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It is at once evident that, if God created heaven and earth in the beginning, He must
Himself have been in existence before this creation took place. There must, therefore,
have been a time (we can use no other word than "time" here, owing to the limitations of
our nature and knowledge), when God was, and nothing else existed. It is therefore
evident that God must be self-sufficient. This is confirmed in Acts 17:, where the
Apostle is speaking to philosophers, acquainted with the principles of reasoning
concerning the nature of the Absolute:
"God that made the world and all things therein; seeing that He is Lord of heaven and
earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands,
AS THOUGH HE NEEDED ANYTHING, seeing He giveth to all, life, and breath, and
all things" (Acts 17: 24, 25).
The question is bound to arise sooner or later in the mind of the reader of Scripture
and the student of the works of the Creator, Why did God create anything? If God be
self-sufficient, and needs nothing from outside sources, seeing that He Himself is the
Author of all things, why did He create at all? It is not sufficient to say that it was
because He was all-powerful and so able to create heaven and earth, for even men are
able to do many things which they are perfectly right not to do, even though, should they
do them, they would still be perfectly right. The mere possession of power does not
answer the question "Why?" We must look deeper, and here we are shut up to the
revelation of the Word.
We turn to Rev. 4: and read:
"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for Thou hast
created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created" (Rev. 4: 11).
Here, then, is one answer to our question. It is that He created all things "for His
pleasure". In another passage we read:
"Israel shall be saved with an everlasting salvation . . . . . For thus saith the Lord that
Created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established
it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited" (Isa. 45: 17, 18).
We see here that part of God's purpose is to have an inhabited earth.
In the Book of Proverbs, where "Wisdom" speaks in chapter 8:, the passage ends
with the words"
"Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights were with the sons of
men" (Prov. 8: 31).
Creation, then, is "for His pleasure"; He formed it for an habitation; He delights in its
inhabitants. But again we may ask "Why?"
"For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things" (Rom. 11: 36).