We believe & boldly declare that God made the universe from nothing.
Hebrews 11:1–3 (NIV)
11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 12: The Creation of All Things
We believe that the Father
created heaven and earth and all other creatures
from nothing,
when it seemed good to him,
by his Word—
that is to say,
by his Son.
He has given all creatures
their being, form, and appearance,
and their various functions
for serving their Creator.
Even now
he also sustains and governs them all,
according to his eternal providence,
and by his infinite power,
that they may serve man,
in order that man may serve God.
He has also created the angels good,
that they might be his messengers
and serve his elect.
Some of them have fallen
from the excellence in which God created them
into eternal perdition;
and the others have persisted and remained
in their original state,
by the grace of God.
The devils and evil spirits are so corrupt
that they are enemies of God
and of everything good.
They lie in wait for the church
and every member of it
like thieves,
with all their power,
to destroy and spoil everything
by their deceptions.
So then,
by their own wickedness
they are condemned to everlasting damnation,
daily awaiting their torments.
For that reason
we detest the error of the Sadducees,
who deny that there are spirits and angels,
and also the error of the Manicheans,
who say that the devils originated by themselves,
being evil by nature,
without having been corrupted.
Summary
There are many different languages in our world today that people desire to learn for one reason or another, whether it be for business, education, daily living, or just simply wanting to learn a new language, etc. From Chinese to Japanese, to Spanish to Italian, to Creole to English, there are any number of languages for one to learn, and it takes hours of time and dedication.
There are some languages, however, people are a bit less eager to learn, languages that have fallen by the wayside, one such being Latin. It’s still used, but more so in fields such as judicial, medical, or scientific professions, and theological studies.
As we turn to take a look at Article 12 of the Belgic Confession, which is titled “The Creation of All Things,” the first part deals with what is summarized by a short Latin phrase - ex nihilo. What this means is that, as our confession puts it, “We believe that the Father, when it seemed good to him, created heaven and earth and all other creatures from nothing…”
We find this theological truth expressed at the beginning of Hebrews 11, in verse 3: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (ESV). God did not make all of creation from some sort of pre-existent matter.
We believe and boldly declare that the Lord made the universe from nothing.
Dig Deeper
Over the years, my wife and I have had the blessing and privilege to travel to various parts of the United States to take in and explore God’s beautiful creation. When we go on these trips, I often find myself at various points standing in awe of the Lord, whether it's viewing a breathtaking landscape, getting to see some of the different creatures God has made that we don’t normally get to see, or standing out under a night sky overflowing with stars.
But it doesn’t always stay that way. The awe that I have experienced in those moments is fleeting, as when we come back from those trips, that awe and wonder can get lost in the day-to-day, week-to-week things of life.
Maybe you’ve had the same. With how hard and long your work week is, your awe and wonder of the Lord easily falls by the wayside. So take that time to stand in awe of the Lord and continually, throughout your life, ask the Lord to help you foster that awe and wonder.
Brothers and sisters, may we continually stand in awe of the God who created the universe from nothing, the One who sent His only Son to die for our sins.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who formed the universe at His command;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God will strengthen your faith so that even in the midst of stress and busyness you will stand in awe of the God who created all things ex nihilo (out of nothing).
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Galatians 3
