Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Chirping Chirping Croaking Waves crashing “Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.” Psalm 66.5 God of Wonders Humming Cawing “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:20 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. And since the dawn of creation, God´s attributes are seen and know by all. As a building requires a builder, creation demands a Creator. And as an outstanding design points to a gifted designer, our amazing universe reveals the glory of an awesome Creator. God´s wonders surround us. And these marvels reveal much about our Creator. Through creation we glimpse His power and wisdom, His majesty and care. Creation is speaking to those who will listen. I´m Dr. John Whitcomb. Join us as we explore the message of creation, conscience, and the glory of God! God of Power Throughout creation God´s power is displayed. From the new growth of plants in the spring, to new life forming in the womb; Wherever we turn the Creator´s energizing power Is unmistakable. He guides the stars in their courses above, He formed the majestic mountains, He maintains the beneficial seasons, And in His hand is the life of every living thing. The fact that we have a universe tell us that we need a Creator. Because, you see, the universe has a beginning and therefore requires a cause. The energy in the universe has a beginning and therefore requires a cause. And people say “Well, okay, fine. God made the universe, but then who made God ?” But you see, God is eternal. God doesn´t have a beginning and therefore doesn´t require a cause. And that may be a little hard to grasp, but there´s nothing irrational about an eternal being. There is something irrational about something popping into existence from nothing, ‘cause that violates causality. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Psalm 90.2 You know, a famous evolutionist was once asked, where did the Big Bang come from? And he said simply, “If somebody ever asked you “where mass energy came from, just ask them where God came from.” And I think he really said something much more meaningful than he thought. Something had to be eternal. Either mass energy is eternal or God is eternal. Well, science has taught us a lot about mass energy. One of the things is it wears out. Mass energy eternal doesn´t make any sense at all. God is eternal, does make sense. As we read in that first chapter of Hebrews: The heavens The whole universe is growing old and wearing out like a garment to be cast off but Thou, O Lord, endureth forever. The Bible explains there´s one God who is the Creator and the source of all life and energy. The forces of nature are energized and guided by His hand. Who hasn’t´felt the rumble of an approaching storm and considered God´s might? Thunder clapping Thunder clapping “His lightnings light the world; the earth sees and trembles.” Psalm 97.4 Thunder clapping Thunderstorms are an amazing display of the Creator´s might. An average thunderstorm pours down several hundred million gallons of water Equivalent to the amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls every 6 minutes. The same storm releases 10 million kilowatt – hours of energy – equivalent to a 20 kiliton nuclear warhead. And large, severe thunderstorms can be 10, of even 100 more energetic. At any given moment, hundreds of storms are occurring somewhere aroung the world. This amounts to about 16 million thunderstorms each year! Thunder clapping The accompanying lightning illuminates an entire skyline. A bolt may reach over 5 miles in length, contain over 100 million electrical volts, and soar the temperatures approaching 50.000 degrees Fahrenheit in a split second hotter than the surface of the sun. On average, lightning strikes the earth 100 times every second. Several million bolts reach earth each day. The tremendous power, the incredible speed, and the glaring flash are clear manifestations of our Creator´s majestic power. Thunderstorms are an incredible phenomenon in the atmosphere. They´re awesome. They´re powerful. They´re frightening. They have all kinds of energy releases. That´s basically what´s happening is a thunderstorm is releasing large quantities of energy in our atmosphere By vertical motions. Thunderstorms contribute a major amount to the water cycle. The hydrologic cycle—water is evaporated from the oceans. the vapor is drifted over the continents and then it falls as rain and then flows back into the sea. Thunderstorms are a major part of that cycle, where it converts that water vapor back into liquid water or rain and falls to the earth. Lightning and thunderstorms in Scripture are often used as a symbol of God´s wrath against rebellious people. But everybody has been struck by the awesome beauty of lightning and storm and the smell of the fresh air. The lightning itself puts together two gases in the air— nitrogen and hydrogen—to make fertilizer. When the lightning stroke goes through the air, it releases the nitrogen in the vapor form and absorbs it into the water and it falls down and fertilizes the ground. By thunderstorms. Four thousand years ago job pondered the Almighty´s display with these words: “He binds up the water in His thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it. He stirs up the sea with His power, and by His understanding He breaks up the storm. Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?” so thunderstorms and natural events that are highly energetic. I think they are a lesson about if God can do this, what must He be like ? While we may not fully grasp this cumulative power, these grand display should cause all to stand in awe of our great God. “Lift up yours eyes on high, and see who has created these things,…by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing.” Isaiah 40.26 Our sun is immense and its energy output enormous. The core of the sun is a scorching 27 million degrees Fahrenheit! Though the sun is 93 million miles from earth, sunlight is our main source of energy. Energy leaves the sun at the ferocious rate of 5 million tons of matter per second. This goes on day and night, year after year. There are many examples of God´s power in nature. The whole universe came about by His word. Psalm 33.9 says that God spoke it was finished. He commanded and it stood fast. As one good example, consider our nearest star, the sun the sun gives off more energy in one second than mankind has produced since Adam and Eve. The sun actually provides its energy by nuclear fusion, converting hydrogen into helium on a grand scale. And this is true of all the stars. In our own Milky Way Galaxy, we estimate 100 billions stars. And beyond that, in deep space, we see 100 billion more galaxies. One cannot begin to grasp the kind of energy and power that we´re talking about, all created by God´s Word. The sun heats the earth and it drives all of the weather systems on the earth tornados, hurricanes, thunderstorms, just plain rain clouds, winds, all of that is driven by the energy coming from the sun. And the energy that we have on earth is only one billionth of the amount of energy that´s coming from the sun! To gain perspective, with the gain, of computer animation, Lets now travel with the earth to then sum. At one hundred times the speed of light. From this view we begin to appreciate the manigtude of our home star. Over one million earths would fit inside the sun. yet our sun is an average size star many stars in our own galaxy dwarf it. Arcturus is the forth-brightest star in the night sky. Though 200 trillion miles away, this orange giant is visible to the naked eye. by moving our sun next to Arcturus we can grasp its immensity. Arcturus is 100 times brighter with a radius 20 times greater than the sun´s. yet even Arcturus appears small when compared with the super-giant Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse has a radius 600 times that of our sun. A reddish star, it shines a remarkable 60.000 times brighter than the sun. However even Betelgeuse is not the largest star in our galaxy. Several red super giants in the Milky Way are even larger some with a radius 1500 times that of our sun. One of the things in creation that I think really exhibits God´s power, is the power released in stars. The sun releases more energy in one second than a billion major cities on the earth—if there were a billion— would produce in a year And that´s just released in one second – you can imagine that! And of course there are stars that are even more powerful than the sun. And just imagine all that power. All those stars, billions of stars that are in our galaxy, Billion of stars in other galaxies, and yet the Bible describes the creation of all that energy, all that power, With a single phrase: “He made the stars also.” When we consider that these ratios present only a sliver of our Creator´s power, certainly we can agree with the psalmist when he exhorts: “Let all the earth fear the Lord.” Of course the stars reveal more than raw power. Without the light of the sun, all life on earth would soon perish. The sun´s life-giving energy provides a constant reminder of our Creator´s steadfast love – the God who shines His gift of light on all. “He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.” Psalm 147:5-5 The visible universe contains more than 100 billion galaxies. Each of these galaxies has a diameter millions of trillions of miles wide; and each contains hundreds of billions of stars though incomprehensible, it is now estimated that the universe holds over a billion trillion stars. Long before the introduction of the telescope, scripture declared that man would be unable to determine the exact number because there are so many. Of course the Creator knows the exact number, and Psalm 147 declares that He even calls each star by name!