For years I’ve collected good creation verses—passages that clearly speak of the majesty of God in creation. When signing letters I often follow my signature with such a reference. As you might imagine, creation doctrine is important to me, and in this way I pass it on and encourage others. I often ask visiting creationists for their favorite creation verses and add them to the list. My favorite has changed over the years from Isaiah 40:26 to Romans 1:20, and now to Nehemiah 9:6. Passages filled with creation truth permeate Scripture. How can Christian leaders miss this or misinterpret it?
Dr. John Whitcomb told me his favorite creation verse is Jeremiah 32:17, which extols God’s great sovereign control over all things:
Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
My father, ICR’s founder Dr. Henry Morris, loved Psalm 33:6, 9: “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth….For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” He called these verses “the strongest, most unequivocal statement of fiat creation in the Bible”1 and said that “if anyone should try to distort the Genesis creation account into a record of slow processes over long ages, this clear affirmation of instantaneous creation would decisively refute any such notion.”2
We are told that all things, including the stars, the hosts of the heavens, were created by God’s word—their existence simply called into being by the omnipotent Creator. There is no hint of any long process of stellar evolution or of biological mutation and natural selection having acted. He simply spoke and things were. There is no need to add anything to Scripture or to creation; both are complete and sufficient.
Psalm 33 also points back to other events of the creation week. “For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth” (v. 4). God cannot lie and has not done so. He proclaims truth and expects us to believe it. “He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD” (v. 5). Indeed we are told the completed creation was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), perfect from God’s holy perspective. All things were either living or operating in accordance with His grand plan, fully functioning in their designated ministries. There’s more. “He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses” (v. 7), reserved for future ministries.
On Day Six God re-created His own image in man, imparting aspects of His own nature to Adam and Eve and showering on them all they needed for a productive life and destiny. Furthermore, He conferred on them the unimaginable ability to procreate but retained the power to create the eternal spirit in man. He “looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men….He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works” (Psalm 33:13, 15).
You know the story, how man rejected God and His gracious authority over our lives, and how He continually wooed us back, even by sending His only begotten Son to provide a solution to our rebellion. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD….Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy” (Psalm 33:12, 18).
What precious lessons we can learn from creation thinking and from creation verses! These passages are found throughout Scripture because creation is a Bible basic, and they should drive us to not only accept creation truth but to also respond in grateful submission to the Creator.
References
- Morris, H. M. 2000. Biblical Creationism. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 93. Fiat is defined as “a formal decree.”
- Ibid.
* Dr. Morris is President of the Institute for Creation Research and received his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Oklahoma.
