Romans 1:20 Seeing the Invisible

By Bob Smith

In about 400 BCE, Democritus suggested that all matter is composed of tiny particles called atoms. Why then did it take until the nineteenth century for science to verify this? Part of the answer is that you can't see anything that small. Today, through the wonders of modern science, we have come to "see the invisible," and the atomic theory is the basis of nuclear physics. Actually, we don't see atoms today. We see images of them because they're still way too small to be seen.

Seeing the invisible has always been available to those with eyes to see. The natural world is literally filled with the evidences and manifestations of God the Creator. He is the One responsible for the intelligent design built into the universe. From the power of the force that holds together the electrons, protons, and neutrons in atoms to the towering, majestic beauty of snow-covered mountains, the Lord, the Creator of all, has revealed Himself in all the glory of His creation. The wonder of Jesus' words, "This is eternal life, that they may know God, the only true God" comes alive in the dual witness of His Word and His creation. We can indeed see the invisible when we humbly and with reverent wonder open our eyes to see the world around us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638449508

Book preview

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Romans 1:20

Seeing the Invisible

BOB SMITH

ISBN 978-1-63844-949-2 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63844-950-8 (digital)

Copyright © 2021 by Bob Smith

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Scripture references are taken from the New International Version [NIV] unless otherwise noted.

Printed in the United States of America

To Dave Connor,

my best friend and hiking partner for forty years.

I’ll miss you in the coming years.

Until we meet again on the great hiking trails of the New Earth.

O Lord, my God! When I in awesome wonder,

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder.

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

—How Great Thou Art

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck His rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

—Gerard Manly Hopkins, God’s Grandeur

Preface

Romans 1:20 states, "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 men are without excuse."

This book is an attempt to answer the question, How does the natural world reveal God to us and, therefore, enable us to see the invisible—that is, His eternal power and divine nature? To explore the depths of a complete explanation of Romans 1:20 would indeed take several volumes, even dozens of volumes. In searching for what the natural world (and the Bible) reveals to be God’s invisible qualities, this adventure joins myriads of seekers throughout history who have answered the Lord’s call in Jeremiah 29:13, You will seek me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. These thoughts, once again, are in no way a definitive answer. Truly, because of the infinite nature of the Eternal, who was, is, and is to come, I believe we, His children, will be spending eternity in heaven (the New Earth) doing just this. Imagine the wonder of getting to know the Lord face to face on a restored, sin-free new earth!

Heaven is not the end; it is a new beginning, a clearer picture. Creation will be restored to its garden of Eden-like state. There will be ever so much more to be revealed in the resurrected, restored Earth. This is why, For the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Rom. 8:20–21). As exciting as the anticipation of such a revelation is, we need not wait until then to explore and know the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God (Rom. 11:33) in and through the creation.

Part 1

God’s Eternal Power

Chapter 1

Lightning, Thunder, and Storms

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Imagine walking on a high mountain trail. Although the hike has been spectacular with breathtaking vistas of glacier-fed lakes and snow-covered peaks, dark, ominous clouds have now rolled in. The air seems charged with a tension that is almost palpable. It crackles as you look to the sky. You pick up your pace, but the going is difficult because of a sudden strong wind. As the hair on the back of your neck stands erect, an explosion of thunder and a blinding flash of light momentarily takes your sight away. The earth shakes. Your fingertips tingle, and then the world seems to be plunged into darkness. You get knocked off your feet but are still alive. You have just experienced up close the power and awesome energy of a thunderstorm. You have come close to lightning and thunder and lived to tell about it.

The first description of God’s invisible qualities in Romans 1:20 is His eternal power. One of the most tangible and tactical ways we perceive the power of God in creation is in thunder and lightning. The average lightning strike is only 2–3 cm (between 1 and 2 inches) wide but can pack anywhere between 1 and 100 million joules of energy. To put that in perspective, four million joules is enough to power the average home fridge for an entire year.¹ The raw power of lightning is…well, electric. It is also intensely hot. A lightning bolt travels at around 430,000 kilometers per hour (267,000 miles per hour) through the air and reaches a temperature of 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That is around four times hotter than the surface of the sun.² This combination of burning heat, dazzling speed, and concentrated charges of electricity leave us with one main impression—power. Not only does lightning communicate this, but the resulting thunder explodes, rumbles, cracks, and echoes the sound of power in its wake. The home and source of thunder and lightning are thunderheads.

Some of the largest clouds in the atmosphere. The base of these clouds is usually between 300 m and 1 km (about one-tenth to a half mile) above the ground, but they can grow to a height of 10 to 20 km (about 6 to 12 miles), sometimes even reaching much more than that. Because of the immense sizes thunderstorms can be as powerful as atomic bombs. Some cumulonimbus clouds are able to produce storms that are 10 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.³ (Al-Ghaili)

So what does the awesome power of thunderstorms communicate to us about God? First and foremost, He is God and we are not. Webster’s Dictionary defines power as possession of control, authority or influence over others.⁴ In our modern, largely Godless culture, the idea that anyone (especially God) has power over us rubs against our independent, self-reliant nature. It is in this fallen nature, received at the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s command, that mankind (like Satan) declared in his heart, I will make myself like the Most High (Isa. 14:14). In other words, we say, I am God and You are not. The nature of Lucifer has been passed on to us. Thankfully, the answer to this has been provided by salvation in Jesus Christ. We will explore how creation declares this later. First, however, let us return to the idea of God’s eternal power being displayed in thunderstorms and what it reveals to us.

The book of Job, considered by many scholars to be the oldest book in the Bible, addresses the issue of God’s sovereignty and power, especially when we don’t understand what’s going on around us. After thirty-seven chapters of Job and his friends debating the cause of his troubles, the Lord answers Job. It is interesting to note that Job 38:1 says, The Lord answered Job out of the storm. Why would God do this? His answer—like the millions of joules of energy, the 54,000 degree Fahrenheit heat, and the storms that are more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima—declares that His power, His understanding, and His nature is far, far greater than ours. The series of questions the Lord puts to Job humbles him because Job does not have an answer. He replies in Job 42:2, I know that You can do all things; no plan of Yours can be thwarted. Is this not the response the Lord of creation desires to hear from us when we are confronted with the power and beauty inherent in what has been made. Some of the questions the Lord declared out of the storm are, Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm to water a land? (Job 38:22–26).

This passage has interesting implications for both the believer and the nonbeliever. Of course, those who reject God and His Word dismiss this without a thought toward its central truth—that there is an Intelligent Designer of creation and that He is sovereign. They reduce the created world to facts of science and explain