“. . . for you created all things,”
This week’s lesson in Theologic Foundations at Bethlehem focused on the sovereignty of God in creation. This phrase from Revelation 4:11 grabbed my attention because it is given as the reason for worship before the throne of God by the 24 elders. They worship the One on the throne with the words, ” Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for. . .”
Why is God worthy — He created all things. Somehow that seems like too small a thing. He is eternal. He is all powerful. He is all knowing. He is love. There is so much to worship concerning his worthiness, yet the elders worship Him for creating.
Creation. Subatomic particles, intranuclear forces holding atoms together, galaxies expanding the edge of the universe and a bachelor button in the warm summer sun. Certainly worthy of praise. But it seems that the elders worshipped for a vastly more important reason than the materialistic world.
God is all sufficient. He did not create out of any deficiency or need. He needs nothing from all creation. He did not create out of personal deficit. He created as an overflow of his trinitarian love. To manifest his name to unworthy creatures, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34:6-7
The centerpiece of this creation is the sacrifice of His Son for these unworthy, rebellious, sin-filled creatures. And that sacrifice stands in heaven as “a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain.” Revelation 5:6. [to be clear – Jesus was not created. He always was, is and will be. He is the Alpha and Omega. All things were created through him. John 1:3]
So it is right and fitting to consider God worthy to be praised for creating all things. At heart of “all things” is his plan to manifest his glory in His son, the Lamb of God, the demonstration of the depth of God’s love.
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