“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. . . . The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.” (Psalm 19:1-4, 7-9).
This passage of scripture, rightly understood, sums up the truth about God and completes our quest to know God aright. It also exposes the many misconceptions about God that have dogged mankind throughout this age and explains to us what a true prophet is and where his or her inspiration comes from.
First, we learn that God’s creation speaks to those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. It not only speaks; it pours forth speech continuously and without reserve. Its voice goes out into the entire earth, and there is no place where it does not or cannot reach. But the voice of God's creation functions differently than a human voice. It uses no words and makes no sound.
This revelation about God’s creation, as it turns out, is also descriptive of God Itself. For, God and Its creation are one. In other words, not only does creation speak to us continuously, so does God. Not only does creation reveal knowledge incessantly, so does God. Like Its creation, God has a voice that goes out into all the earth. But also like creation, God’s voice uses no words and makes no sound. These attributes of God, once accepted and taken into our consciousness, will revolutionize the way we have related to God up to this point in time.
We have already learned that God is spirit. This is plainly stated by Jesus in the New Testament (John 4:24). But very few of us have embraced the full repercussions of this statement. Rather we have preferred to cling to our pagan notions that the God of our universe is both a personal and anthropomorphic God. But spirit, by Its very nature, cannot be personal and is by no means limited to and defined by human characteristics.
One of the reasons for our inability to fully embrace this truth about God is that we have no frame of reference for understanding it. We hear the words God is spirit, but, in truth, we do not know what that means. So it is a relatively natural progression for us to attach human qualities to God, because those we understand. But it is very difficult for us to fathom the nature of spirit. Some have even concluded that if God is neither personal nor anthropomorphic It has no real existence. That is how far away we are in our present evolution of consciousness from understanding the nature of spirit. And so we need what the Bible calls faith—faith to accept and believe in something that we have no frame of reference to understand. By faith we believe that God exists and by faith we accept that God is spirit, whatever that might ultimately mean. Eventually, however, our faith matures and becomes strong enough to where we might begin to feel God’s presence. And when that happens, we also begin to open our consciousness to the various potentialities inherent in the revelation that God is spirit.
This progression of faith is what prompted the psalmist, King David, to write these words about creation’s voice. David did not hear creation’s voice audibly but he had come to feel the presence and activity of God in creation. And in so doing, he had also instinctually embraced the revelation that God is spirit, though it is doubtful that he understood the full repercussions of that revelation.
Exactly how much David did understand can be deduced by the sequence of the verses. First, he writes about creation pouring forth speech and then immediately after that be begins to expound upon God’s law. What is the connection here? It is that one of the ways we can know God aright is by pondering Its law. But the fact that David first speaks about God’s creation and then subsequently about God’s law shows us that in this instance he was not talking about the social laws of the ten commandments of Moses. Rather he was inculcating that the workings of creation are also an integral part of divine law. This is a very profound revelation in its own right. For, it shows us that not only does creation have a voice; its voice testifies to the perfection and power of God’s law. Moreover, it is through making the connection between God’s law and God’s voice in creation that we begin to understand and come to know God as spirit.
When most people think about God’s law, they think about the social laws given to Moses on Mount Sinai—laws intended to bring order to and establish justice in human society, such as: Do not commit murder; do not steal; do not commit adultery, etc. But while these laws are true and right, they are not the sum total of God’s law. In fact, they are actually an offshoot or amendment to the divine law inherent in creation and were essentially extracted and interpreted by Moses for the sake of bringing order to human society. Had other men been as spiritually intuitive as Moses, they would not have needed a social law to be spelled out for them. For to Moses that law was plainly evident in God’s creation. In other words, the law from Mount Sinai is but an aspect of the law of creation. And it is in creation that we find God’s law in its totality and perfection.
It is this complete law then that David was testifying to—the law that pours forth speech to the ends of the earth. What is more, creation not only testifies to God’s law; it also reveals to us God as spirit, so that whereas we once had no frame of reference for understanding spirit we now know that we can, through the study of God’s law in creation, gain insight into this great mystery.
David testified to the “greater law”—that is, the law of creation. This shows that he had gained the revelation that divine law is virtually omnipresent in our universe. The implications of this are important, for it means that all earthly life forms, including mankind, are “under” God’s law, whether they acknowledge it or not. How can we not be under God’s law, when that law is everywhere and governs all life forms upon this planet? Surely, we are creatures that not only inhabit the earth but also derive our sustenance and very existence from it. We may choose to disregard the social Law of Moses through our own willpower, but we cannot escape the law of creation.
