There is a declaration of God’s glory that all can hear. It occurs every day and every night in a universal language. Man is therefore without excuse. If he will simply observe, he will behold the wonder of God’s creation. But man in his nature of sin desires to eliminate any responsibility to God and is bent toward willful disobedience. Even children of God refuse to believe the evidence for creation for many different reasons; as in the New Testament, “…many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.” (John 12:42). Today, being “put out of the synagogue” may mean “considered out of the mainstream of science”, but the result is the same. Either support of the truth is silenced, or there is a continual search for the rationale for a falsehood.

Although man cannot become a spiritual being by observing nature, he should acknowledge God’s power based on the evidence. And the evidence is abundant and becoming more abundant every day as we learn more about this universe. For many, the suggestion that the existence of the universe is an accident of material processes is a foolish thought. For others the universe only appears to have characteristics of design. Those who are serious about understanding truth want as much evidence as possible for questions that impact our entire view of life and its purpose. And, as Elder Gus Harter stated in a recent sermon, “We have good answers!”¹

Certainly the belief in the existence of God (in particular, a personal God who influences our lives) is fundamental, and philosophers, scientists, historians, and even lawyers have expended much time and energy in contemplating the universe, God’s word, and how it all relates to them. As a way of examining some types of unbelief and how they may be impacted by evidence, consider three examples from the points of view of the legal, historic, and scientific disciplines. Simon Greenleaf, a professor of law at Harvard University in the late nineteenth century and a Jew, was challenged about his lack of belief in Christ since there was so much evidence. As an instructor of legal principles based on historical evidence, he accepted the challenge, confident he could prove his position. But after only a year of study, he became convinced that Christ was indeed God’s son.² He wrote a book entitled, The Testimony of the Evangelists-Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice.³ Sir William Ramsey, a world-renowned archaeologist, set out to disprove the historicity of the Bible through an archaeological critique of the Book of Acts. After several years of study, he concluded, “Luke is a historian of the first rank”. He came to believe in the authenticity of the Bible, and he wrote numerous books about his work.⁴ Hugh Ross, former professor at Caltech and an astronomy lecturer at age sixteen, had no problem believing in a God who created the universe, but saw no evidence of a God that had any impact on our daily lives. He was curious enough to search and began an intensive study of all the world religions. He found them all to be shallow, imprecise, and full of circular reasoning. Then he came upon the Bible and was stunned to find the first chapter of Genesis entirely consistent with his study of astronomy, and nature, in general. In fact, after an eighteen-month examination of the scriptures with regard to its science, geography, and history, he could not find a single provable error or contradiction. He became convinced “that the Bible was supernaturally accurate and thus supernaturally inspired. Its perfection could only come from the Creator himself.” He even made a comparison of the Bible's reliability versus the probability of a sudden reversal of the second law of thermodynamics (the law of entropy, or ever increasing disorder in the universe) and determined the Bible to be, conservatively, 10⁵⁸ times more reliable. He came to believe in the authenticity of the Bible, God’s work as the Creator, and Christ as the Son of God. The evidence was overwhelming.⁵

There are still many today who refuse to honestly examine the evidence and, instead, hold to the theory of evolution as the doctrine of daily living. The fundamental conflict among science, philosophy, and religion is rationalizing the reality or non-reality of a personal God. In most of the science of today that deals with origins or life processes, an assumption is made that any concepts of a Designer or theories that include a cause for “the beginning” are unscientific. Consider Hugh Ross’ rebuttal to this approach in his book The Creator and the Cosmos⁶:

To affirm that science and theology are mutually exclusive may be convenient for materialists unwilling to defend their philosophy, but it is untenable. Science is rarely religiously neutral. Similarly, religious faith is rarely scientifically neutral. Both science and theology frequently address cause and effect and processes of development in the natural realm. Both science and theology deal with the origin of the universe, the solar system, life, and humankind.

When it comes to causes, developmental processes, and origins, two possibilities exist: natural and supernatural. To dogmatically insist that supernatural answers must never be considered is equivalent to demanding that all human beings follow only one religion, the religion of atheistic materialism.

All individuals have a worldview that affects their endeavors and behavior. Scientists are not above having cosmological chauvinism. However, as we will see, there are many scientists who have a broader view.

