The Bible begins with this short but comprehensive sentence: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Nearly three thousand years later David, speaking of the works of creation, said: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, without these their voice is heard.” Ps. 19:1–3, marginal reading. False gods are referred to by the prophet as “the gods who have not made the heavens and the earth.” But of the true God the same prophet says: “But the Lord is the true God. . . . He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.” Jer. 10:10–12.
The sacred writers often refer to the works of creation to distinguish the true God from all false gods. Those who worship idols seldom attribute to their gods the attributes of deity in their fullness, but, like the Athenians, have a place reserved in their religious system for “the Unknown God,” who is above and beyond all. But it is this same God who has revealed himself to us in his works and through the page of inspiration. Of this God Paul says in his letter to the Romans: “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.” Rom. 1:20. The angel of Rev. 14:6, 7, which is represented as flying “in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,” clears away all the rubbish that lies between when he says, “Worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
As we are so often referred to the created works of God to prove his right to demand obedience and worship from us, let us glance for a moment at these works, that we may better appreciate their Author. We may look into the heavens on a clear night and see the stars of different magnitudes, to all appearances scattered miscellaneously through space, without forming any definite idea of the extent of the universe or of the order and harmony that reign there. If we examine our own solar system, which is but a speck in the universe, we are astonished at its immensity. The sun itself is more than one million three hundred thousand times larger than the world on which we live. Around the sun as a common center revolve eight large planets, or worlds, besides a number of smaller ones, and several comets. Four of the eight primary planets which belong to the solar system have a combined magnitude two thousand four hundred and forty times greater than that of the earth. Notwithstanding the fact that they are so large, two of them, one seventy-four, the other one hundred and five times as large as the earth, are wholly invisible to the naked eye because of their great distance from us. From the sun to Neptune, the most distant known planet of the solar system, is a space of three billions of miles. The orbits of comets that revolve around the sun are known to extend far outside of the orbit of Neptune. All bodies within this profound space are attracted and governed by the sun. But this constitutes only one solar system. All the stars which are visible to the eye, except five, which are planets, and millions which can only be seen through the telescope, are suns with worlds revolving around them; many of them are very much larger than our sun. Sirius, for example, has a diameter of twelve millions of miles and a volume two thousand six hundred and eighty-eight times greater than that of our sun.
In calculating the distances of the fixed stars the ordinary units of measure lose all2their significance, and a different unit must be adopted. Light travels at the rate of 192,000 miles a second, and this is taken as a unit to sound the depths of space. It takes light eight minutes to reach us from the sun, an average of forty-five minutes to reach us from Jupiter, an hour and twenty minutes to reach us from Saturn, two hours and forty minutes from Uranus, and four hours from Neptune. Proctor, one of the most eminent astronomers of the present century, says:—
From the nearest fixed stars light takes fully three years in traveling to the earth. Even the star 61 Cygni is so far from us that its light only reaches us in seven years. And, so far as observation has hitherto gone, it seems unlikely that amid the whole host of heaven there are so many as a hundred stars—lucid or telescopic—whose light reaches us in a shorter period of time than twelve or fifteen years.—Other Worlds Than Ours, p. 216.
Prof. O. M. Mitchell, founder of the Cincinnati observatory, says:—
Sir Wm. Herschell concluded from the examinations he had been able to make, that in some places the depth of the milky way was such that no less than five hundred stars were ranged one behind the other in a line, each separated from the other by a distance equal to that which divides our sun from the nearest fixed stars, so that for light to sweep across the diameter of this vast congeries of stars would require a period of a thousand years, at the rate of twelve millions of miles in every minute of time.—The Planetary and Stellar Worlds, p. 216.
These figures perhaps give us but a vague idea of the extent of the creation of God. Astronomers who have spent their lives in the study of the heavenly bodies know that the extent of their observations is limited only by the power of their instruments.