And David’s testimony goes even further. It not only acknowledges that we are all under the law of creation; it also teaches us the importance of aligning ourselves harmoniously with that law. This is, in truth, a very basic principle of earthly life, and yet it is one that mankind, as a collective unit, has struggled mightily to accept. David testified accordingly: To bring our lives into submission to and harmonious alignment with God’s law, in all its facets, is the way of blessing, health, and goodness, while to fight against and resist it is the way of suffering, disaster, and futility. The former is the most prosperous, beneficial way for us to live, while the latter has acted like a curse upon us throughout this age. In order to understand the extent of our folly in this regard, we need look no further than the rest of creation. For there we see that man is the only earthly creature that has attempted to live in defiance of the law of creation, and man is the only earthly creature that has been persistently plagued by disease, dysfunction, war, social upheaval, and death.
God is the creator of harmony. Man is the perpetuator of discord. God is the realization of eternal life. Man is the proponent and guardian of mortal death. God is intrinsically undeviatingly good, while man has repeatedly shown himself to be a deceiver and doer of evil. These are truths that the Bible tries very hard to open our eyes to. Why? Because the Bible has our best interests at heart. God does not change, but mankind most definitely needs to.
The testimony of God’s law in creation is and always has been there for us to perceive and receive. It pours forth speech incessantly. But who is listening? Only a very small remnant of godly human beings like David. Moreover, the percentage of those who actually have attempted to bring their lives into harmonious alignment with God’s law of creation is even smaller. And what are the rest of us doing? Based on the powerful testimony of God’s law in creation, there can be only one way to describe our age-long collective posture. Clearly, it is one of outright defiance and rebellion.
Plus we cannot use ignorance as an excuse at this point. For even our own scientists have corroborated the existence of the law of creation. That is what our children are learning, when they go off to school. They are learning the scientific reality of how life is on this planet. Unfortunately, they are also learning the intricacies of how to live in defiance of that reality.
Why is this? Who is to blame? Is it God’s doing? Of course not. No, somewhere along the way we decided to chart our own course and live according to our own reality system. We like to think of this as being motivated by a somewhat noble desire for independence. But because the law of creation is omnipresent and perfect, to willfully deviate from it cannot honestly be thought of as a noble course. It can only be seen as a rebellious one.
What all of this speaks of is that dreaded biblical word: sin! At its essence sin is rebellion against God’s law, and that most certainly includes the law of creation. Many men have fooled themselves and others into thinking they were godly by outwardly upholding the social Law of Moses. But in their hearts these same men have treated the law of creation with contempt. Such was the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders that condemned Jesus. That was why Jesus said to them, “I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.” (John 5:42). Thus we see that a man can keep the social law while spurning the law of creation and thereby showing that they have no love for God. How then is the love for God revealed in us? It is through our recognition of and willingness to align ourselves with the law of creation.
The Bible describes David as being a man after God’s own heart. And in many of his writings we find David effusively expressing his love for God. But how was he able to love a God who is neither personal nor anthropomorphic? The answer is that he loved and was in awe of God’s handiwork in creation. One can love all created life forms, which includes one’s fellowman. And it is precisely this kind of love that Jesus taught.
But it is difficult to teach human beings to love, especially to love something as intangible as law. For this reason Jesus reached out primarily to the poor and meek, the oppressed and downtrodden, and the brokenhearted and diseased. This element of human society has always been an element of victimization—a social victimization that is an outgrowth of man’s collective stance of rebellion against the law of creation. The stronger members of human society are able to prosper in their defiance, but the weak and downtrodden members fail miserably at this and end up bearing the brunt of the strong members’ sinful intransigence in their spirits, souls, and bodies. Thus Jesus knew that they would be more receptive to his teaching.
It is not easy for a human being to love God. And it is next to impossible for those who are sinfully strong and proud. But a man or woman who has suffered deeply in their spirit, soul, or body can grow to love God. How? By disassociating themselves inwardly from the defiant culture of man and embracing the law of creation. This is what David sought to do. He turned away from the world of men and took refuge in God’s perfect law of creation. He listened, observed, studied, and meditated. And little by little, he grew to love this invisible spirit God, until eventually that love made him into a man after God’s own heart. The more his love for God grew, the more at odds he felt with man’s defiant culture. He never stopped loving his fellowmen, but it was not for their own sakes. Rather his love for God constrained him to love men also, because they too were a part of God’s handiwork. But he hated man’s collective stance of rebellion against God, and this hatred made him the brunt of many cruel social attitudes and actions. And remember, David was a great king, endowed with wealth, splendor, and power. But he was also a man who had been deeply wounded and afflicted in his spirit, so that despite his great wealth he always thought of himself as poor and needy.
