Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Alister McGrath
The Creation Demands a Creator
The psalmist wrote that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1), indicating that the creation declares God’s handiwork. Just look up into the heavens at night. You can see that “day to day [it] pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge” (Psalm 19:2), which literally speaks about the knowledge that there must be a Creator. In the creation, “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” (Rom. 1:20). There is organization throughout the universe, even down to the subatomic level. That was no random accident, nor was it the result of blind chance any more than a watch found on the beach just happened to come together by mere chance.
The Visible From the Invisible
In Hebrews 11:2, “we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible,” which means that if you looked at matter’s foundational structure, you couldn’t actually see it because all things exist by things that are not seen with the naked eye (at the molecular level), so what we see that is visible consists or is made out of things that are invisible. That’s why men are without excuse (Rom. 1:20). If you look at the Bible’s definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1, the word for “assurance” of those things hoped for is the Greek “hypostasis” and means “that which has a foundation” and “is firm.” Therefore, this is not a feeling. Rather, it is a noun, something with concrete substance. It is the “conviction” of things not seen, which is from the Greek “elegchos,” a scientific word that means “a proof,” “a thing that is tested or proved.” Therefore, faith is not a hope-so belief or feeling as much as it is a firm, foundational thing that’s been proven, as you can read about in the remaining chapter of Hebrews 11.
The Reality of Jesus’ Existence
There is more historical evidence for Jesus’ existence by both secular and church historians than any other single figure in all of human history. This doesn’t even include the Gospels, although many noted historians call the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts as the greatest and most accurate works of history. We place our trust in Jesus and believe that He did have an earthly ministry; that He still exists today, seated at the right hand of the Father; and that He is the Head of the Church, which is called the body of Christ. There is far too much historical, archeological, manuscript, and paleontological evidence that points to Jesus’ existence to ignore. Our faith in Him is not something that goes against the evidence–it goes beyond it and gives us absolute, concrete, empirical evidence for the faith we have in Him.
Conclusion
If you have had doubts about God’s existence, I suggest you read some of the ancient historical accounts of Jesus’ life, like Josephus’ “Antiquity of the Jews,” Julius Africanus, Pliny the Younger, and even “The Babylonian Talmud” (Sanhedrin 43a), which confirms Jesus’ crucifixion on the eve of Passover.
