God, as our starting point if we are to end up with Him.. His Word must direct our personal lives, our homes, our activities, and our society, if we want to go the right way.

Why?

Because, as we will see, 1) all things are from Him, 2) all things exist through Him, and 3) all things belong to Him.

All Things Are From Him

This is summarized for us in the very first line of the Bible. The Biblical God created time ("in the beginning"), space ( "the heavens"), and matter ("the earth"). This summarizes all things. And being our Creator, He is also our Owner, Ruler and King.

If He is our Ruler and King, what does this mean for man? This means that man is responsible to Him!

And naturally man does not like to hear this truth. Man doesn't like to acknowledge the Biblical God as the Creator and therefore as his Owner.

Why not?

Because man knows that he is in trouble with a God whom he has sinned against, having disobeyed His law. The natural man doesn't want to deal with Him. He wants to hide from Him and avoid Him. So he tries to escape the inescapable truth of the Biblical God. And, how? Man attempts to suppress Him and ignore Him and substitutes the Biblical God with his own kind of "god." The natural man wants to fashion a god according to his own image and according to his own liking.

This is the reason why there are so many religions in our world today. Man wants a different starting point. He wants his own kind of "god". Consider, for example, today’s science. Modern science has proposed an alternative starting point. What is their starting point? "All comes from a big bang". No mention of God. Keep God out of the picture.

The result is that man now sets himself up as god. He can do what he wants, man is the measure of all things and he controls his destiny. No responsibility to anyone! At least he so thinks! But is this the answer?

Consider where it ends: one mother and three children in a home set on fire by a husband and a father who also shot himself. And, why not? If there is no Biblical God and all things come from a meaningless big bang, then you can do what you want! But misery, death is its end.

But the Biblical God has good news for modern man. What is this good news? All things come from Him; all creation comes from the heart of God!

God didn't have to create. Some people think that God was forced to create the world. But God was not forced to create. That would make creation a necessary evil against God's will! This is not what the Bible says. Others say that God created because He was lonely. That's why He created. But the Bible says, "it's not as though God needed anything" (Acts 17:25). He doesn't need creation. He doesn't need us. If He did, God would have a deficiency. In this case, God then would no longer be God!

So why did God create? Because it was His choice. The Bible says, "By His will (not of necessity) they exist and were created" (Revelation 4:11). Creation was His free act.

When God created, He chose to go public with His glory, His character! He chose to show His glory in what He created. Hence, His power, His wisdom, His majesty, His order is clearly displayed in the universe. As the Bible says, "we can see clearly the invisible things of God in the creation, even His everlasting power and divinity, sufficient to convince us and therefore to leave us without excuse" (Romans 1:20). Man has no excuse not to know the Biblical God.

Consider, for example, a baby in the womb of his or her mother. This baby is not just a piece of tissue that can be discarded from the mother’s womb. No, the baby is a beautiful creation of God, working in the dark places of the womb, fashioning the baby even with eye lashes, tiny fingers and little toes with nails!

But let's not divert from our main point. God chose to go public with His glory, even with His character. He wanted to display His splendor! That's why He created. And the question is: How did He go public with His glory? This leads us to our second point.

All Things Exist Through Him

This is the question: How did He create the heavens and the earth? How did He create all that we see around us? Did He use His hands, as we do, for example, when we construct a home or make a samosa? Did God use any kind of materials?

The answer is "no." The Biblical God simply spoke. If you read the first chapter of the Bible, you will read "and He said", "and He said", not less than 8 times. He spoke by His powerful Word, by the Word of His mouth. As the Bible says, "God has spoken once. Twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God " (Psalm 62:11). God created without the use of preexistent materials. He created the universe simply by His powerful Word, a universe which is distinct from His own Being. The universe is not an emanation of His Being, but His creation distinct from His Being.

In the first chapter of the Bible, we meet the Biblical God speaking and working for six days:

Day 1:  He calls the light into existence and He divides the light from the darkness.

Day 2:  He calls the expanse, or the sky, into existence to divide the waters above from below.

