The first verse of the Bible, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” has been the subject of more commentators than any other verse. There are many different interpretations of This verse also. There are nearly as many interpretations as there are commentators! I want to scream, “More detail, God, would have been appreciated.” But no, that’s all we get! Alright, then let’s use Kipling’s six brave men. He wrote in poetic form, “I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.” There is much more to that poem, but I’ll limit my research to these six honest serving men. Today, I’ll look at the second one in this article. The “why.”
Why did God create stuff? According to no less than about ten bible passages, we learn that God created everything for His own glory. Let’s look at Revelation 4:11. It says, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will, they existed and were created.” Now let me also mention that according to the bible, in numerous places, mankind, you and me, and all human beings were also created for God’s glory. God created people for his glory as well. In Isaiah 43:7. Speaking of the restoration of his people Israel, he says, “…bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
But I struggle with this simple but biblically accurate answer. It seems to be somewhat narcissistic for God to create everything so that he would have people around to glorify or worship him. Let me look back about 800 years to the great theologian Thomas Aquinas. He argued that God created everything because of His great love. The things God created demonstrate his love for mankind. He created colors for me to look at! He created flavors and gave me taste buds to enjoy them. He created music and gave me ears to hear. God created everything for me and you to enjoy. The nature around us represents God’s wonderful intentions for us. 1 John 4:7 tells us that we’ll never know God if we don’t recognize his love for us in creation. It says, “Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.” So, did God create the world with the sole intention of providing a place for humans to live and have good things and enjoy life? Nope. God created the world to demonstrate His love for us so that we would love him. 1 John also says that we can love God because He first loved us. But the fact of God’s loving creation did not convince anyone. So, as Romans 5:8 tells us, “God demonstrated His love for us in this, while we are yet sinners Christ died for us.”