Seeing the Invisible (5)

 

 

“We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

 

“For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

 

Returning to 2 Corinthians 4:6 (see second reflection in this series), when Paul sees creation, he sees through and beyond creation to God. Creation becomes a sacramental experience in that through creation God comes to Paul and Paul comes to God.

 

“That which is know 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 understand by the things that are made, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19 – 20).

 

As we have considered, when Paul read Genesis Chapter One he saw through the account of physical creation into the invisible, and seeing the invisible he saw the New Creation in Christ Jesus, he saw God shining in the darkness of our hearts to bring the light of the knowledge of His glory in Jesus Christ.

 

In Romans, we read that if we knew how to “see” creation, a vision which has been robbed from us (at least in the West), we would see not only the power of God but also His Divine Nature, or as some translations have it – the Godhead. Paul writes that these things are clearly seen. We can hardly say that today, whether we are speaking of the world or the professing church.

 

It is not the norm for us in the West to deeply see and understand God when pondering creation. Many of us see creation as something to be dominated, used, and exploited, and many of us simply don’t care about creation unless it affects us financially. This is not the same as seeing a Creator in creation, this is about us gaining understanding about the very Nature of God as we ponder and experience Creation.

 

An irony of this is that while there is a segment of the professing church that insists on the world being created in six 24-hour days, that this segment does not typically teach us to see in and beyond Creation to the Divine Nature, it does not connect Creation with experiencing God, it does not connect Creation with having an deep internal knowledge of God. Paul writes, “That which is known about God is evident within them.”

 

To believe that God created everything in six 24-hour days, without also seeing the Nature of God in and through Creation, without also knowing the One who shines in our hearts, without becoming New Creations in Jesus Christ, means nothing. It may, in fact, be dangerous. It may be dangerous because it may lead us believe we are something when we are nothing, and it can certainly be dangerous for others to think that believing in a certain Creator is akin to knowing the Trinity, that it is the equivalent of a relationship with God.

 

This is much the same as when some folks place emphasis on the historicity of Noah’s Ark. Believing that the account of Noah’s Ark is historical, whatever you think the scope was, means little or nothing if we do not know Jesus as our Ark, if we are not bringing others into the Ark of Jesus Christ.

 

If we have not encountered Jesus Christ and have come to know Him, if we are not New Creations in Him, it doesn’t matter how often we’ve had an “ark encounter,” for we are still seeing things that are visible. The things that are seen are temporal, including Noah’s Ark, including the present form of creation, there is a deeper reality – beyond the veil – for us to see and in which we are called to live in Christ.

 

I may convince the world that there was a real Noah’s Ark and a real Flood, but if I have not convinced the world that Jesus is the only Ark that matters, and that they must seek refuge and life in Him, then I have convinced people of nothing of eternal consequence.

 

Psalm 19 portrays the complementary witness of Creation and the Word, Creation came through the Word and the Word is revealed through Creation. In verses 1 – 6 we see Creation speaking, in verses 7 – 11 we see the Word, in verses 12 – 14 we see our response.

 

“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” (vv. 1- 2). In other words, there is a continuous manifestation of the glory of God in creation. However, most of us are not oriented to Creation, we see the natural world as something to be consumed, not as something of which we are stewards. Hence, as we kill Creation we kill ourselves, our children, our grandchildren. What we have is never enough, we must always have more, we must always consume; and if we consume one another and consume the planet – so be it. We have gone mad.  

 

Last year as I read through Psalms, I noted every psalm that referred to Creation. This included the heavens, the sky, trees, animals, the oceans; it was comprehensive. While I may have missed something, I found that 115 psalms, out of 150, incorporated Creation in their prayers and songs to God. If we were to remove all references to Creation from Psalms, Psalms as we know it would cease to exist.  This is how central Creation was to our fathers and mothers who walked with God – this is how central Creation has been to the saints who have centered their worship in Psalms through the ages.

 

In and through Creation those who have come before us saw God. In and through Creation prior generations have come to God and have known God coming to them. While there is most certainly an experiential element to this, that is, we experience God, there are also elements of wisdom and the knowledge of God, hence Paul’s statement in Romans 1:20 that we can know the “invisible attributes” and “eternal power and divine nature” of God through Creation.

 

No doubt there are regions of the world where men and women and young people continue to see and know God through His Creation, but we in the West have sealed ourselves off from this precious communion and knowledge. We have erected an iron dome over our collective consciousness, we have hung (ironically) an iron curtain over our minds and raised multiple generations in this darkness – and this very much includes the professing church.

 

Paul looked at Creation and saw the invisible, he saw that which is eternal.

 

What do we see?