Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.
Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for at his command they were created,
and he established them for ever and ever—
he issued a decree that will never pass away.
- Psalm 148:1-6
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
- Genesis 1:1, 31
Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
- Revelation 12:3-4
“9. In the creation of all things there are chiefly considered, 1. Heavenly and spiritual substances, that is, angels, of which some are good and the protectors of the godly, while others are bad, not by creation, but by corruption; 2. Earthly substances, and particularly man, whose perfection is displayed in soul and in body.”
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Aphorisms
John Calvin did not write these aphorisms. They are a summarization of what he wrote in Institutes of the Christian Religion. There are 100 aphorisms.
This has been discussed recently in the Heidelberg Catechism discussions on Wednesday evenings. The discussion on how man was created perfect, without sin, but the sin of one brought sin to the world. The link is HERE for further biblical proofs.
God created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is in them. The Creation story lasts six days, and on the seventh day God rested, but God said everything was not just good, but very good.
We can see that without the interference of mankind, who constantly tries to “fix” things, the world is in many ways self-correcting. There is the cycle of life as an example.
If humans could restrain themselves and not do things to excess, we would be a lot better off, but there is a brokenness to this fallen world. Man was cursed, woman, the serpent, and the world. Death entered into the situation.
But until the fall, there was no death.
I do not understand the timing, but angels, per the Psalm 148 above, were created also.
Calvin points to that possibly being before the six days of Creation. In that that happened, and then everything else happened, God speaking them into existence.
The first half of this aphorism speaks of some angels being bad. Many think that Satan (the red dragon) corrupted a third of the angels, with them falling with him to earth. But for the time of man on earth, a third of the angels have been bad.
If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
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