Bible Studies

FACINATION WITH GOD AND ALL HE HAS MADE

by GLENN PEASE
12/05/21
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We vacationed just a few miles from all of the wonders of Disney World. For miles there were stores selling Disney products, and masses of people flocking to see the amazing things that could be seen there. We spent three amazing nights with friends visiting some of the areas of Disney that were fascinating. Because our friends were knowledgeable, we were able to do all of these things, and experience the awesomeness of it entirely free.

Why did we do it? Because, like everyone else, we love to be fascinated. Fascinasted by what God has enabled man to create, because they are created in his image with the desire to create what is fascinating. We have a hunger to be fascinated, and that is why God created so many wonders and marvels of creation that keeps the world population forever traveling to see them, as well as the wonders man has created surrounding them. It is one of the greatest pleasures of life to be fascinated. That is why we go to Branson, and Disney World, and why we watch movies, and go to musical events. It is all about being fascinated. That is why we take vacations. We need to get away from the routine of life that becomes boring, to experience what is new, interesting and often fascinating.

Another author put it like this, "Why is it that people flock to places like the Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon. Breathtaking. What motivates a scientist or an archeologist? Discovery. When we traveled to England, I marveled at Stonehenge. The huge rocks that lay on the earth. How did they get there? No one really knows. Wonder.How about the expanse and beauty of the universe that surrounds the earth. Amazing. Or the depth of a DNA strand, the atom, sound, light, the list can go on and on. Ever gaze at the beauty of an eagle in flight. Awesome."

One of the things we most loved about Florida was the vast variety of Palms and amazing flowers that we never see in the North. You can't help but be amazed at the way God has made so many different kinds of beauty for every location of the planet.

But then there is also the beauty and awesomeness of what God has gifted man to create, and that is what we saw at Disney World. What we often fail to see is that God is also impressed with what man has created, and he reveals that he will include the wonders of human creation in his new heaven and earth.

Let me read the last paragraph of Rev. 21 in verses 22-27. "22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life."

I know that I will not see many of the wonders of this world that God has created, and that he has inspired man to create, but I need not regret my limitations because God will preserve in the eternal kingdom all that is truly beautiful and wondrous of his own creation and that of man. God does not like to waste any beauty, and so we will have the pleasure of experiencing all created beauty in heaven. We have these fascinations now, and we will have them forever.

He was just a little boy,
On a week’s first day.
Wandering home from Bible school,
And dawdling on the way.

He scuffed his shoes through the grass;
He found a caterpillar.
He found a fluffy milkweed pod,
And blew out all the ‘filler.’

A bird’s nest in a tree o’er head,
So wisely placed up high.
Was just another wonder,
That caught his eager eye.

A neighbor watched his zig zag course,
And hailed him from the lawn;
Asking where he’d been that day
And what was going on.

‘I’ve been to Bible School ,’ He said,
And turned a piece of sod.
Picking up a wiggly worm replied,
‘I’ve learned a lot about God.’

‘M’m very fine way,’ the neighbor said,
‘for a boy to spend his time.’
‘If you’ll tell me where God is,
I’ll give you a brand new dime.’

Quick as a flash the answer came!
Nor were his accents faint.
‘I’ll give you a dollar, Mister,
If you can tell me where God ain’t.’

~ Author Unknown

For the Christian the greatest fascination, that should rise above all others, is the fascination with God, and His Son, the Lord Jesus. The fact is, God is fascinating to most people.

by Dr. Tim Clinton and Dr. Joshua Straub wrote an article on the fascination with God. This is part of what they had to say-

"No matter what you hear on the news about lawsuits on prayer, court battles over the display of the Ten Commandments, nativity scenes, and the separation of church and state, there's no denying the phenomenological existence of God. Consider that Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News and World Report have featured Jesus on the cover more than two dozen times in the past ten years alone. In addition, Jesus has graced the cover of Time magazine twenty-one times since World War II. Apart from the past few U.S. presidents, that's more than any person in history."