Day 3: He separates the waters under the sky and gathers them into one place
(called seas) and
calls into existence dry land (called earth). Then He causes the earth to
bring forth
grass, herbs and trees according to their kinds. Because God created
plant life according
to their kinds, scientists today have the ability to
classify types and kinds!

Day 4:  He calls into existence lights in the heavens (the sun, moon and the stars). Here we see the beginning of our clock and calendar, the 7 day week and 52 week year.

Day 5:  He calls into existence sea creatures filling the seas and every winged bird according to its kind filling the heavens.

Day 6:
Then God creates the animals according to their kinds. He fills the earth
with them.
Finally, the climax of His creation is the creation of man. Man is not
like the animals
in that God creates man in His image, in His likeness.

Man is a man and he can never come back to earth in the form of an animal. How is man like God? He is like God in that he too is a ruler, a king. Man is to serve the Creator by ruling over all the creation.

The Bible says, "To Whom will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing" (Isaiah 40:26). "For He spoke and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:9).

God's Word is not only powerful but also personal. The Bible tells us that all things were created through Jesus Christ, who is God, who is called the Word. Note these words from the Gospel of John, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him..." (1:1-3). The only way we can know the Biblical God, the true and living God, is by believing in Jesus. God has revealed Himself in Jesus. "He {Jesus) has made Him known" (John 1:18).

God has some more good news for modern man here! True, man does not want to deal with the Biblical God against whom he has sinned. But there is a reason for hope. Why? Because the God who called light out of darkness is also able to create light again in your dark and sinful hearts! He can change you into a new person. Consider these words from the Bible, "For it is God who commanded light to shine out of the darkness and who is able to shine in our hearts to give the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). But the Biblical God says, "Return to Me!" as your starting point. He, the true and living God, calls us to return to Him by trusting in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.

Moreover, not only does the Biblical God give man a reason for hope, but man who believes in the Biblical God can also find rest in His sovereign power. I don't have to worry about Friday the 13th or the 13th floor in a high-rise building. I can trash my horoscopes. There is no need for astrologers or jotsees. I can trash it all with the Biblical God as my starting point! I know, by faith in Christ that it's all under His control, even the moon and stars. I trust His Word, the Holy Bible. He is sufficient. I need to go nowhere else. What rest!

Why can I trust Him, the Biblical God?

Because not only do all things come from Him and all things come through Him, but all things continue to exist through Him. If He did not continue to uphold creation by His Word, by the Lord Jesus, then all creation would slip back into nothingness. From the very beginning and continuing to today, God continues to sustain and uphold what He has created through Christ.

The Biblical God is my starting point because all things come from Him, and all things come through Him and continue to exist through Him. And this leads us to our third and final point.

All Things Belong To Him

In going public with His glory, God calls us to give Him all the glory and the honor. He created. Why? So that He might receive all the praise from us. There is a simple question that we often ask children: "Why did God make you and all things?" We teach them this simple answer: "For His own glory." For His own glory -- that's why I am here on this earth.

If you read the first chapter of the Bible, you will notice that after each creation day, God evaluates what He has made. After each creation day, He says, "and it was good." and when He finished creating everything, He said on the sixth day, "and it was very good...". He took joy in what He made. He delighted in it and He also calls us to find delight in Him through Jesus Christ!

He made all creation good. There was no evil, then. There was no sin, no misery, no lying, no stealing, no adultery, no idolatry, no sickness and no death. All these vices came when man wanted his own independence from the Biblical God. These vices came when man wanted his own starting point.

But the creation God made was good. God took pleasure in what He made. God wanted to share His joy with man so that he might praise Him. You want proof of this?

The ultimate proof is the seventh day. What did God do when He finished creating? We learn from the second chapter of the Bible that He rested on the seventh day from all His (creating) work, which He had done. He rests to find pleasure in what He created and He called our first parents to share His delight with Him.

Man was not created for his own pleasure. He was not created to do what he wants or to worship his god in his own way. This is idolatry. This is man's starting point.

God created us so that we may find our joy and delight in Him. He created us so that we would serve and worship Him. The Bible says that if we don't begin with the Biblical God, neither will we end up with Him. There may be a way that seems right to you, but its end is the way of death.

The Biblical God -- He is the true and living God. The Bible tells us that "for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things; to Him be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36).