Following Jesus 179

What is the first core truth of the Gospel? It is that God exists! This is the God of the Scriptures. The God of the Bible. The One, True God.

To begin with, God’s Existence is revealed in the Reality of Worship by Creation. Vs. 1a. The heavens declare the glory of God, 19:1a.

The heavens, the sky or the atmosphere intensely and intentionally recount or tell of the honor, distinction and glory of the One, True God. The declaration by the heavens of God’s glory belongs to God and God alone. In effect, this is worship.

God has implanted within creation, and each human being, a desire to worship. Worship may be directed toward something or someone. This desire, however mistakenly it may be expressed, is an evidence for the existence of God. E.g. idolatry. Why is it that cultures who never have heard the name of God, or Jesus Christ, erect idols to some fictional god? It is because God has placed within man this desire to honor and praise something or someone greater than himself.

Consider these statements of man’s inherent inclination and predisposition for worship.

• Psalm 8:1. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

• Psalm 50:1-2. The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.

• Acts 17:23-28. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

• Romans 1:18-22. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

• Ecclesiastes 3:11. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

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