We will explore some of the evidences why we believe the universe was designed by God and what this means to us. The Bible, of course, is always our first source. It is the pure word of God and is our spiritual guide. It is also accurate and correct from the viewpoint of any field of study. There are many who have tried to prove otherwise. Some of them have become the most ardent supporters of God’s work in creation. In addition, it is important to realize that today is a truly exciting time from a scientific perspective because the ability to see the creation at an ever increasing level of detail, reveals more and more the reality of the Designer behind the design. These facts should encourage us to study God’s book even more fervently and praise Him for His gift of love and the beauty of His handiwork.

With these simple, declarative statements we are told how everything we observe in our universe began. It is the immensely important start for the revelation of God’s design. The fingerprint of God is on the universe. (“When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers…” Psalms 8:3).

More than fifteen years before the beginning of the twentieth century, Elder Sylvester Hassell gave a profound view of this introduction to God’s book in his History of the Church of God⁷:

Thus God puts His seal upon the forehead of the Bible. Thus, in the volume of Inspiration, with the first breath of His mouth, He destroys forever the deadly errors of polytheism, pantheism, atheism, deism, materialism, agnosticism, accidentalism, evolutionism, positivism, naturalism, rationalism, dualism, two-seedism, fatalism, pessimism, idolatry, and superstition. This one statement of the scriptures is of infinitely more value than all the words of all the uninspired men that ever lived. It transports us at once above all human science and tradition and philosophy, above the dark, interminable, labyrinthine, wanderings of the natural mind, beyond the bounds of time to the clear divine depths of ancient eternity. It declares to us, in a language of the sublimest simplicity and truthfulness, that “In the beginning”, at a period of the distant past unknown to mortals, “God”, Elohim, the Almighty Trinity, Father, Word, and Spirit, the alone Eternal, Self-Existent Being, by an act of His sovereign will, and for the manifestation of His own glory, the highest conceivable motive “created the heaven and the earth”, produced from non-existence the entire universe of matter and of mind.

This beginning of time and the concept of light are intertwined in the scriptures and in science. As a result of the concepts of quantum mechanical physics, there are few that would say the universe is infinite in space or time. In fact, in the 1880s, even before modern physics was introduced by Max Planck at the turn of the century with his concept of “light quanta”, Josef Stefan and Ludwig Boltzman demonstrated heat transfer by radiation using the laws of thermodynamics.⁸ From these principles it can be derived that a night sky that is dark instead of light “proves the universe cannot contain an infinite number of evenly distributed stars for an infinite time”.⁹ That is, an infinite number of stars for an infinite time would result in an infinite amount of light impinging on the earth, so the sky would never appear dark. And, since the night sky is dark, the universe and time are not infinite, and the universe had a beginning!

Light, itself, is still a great mystery in science. Is it a particle or a wave? Science can only say it has the characteristics of both! The light on the earth on this first day existed before the sun, moon, and stars were created on the fourth day, and we are still trying to understand it. We know that God finished His work and rested from His creative processes on the seventh day. Since that time, the energy in the universe is a constant (First Law of Thermodynamics). We now live in a time marred by sin, resulting in a universe that is winding down (the ever-increasing disorder defined by the Second Law of Thermo-dynamics). Since we exist in this after shock world beyond His creative work and in the aftermath of man’s separation from God, we have no scientific method to comprehend these creation events with precision. But it is a glorious thought to consider this earth - “without form and void” - having a “face”, implying a front and a back (or rotation) - and coming out of “darkness” into “light”. This original design principle is evident in all our observations today, both physical and spiritual. It is astounding for us to consider its implications in the natural world, whether it is related to the Newtonian world of:

F (force)= m (mass) x a (acceleration),

where time is simultaneous for all observers, or the quantum world of:

E (energy)=m (mass) x c (the speed of light)²,

where time is relative. Indeed, the equation E = mc², developed and originally used over a thirty year period (1900-1930) that literally shook physics to it’s foundations, combines the fundamentals of our physical universe in a stunningly simple formula. And it combines these entities in a way that continues to have far reaching implications to the understanding of God’s creation and His design for our existence. Energy is the engine that makes it all go. Mass is the substance we observe around us. And these physical entities, so entirely different, are related by a single constant– the speed of light! Truly extraordinary! This relationship, upon the briefest reflection, should cause even the most ardent non-scientist, non-mathematician to sit back with a sense of wonder and awe.

