The Testimony of Creation

Romans 1:20 - "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 been made, so that they are without excuse."
 
If you’ve ever shared the gospel you know that people are pretty quick to come up with reasons, or excuses, as to why they are not going to buy into believing it. And one of the most well-worn excuses, which you’ve probably heard, is the excuse about the "man in the jungle." You know what I'm talking about. You're sharing the gospel with your neighbor or co-worker, telling them that the wages of sin is death and that Christ died on the cross and bore the punishment for our sin, so that whoever repents and puts their trust in Christ will be saved from the consequences of their sin, and they respond, essentially, by asking, "If what you’re telling me is true and there’s only one way of salvation, then what about the man who has never heard this gospel? It doesn’t seem fair to me that God would send someone to hell for not believing in a gospel which they have never heard." This excuse is really an assault on the justice of God. “I don’t think God is going to be fair.” Is what they’re essentially saying. And the logic, I suppose, goes something like this, "If the God you're telling me about doesn't live up to my standard of justice, and if He seems unfair to me, then I don't have to respond to Him. I don't have to obey Him. I have the right to ignore Him if He's not fair according to my standard." Now, I don't think that the concern about the man in the jungle is as sincere as people make it out to be, because while they're quick to put their arm around the man in the jungle and reject the gospel, they're not real concerned about the guy in the next apartment or the guy down the street. It‘s just a convenient excuse to brush you off and go about their business. But it is a good question, and it's a question that the Bible addresses. How can God hold someone accountable to keep the rules when they never had the rules to begin with? And how can God be just in punishing someone for breaking rules that they never had?

In the book of Romans the apostle Paul outlines the gospel for us pretty clearly. He says in verses 16-17 of chapter 1 - “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed” (Right off the bat he maintains the righteousness or the justice of God.) “from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”” That’s the banner, if you will, at the top of the page. And in verse 18 he begins to go in to his presentation of the gospel.

Romans 1:18-20 - “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 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 been made, so that they are without excuse.”

Since God is the foundation of truth and all truth originates with Him, then it follows that in order for us to know truth God has to reveal it to us. Since God is true, truth is that which corresponds with His nature and character. So the revelation of truth begins with a revelation of God Himself. And according to Romans 1:18-19, one of the ways that God has revealed Himself is through creation. “The wrath of God” it says, “is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.” That’s revelation. That which is known about God is evident, why? Because God made it evident. Well, how did God make it evident? How did God reveal Himself? Verse 20 - “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 been made, so that they are without excuse.” The creation that we see around us is a revelation of God. The things which are seen tell us something about the one who is unseen. Nature itself tells us something about the goodness, the order, the beauty, the wisdom and the power of God. It’s not a perfect revelation, it’s not a complete revelation, but it is a revelation of God nonetheless. God is invisible, and yet He has made Himself known through what is seen. In creation things like God’s eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen. That’s revelation.

In Psalm 19 the psalmist speaks of how God has revealed Himself through creation. He says in verses 1-4 - "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun."

The heavens, and what that’s referring to is the place where the birds fly and the place where the stars hangs out, the observable heavens, are speaking of the glory of God. Not necessarily in audible words, it's not as though you walk outside and hear the air speaking around you or go out at night and hear words being spoken by the stars, but in a way the heavens are speaking to those who see them.

That’s not to say that stars don’t make noise, in fact, they do. I was reading some articles this week about the sounds that stars are making, not that we can hear them, but if sound could travel through space and if we could hear much higher frequencies, we would hear, as one author put it, a symphony in the stars. And there are people who are studying these things to find out what the stars can tell us. There was one person I was reading who suggested that perhaps the song of the stars can tell us something about their origin. And I wouldn't be to quick to refute that. Because the stars are speaking to those who have ears to hear. And what are they saying about their origin? “He made the stars also.”

The intent of this passage, though, is not whether or not the heavens make a literal noise, but clearly it is saying that the heavens are speaking to everyone who sees them. Even though we don’t hear an audible sound, “Their voice goes out into all the earth.” When you consider the heavens there is something that goes on inside of you, you begin to consider the vastness of the universe, the sheer magnitude of space, it will make you feel really small. And this tells us something about God. If indeed there is a God, He must be bigger than, or wholly outside of, His creation. His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen through what has been made. And not only that, but the heavenly bodies work on a very consistent course. The movement and rotation of the planets, the cycle of comets, all the movements of the cosmos are precise as clockwork. In fact, verses 5 and 6 of Psalm 19 go on to talk about that. In speaking of the sun it says - "Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; it rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit to the other end of them; and there is nothing hidden from its heat." It has a specific course and circuit. There's nothing random about this. The movements of the universe are so exact and consistent that we can travel back in our thinking to hundreds and thousands of years ago and determine the exact placement of the constellations. We can look forward and know with specificity the placement of the stars and planets, and know when comets are going to pass by where we can see them. We have the phases he moon marked out for us on our calendars, but how could we know something like that? It’s because God has set all of this up to work consistently and orderly. This isn't random. The design and order of the universe are speaking of the glory of God, and this is something that you can hear regardless of location or education. You could go out into the most remote, nomadic tribe which doesn't even have a written language, step out of your hut at night and the heavens are standing there declaring to you the glory of God.

In looking at the heavens we can perceive something about the glory, or the goodness, or the beauty of God. But, as this passage goes on to say, yeah, the heavens declare the glory of God, not completely and not perfectly, but the Word of God is perfect. Verses 7-9 - “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.” Yeah, the Word of God is better, it’s specific, it’s detailed, but make no mistake, creation is testifying about our Creator. In fact later on in the book of Romans Paul quotes Paul quotes from this passage. In Romans chapter 10, a passage that is familiar to us, Paul is still writing about the gospel, and he writes this, starting in verse 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?" There's our question, what about the guy who hasn't heard? He continues, "And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say, surely they have never heard, have they?" Here it is again, we're back to the question we started with; what about the man in the jungle? "Surely they have never heard, have they?" How does he answer? "Indeed they have;" What? What do you mean? He answers by quoting Psalm 19:4, "“Their voice has gone out into all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.”" Creation is preaching to the ends of the earth. And back in Romans 1 he makes it clear, the things about God are clear to them because God made it evident to them, how? Through creation, to what end? “So that they are without excuse.” Yeah, we can make excuses about the man in the jungle, but God makes it clear that the testimony of creation is enough to leave us, and them, without excuse.

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, in the context of Romans 1, because they did not respond to what they understood about God through creation. And 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. Rather than turning to God, they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. And all the responsibility to respond, in this passage, hinges on the testimony of creation. In Acts chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas were preaching the gospel in Lystra, and while they were there God gave them the ability to raise a paralytic from his mat and he began walking. Now, after they had done this the people of the city began to gather together and wanted to make a sacrifice to them, thinking that they were gods. But this is what Paul and Barnabas said to them, Vs. 15-17 - “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” God didn’t leave Himself without a witness. They had the testimony of creation.

So, what about the man in the jungle? Romans 1, Psalm 19, Romans 10, Acts 14, he has creation that speaks to him about God. Creation is a common, worldwide language. Though we can't see God, God has made Himself known through His creation. Things like His eternal power and His divine nature are clearly seen, clearly seen, through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. God did not leave Himself without a witness, even in the case of the man in the jungle. This is one example of General Revelation.