I Believe in God (Jeremiah 10:1–16; Lord’s Day 9)
Against the scarecrow idols of Jeremiah 10—ancient and modern—stands the living God, the everlasting King who made heaven and earth out of nothing. To confess “I believe in God the Father almighty” is deeply personal: the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is my God and Father for the sake of Christ. He is able to provide whatever I need because he is almighty God; he desires to do it because he is a faithful Father. As Dr. Daniel Hyde says in this message, “You can take that to the bank.”
God has spoken in his Word. Let us confess its teaching in the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 9, question and answer 26:
What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”?
That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father for the sake of Christ the Son. I trust God so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends upon me in this vale of tears. He is able to do this because he is almighty God; he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.
“I believe in God.” This is that most basic of fundamental biblical truths. Like a child learns to play with blocks, so we need to learn what it means to trust in the Lord.
In Jeremiah 10 the prophet gave one of his sermons to the children of Israel to bring them back to this building block of what it meant to believe in the Lord. He calls them away from idolatry and to faith in the Lord. In three cycles he illustrates how foolish idolatry is and how great the one true God is.
In verses 3–7 he shows how foolish idolatry is:
A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good (vv. 3–5).
Then he extols the one true God:
There is none like you, O Lord;you are great, and your name is great in might.Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?For this is your due;for among all the wise ones of the nationsand in all their kingdomsthere is none like you (vv. 6–7).
In verses 8–13 he does this again. Idolatry is foolish:
They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men (vv. 8–9).
Then he extols the Lord:
But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.” It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses (vv. 10–13).
Finally, he does this a third time in verses 14–16 with how foolish it is:
Every man is stupid and without knowledge;every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,for his images are false,and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion;at the time of their punishment they shall perish (vv. 14–15).
Finally, he extols the Lord:
Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,for he is the one who formed all things,and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;the Lord of hosts is his name (v. 16).
“I believe in God” is expressed at the beginning of our Creed and then explained in our Catechism. Question and answer 26 begins a run of three of the most memorable and personally comforting questions and answers in our Catechism on God our Creator and Provider. Let’s meditate for a moment tonight on the building block of God the Father Almighty.
Our Creator
This is a confession that God is our Creator. God is the maker of heaven and earth as Genesis 1 proclaims. We’ll also see in Q&A 27–28 that he also still upholds and rules what he made by his eternal counsel and providence.
Then our Creed says in particular that the Father is maker of heaven and earth. As one church father said, “He created the ages Who Himself was before the ages” (John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, 2.1). This doesn’t mean the Son and Holy Spirit are not involved. We know they were. John 1 speaks of the eternal Word or Son of God creating and Genesis 1:2 and Psalm 33:6, for example, speak of the Spirit at creation. But according to his personal property of being the Father, creation is particularly his work just like redemption is particularly the Son’s work and sanctification is particularly the Spirit’s work.
And the Father who is maker of heaven and earth is almighty. He shows almighty power in his ability to will or not to will into existence heaven and earth and everything in them. And when he willed to create, everything came to be out of nothing or ex nihilo. This comes right from the opening words of Genesis 1:1 itself where God stands above and before all things.
In contrast to God, children, every other explanation of the origin of the universe is idolatry. You’re going to hear in school, on the internet, and in books about what I call the idol of an eternal singularity in which all the matter that is, ever was, or ever will be existed, then spontaneously banged into the universe, while down here on earth all things came to be by the chance of evolution. This is an idol no less than those superstitious ancients who took a tree from the forest…cut [it] downand worked [it into existence] with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. Then they take this theory and decorate it with [the] silver and gold of highfalutin prose. And like those ancient idols, this theory cannot move unless moved by a scientist;cannot speak unless spoken for by a scientist. Do not be afraid of such a theory!
In contrast to the so-called “theory of everything,” as scientists call the origin of the universe, and the theory of evolution, is God. Why do we exist according to science? There is no reason. Why do we exist according to God? Because out of his infinite goodness of decided to create and share his life and love with us. Again, as one church father said, “in His exceeding goodness [God] wished certain things to come into existence which would enjoy His benefits and share in His goodness” (Damascus, Exact Exposition, 2.2).
Our Comfort
This building block of our Creator is also beneficial to us if we learn how to use it right. And we see that, interestingly, in our Catechism where what stands out is its focus on how believing in this God comforts us.
This is a personal comfort to us. When I say, “I believe in God,” I am saying that God is my God and Father for the sake of Christ the Son. Because the Son of God came to this world, God is now by Father! And because he is my God and Father I can say with personal and powerful faith: I trust God so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends upon me in this vale of tears.
And this comfort of believing in God is a promise. Why do we say God can turn all evil to our good? He is able to do this because he is almighty God; he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father. You can take that to the bank! This building block of believing in God is so basic, yet so vital; so simple, yet so profound. Let us pray…