Light, of course, also establishes our ability to measure time and is the fourth dimension of the space–time continuum. Furthermore, this single mathematical term, c, is a constant in our physical world in a very “special” way, as determined by Albert Einstein. He developed the special theory of relativity in 1905 by observing that 1) there is no observable absolute motion in the universe, only relative motion, and 2) the velocity of light is constant and is independent of the motion of the source. This concept, and its extension to general relativity that includes gravitational effects, was in direct conflict to Newtonian physics, but has since been proven experimentally many times.

Other scientists (Hawking, Ellis, and Penrose) have extended these concepts to show that “space and time must have an origin, concurrent with that for matter and energy”. In other words, “time itself is finite”. Given this “common origin of matter, energy, space, and time, the act(s) or cause(s) of creation [the beginning] must take place in dimensions or realms independent of the space-time dimensions and substance of the universe”.¹⁰ In other words, some would conclude:

God exists!

And He is transcendent of this universe. His design is being revealed more every day as scientific observations from the subatomic to the astronomical show the evidences of His work and His power.

In reality, these relationships of space and time are not new at all. They simply confirm a great biblical truth. In Genesis, God’s grand opening act was the creation of light. He did not say, “Let there be space” or “Let there be time.” He said, “Let there be light.”¹¹

As believers in God’s word, we may not need science to believe these truths, but the fact is, true science always agrees with God’s book, and it is beautiful to behold. The Bible is a spiritual book, and God has given us the reasoning power to follow the clues of the scientific principles it presents. It simply takes a while for man’s understanding of science to catch up. This fact is hard for some to accept.

Hugh Ross expresses his personal view as a scientist from his book The Creator and the Cosmos:¹²

Attacks by physicists and other scientists on the God of the Bible are not new. The Bible seems an affront to their intellectual prowess. This ancient “religious” document makes many pointed and challenging statements about cosmic origins, all of them provable.

What an affront to pride…The call to humility and submission in view of the awesomeness of what God created and wrote is more than some are willing to handle.

We are indeed thankful that God did write it. A lifetime of study is not enough to comprehend it all…not even many lifetimes. But what we can understand is magnificent!

He is “the light of the world”. (John 8:12)

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33).

The evidences of God’s design are everywhere. From beneath the ocean to the furthest limits of outer space, we see the hand of God in the creation and sustainment of our world and the universe. Through the ages of time, man has learned much about his environment by observing the wonders of God’s creation. From the elements of earth, air, fire, and water to the periodic table of elements in modern chemistry, we are able to discern ever more details of this earth and its inhabitants. If we really “ask the earth, the beasts, the fowls, and the fish”, we will be truly convinced that all of this is not the result of a mindless accident, but is a marvel from the hand of a loving God. While in science we are told there is no place for “miracles”, we behold the complexities of biological life and are convinced there is no other “scientific” explanation for man’s existence. The laws of probability, the irreducibly complex form of our constituent parts, and the specified complexity of the very code of life are some of the clear proofs that an intelligent Designer is the answer to this seeming paradox.

As we “speak to the earth”, we are amazed at the precise balance required for life. One view of the thin line of the earth’s atmosphere, called the limb, from the vantagepoint of the Space Shuttle, tells us in an instant how delicate this balance is. Without this protection, the earth would be no different than the other uninhabited planets. Hugh Ross points out a number of other precision characteristics of the earth:

A change in the distance from the sun of only 2% would eliminate the stability of water as a liquid. A change in the earth’s rotation period of a few percent would create either dramatic day/night temperature differences (if too slow) or catastrophic wind velocities (if too fast). And small changes in the earth’s axial tilt would result in uninhabitable surface temperature differences. But even more astounding is “the conclusion that much fewer than a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a percent of all stars [in the universe] could possibly possess, without divine intervention, a planet capable of sustaining advanced life.” Ross estimates, using scientifically justified probabilities for 43 parameters important for the existence of life, that the overall probability for life to exist by accident is less than 10^-53. In other words, it would otherwise be impossible.¹³