"The fascination with God is also evident in the money we spend and the books we read. Take, for instance, the bestselling book of all time: the Bible. Since the original printing press in 1455, it is estimated that nearly 6 trillion Bibles have been sold in nearly 2,000 languages."

The point is, God and His Word are still very popular in the minds of people because there is no one or nothing more fascinating than God and his revelation to man.

Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 “However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” God created us to love fascination, and so he has awaiting us in eternity more fascination and wonder that is greater that all that has ever been seen or heard in time by all people. We do not have to feel bad that we have not been able to travel the world and see all the fascinating sights, for in eternity we will have far greater sights than anything that can be seen in time.

The highest level of Christian living in time therefore, is to be growing in our fascination with God and his Word. If we lose this and find our fascination only in the things of the world, we are missing God's best.

Greg Simas writes, "Whatever fascinates us gets our attention and ultimately our affection. We value what marvels us. We become what we behold. This is the key!

If our hearts are not captured by God we will turn to entertainment, recreation or even unhealthy addictions as the primary means to fulfill our need for fascination. But in the end, these never truly satisfy. We just wind up spending lots of money, resources and time for a very small return. Bad investment all the way around.

We become depleted when we choose our ministries at the expense of Gods beauty. By making the knowledge of God our lifelong occupation we cultivate our hearts to live from eternal pleasures. Once these pleasures are discovered, all else pales in comparison.

The ultimate prize is that we know the living God.

Philippians 3:8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."

Greg Simas goes on, "A person who digs for gold has to dig! A scientist who wants to discover has to observe. There is no substitute. We have a God inviting us to encounter His beauty but we must understand that it will take time, energy, fasting and prayer and study to discover the vast depths of who He is.

Fascination is a result of discovery
Discovery is a result of a pursuit.
Pursuit is the result of hunger
Hunger is a result of revelation
Revelation is a result of God wanting to make Himself known to us.
It all starts in the heart of God.

It is up to us. Will we launch our hearts in an all out pursuit of the living God?"
According to Bernard Shaw, seeing God's handiwork was of the very essence of life to Joan of Arc. When her judges sentenced her to perpetual imprisonment she responds, "Send me to the stake rather than that. To shut me from the light of the sky and the sight of fields and flowers; to chain my feet so that I can never again climb the hills-this is worse the furnace 7 times heated. Without these things I cannot live; and by your wanting to take them from me, I know that your counsel is of the devil, and that mine if of God." Her conviction was that God wanted her to see His creation. Seeing is the daily bread of the eyes. God made the eyes, and He expects us to use them to see what He has made. He even gives us glimpses into what we will see when we leave this world of wonders to enter the world of His presence and even greater wonders.

If prizes were given out for the greatest seer of unique and unusual things, the Apostle John would take first prize. Paul was caught up into heaven also, but he does not tell us what he saw, but John does. He was given the greatest vision of God's throne, and all that surrounds it, of any person who has ever lived. He saw awesome things that makes all other visions trivial by comparison. The thing that caught my attention about John's fabulous vision of heaven is that the key theme of Rev. 4 is the Creator and His creation. In other words, John's trip to heaven was much like the trips we take on earth to see the handiwork of God. He saw from the heavenly perspective, but the dominate theme of this chapter is the seeing of nature and its worship of God as its Creator.

This heavenly vision is amazingly worldly. Look at the worldly symbols:

1. The rainbow around the throne.

2. The glassy sea.

3. The four living creatures with faces of lion, ox, man, and eagle.

In almost sounds like John is in a celestial zoo. The scene around God is so nature oriented, and the songs of 24 elders who represent all of God's people for all time is not a song about redemption, but about nature and God as the Creator of all things. There is no escaping the primary message of this first vision of John. God wants to be worshiped as Creator. God is proud of His roll, and He has made the wonders of the world. All that we see that amazes us is His doing, and He expects us to praise Him for His wisdom, power, and cleverness in making what He has made. If God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven, then God's people will be a people who, like the saints in heaven, honor and glorify God as Creator.

