What Creation Teaches Us about God

One of the highlights for my wife and me every year is joining members of the DTS family in California at the Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center. And I know it won’t surprise you if I say the teaching and fellowship are only parts of what I love about making that trip. The setting is one of the most beautiful on earth! Nestled among California’s towering redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains, near the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay, I can sing “How Great Thou Art” while actually looking at the brook and feeling the gentle breeze. A beautiful setting serves as a wonderful complement to biblical teaching.

There’s a reason, in fact, why our campus makes its award-winning grounds a high priority and we are moving toward “building green” and using renewable resources: Because both special revelation (God’s Word) and general revelation (nature) reveal something about God. Here’s just a sampling of what the Bible says we observe about God from nature:

• God’s wisdom. When Job objected to his trials, what did God use to silence him? The revelation of His wisdom seen through creation (Job 38:1–7).
• God’s righteousness. The psalmist wrote, “The heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge” (Ps. 50:6).
• God’s grace. Jesus reminded His listeners that God’s creative act of bringing rain demonstrates His grace to the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:44–45).
• God’s care. Jesus also pointed to creation to demonstrate God’s care, saying that not one sparrow falls outside of the Father’s knowledge (Matt. 6:28–32).
• God’s invisible attributes. In asserting—through inspiration of the Holy Spirit—that all humans stand accountable to God, Paul looked to creation, which reveals God’s invisible attributes of eternal power and divine nature (Rom. 1:18–20).

Look all around you. The world hints at the greatness of our God. And while we’re dwelling on earth, we’re stewards of His magnificent creation. Our job is to marvel and to express worship over what God has done and to be sure that we manage our stewardship well.

In this issue of Kindred Spirit, we’ll consider a biblical view of our involvement with creation and our call to care for the earth—both the physical planet and the people who dwell on it. Though the topic of the environment has been in the news a lot in recent years, our mandate to care for God’s creation is as old as Genesis and will continue until He comes.

The psalmist prayed, “It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever flowing rivers. The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon. It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter” (Ps. 74:15–17). I can think of only one fitting response to such truth: “Then sings my soul … !”

About the Contributors

Mark L. Bailey

Dr. Bailey assumed the role of DTS Chancellor after serving for 19 years as the Seminary’s fifth President, and continues his role as Sr. Professor in the Bible Exposition department. In addition to his years at Dallas Theological Seminary, he has pastored various churches in Arizona and Texas. He was a seminar instructor for Walk Thru the Bible Ministries for twenty years and is in demand for Bible conferences and other preaching engagements all over the country and world. His overseas ministries have included Venezuela, Argentina, Hungary, and China. He is also a regular tour leader in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Rome. His board service includes Bible Study Fellowship, Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, and Word of Life.