It was said of Jesus that he preferred keeping the company of sinners. But who were these sinners? Were they the proud hardened defiant ones of human society? No, they were the meek and downtrodden—the victims of man’s social order of rebellion against God. True, they were sinners. But why? Because they had been forced to sin just to be able to survive in this world. They had not yet learned how to trust and love God. They had not yet learned that they could distance themselves from man’s culture and come to know and love God in the law of creation, as David had. Therefore they were sinners but they were teachable, redeemable sinners. And so Jesus’ heart went out to them, as he strove to teach them how to follow in David’s footsteps.
When Jesus died on a Roman cross as a sacrifice for the atonement of sin, it was for all human beings to receive and appropriate unto themselves. But Jesus knew that not all would. He knew that the strong and proud would see no value in what he did. He saw that many men were too far down the path of rebellion to even recognize their sin. But when a victim of man’s system grows to love God through the law of creation they not only recognize and acknowledge their sin; they begin to hate it. They hate the fact that they have been participants in man’s rebellion against God, even if only because they were trying to find a way to survive in man’s world. They hate that they were not strong enough to distance themselves from man’s culture and thereby say no to such a participation. Thus not only do they value what Jesus accomplished; they wholeheartedly and with profound gratitude receive God’s offer of atonement and appropriate it unto themselves. In this way they then find themselves free to love God without the guilt of sin causing a wedge of separation between them. They also find cleansing from and forgiveness for their former association with and participation in man’s culture. Then to top it all off, in this way they are also empowered to “go and sin no more.”
“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1,2). These words of David were written one thousand years before Jesus died on the cross. But as a prophet, David foresaw the blessedness and power of what Jesus would one day come to do. He also knew how Jesus’ sacrifice would be received by the world of men. He knew that many would harden themselves and see no value in what Jesus would do. These would persist in their rebellion against God until their last dying breath. And lastly, he foresaw that the poor and needy ones of human society, like himself, would be greatly blessed by a loving God’s offer of atonement. For, they would then be free, unlike the men that lived before Jesus’ day, to love and worship God in spirit and truth.
Yes, God is a God of love. And that love is freely extended to all mankind. But God is not a man, that we should receive Its love and reciprocate in a human way. God is spirit. So if we want to receive and reciprocate Its love, it is up to us to find a new and different way to do so. This was what David did. He received God’s love with overflowing gratitude as an aspect of spiritual life and sought to deepen his own ability to reciprocate that love through studying and embracing God’s law of creation. David had gained the revelation that Israel’s God was unique among the gods—that It was nothing like the gods that the pagans of his day worshiped. He knew that the God of Israel was not an ornery old man up in the sky to be feared and appeased. He knew that God is spirit and that God’s nature is love. And it was through beholding God’s handiwork in creation that he deduced all this. Then when David’s love for God grew deep, he began to hate his own sin with a perfect hatred. Thus he most certainly would have been one to greatly value what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
But as enlightened as David was about these spiritual realities, it was Jesus who did the most to reveal the loving nature of God to mankind. Everything about Jesus’ persona exuded knowledge about God—knowledge that could only be attained by a human being once he of she had developed a sixth sense called faith or spiritual discernment. It is this sixth sense that opens our eyes to the law of creation, wherein we see the richness of God’s handiwork effusively displayed—a richness that speaks loudly and clearly of God’s love. And so Jesus taught us these truths and bolstered the strength of his teaching by performing many miraculous signs. But nothing spoke a more powerful word about God’s love than his willingness to be put to death on a Roman cross as a sacrifice of atonement for sin. For, this one act showed irrefutably that God was willing to go more than an extra mile to help mankind evolve into the creature that he was originally created to be.
It is only through the appropriation of Jesus’ sacrifice of atonement that sin is rendered powerless in our lives, thereby enabling us to receive and reciprocate God’s love. It is also in this same way that we come to know God aright. This reveals that there is a definite correlation between all the misconceptions about God that men have harbored throughout this age and sin. But the good news is that once an individual reaches out and receives God’s sacrifice of atonement in the cross of Christ he or she is then free to come to know, love and worship the one true God of our universe in spirit and truth. And as Jesus once told a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, “These are the kind of worshipers that God seeks.” (John 4:23).