What Does It Mean that God Is Creator?

The Bible teaches us that God is the Creator, and this fact allows us to draw several conclusions. This article does not present an exhaustive set of conclusions, but a comprehensive set. These conclusions are to be drawn from observation and reason and confirmed by Scripture.

God as Creator means the universe is not eternal.

The universe had a beginning. Some atheists conclude the universe always existed. Can something come from nothing? Logic requires a negative answer. Humanity has observed throughout history that the universe displays amazing orderliness. Are we to believe that this orderliness came from its own disorder? No. This orderliness is from God bringing forth order in what He created ex nihilo, “out of nothing.”

God as Creator means creation was the result of intelligent design.

Intelligent design is suggested by creation’s orderliness, as mentioned above. I have often thought about the complexity of the human body and how it functions. The body is a masterpiece. Take the eye for example. How could an eye form with all its complexity on its own? There had to be an intelligent designer.

God as Creator means He is self-existent.

Genesis 1:1 says that God created the heavens and earth in the beginning. His self-existence explains the sustained existence of everything else. Since He created “in the beginning,” He existed before the beginning and has no end. He is eternal. This is confirmed by Psalm 90:2, where Moses wrote, “From everlasting to everlasting you are God.” There will never be a time when God does not exist. His self-existence means He is also self-sufficient. He is not dependent on any of His creatures. Paul explained in Acts 17:24–25 that the “God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth” is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

God as Creator means He owns everything.

When an artist creates a work of art, it is understood that the artist owns it until he transfers ownership by selling it or giving it away. This is confirmed by Deuteronomy 10:14, “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.” Another text to this effect is Psalm 24:1:

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein.

The Lord created the universe, and everything is under His sovereign reign, including you and me. This means everything we have ultimately belongs to Him. We see in God’s Word that He calls us to be good stewards of our material blessings.

God as Creator means we are called to obedience.

As His creatures, He knows us, and we are to obey Him. In an imperfect comparison, if a person creates a company, that person’s employees know that they are to work according to the directives of their employer. In like manner, if a married couple has children, the children are to learn from and obey their parents. Adam and Eve, being created by God, initially understood this. God put Adam in the garden of Eden “to work it and keep it,” and the Lord gave him a command (Gen. 2:15–16). After he and Eve rebelled by eating the forbidden fruit, the weight of God’s authority came crashing down upon them. God put them and all their posterity under the curse (Gen. 3:1–19). All unregenerate people want their autonomy. They do not want to obey God. Psalm 14:1 reads, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” The rest of the verse presents the moral corruption of such fools, showing that the denial of the Creator leads to immorality.

God as Creator means He has a plan.

We can only discover God’s plan from the Bible, which demonstrates that He created with a redemptive purpose. In Paul’s discourse with the philosophers in Acts 17, he tells them that he is proclaiming the “God who made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:23). He then proceeds to answer four basic questions philosophers have dealt with throughout the ages: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Who am I? Where am I going? The answer to the fourth question is found in verses 30–31:

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:30–31)

Paul began with God as Creator and concluded with Jesus as Judge. The answers to those four questions would be meaningless if Paul had not started with God’s creating the world and everything in it. The entire discourse demonstrates that God created with redemption in mind. Ephesians 1:4 also shows that God created with a redemptive purpose. The text explains that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

God as Creator means that nothing is too difficult for Him.

There was a Christian medical doctor who struggled to believe the virgin birth because of his knowledge of the intricacies of conception. He decided to leave his medical practice in a big city to practice medicine in the Appalachian Mountains, aspiring to provide medical care to people who could not afford it. He attended a country church, and one Sunday the preacher explained that creation is really the only miracle because if one believed it, one could believe all the other miracles. The doctor, being a creationist, suddenly realized he had no reason to doubt the virgin birth. Likewise, Luke 1:26–38 records Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would bear a son. She asked, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (v. 34). Gabriel responded, “Nothing will be impossible with God” (v. 37).

God as Creator means that He is to be worshiped.

Revelation 4:11 presents the twenty-four elders worshiping God the Father by saying,

Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.

The more we contemplate the vastness, majesty, and orderliness of creation, the more we should be in awe of the Creator. While worshiping the Creator, we should be mindful that He created with a redemptive purpose. In Revelation 5, Jesus is worshiped as the sacrificial Lamb who was slain, by whose blood the people of God were ransomed. The worship scenes in Revelation 4 and 5 join creation and redemption together.

The above conclusions are not exhaustive. What is important to ponder is the connection between creation and redemption. The answer to Westminster Larger Catechism question 121 describes these as “a short abridgment of religion.” This is because creation and redemption condense God’s relation to His people. This means we owe Him everything, especially obedience and worship, all for His own glory.