Michael Behe, an Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University, “asked the beasts, fowl, and fish”, or biological systems, and found that they are “irreducibly complex, [meaning] a single system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function.”¹⁴ This type of complexity is evident far beyond the visual realm even to the sub-microscopic. A mousetrap would be a simple mechanical example of an irreducibly complex mechanism since it can only work if all of its parts exist simultaneously. Behe points out numerous biological irreducibly complex systems that are extraordinarily powerful challenges to the Darwinian theory of natural selection (gradual biological change based on environmental influences over very long periods of time resulting in higher life forms). These complex systems include the cilium (microscopic hairlike structures that cells use to move about in a liquid), blood clotting, and the human eye. Without natural selection, Darwin himself admitted his theory would absolutely break down.¹⁵

Electron microscopy has shown the tiny cellular structure of cilium to be highly complex. This flagellum is actually a fused double-ring structure of outer microtubules, a single ring structure of central microtubules, connecting proteins (Nexin), and a motor protein called Dynein. The sliding motion of the Dynein “walking” up a neighboring microtubule is converted to a bending motion by the flexible linker protein Nexin. This bending motion creates the whip like action that propels the cell.¹⁶ It is indeed an irreducibly complex motor system that allows the cell to swim. The theory of natural selection cannot explain how these individual parts all come into existence simultaneously to allow a working mechanism.

DNA has been identified as the genetic code of life. The very concept of a code implies intelligence. This chemical code is identical, from the standpoint of mathematical information theory, to human language, for example. Charles Braxton stated at an international conference in Dallas, Texas in 1986:

The discovery of the DNA code gives the argument from design a new twist. Since life is at its core a chemical code, the origin of life is the origin of a code. A code is a very special kind of order. It represents "specified complexity." ¹⁷

This type and level of complexity only exists in molecular structures related to life or in human artifacts. Even though a snowflake, formed from natural processes (the freezing of water), has complexity and order, it is ordered in a repetitive manner without the characteristics of a code. Mathematically, the information content of a snowflake is low while the information content in DNA is very high. This complexity is illustrated again by a mathematical probability. The most optimistic probability of forming a simple protein molecule from 100 amino acids is one chance in 10⁶⁵. ¹⁸

Some scientists [sic] look for signs of a code coming from outer space. The SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project attempts to locate evidence of life beyond the earth. The data from the antenna collecting the radio waves is examined carefully for sequences of signals that have specified complexity. In other words, they are searching for signs of intelligence! Similarly, the chemical code of life is an unmistakable sign of intelligence – divine intelligence. Hugh Ross correctly observes:

If divine design is essential to explain the properties of simpler systems such as the universe, our galaxy, and the solar system, how much more necessary is God’s involvement to explaining systems as complex as organisms, including human beings? ¹⁹

So, as we study our universe and our physical existence, we see that “chance” cannot explain how we got here. “Natural selection” cannot explain the level of complexity in biochemistry. And, the code that defines life itself cannot be explained outside the realm of the divine Designer. While God has given us the tools to see a scratch in the surface of the intricacies of His design, we are in awe of His greatness and thankful for His having given us the ability to explore. Sir Isaac Newton, perhaps the greatest physicist ever, described himself shortly before his death as “a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” True science is always modest. ²⁰ We will never understand it all, but it is exciting to search. As we search, we recognize our ultimate position in this matter. God tells us clearly in Isaiah 55:8-9:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God’s eternal power and His sovereignty over all are clear to those who search for the truth. While believers in God’s word find it straightforward to use both reason and faith in understanding God’s design in the universe, there are many who consider any attempt to approach science from a biblical perspective as a threat to “true science”. The National Center for Science Education, for example, has a singular focused purpose. According to its Internet web site, it is “a nationally-recognized clearinghouse for information and advice to keep evolution in the science classroom and ‘scientific creationism’ out.”²¹ Why do some scientists see such an utter conflict between science and religion? From the September 1999 issue of Scientific American:²²

University of Washington sociologist Rodney Stark, an early researcher on the spread of secularization in a religious society points out, “There’s been 200 hundred years of marketing that if you want to be a scientific person you’ve got to keep your mind free of the fetters of religion.” He argues that although demographics make a difference – a professor teaching in South Dakota is likely to be more religious than an academic in Chicago – higher education on the whole winnows out the idea of God or people who hold to it. In research universities, “the religious people keep their mouths shut,” Stark says. “And the irreligious people discriminate. There’s a reward system to being irreligious in the upper echelons.”

