Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. But though the wise men of this
world seek out many explanations for the existence of this universe,
it remains clear that it could not exist at all apart from Him
who has formed it for His glory and by His mighty power. For
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, so that they are without excuse.
The creation itself is a testimony to the eternal power of Him who
created it, whether men desire to acknowledge it or not. But
all, without exception, shall acknowledge it when He comes
to judge the quick and the dead. Not only has He made the earth
by His power, but Jeremiah says He hath established the world
by His wisdom. We believe that the world which he is speaking
of here has to do with the world order, or as the Greeks called
it, the cosmos. This has a reference not just
to his creation of all things, but to his ordering of all of
the hierarchy, processes, and occurrences which transpire in
that which he has created, from the beginning to the end. Remember
the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else.
I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the
beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure,
calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed
my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. Time would fail us to explain
or comprehend in complete and exhaustive detail even the most
simple of the processes which he has caused to occur in his
creation for one second of time. When we multiply that by the
innumerable activities which transpire in the course of one
hour and then consider the untold number of years that he has already
caused to pass, In the lifespan of this creation, we are humbled
in the dust and made to hide our faces from the immensity
of His wisdom and the power of His perfect and complete direction
of this creation. He directs all things to occur
according to His good pleasure, and there is none that can stay
His hand or even question His doing. The God who has revealed
himself to men in the pages of the Bible is totally and actively
in charge of every proton, neutron, and electron of every atom and
molecule which makes up the earth, which he has created by his own
power. Not one of them is ever out of its proper place, but
follows the prescribed orbit which he has ordained for it,
just as surely as he has ordained the orbits of the various planets
which are made up of those molecules around the sun. Just as surely
as those atoms move in their proper place, so must all of
the events which are produced by their movement be established
by him whose wisdom is beyond our comprehension. Then Jeremiah
says he has stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
We understand the heaven to be that realm which man is unable
to ascend into or have any knowledge of apart from divine privilege
and particular revelation. And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of
man which is in heaven. Those whom the Lord has been
pleased to reveal glimpses of this realm, such as Isaiah, John,
and Paul, have all testified with descriptions of it that
even they could not fully comprehend. Paul even said that he heard
things there which were not lawful for a man to utter. Man who is
born of a woman could in no wise raise himself to partake of heavenly
things. Much less can those who are sunk
in the mire and rebellion of sin reach up and taste those
things. Natural men cannot even see the
calamity and destruction which surrounds them on every side,
much less escape from it by their own power. It is impossible that
any of the potsherds of the earth should ever ascend into the hill
of the Lord, most especially with hands that are feeble and
hearts that are thoroughly tainted with the degradation of sin.
In the unfolding of the glory of God is seen the impossibility
of man approaching his creator, and the utter folly of those
who think that by human endeavor of any sort they can make themselves
pleasing in his sight. This is what moved the psalmist
to declare in absolute wonder, When I consider thy heavens the
work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast
ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son
of man that thou visitest him? He testified that apart from
the grace of God to ordain the salvation of sinners, this could
in no wise ever occur, nor could they be regarded by him as righteous.
Yet the glorious declaration of the gospel is that Christ
did indeed ordain the salvation of his elect people, and has
come to the very earth that he created with his own hands, and
made himself in the likeness of human flesh, that he might
taste death for every one of them, for which he is purposed
to redeem. And in so doing, he did obtain
the eternal redemption of every one of them, and as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.