The Great Creator of the Universe

 

Isaac Newton was born on 4 January 1643 to a family of farmers. He became a professor at Cambridge and the greatest English mathematician of his generation. His work on optics and gravitation make him one of the greatest scientists the world has known. Isaac was a serious student of the Bible and published several theological works. He believed that God created all things with their own unique purpose.

He wrote “this being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he ought to be called Lord God. The true God is a living, intelligent and powerful Being. He governs all things and knows all things that are or can be. The harmony and balance of the universe could only be attributed to a supreme, omniscient being who designed it.

This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.  I don’t know what I may seem to the world, but, as to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

Isaiah chapter 39 ends with announcing the coming Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem. The announcement was a bitter blow to the Israelites. However, God also wanted his messenger to speak comfort to his people.  Chapters 40 addresses the questions raised in their minds about the coming exile: would God deliver them? Would the coming Babylonian exile prove that God could not deliver His people?

Isaiah's answer was a resounding NO! The new historical situation did not signal a change in God or his plan. Rather it would show even more clearly that God is sovereign. Israelites in Babylon would need a reminder of God’s greatness. The prophet wants them to always remember that God has perfect knowledge (vv.13,14); He is mighty over the nations (vv.15-17) and he has infinite power (vv.21-26)! God is greater than any challenge they will ever face!

In Isaiah 40:12 we read “who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” Isaiah is speaking of God in human terms so we can partially understand who he is and what he does. Isaiah demonstrates that God has limitless and incomprehensible power.  

He asks a series of questions; each question examines God’s power.  He uses opposites (water and dust, heavens and earth) to illustrate completeness. God has measured every drop of every ocean, stream and pond in the hollow of his hand. In the beginning God gathered the waters under the heavens together into one place (Gen. 1:9).  He made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross (Jer. 5: 22).

God has measured heaven with a span. The span is the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended. The vastness of the heavens seems as no greater than God’s own hand. In Isaiah 48:13 God says “Indeed my hand has laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand has stretched out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand up together.

If we were to gather just a handful of dust in the palm of our hand, we would see that each particle would be impossible to count. Yet God has calculated the dust of the entire earth. He knows precisely how heavy the mountains and the hills are. Each mountain, that stands high above us, peaking to the heavens and seemingly impossible to climb, has been weighed by God in a scale.

He asks “who has directed the Spirit of the Lord or as His counselor has informed Him? Taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge?”(vv.13-14) God created all things so he is the source for all knowledge. He needs no counsel and no instruction. He is infinitely wise, he is everywhere, he sees all things, he knows all things and all his ways are perfect.

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust… Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing. All the nations of people, as numerous as we see them to be, are like a drop in a bucket. Consider what it really means. If anyone add or remove a drop from a bucket, you would never notice.

The glory of a powerful nation is something to behold. We think of a huge military parade, with all the strength of the nation on display. But the greatest nation on earth is as a drop in a bucket compared to the greatness and glory of God. Likewise, the nations and the Islands are nothing more to God than just insignificant fine dust on a scale which is normally wiped off before use.

God sits above the circle of the earth. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in (vv.21-22). Isaiah describes God as the One who sits above the circle of the earth. How could Isaiah possibly know that the earth’s shape was a circle? He probably didn’t know, but the LORD who spoke through Isaiah did know. These words are written nearly 2,000 years before Christopher Columbus proved that the earth is round.

In Isaiah 44:24 God says, “I am the lord, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by myself. God created all things to fulfill his purpose. When their work is done he will destroy them all.  Isaiah 34:4 says "All the host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the vine.

In John’s end-time vision, “the sun turned black…moon turned blood red and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves (Rev. 6:12-15).

God “brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. (vv.23-24). When people have power it is easy for them to think of themselves as gods! Isaiah sets this straight, all God needs to do is to blow on them and they are gone.

King Nebuchadnezzar was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. They shall make you eat grass like oxen… until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.”

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him “What have you done?” (Dan 4:28-35).

In Daniel 5 we read that King Belshazzar king of the Babylonians gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles. He gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his guests might drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem and they drank from them.

As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall. The king’s face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking. That very night Belshazzar was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.

After killing James, Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.  The people of Tyre and Sidon joined together and sought an audience with him. On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. (Acts 12:19-23)

God asks “to whom will you compare me?  Or who is my equal? Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing” (vv,25-26). God’s mastery over all creation is shown by the harmony and balance of the universe. Each heavenly body has maintained its position and followed its path consistently for thousands of years.

In Genesis 1:16 Moses talks about the creation of the stars as if it was just a by the way. He wrote “He also made the stars”. God created and named every star in the universe. With the billions of stars in the universe, it is staggering to know that God can number and name them all.  Psalms 147:4-5 says The Lord “counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.

How easy it is to believe in the infinite power of God and at the same time to feel that He is unable to meet our needs. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, said, "Many Christians estimate difficulty in the light of their own resources and thus they attempt very little. All giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His power and His presence to be with them. The real question is not "how big are your problems?" the question to ask is, "How big is your God?"