Scientific myths can also contribute to the social trend of viewing science as pure and religion as narrow-minded. Theologian Philip Hefner states, “America’s greatest myth about science and religion is a legal melodrama, the 1925 John Scopes ‘monkey trial’. …The myth is that scientists are courageous loners who are willing to die for the truth. Organized religion is ipso facto opposed to intellectual freedom and the freedom of truth. Organized religion is the enemy. When heave comes to shove, organized religion will kill the courageous scientist.”²³ History shows that many of the greatest scientists have been intensely religious, and it has not thwarted their scientific endeavors or achievements in the least.

The critical element of scientific study is whether or not it has integrity. Over one hundred years ago Elder Sylvester Hassell said, “True science is always modest.”²⁴ In more recent times Dr. Richard Feynman, renowned physics Nobel laureate, put it this way: “It’s a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty – a kind of leaning over backwards.”²⁵ Since we know “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), humility in scientific research is not only ethical, it is also biblical.

What we often see today is a marketing of science and so called discoveries that are no more than ideas born of a desire for fame – either the fame of the discoverer or the fame of the reporter. Phillip Johnson, in his article “How to Sink a Battleship”, summarizes our quandary: “Science now teaches us that a purposeless material process of evolution created us; artists, poets, and actors teach us that biblical morality is oppressive and hateful; and the courts teach us that the very notion of God is divisive and so must be kept out of public life.” ²⁶

What does all of this mean to us? Bruce Chapman in his article The Twenty-first Century Has Arrived says, “It can be argued that (atheistic) materialism is a major source of the demoralization of the twentieth century. Materialism’s explicit denial not just of design but also of the possibility of scientific evidence for design has done untold damage to the normative legacy of Judeo-Christian ethics. A world without design is a world without inherent meaning.”²⁷ So, where do we go from here?

First of all, it is important to reiterate that God’s word is our most important source of information. We know that God is in control and has not been silent even though some might think otherwise. In fact, Luke spoke of Christ’s resurrection and said “Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly”, (Acts 10:40). God has not been silent about the resurrection, and He has not been silent about His creation and design of our existence. We have the evidence in His word, and we have the evidence in honest science.

In addition, we must recognize the ebb and flow of ideas through time. In our generation we have seen the collapse of the economic science of Marx. We have seen the collapse of the social science of Freud. Perhaps we are on the threshold of seeing the collapse of the biological science of Darwin. There are many who believe this to be true.

Increasing numbers of scientists are coming to the conclusion that evolution cannot explain origins and that intelligent design is a reasonable scientific explanation for what we see in nature. Bruce Chapman, in his postscript to Mere Creation, points out many modern scientists who are using scientific methods to show the validity of intelligent design and the real weaknesses of evolution.²⁸ He also discusses the many public forums that have begun to report the trend away from Darwinism in terms of strong literary efforts, educational reform, and public debates including such televised programs as the PBS program TechnoPolitics, William F. Buckley’s Firing Line, and CNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews.

John Ankerberg and John Weldon include in their appendix to The Creation Hypothesis numerous quotes from scientists who no longer see evolution as valid science.²⁹ Quoting an ancient and a modern:

As Sir Isaac Newton observed,

“This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and domain of an intelligent and powerful Being.”

Robert Jastrow is the founder and director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, an internationally known astronomer and professor at Dartmouth and Columbia universities. His oft-cited statement in God and the Astronomers is still relevant:

A sound explanation may exist for the explosive birth of our Universe: but if it does, science cannot find out what the explanation is. The scientist’s pursuit of the past ends in the moment of creation.

This is an exceedingly strange development, unexpected by all but the theologians. They have always accepted the word of the Bible: In the Beginning God created heaven and earth…At this moment it seems as though science will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.

