God is not some impersonal force. He didn’t create the universe, wind it up to get it going and then just walk away. He created mankind in his own image, with body, soul and spirit, in order to have a relationship with him (Genesis 1:27). Humans are not cosmic accidents; they are not the product of billions of years of random chance and natural selection as evolutionists and secular humanists would have you believe. The apostle Paul reminds us, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
Isaiah paints a vivid portrait of God for us in Isaiah chapter 40. “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?” Isaiah 40:12. He adds in verse 26, “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”
The odds of the universe existing as it does due purely to chance are beyond astronomical. “The cosmos is built on a complex set of physical laws and constants, and on relationships between fundamental forces and particles, all of which possess infinitesimally specific values. Even the slightest deviation in any of these values, and the universe as we know it could not exist, much less support life.” Writes Subby Szterszky in his article entitled A fine-tuned cosmos and the hand of the Creator. “The level of specificity – of fine tuning- for these various laws and constants ranges from 1 in 10 to the 37th power (that’s 10 followed by 37 zeroes) to 1 in 10 the 120th power (or 10 followed by 120 zeroes).”
To put the value of 1 in 10 to the 37th power into perspective, astrophysicist Hugh Ross illustrates it as comparable to covering North America with dimes, in columns reaching up to the moon, repeating this with one billion North Americas, marking one dime and allowing a blindfolded man one chance to pick the right dime. Robin Collins, a physicist-philosopher, uses the analogy of extending a measuring tape across the universe and marking it to represent the force of gravity. A one-inch shift in that mark within that span and the universe could never have formed due to chance.
Even the word “cosmos” connotates intelligent design. It originates from Ancient Greek and means order and arrangement with harmony and beauty. As early as the sixth century B.C., Pythagoras and a host of other Greek philosophers, mathematicians and astronomers used it to identify the universe.
Every detail of the universe is in perfect balance so humanity can exist. The air we breathe is the perfect balance of components, the composition of water is perfect to support all life, plants and animals all testify to the delicate balance of nature. Even the slightest change in the balance of nature sends ripple effects throughout creation and can threaten our very existence. It all was designed for us.
Humanity is the pinnacle of God’s creation and his most valued treasure. Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Mathew 10:29-31.
In Psalm 139, King David illustrated God’s intimate concern and love for us as individuals. He wrote, “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.” Psalm 139:1-4. In verse 13, David states, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” We were created by God with the intention to have a relationship with him.
But he didn’t stop there. When humanity continued to stumble and fall, God took it upon himself to humbly exemplify his desire for us to live righteously through his incarnate presence in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus demonstrated God’s compassion and love for humanity by living a life of servitude; helping the less fortunate, healing sickness, blindness and the crippled and even restoring life to the dead (Mathew 11:5). Then he ultimately paid the debt humanity could not pay by sacrificing himself as the atonement for our sins. We talk about going to the ends of the earth for someone we love but God took the notion further by literally going to the ends of the universe to redeem mankind.
John’s gospel tells us, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13. Later in the chapter, Jesus tells the disciples, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” John 15:26. The Holy Spirit is a personal manifestation of God in much the same way as Jesus is and is referred to as “he” and is not to be comprehended as an immaterial energy or metaphysical principle. The triune nature of God through the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is understood as God in three persons, each with defined roles in order to nurture humanity along the path towards its intended outcome, which is eternal life in God’s presence.
In the fourteenth chapter of John, Jesus introduced the concept of how the Holy Spirit would come to the disciples and dwell within them. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17. The language here indicates the “oneness” of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, “for he lives with you,” illustrating that he himself currently shares their lives and that the Holy Spirit will reside within them, demonstrating the unity of the Trinity. Before his ascension Jesus informed the disciples, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:49. This transpired on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).
John the Baptist predicted this event when he proclaimed, “I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Mathew 3:11. Indeed, scripture records this in Acts 2:1-4, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Paul elaborates on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:9-11 stating, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”
Contemplate for a moment, the reality that the Almighty God who spoke the universe into existence, who deluged the world with the flood yet saved Noah and his family, who parted the Red Sea for the Israelites, and who raised Jesus from the dead, can enter your body and live inside of you. Ephesians 1:19-23 tells us, “and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the age to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Jesus said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20. When we sincerely invite Jesus to be our Lord and Savior he will enter us and dwell within us. God has such amazing love for each of us, that despite him being the Almighty Creator and omnipotent Alpha and Omega, he wants to know us intimately on a deeply personal level and he desires that we repent of our sinful ways and come to him for redemption.
Paul informs us in Romans 8:15-16 that this intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit makes us family. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry ‘Abba Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” There is no closer relationship than family and God’s love for us through Jesus Christ accomplishes just that. 1 John 3:1a tells us, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” Hallelujah!!!