A woman who has sewn or knitted, or crochet a thing of beauty is delighted when you acknowledge that it is worthy of praise. People who make things of beauty enjoy their works being enjoyed by others. That is what creativity is all about. If you appreciate a work of art, you should let the creator of it know, for that is the joy of creating. God feels the same as any artist or creator of beauty. He wants to know if other minds can see and appreciate what He has done. A major part of our worship is to honor Him, thank Him, and praise Him for the wonders of nature. The Christian is to be a student of nature, for the reason that when it is known better, you know God better, and you will be in a state of worship.

The Christian has no quarrel with science, for it is but the study of that which God has made. It has a quarrel, however, with that which leads men to worship the creation rather than the Creator, but there is no quarrel with science as such. The songs of heaven are songs of praises for God's creativity. If God made it then it is worthy of study, for all God has made will lead us to praise Him when we see His wisdom in it. Psa. 104:24 says, "How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all."

No matter where you look, in the starry heavens above, or in the deep seas below, and everywhere in between, you see that which makes the honest observer say, "The word chance doesn't fit-there is mind in that." Nature and worship go hand in hand to those who see nature as God intended it to be seen: As a symbol of His power and wisdom. Thomas Edison said, "One thing is certain, the universe is permeated by intelligence. I tell you no person can be brought into contact with the mysteries of nature, or make a study of chemistry, without being convinced that, behind all, there is a Supreme Intelligence. I am convinced of that. I think I can, perhaps I may sometime, demonstrate the existence of such intelligence with the certainty of a demonstration in mathematics."

John's vision is not of any scientific experiment or mathematical proof. He sees four living creatures which are symbols of all nature glorifying and worshiping God. Most commentators will agree that these four living creatures are representative of all nature. The lion is supreme among wild animals; the ox is supreme among tame animals; the eagle is supreme among the birds, and man is supreme among all the creatures of earth. As Swete and Barclay state, "These four beings stand for the noblest, strongest, swiftest, and wisest of God's creatures, and they lead the way in the worship of their Creator." The best of nature are not objects of worship, but are themselves leaders in worship.

When God created all of nature, He said it was very good, and in the new heaven and new earth it will be very good again. Creation is seen here as God intended it to be: A tool that leads His people to worship. What is nature for? Its chief end is to glorify God and lead men to do the same. Psa. 103:22 says, "Praise the Lord, all His works everywhere in His dominion." All of creation is to praise God, and in so doing be a witness to man of the importance of worship. God wants to be worshiped as our Creator even in heaven. He will be our Creator forever, and His creation will forever praise Him.

Some people ask, will there be animals in heaven? The answer is, if God is going to redeem His creation from the fall, and this is the clear revelation of the Bible, then there will be animals in heaven, and there will be everything else in heaven that is a part of God's creation, and forever they will aids to the worship of God as Creator. Chapter 5 is about the worship of God as redeemer, but before God became redeemer He was Creator, and He wants to be worshiped as such. Even redemption is a second work of creation. It is a plan by which fallen man and nature are recreated to be what God intends.

The word of God says listen to the works of God, for day and night; perpetually, and without end, they call us to worship. There is a time and place for everything, and the time for worship is anytime, and the place is anyplace, for nature leads the way, and nature is like God in this respect: It is always present. The heavens declare the glory of God day and night. But so does every animal, every flower, and everything made that only God can make. Sheldon Vanauken wrote of an experience most all of us have had: Of suddenly being surprised by the sight of a cardinal in all of its red brilliance. He wrote,

This is no chance,

This bird of flame

That grips my glance:

I see God's name

In scarlet flight

And know that he

Along the light

Is hailing me.

We get so familiar with our surroundings and the nature in the context of where we live that we do not think of it as a symbol calling us to worship its Maker. This is one of the values of travel. We saw things that God made so radically different that it made me look more closely at the beauty of what we have in our own environment. It made me more thoughtful of creation. I don't know how long I can be influenced by what I saw in our travels, or by what John saw in heaven, but the goal of every Christian is to be ever thoughtful of nature so that it might lead to worship. Max Mullen wrote, "The eyes of a thoughtful man forever behold the face of the Creator beaming in love from the midst of his works."