Job 26:7-14 gives us a concluding perspective:

He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them. He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

In this small paragraph, God has given us hints of the earth’s axial tilt and magnetic North, the concept of gravity, the formation of clouds and the hydrology cycle, the barrier between the finite and the infinite, the ocean tides, the solar system, His control over the thermonuclear events in galaxies and the earth’s natural phenomenology, and His creation from the most distant star to the lowest creature on the earth.

And then He tells us “these are parts of his ways” and “a little portion” of His power and majesty. Just imagine what we shall behold “when he shall appear”, because that is when “we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.” (1John 3:2).

To God be all the praise!

God’s powerful testimony of His creation resides in the simplicity of His blessings. With the abundance of food in our industrialized society, we may not recognize our dependence on the rain and the fruitful seasons. In earlier times, every day was a struggle for even the basic needs of life, and there were ever present reminders of man’s dependence on God. In a deeper sense, gladness of heart is more than satisfaction with natural sustenance. We are as dependent on God today as in the past for spiritual nourishment as well as natural. As He has blessed us to understand more about our surroundings throughout time, we see His awesome handiwork in the natural realm and therefore praise Him in the spiritual. The simplicity of His goodness (love) remains as the pinnacle of what is truly important in our understanding of the attributes of God, for “God is love.” (1 John 4:16).

Some continue to deny the evidence for the existence of God and His blessings. But what would life really be like if “survival of the fittest” were the only rule of law? Why is there good in the world at all? Clearly it is because God is good. Some physical blessings are obvious to all “for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), even though not all acknowledge Him as the author. James gives us added insight into the depth of God’s goodness: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17). Not only do we benefit from the good gifts, but our sense of being is also stabilized by the knowledge of the unchangeableness of God and His purpose. In a world where change influences our lives directly, by some estimates, every one hundred days, the knowledge of the immutability of the goodness of our Heavenly Father is one of our greatest sources of peace. As we learn more about the intricacies of life from a scientific perspective, we are made to bow in adoration and thanksgiving for the beauty and unity of purpose of His designs. As we learn more about His purpose through an understanding of His word, we see the perfection of all His creative work in nature and in salvation, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).

Some still deny God’s power in the creation and His goodness. Some even deny His miracles and would attribute biblical descriptions of such events to natural phenomena interpreted through ignorance of science. However, there is one miracle even beyond the creation of our natural environment that makes all the others pale in significance; one that, if one believes its truth, makes all other miracles easy to believe; one that transcends our understanding of physical reality; one that, if not believed, would make us “of all men most miserable”. Of course, this miracle is the resurrection of Jesus Christ through which He was “declared to be the Son of God with power” (Romans 1:4).

The importance of Christ as the Son of God, relative to our very existence, cannot be emphasized more than in Colossians 1:16-17:

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

And in Revelation 4:11:

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

It is also clear in God’s design that He made man different from animals in very significant ways. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:39, “All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.” When God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, He gave him more than natural life. He gave him a reasoning power far above His other creatures. So, we see the error of Darwinian evolution biblically as well as from scientific investigations.

One hundred years ago an editorial “Prayer for a New Year” was published in what is now the The Orange County Register. It was republished to begin the New Millenium. One of the paragraphs of the New Year Beatitudes says³⁰:

Blessed are they who thrill with the feeling that this vast universe is not a mere chance thing that blind force rent out of chaos, propelling it forward to reach an end of blind calamity.

Blessed are they in the thrilling; for they hold the key to peace within while perplexity rules without.

Indeed, it is not a “chance thing”. God is sovereign over all. We praise His creative power and His sustaining grace. We exist by His declaration. God has declared His creation with the words “Let there be light”. He has declared Christ as the Son of God and the light of the world through His life and His death and His resurrection. And His declarations continue. He is in control, and we take comfort in knowing He is declaring the “end from the beginning” even now.

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isaiah 46:9-10).

God’s “declaring” will continue to ringout until “time is no longer”. There is no question. He is a personal God!

And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: (Revelation 10:5-6).

We behold the fulfillment of the scriptures and God’s impact on our daily lives. We praise Him for it and look toward an even brighter future:

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end...