The Modern Creation Trilogy. Dr. Henry M. Morris

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      Creation, the Foundation

      In a very real sense, the creationist world view is the foundation of all that is good and true in this world and in the world to come. Evolutionism, on the other hand, is the root cause of all that is false and harmful. At this point, however, we wish only to survey the foundational importance of creation to biblical Christianity (the effects of evolution are explored in some depth in Volume 3 of this Trilogy).

      1. Foundation of True Religion

      The true religion must necessarily be based on worship of the world’s true Creator. Other religions may deify great men, or man-made systems, or the world itself, but these are all merely variant forms of humanism, as men “worshiped and served the creature, rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25). It is highly significant that all such religions and religious books begin with the creation, rather than the Creator, except the Bible! That is, they all start with the universe already in existence, and then try to delineate how the primeval space/matter/time universe somehow developed into its present array of complex systems. This supposed sequence characterizes both ancient paganism and modern humanism; these and all other atheistic, pantheistic, or polytheistic religions are merely various forms of evolutionism. Only in Genesis 1:1 (the foundation of all foundations!) is there a statement of the creation of the universe itself. Without this foundation, true religion is impossible.

      Now although creation is the foundation, it is, of course, not the complete structure. Orthodox Judaism and Islam, like Christianity, believe in one eternal Creator, as revealed in Genesis 1:1, but they have rejected Him as Savior. In addition to the general revelation seen in the creation, God has explicitly revealed himself through both His Word and His Son. Those who reject either or both, even though they believe in one God as primeval Creator and, like Christianity, are monotheistic, cannot know God in His fullness. He must be known in His human incarnation as gracious Redeemer as well as omnipotent, but offended, Creator. Therefore, biblical Christianity is the only truly creationist religion.

      2. Foundation of Christology

      Similarly, neither can one know Christ as He really is if one knows Him only as Redeemer. Faint-hearted Christians often justify their lukewarm attitude toward creation by saying that it is more important merely to “preach Christ.” They forget that we are preaching “another Jesus” (2 Cor. 11:4) if we do not preach Him as He really is, consistent with His complete work. The threefold aspect of the person and work of Jesus Christ is beautifully outlined in the majestic declaration of Colossians 1:16–20:

      1 Past work, creation: “By him, were all things created” (Col. 1:16).

      2 Present work, conservation: “By him, all things consist” (Col. 1:17).

      3 Future work, consummation: “By him to reconcile all things” (Col. 1:20).

      The great scope of this threefold work is “all things in heaven and in earth.” Jesus Christ was Creator before He became the sustainer (or Savior) and reconciler, and the awful price of reconciliation, “the blood of his cross,” is the measure of mankind’s terrible offense against our Creator. That offense, furthermore, consists essentially of rejecting His Word, and thereby denying that He is really the Creator. One truly “preaches Christ” only when he first of all presents Him as the Almighty Creator, from whom man was alienated when he rebelled and repudiated God’s veracity in His Word. Only when this is first understood is it really meaningful to speak of God’s forgiving grace and saving love, His incarnation and redemptive sacrifice as Son of Man.

      3. Foundation of Faith

      The great message of Christianity is that “the just shall live by faith” (Heb. 10:38), speaking of “them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb. 10:39). But exactly what is this living faith — this saving faith? Faith in the abstract is only naive sentimentality; it must be faith in something and/or someone to have any substance.

      The faith of which the apostle speaks, of course, is outlined in the verses immediately following, the great “faith chapter,” Hebrews 11. It is the faith of Abel, offering an acceptable sacrifice; it is Enoch’s faith, pleasing God in obedient witness; it is Noah’s faith, believing and acting on God’s Word; and Abraham’s faith, stepping out trustingly on God’s promises.

      But, first of all, it is the foundational faith of Hebrews 11:3, the faith by which “we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” This affirmation clearly tells us that any meaningful faith for salvation and the Christian life must be founded, first of all, on faith in God’s special creation of all things, not out of already existing materials, but out of nothing, and solely by His omnipotent Word!

      4. Foundation of the Gospel

      Many Christians who either ignore or compromise the biblical doctrine of creation have urged creationists just to “preach the gospel — not creation!” But this is impossible, because the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is squarely founded on creation. The wonderful threefold work of Christ (creation, conservation, consummation) as outlined in Colossians 1:16–20, is identified as “the gospel” in Colossians 1:23. The very last reference to the gospel in the Bible (Rev. 14:6–7) calls it the everlasting gospel (therefore, it could never have been any different), and its message is to “worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

      While it is surely true that the central focus of the gospel is on the substitutionary atonement and victorious bodily resurrection of Christ (1 Cor. 15:1–4), it also includes His coming kingdom (Matt. 4:23) and His great creation. Any other gospel is “another gospel” (Gal. 1:6), and is not the true gospel. Without the creation, a supposed gospel would have no foundation; without the promised consummation, it could offer no hope; without the Cross and empty tomb, it has no saving power. But when we preach the true gospel, with the complete person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as they really are, we build on a “sure foundation,” we can promise a “blessed hope,” and we have available “all power in heaven and earth” through Christ who, in all His fullness, is “with us, even to the end of the world” (Matt. 28:18, 20).

      5. Foundation of True Evangelism and Missions

      If creation is the foundation of Christology, saving faith, and the saving gospel of Christ, as we have just seen, then it must also be the foundational basis of leading people to Christ as Savior. This is further proved by the fact that the one book of the Bible with a specifically evangelistic purpose begins with the doctrine of creation. The apostle John said that what he had written was to help men to believe on Christ as the Son of God and, thereby, to receive eternal life (see John 20:31). Significantly, then, he began this writing with “In the beginning was the Word. . . . All things were made by him” (John 1:1–3).

      Later, after the death and resurrection of Christ, as the apostles scattered everywhere to preach the gospel, they would likewise begin with creation whenever their hearers neither knew nor believed the Scriptures (Acts 14:11–18; 17:22–31). When they preached to those who already believed the Old Testament Scriptures and the Genesis account of creation, they proceeded to preach Christ and His resurrection (e.g., Acts 17:1–3).

      Even Christ himself, in His first teaching ministry after His death and resurrection, began with Genesis. “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

      If we would follow the example of Christ and His apostles, we also should begin with Genesis and creation if we would firmly ground our potential converts in the truths of the gospel and lead them to a genuine, stable, understanding faith in Christ. This is especially true if they have СКАЧАТЬ