“He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy to receive all glory and adoration. Immortal and eternal, he perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignly rules over all things, and providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace.”
We confess that God is the Creator of all things. We do not live in a universe in which evolutionary processes took place over millions of years to form what we know as earth. Rather, everything which exists now was created by God at a specific time and for a specific purpose. It simply is not the case that time and chance act upon matter in order to “create” what we have before us today. Our God created all things.
We therefore believe that He is worthy to receive all glory and adoration. We worship God for who He is and for what He has done. The very fact that God created all things should stir our affections for Him. How great is this God who has the power and wisdom to create all things out of nothing! Worthy is He “to receive glory and honor and power, for He created all things, and by His will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:11).
We also confess that God is immortal and eternal. The thing that sets our God apart from all other kings and rulers is that He is “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Timothy 1:17). Kings may come and rule for a time, but our God reigns forever. Unlike other rulers, our God will not die. The reason that God reigns forever is because “the number of His years is unsearchable” (Job 36:26). Note here that the number of God’s years is unsearchable. We literally cannot search out God’s years because He is eternal. He does not go through time. He perfectly possesses the fullness of His life in one eternal act of being. This boggles the mind! Time comes upon us and then fades away, but God is not subject to time. His life is full and unfading.
We live in a world where everything is in flux. Time comes and time goes. School comes and school goes. Jobs come and jobs go. Even our lives come and our lives go. But our immortal and eternal God stands alone as a sure anchor for our souls. If we try to place our hope anywhere else, it will surely fade. But if we place our hope in God, the God who is “God from everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 90:2) and who cannot die (1 Timothy 6:16), then our hope will never die. Indeed, just like God, it will last forever.
We therefore confess that God knows the end from the beginning: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!” (Romans 11:33). As Christians we know that nothing is beyond God’s scope of knowledge. When we take our requests to Him, we acknowledge humbly that He knows them already, and that He knows what we need more than we do. And we know that He is able to fulfill His promises to us in Christ because nothing can surprise Him or thwart His plans for His beloved church.
In fact, God says that this is what it means for Him to be God: “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” (Isaiah 46:9-10). So God fully knows the past, present, and future not merely because He has seen what happens there, but because He gives these things their very existence.
This leads into the next part of our confession: God sovereignly and providentially rules over all things to bring about His eternal good purposes. Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). There truly is no such thing as chance or luck, for our God “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). And for believers, this leads to immeasurable comfort. No matter what happens to us in this life, we know that “God works all things together for our good” (Romans 8:28). We can rest in the sovereignty of God knowing that He is infinitely good and wise and that He will be our rock in adversity (cf. Psalm 18:2).
So at last we confess that God’s good and eternal purpose includes redeeming sinful people and restoring His fallen creation, to the praise of His glorious grace. This is how the gospel connects to who God is and what God does. The universe is headed toward its ultimate and final restoration, not because of something inherent in it, but because of God’s goodness, wisdom, and purpose. Everything that is broken will be mended, all tears will be wiped away, there will be no more sadness and no more pain. All things will be made new. And at the end of the day, for those who love, trust, and obey Jesus, “God Himself will be with us as our God” (Revelation 21:3). We will sing to and praise God for His glorious, redeeming, restorative grace (cf. Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).
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