Gloria Gaither in Joys and Sorrows tells of how she came close to missing a chance to worship God, and strengthen her relationship to her son. It was a hectic day and she was busy in the kitchen when Benji hollered, "come here mom!" "I can't" she hollered back," I've got to finish these dishes. You will have to wait." Knowing that sunsets do not wait for busy mothers he said," okay, but you'll miss it," and he turned and walked out. It dawned on her that this could be an important moment, and so she went out behind him and saw the sky a riot of crimson. It was breathtaking with the light reflecting off the creak where they live, and geese flying across that crimson sky. Her son said, "Mom, I'm glad you came." She was glad as well, and felt bad because she almost missed this gift from God for a sink full of dishes. She still had to do the dishes, but it was easier after she had spent those moments in worship.

" The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath heset a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming outof his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. Hisgoing forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it : and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." — Psalm xix. 1-6.

The sun was a key factor in the beauty and pleasure of Florida, and it gave us much to be thankful for. Then there were the daily deer that came out around 4:30 every night and people could come and watch them eat. The highest number we ever counted was 13, but some said they counted up to 16. They came out of the woods to eat whatever people had provided. One man put bags of corn on a cement foundation for a cottage and that was the main attraction. I was so impressed with the way God made this creature so flexible. They could be standing facing the woods and still be able to turn their heads completely around and look back at us. They were so sleek and fast. They were creatures of beauty.

So many things can be developed to train animals and to keep them in line. If only something could be found to make man live in harmony with God and one another. This is God's complaint also. His problem is not with the animal kingdom,but with man. An old colored philosopher once said, "The chicken is the most useful animal there is. You can eat them before they are born, and after they are dead." That is a nice compliment on the usefulness of an animal, but no where can we find a greater compliment for animals than what we find here in Isa. 1:3. Godcompares the ox and the ass with His own people. In this comparison of the children of Israel and the animals, the animals win.

ISA. 1:2-3, "2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”

According to a God's eye view of life, man is not being precisely accurate in his use of language when he calls someone a dumb ox, or stubborn ass. God says that the ox and ass are no where near as dumb and stubborn as man. These animals know their master, and they understand that he is the source of their food supply.They are not so stupid that they forget these basic facts of their life. Man, however,can become just that stupid. He can forget his Maker and Master, and forget that God is the source of his life. Animals are dumb in the sense that they do not speak,but they are not stupid in the sense that they deliberately act contrary to what is natural and normal. They have no desire to do what is opposed to the law of God for their well being.We sometimes refer to someone as a bird brain, and we imply that the bird is nottoo bright. God has a different opinion concerning birds also. In Jer. 8:7 we readGod speaking these words, "Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and theturtle dove, swallow, and crane, keep the time of their coming; but my people knownot the ordinance of the Lord." God does not call Israel a bird brain, because fromGod's perspective that would be a compliment, for birds live in harmony with thelaws that He designed for them, but His people do not live in obedience to the lawsHe made for their good. God's complaint is that man is not a bird brain. God hasgreat respect for the animal and bird kingdom.St. Valentine was a great bird lover, and he said, "God made the birds as aparticular expression of His love of the beautiful." God's love for, and appreciationof, the animal kingdom indicates that the animal kingdom did not fall as did man.Any problem in the animal kingdom is due to man's fall, and not their own. Watts wrote,The brutes obey their God,And bow their necks to men,But we more base, more brutish thingsReject his easy reign.Martin Luther commenting on this verse says, "Would we not rightly bare ourheads before the ass and greet it as our teacher." Luther concluded, and I think rightly, that God implies in His Word that man can learn much from the animalkingdom about love and loyalty. The animal kingdom has been affected by man'ssin, but not nearly as much as man. Therefore, there are many illustrations in the animal kingdom of what is beautiful and noble.The greatest modern proof of this is the impact of Walt Disney's movies on our culture. One of the basic themes of these movies is this God's eye view of the animalkingdom. Animals are used to teach, illustrate, and motivate toward kind, loving,and beneficial behavior. Even the most conservative Christian tends to approve of Walt Disney films, and rightly so, because their basic theme is consistent with biblical revelation.

