What Does the Bible Say About Our Universe?

 (0) The universe is intended to display God's power and majesty.

"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...

... In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun."

(Psalm 19)

In all these passages, we see God as the Creator of the universe, as the one who created all things and continues to maintain all things.

"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 people are without excuse.”

(Romans 1:20)

(1) The universe had a Creator.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

(Genesis 1:1)

(2) The universe is majestic and "good" (Hebrew towb, beautiful.)

"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."

(Genesis 1:31)

 Creation is called "towb" seven times in Genesis 1.

(3) The earth is full of incredible living things!

“So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems ... according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good."

(Genesis 1:21)

(4) The universe involves processes, in natural, organized fashion. See this description in Day 3 of Creation: 

“Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.... The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds."

(Genesis 1:11-12)

Note the deliberate, consistent process, trees, fruit, seed, more trees....

(5) The universe has a special creature, "mankind" (Hebrew adam), who has a unique role in this creation and with this Creator.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness ...

So God created mankind in his own image,

    in the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

(Genesis 1:26-28)

(6) Some phenomena have both a physical and spiritual explanation.

Acts 12:23 on Herod's death:

"Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died."

There are two explanations here for Herod's death.  Which is correct? 

• Did an angel strike him down?
• Or was he was eaten by worms?  

Both are true!

A digression -- the universe is beautiful

Beginning in Job 38 and continuing for three chapters, God challenges Job to step up and explain, even control, a variety of natural phenomena.

"Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.

...

On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—

while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?"

Have you ever given orders to the morning or shown the dawn its place, ...

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,..."

(Me: No -- but I'd like to!)

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?

    Can you loosen Orion’s belt?

...

Do you know the laws of the heavens?

(Me: No -- but I'd like to!)

If we are here as the result of a Creator, the Creator who challenges Job to "give order to the morning", then our response will be 

"Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

in the heavens...."

(Psalm 8)

(There is also a natural, built-in desire to explore the universe around us. This is part of the calling to be a scientist!)