Ex Nihilo #2
Yesterday we saw that the Latin phrase "ex nihilo" means "out of nothing." The idea of "Creation ex nihilo" is not only found in Genesis, but the writer of the letter to the Hebrews talks about this idea too.Human beings can transform things: we take ore and make jewellery, we take clay and make pots, we cut down trees and make furniture. We can transform, but we can't create "ex nihilo". The passage makes it clear: The universe was not "made" (the greek implies "generated" or "born") out of anything seen. The only building block was the command or will of God. (Hold on to this thought...)
Look around you. Look at the awesome beauty of creation, the abundance of variety and the vastness of space. The scientists tell us that the universe is still expanding. That's not transformation, that's creation.
I often hold my hand in front of my face and take my fingers through the various grips, gestures and movements that they are capable of. I think of touching my newborn son with these hands and thrusting these hands towards the tarmac to protect my face when I took a fall off my bicycle. I think of the fingerprints on each finger and the way each finger helps me type this dev and I know that I am looking at a miracle.
I look at all the vastness and majesty in creation and I feel faith rise up in me. When I contemplate creation with open eyes and a ready heart, faith springs up in me.
All that I see around me wasn't transformed. It was not made out of what was visible. It takes too much faith to believe that this was all by accident. It's more obvious and explicable to believe in a Creator.
Creation is too big, too magnificent: I can't figure it out - I can't understand by myself. But by faith I look and by faith I see not only creatION but I see the CreatOR. And then I understand.
| Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews11:1-3) |
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