The Glory of God in the Cosmos

By Dr. Eric M. Wallace

Can science point us to God? Can the nemesis of the Church for the past two centuries now be recognizing the existence of a creator?

The Psalmist says in Psalm 19:1-3, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.”

Clearly, some people have not been listening. The Psalmist is proclaiming in Psalm 19:1-6 that God’s glory is evident from the sky or heavens. The daytime light from the sun “pours out speech” and reveals knowledge in a vast cornucopia of stars at night. If one is paying attention, the evidence will point to the revelation that there is a creator. Creation screams that God exists. It is not a verbal declaration but a subtle yet profound statement.  Peter Craigie, in his World Biblical Commentary of Psalms 1-50, states that “To the sensitive, the heavenly praise of God’s glory may be an overwhelming experience, whereas to the insensitive, sky is simply sky and stars are only stars; they point to nothing beyond.” Thus the wonder or interpretation is in the eye of the beholder.

This is the case of the scientists who observe the cosmos but don’t see a creator. They know the universe's complexity through biology, chemistry, astronomy, and the laws of nature and yet reject the idea of an intelligent designer or God. They can’t hear the chorus of nature declaring God’s glory. They don’t recognize his handiwork. As Craigie says, they see “sky as sky and stars as simply stars." It’s undirected creation by chance, matter, and energy with only an appearance of a design or designer.

However, those who recognized the hand of rational intelligence in creation, the founders of modern science, reasoned that if the one who designed nature also designed our rational mind, then nature must be intelligible. Dr. Meyer in his monograph, the Return of the God Hypothesis says, “They [scholars] insist that modern science was specifically inspired by the conviction that the universe is the product of a rational mind who designed the universe to be understood and who also designed the human mind to understand it.”

Yet, Postmodern scholars had moved away from the ideas of Newton, Galileo, Kepler, and Copernicus. Hawking, Dawkins, Hitchens, and most of the academy have rejected and even ridiculed those who hold an Intelligent Design cosmogony. However, with mounting evidence from 1) the acceptance that the universe had a beginning, 2) that the universe is fine-tuned for life 3) that there are periods of new biological information led one to conclude that an intelligent designer is a more logical explanation than random chance.

With the new discovery, the heavens are again declaring God's glory, and scientists now have to reevaluate their discarding of the God Hypothesis.

In the second half of the Psalm the writer mentions the glory or revelation of God through his word—the Torah. He explains the benefit of that written revelation to the believer. It also shows that God is a personal God who gives instruction. Thus God, the intelligent designer, reveals himself or communicates by natural revelation and the written word. Some either receive that revelation, while others reject it or are oblivious to it.

Unfortunately, like the idols that the Psalmist speaks about in psalm 135:15-17 many in academia and even in the Church have ears that do not hear and eyes that do not see. They are blind and deaf to the revelation God has in his creation and thus, if they can’t understand the first part of this psalm they won’t get the second half. However, as Dr. Meyer has written, some may be gaining new insight as they study the mounting evidence they had once overlooked in the cosmos. Some scientists are beginning to see and hear.

Now, let me return to the Psalm 19:4-6 which says “their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.”

“There is nothing hid from its heat” declares the extent to which the glory of God is seen and declared. The personification of nature depicts the intelligent designer who also designed us to hear, see, and understand that he exists. The second half of the Psalm will let us know that he has a design for our lives, that as he communicates through nature he also speaks through instruction—the Torah. There is a plan and purpose behind his creation.

Why is this important? We’ll see next time in part 2 of Kingdoms in Konflict.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are kingdoms in Konflict.

[Dr. Eric Wallace is an African American scholar and the cofounder of Freedom’s Journal Institute (FJI), an Illinois-based nonprofit organization addressing contemporary social, political, and religious issues on behalf of African Americans. FJI’s mission is to "advance the Kingdom of God through sociopolitical education and engagement rooted in a Biblical Worldview." FJI vigorously challenges liberal ideology with conservative principles, essential to promote and sustain thriving families. He is also the host of FJI's flagship television program "Kingdoms in Konflict: A Matter of Faith, Race, and Public Policy" found on the NRBtv Network and other media platforms.]