Creation Tells of God’s Glory
“Nevertheless I ask, They did not fail to hear, did they? Why, in fact, ‘into all the earth their sound went out, and to the extremities of the inhabited earth their utterances.’”—Rom. 10:18.
WITHOUT speech or words or voice, Jehovah God’s creative works are declaring his glory. Psalm 19:1-4 testifies to this: “The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the work of his hands the expanse is telling. One day after another day causes speech to bubble forth, and one night after another night shows forth knowledge. There is no speech, and there are no words; no voice on their part is being heard. Into all the earth their measuring line has gone out, and to the extremity of the productive land their utterances.” The starry heavens indeed reflect the glory of God.
But his creations on earth also declare his wisdom and power: “How many your works are, O Jehovah! All of them in wisdom you have made. The earth is full of your productions. As for this sea so great and wide, there there are moving things without number, living creatures, small as well as great.” (Ps. 104:24, 25) Human inventors note this divine wisdom and copy the fish that generates electricity, the wasp that makes paper, the barnacle that produces adhesive, the gull that desalinates seawater, the bee that air-conditions its home, the octopus that uses jet propulsion, the bat that uses sonar—on and on the list could go.
The apostle Paul referred to creation as a preacher of God’s glory: “His invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable.” (Rom. 1:20) The atheist is inexcusable. All persons who refuse to acknowledge the existence of an all-wise, all-powerful Creator are inexcusable. The evidence is everywhere around us, day and night. Without speech or words or voice, this preaching is continuous. But Paul also referred to preaching that does make use of speech and words and voices. He illustrated its wide coverage of earth by the universal preaching of the starry heavens.
Paul quotes from Joel 2:32 when saying, “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved,” and then continues: “However, how will they call on him in whom they have not put faith? How, in turn, will they put faith in him of whom they have not heard? How, in turn, will they hear without someone to preach? How, in turn, will they preach unless they have been sent forth?” (Rom. 10:13-15) After stressing the need for human preachers to be sent so that people might call on Jehovah’s name and be saved, Paul says: “Nevertheless I ask, They did not fail to hear, did they? Why, in fact, ‘into all the earth their sound went out, and to the extremities of the inhabited earth their utterances.’” Paul here quotes the fourth verse of Psalm 19, about the earthwide coverage of the testimony of Jehovah’s visible creations in the heavens above.—Rom. 10:18.
It is true that even without human preachers mankind has not failed to hear about the power and majesty of Jehovah God. His visible works testify to this. The psalmist and the apostle Paul call this fact to our attention. In Romans chapter 10 it seems that Paul is saying that the “good news” concerning Christ reached the ears of the many to whom it was preached, just as the preaching of the visible creation covers the earth. “They did not fail to hear, did they?” “Israel did not fail to know, did they?” Moses said Israel would be incited to jealousy by Gentiles joining themselves to Jehovah’s worship, and Isaiah foretold that Gentiles would come to Him but that stubborn Israel would refuse His invitation. (Rom. 10:18-21; Deut. 32:21; Isa. 65:1, 2) Natural Israel in Paul’s day had preachers of the gospel of Christ sent to them, not only to the Jews in Palestine, but also to those scattered in the Dispersion. Just as the visible heavens preach to all those on earth, so human preachers proclaimed the Gospel first to Jewry and then to the Gentiles.
The starry heavens, along with the rest of the visible creation, reflect Jehovah’s wisdom to a certain extent, but it is not this reflected wisdom alone that gives life. His works declare his supreme power and majesty, his inventive genius as a designer. But even if it were possible for us to fathom all the amazing complexities of his creations, it would still not impart to us the wisdom and power needed for us to gain everlasting life. It takes a different wisdom and a different power. It takes “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” The speechless, wordless, voiceless heavens preach in general of God’s glory, “but we preach Christ impaled.” “There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” How Jews and Greeks in Paul’s day reacted to this preaching of “Christ impaled” is the subject matter of the two following articles.—1 Cor. 1:22-24; Acts 4:12.
[Blurb on page 16]
“But We Preach Christ Impaled”