When God created this world, His creation (the trees, land, sky, water, etc.) was not just created to be a backdrop for humanity. But the natural world was created to declare the existence of its Creator. And so when Genesis 1:1 begins with the phrase, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” it was also the beginning of His creation being a witness to who God is.
Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities…have been clearly seen.”
And so we could say that the practice of outwardly speaking of God began in Genesis chapter 1 because creation is a witness to the realty that there is a God who has created all things.
Psalm 19:1-2 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
Humanity is able to see the beauty of the stars and moon and sky and know that this belongs to the handiwork of God. And the witness of creation is on-going. It does not show up every now and then. It is constant. The Psalmist writes, “Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” From sun up to sun down, creation is ‘speaking’ the truth of God. Even though creation does not say a word, it’s mere presence speaks of God. Its ‘voice’ goes to the ends of the world. In its own way creation is living out the Great Commission to declare the greatness of God to the ends of the world.
The witness of creation is also an example to us. Do we, the creations made in God’s own image, testify day after day or is it every now and then? The the testimony of the natural world around us should bring both challenge and conviction to us.
And the testimony of creation so clearly makes known the existence of God that Romans 1:20 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
Romans says that humanity can clearly and plainly know God simply by the works of His creation. No one can say, ‘I never knew there was a Creator.” The complexity of creation makes known the invisible qualitiues of God. His divine nature can be known. His eternal power can be known.
King David wrote in Psalm 8:3-4, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” The majestic works of God caused David to be in awe of God and wonder why God would even care for humanity because God is so great and mighty and powerful.
Creation speaks of God. Creation brings conviction that there is a God. And creation brings an awareness of the greatness of God. Humanity is also a part of God’s creation. If God created this world to declare him, then what does that tell you about one of our roles as creation? That we were made to make him known. And we have an advantage over the natural world–we can speak. We have been given the Gospel to verbally declare. We know the story of salvation.
If creation can ‘speak’ of God to the ends of the world, how much more should we be declaring the testimony of Jesus Christ to the ends of the world? We were made to make him known. May this world not have to rely on the heavens and sky to know there is a God. May they know it is because we have spoken and clearly proclaimed the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.