CREATION - AN ASSURANCE OF GOD'S POWER AND AUTHORITY

When Jesus calmed the storm the disciples were amazed and terrified by his obvious power and authority [Mark 4:35-41]. They knew that someone extraordinary was there in the boat with them, yet they did not realize that he was the Lord Almighty, the Creator of all.

Nor did they realize this when he created food for the multitudes from just a few loaves and fishes. As Mark comments, they did not understood what was going on in this action [Mark 6:52].  A little while later, when they expressed concern because they had only one loaf of bread with them, Jesus rebuked them for their failure to understand who he really was:

'Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? ... And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskettuls of pieces did you pick up? ... Do you still not understand?' [Mark 8:17-21]

 Here in the person of Jesus of Nazareth God stood among us. Here in this man is the One who said of himself:

'To whom, then, will you compare God? ...

'Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth and its people are like grasshoppers. ...

To whom will you compare me?

Or who is my equal? says the Holy One.

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...

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.' [Selected from Isaiah 40:18-28]

When Philip said to Jesus 'Lord, show us the Father' [John 14:8], Jesus replied:

'Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say "Show us the Father"? Don't you believe that I am in the father, and that the Father is in me? ... Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.' [John 14:9-11]

The incarnation of God in Christ affirms the fact of creation. Not only so, it also affirms the fact that creation - this natural world in which we live - is in the hands of a good and powerful God. This God, affirmed and made known in and by Jesus Christ, stands in the position of power and authority over all that exists.

The temporary powerlessness of the incarnation did not cancel out his innate power and authority; nor does his apparent lack of interference in a world tired of sin and suffering infer he has no power or authority over it. Just as in grace he laid his glory aside to save us by becoming one of us, so in his grace he stays his hand to give us time to repent and acknowledge him as our God [2 Peter 3:3-9].

This God, this Jesus, whose power and authority is so great that he is not threatened by the appearance of weakness, is the God in whom we trust and on whom we depend.