A Creational Covenant

Introduction

Well, there is, yet again, and with an ever-pressing vigor, another undeniable relation between God, the creator, and all the universe, his creation - a covenantal relationship. We can hear the screams of hatred from the suppressors now who would love nothing more than to have no connection whatever to the God of their existence, but alas they will never be satisfied in this regard. But, nevertheless, by the mere fact of there being a creation, those and that which are and have been the glad product fashioned with precision by the hands of perfect expertise, are in unbreakable concert with their creator whether this be to their liking or not. This concert is the covenantal water that all of creation swims in, and with that covenant comes a necessary authority from the creator over his creation and all of the subsequent blessings and cursing associated with it.

God's Control and Authority

In thinking about God’s covenant with creation, one must first contemplate the ability of God to form a creation with which a succeeding covenant can be made. The power of God is not something that is hidden from us within scripture, but rather it is spoken of throughout, as if a frag grenade of praise went off and peppered every page of Holy Writ. One does not need to look far. For example, Jeremiah 10:12-13 declares:

It is [God] 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. 1

This is an example of the fact that God “speaks, and even the inanimate creation must obey his powerful word” 2 Jesus likewise explains that if his people were to stop their praise, the stones would cry out with admiration and glory (Luke 19:40)! This is all because God did not begin being to be in control and have with authority when man was created. No. At the very punctiliar moment of God’s creative act he was all-controlling, because “anything God creates is necessarily under his lordship: under his control, subject to his authority, confronted by his presence”. 3 He is the cosmological materializer, and the macrocosmic glue, that not only forms but then simultaneously holds all things together! Nothing could exist apart from his immediate and intentional commanding and binding. And this relationship between God and creation, superior and inferior, King and slave, is, by necessity, a covenantal relationship.

The Implication Is Worship

In this covenant relationship where Lord and creation are in connection to one another, that relationship materializes in one of two ways. Either there will worship of the great King, or there will be condemnation for the failure of the creation to worship accordingly. This is because “the relationship of the creature to its Creator is contingent and covenantal rather than natural, necessary, and essential.” 4 In other words, we are not given free rein as God’s created beings, upon his created Earth, to do whatever we wish with his property. What son isn’t taught to ask for permission before rummaging through his father’s refrigerator? The anarchy that would ensue if the boy thought he could eat whatever he wished, without giving thought to his mother’s dinner plans!

But we must recognize God works in much the same way. His covenant is thereby one of communication, giving and receiving, commanding and obeying 5 . And this communication, this dance, that creation does with her creator is one of worship and liturgy. Hear how the world worships. “Rivers clap their hands”, “hills sing for joy”, “mountains and hills sing”, “trees and hills clap”, “floods lift up their voice”, “the north and south…Tabor and Hermon praise your name.” 6 The world gets the picture, but it is wicked humanity, the stubborn human heart that continues rebuffing the worship of God, attempting to climb the heights of the human intellect, higher powers, and universal secrets, overlooking the fact that the creating God has not placed them in a prison in which they must escape, but into a universal sized aviary for his glory to be recognized and praised!

Conclusion

So, creation is in covenant with the authoritative and commanding God and must continue in its worship of him. The fact of it being a created thing obligates it to worship its creator, who is none other than the Lord the God of Israel! Humanity can learn from the world, and should groan along with it until the day of the redemption of our bodies in humility and prayer!

1 ESV Reference Bible

2 Frame, John M. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief. Phillipsburg, New

Jersey, P&R, 2013. pg 61-62

3 ibid

4 Horton, Michael. The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way. Grand

Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 2011 pg 44

5 ibid

6 Psalm 98:8; Isaiah 55:12; Psalm 93:3; Psalm 89:12