In Genesis chapter 1, we read that the earth was “formless and void.” These ideas perfectly describe a chaotic situation. Then God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3). He then proceeded to create categories. In Genesis 1:5 and following, we read, “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. …And God made the expanse and separated the waters under the expanse from the waters above the expanse…And God called the expanse Heaven… God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.” He then filled space with planets and stars. He filled the skies with birds, the seas with fish, the land with plants and animals. In other words, he gave the categories content and brought order out of the chaos. It resulted in a perfect environment of peaceful coexistence in the Garden of Eden with man entrusted with its care. This is called paradise!
Evolutionary Scientists argue that order (the complexities in the universe) came about by accident. In his book “Order out of Chaos” Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine argues that many complex systems have evolved into a high degree of order without the interference of a designer. Stuart Kauffman suggests a fourth law of thermodynamics which involves spontaneous self-sustaining, self-organizing systems. One creationist observed that this 4th so-called law “would violate the second law of thermodynamics, which states everything in nature tends toward decay.” The law of decay has its roots in man’s sin. God brought order, man’s rebellion brought chaos again, and the earth was cursed.
Harry Reasoner concluded his book, Before the Colors Fade (Alfred A. Knopf, 1981), with a Catholic theologian’s definition of work: “Work is the effort of men and women to bring order out of the chaos left by original sin.” The problem is that man’s failure involves his inability to bring perfect order back into a chaotic world of sin and confusion. But Jesus, the 2nd Adam, came to do just that. Many of His miracles were designed for us to see Him as the producer of order in the world. We read about one of these in Mark 4:39: “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Jesus brings “great calms” into the lives of those who trust Him. In his book, “The Loins Girded,” Knap says, “There is the storm of doubt that may make us shake within our deepest essence. We can control her as little as the howling wind. However, when the grace of Immanuel flows towards us to uphold us in the evil day, then it seems like our vexed soul may hear from the throne of majesty the word: ‘Peace, be still,’ and a great calm enters our innermost.”