The Creator God - doctrine.org

How and Who Created the Universe ¹

The Bible opens with the verse:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1.1).

Such a simple statement! But included in it is all that we experience apart from the Creator Himself. How did God create the heavens and earth? According to Psalm 33:

⁶By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.
⁷He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
⁸Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
⁹For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast (Psalm 33.6-9).

The Scriptures reveal God created the universe with His Word. He spoke and it came into being (cf. Genesis 1.3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26). Peter confirmed this truth when he wrote:

For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, (2 Peter 3.5)

The Word of God (the Scriptures)

The Word of God is used in two senses in the Bible. The first is verbal: the written or spoken communication from God. A parallel of this usage is the expression “word of the Lord.” Examples of this sense are the following:

As they were going down to the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Say to the servant that he might go ahead of us and pass on, but you remain standing now, that I may proclaim the word of God to you” (1 Samuel 9.27).

³ It came about the same night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, ⁴ “Go and tell David My servant, ‘Thus says the LORD, “You shall not build a house for Me to dwell in; (1 Chronicles 17.3-4)

⁵ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” ⁶ he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition (Matthew 15.5-6).

¹ Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, ² in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness (Luke 3.1-2).

But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8.21).

Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles (Acts 13.46).

²⁵ Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, ²⁶ that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, (Colossians 1.25-26)

For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe (1 Thessalonians 2.13).

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4.12).

for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1.23).

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; (Revelation 6.9)

The Word of God (the Son of God)

The Word of God has a second sense. It is a title of God the Son. The Apostle John introduced the Lord Jesus Christ as the Word of God in his gospel and witnessed and wrote of Him in that role in the book of Revelation.

John wrote:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (John 1.1-3).

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me’” (John 1.14-15).

He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God (Revelation 19.13).

Above, we noted that the heavens and earth came into existence through the verbal Word of God. But the Scriptures also reveal that the universe was created by God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He created the universe in His role as the Word of God.

John wrote:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (John 1.1-3).

The Apostle Paul, who saw the resurrected, glorified Christ, wrote the same:

⁵ For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, ⁶ yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him (1 Corinthians 8.5-6).

¹³ For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1.13-17).

In these two verses Paul declared that the Lord Jesus Christ not only created all things but that He sustains all things. The universe requires His ongoing presence and sustenance or it would cease. This puts to rest any notion of a mechanistic universe that Deists once taught. The universe is not like a wound watch left to itself. It is like a watch that needs winding and care.

The writer of Hebrews (Paul) also wrote the following:

¹ God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, ² in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world (Hebrews 1.1-2).

New Heavens, New Earth

As early as Isaiah (8th c. B.C.) we are given information that God would create a new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65.17, 66.22). Brought outside of his time, the Apostle John witnessed this new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21.1).

At the event known as the Great White Throne, which occurs after the 1,000 year earthly Messianic kingdom, the Lord Jesus Christ will judge (John 5.22, 25-29) all members of the human race who have rejected his love and salvation. As this event begins, the universe as we know it will cease to exist (Revelation 20.11). Peter wrote about this event in 2 Peter 3.10:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

Following this judgment, God will create a new universe, undefiled by Satan, sin, and death. The creator of the new heavens and new earth is the same as He Who created our present universe, the Lord Jesus Christ. John recorded,

⁵And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” ⁶Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. ⁷He who overcomes ² will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. ⁸But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21.5-8).

In Revelation 21-22, John described the glorious nature of this new creation. The heavenly Jerusalem will descend from heaven onto the new earth. It is immense, 1,500 miles on each side–length, breadth, and height. Clearly, we have something wholly new for no such city could exist upon our present creation.

Conclusion

The heavens and earth were created by the speech of the creator God. The God who created all things in none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God. He created our present universe and will create again, a new heavens and earth in which sin and death will not be possible. Those who have trusted Him will enjoy His presence forever.

¹The term “universe” is used by convention for “heavens and earth.” The Scriptures keep these two realms separate and distinct from Genesis 1 to Revelation 21. Such distinction has significant theological application to Israel, God’s earthly people, who will enjoy earthly promises and responsibilities, and to the Church, the body of Christ, God’s heavenly people, who will enjoy heavenly promises and responsibilities.
²The specific audience of those who “overcome” are those whom the Lord addressed in chapters 2-3. Their “overcoming” entails remaining faithful to the Christ, i.e., not worshiping the Beast, or his image, or taking his mark (Revelation 13.16-17, 14.9-12).