But extent is not the only point in which the attributes of God are shown in the works of creation. The system and order which reign in the distribution and motions of the heavenly bodies also testify to the wisdom and power of their Author as forcibly as do their number and extent. All are in rapid motion, the smaller revolving around the greater in orbits more or less circular but pressed into ellipses and elongations by the attractions and counter attractions of other bodies; for every celestial body attracts every other one in proportion to its size and distance.
First we have satellites revolving around the planets, then planets revolving around suns, then these suns revolving around larger centers, then these larger centers revolving about still greater ones, etc. Each celestial body as it moves forward in its orbit carries with it all that are dependent upon it. So we have first “satellite systems, then planetary systems, then star systems, then systems of star systems, then systems of systems of star systems, and so on.” But there is no confusion, no conflict. All move in obedience to fixed laws, which are so wisely ordained as to keep perfect time and perfect harmony among the rapidly moving mass of worlds. The author already quoted says:—
There is no chance work in the construction of our mighty system. Every planet has been weighed and poised and placed exactly where it should be. . . . In contemplating the delicacy and complexity of the planetary worlds . . . of one thing we are certain,—if God designed that in the heavens his glory and wisdom should be declared, and that in the study of his mighty works his intelligent creatures should rise higher and higher towards his eternal throne, then, indeed, has the present system been admirably adapted for the accomplishment of this grand design.
The Creator.
But the Christian has another standpoint from which to view this mighty work. Christ, who died on the cross of Calvary to redeem us from death, is the One who made all these things. The apostle Paul in writing to the Colossians says:—
“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.” Col. 1:16, 17.
And John, speaking of Christ, says:—
“All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” “He was in the world, and the world was made by him.” John 1:3, 10.
At the close of the six days of creation which marked the beginning of the history of our world, God “rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Gen. 2:2, 3. The day of his rest thereafter became a memorial of the work of creation, to point the minds of the people to their Creator. The fourth commandment, which enjoins the keeping of the Sabbath, cites the work of creation as the foundation for that institution. Ex. 20:11. In rehearsing the law to his people through Moses, God said: “The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Ex. 31:16, 17.
His Memorial.
The psalmist in singing the praises of Jehovah, the great Creator, declares (Ps. 111:2–4):—
“The works of the Lord are great,
Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
His work is honorable and glorious;
And his righteousness endureth forever.
He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.”
“Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever;
And thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.”
Truly God’s work is great, as set before us in the preceding article. And yet, with the utmost limit of man’s finite conception, we may say with the patriarch, “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?” Job 26:14. Verily his wonderful works should be remembered by his creatures, and what more fitting than that the memorial of the works should be coeval with the works themselves. God’s works were not wrought to be destroyed. Of the earth it is said that God “hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited” (Isa. 45:18), and that it “abideth forever” (Eccl. 1:4; Ps. 104:5). What more reasonable than that his memorial should be the same, even as he is the same, for all generations that should dwell upon the earth?
This memorial God has given us in the week, and in the crowning day of the week, after which and in respect to which all the other days of the week are named and numbered. Among the ancient people of the Lord the days of the week were “One into the Sabbath,” “Second into the Sabbath,” and so on to the crowning day of the week, the Sabbath, God’s ever-abiding, living memorial of his creative power and Godhead; for has not Jehovah said: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work; . . . for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore [for which reason] Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day [the day of rest], and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:9–11.
Therefore, as creative power is the distinguishing characteristic of the true God from all false gods, the memorial of that creative power becomes the ever-recurring sign between the Creator and his subjects. It is for this reason that he declares: “And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am Jehovah your God.” Eze. 20:20. As long as mankind regarded the Sabbath of the Lord, there was no idolatry in the world. When they forgot his memorial, they forgot the true God, turned to false gods, and set up their own remembrance (Revised Version, memorial). See Isa. 57:8. To remember in God’s way his memorial is to know God, to acknowledge him for all he desires to be to his people.
