Amplified Article: God is Creator

GOD IS CREATOR 

God is the uncreated Creator of all reality.  Genesis 1:1 (the first verse in the Bible) says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  There are four key words in that first verse. 

First, God is described as [GOD] “elohim” (pronounced el-oh-heem) which is a technical term meaning spiritual being.  The God of the Bible (as stated above) is the highest and most powerful uncreated spiritual being of all spiritual beings and all physical reality.  There is no Being like God since He is the only One uncreated and was already existent at the beginning of time.  God is a spiritual being Who existed before the Universe existed.  This does mean that God is not bound by time, physical space, or any other obstacle we might consider.  God is present and powerful on Earth.  There is no place in the Universe a person could go that would be outside of the view and influence of God. 

Second, God [CREATED] “bara” (pronounced baw-raw) which is a glorious ancient Hebrew word meaning to shape or fashion and is always used of God.  All the Universe comes from His imagination.  Light.  Darkness.  Saturn.  Asteroids.  Gravity.  Plankton.  Flowers.  Color.  Wheat.  Raccoons.  Bluebirds.  Honeybees.  It all comes from the creative masterful power of God and was shaped and fashioned by Him.  Everything in all places was created by God.  

As we think about the masterful creative power of God, it is important to note that God created all human beings.  Genesis 1 and 2 describe such things in the Bible.  Psalm 139:13-14 (in the middle of the Bible) also states: “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.  14 I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  Please note how God does nothing on accident, but ‘knits’ human beings together with care and purpose. 

Third, God created the [HEAVENS] “shamayim” (pronounced shaw-mah-yim) which means not the sky above the Earth, but rather the abode of the stars.  Genesis 1:14-15 states poetically (but also factually): “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.’ And it was so.”   

Psalm 8:3-4 says, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, 4 what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?”  Psalm 8:6 (“You made him ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet”) states that human beings have been given dominion over the works of God’s hands and we can be stewards of any place to which we travel.  God created everything for us.  God is not just the God of Earth, but fashioned the Sun (Sol) as well as any other planet, moon, and celestial body we may reach (and those out of our reach!).   

Fourth, God created [EARTH] “erets” (pronounced eh-rets) which means the firmament you are sitting on.  Admittedly, the Bible is an Earth-centric book as Earth is the center of the creative story put forth in the Bible.  Hopefully you can see from the Scriptures already presented that God did not create the Earth only when He did His masterful creative work, but created everything in the Universe.  He created the land, all waters, all people, all animals, and everything that exists on this terrestrial ball.   

It is this uncreated Creator Spirit of the Heavens and the Earth that Christians worship.  Acts 17:24-27 summarizes:  “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  25 And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  26 From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  27 God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” 

Why is this important about God?  Trust and Definitions. 

This means that you and I can trust God because He is the uncreated author of life.  He knows exactly how life should be lived and we can trust His plans and His way of living.  We can trust that He made us with a purpose and life is not meaningless.  He made each soul and has fashioned each person as He has seen fit.  You have purpose.  You have meaning.  God programmed it into each of us and we are all part of the master work of His design.  You have value because the God of the Universe crafted you. 

This also means that because God is the uncreated Creator Who imagined all of reality, He gets to define something if He chooses.  God called the light “day” and the darkness “night” and that is what we call it (Genesis 1:5) for He created time.  God also has defined the human soul, human purpose, sexuality, marriage, the human family, morality in some areas (life, property, some heart issues), and ways of relating to one another in relationships.  Based on His identity, we must be cautious in re-defining something God has already spoken upon.