His use of the animal is to motivate men to live up to their potential. God made man far superiorto the animal kingdom. He is just a little lower than the angels, and even in his fallenstate has great potential. He can by cooperation with God make his life beautifuland beneficial to all. God's motive is a Walt Disney motive. He points to the animalkingdom to bring men to repentance for falling below the animal, and to inspirethem to return to the higher level they were created to reach in obedience to theirMaker.An animal can never be as stupid as man in sin, but neither can an animalrespond as man to the grace of God, and rise to the heights of love. Pascal rightlysaid, "Man is both the glory and scum of the universe." He can fall the lowest of anycreature, but he can also rise the highest. He is both the most valuable of God'screatures, as well as the most dangerous. God's motive, even in condemnation, is tomove men to rise to the level they are capable of reaching. That is the whole point of His comparison of man with the animals. Man sees values and characters inanimals that make them admirable. They name their sports teams the Bears, Cubs,Tigers, Badgers, Gophers, Cougars, and the Huskies, and many other animalnames. Men are proud to be linked with the virtues of the animal kingdom.

Samuel Hofferstein wrote,
There are strange creatures in the zoo,
Like emu, zebra, awk, and gnu,
But stranger creatures I have seen
Riding in a limousine.

This is God's complaint about man. He is truly a strange puzzle and a mystery.No creature anywhere acts so inconsistent with its potential and the laws designed for its benefit. We have a dog that knows us and loves to express emotional affection. If we go away for a week, or simple go out the front door and in the back,this so-called dumb animal is so delighted to see us again, she is wild with excitement. Animals relate better to their masters than people relate to their God.Man with all of his great learning can be so profoundly ignorant that he can losesight completely of his Maker, and of his heavenly Fathers purpose for his life.

The Bible begins outdoors with Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden. The whole history of the Exodus and the forty years in the wilderness of God's people is all about life in the outdoors. The three years of the public ministry of Jesus was pretty much all outdoors.

THE ATTITUDE OF JESUS TOWARD NATURE How many of the plants of the countryare familiar to us from His allusions to them — the tiny mustard seed which grows into a shrub large enough for birdsto lodge in its branches, fig-trees and thistles, wheat and tares, grape-vines and thorns, the marsh-reed swaying in the breeze, the wild flower in the meadow so incomparably beautiful and yet amere weed to be cut down and used for fuel! How many dumb creatures He refers to — foxes and wolves, oxen, sheep, goats,swine, the camel, the ass, the calf fatted fora festal occasion, the scavenger dogs that hang about the streets of an eastern village and the little pet dogs waiting under the table for scraps of the children's food;sparrows, doves, ravens, the cock crowing at daybreak, a hen gathering her brood under her protecting wings, eagles collect-ing hungrily about a carcass, birds hovering over a sower to pick up the seed, and birds quietly going to sleep at evening in the

branches of a tree!He mentions animals in the most personal sayings which give us glimpses into His deepest feelings. One realizes that He must often have looked wistfully at the foxes creeping into their holes and the birds composing their feathers as they went to roost at night-fall, and contrasted their ap-parently home-like attitude to their sur-roundings with His own homelessness, in a world which treated His ideals as such utter strangers that the Son of Man had not where to lay His head. It is note-worthy that, when He wishes to express His tender yearning for His unresponsive peo-ple, the illustration which comes to Hismind is not a heart-broken human mother,but a hen seeking to gather her chickens under her wings. And His own kindly consideration for dumb creatures is appa-rent in His cleansing of the Temple, whenHe overturns the tables of the money-changers and drives out their proprietors with a scourge of small cords, but spares the piled-up cages of doves, and, instead of upsetting them, bids their vendors:"Take these hence."We appreciate how much Jesus thought and talked of nature

The beauty of nature cast its spell over Him. He said of the commonest wildflowers, " Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."