Psalm 104-The Creation Hymn and Us

Again, it's so nice to be back with in-person services. Hopefully what we've had in the past will stay in the past, and we can go on to receive God's Word as we want to on this Sabbath day. Today, we had originally planned to have the Sabbath in the park, but due to the COVID situation and some not feeling well and never know exactly how the temperature is going to be there, we decided to have in-services here. It's a lot safer and the climate is a lot better control. But, as you know, during those Sabbath in the park where we are surrounded by the beauty of the trees, everything around us, I traditionally give a sermon dealing with the creation of God. And so I'm not going to change that because I'm going to speak about the creation of God today. And this is an exciting subject, especially something that you're probably going to learn, probably haven't heard it quite this way before, and there's so much material to provide you, to inspire, to really thank God for everything He does. Did you know, brethren, that in the Bible, out of those 150 Psalms, the great majority composed by David, there's one in particular that is dedicated to the creation of God. It is called the creation hymn. And again, I always like to see how alert you are and how well prepared you are. Would anybody know which of the 150 Psalms is called the creation hymn? Anybody have a notion? Nobody? Oh, good! See, something new you're going to learn today.

So, it is Psalm 104. Psalm 104.

It is another proof of God's inspiration, for it accurately gives a description of the universe and the earth and all the life that we have as we know it.

So, how can it be that this Psalm, written during the time of David, approximately 3,000 years ago, how can it be so accurate that as you read it today, you see that there is a scientific backing to it? It can't be just a coincidence that you have all of these things accurately given at that time. It actually is caused, and this is the reason why this Psalm can give us information that today we can understand it fully. Whereas at the time of David, as he was being inspired by God, he didn't know all of these things. God put it in his heart and mind. So, what scripture helps us to understand how the Bible is not limited to the time that it was written in. Next scripture is 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. Let's go there.

This is the reason why God can give accurate information about the universe and the earth during the time of David. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16.

It says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Actually, a more accurate translation of the Greek would be, is God breathed? It comes from God. All scripture. And is profitable for doctrine, for teaching the truth of God, for reproof, which means rebuking, wrong teachings, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God, and that means the person of God, whether man or woman, may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. So, it is inspired by God. And this psalm, as you will see, has so much information that is accurate, as scientists have discovered a lot of these physical truths today. Now, this psalm also does something else. It refutes a common idea that started back in the age of enlightenment, in the basically the 1600s, going to the 1700s, 1800s. That's the period to call the age of enlightenment. Or it can be also called the age of reason. That's when scientists started discovering things. Galileo, Newton, and others found a lot of the laws of physics. They discovered them. And so, people thought, well, we can understand this world so much better. And, unfortunately, they went to an extreme. And some of the philosophers and scientists started thinking that this universe and the earth, they're all controlled by laws of physics. And that it was just like winding a clock. That once it was ready, they would call God the first cause. But it would be like a clock that was wound up. And then God just removed himself from it. And so then this universe is run by these physical laws. And they put God out of the picture and put man in the center and developed an idea that man's reason can explain everything we see around us. Unfortunately, again, man took it to such an extreme that it caused enormous damage throughout history. Let me read to you from the preacher's Bible commentary that touches on this. It says, it was as if God were a celestial clockmaker who had made the perfect timepiece, wound it up, and then stepped out to let it run. Any interference would upset or stop the clock. In other words, God could not make miracles. He couldn't do anything because once he got the thing wound up, it ran on its own. So in fact, it made God irrelevant. He was reduced to a first cause and man was left, if not to run the show, then at least to understand the show by his autonomous reason, means self-created reason. Thus, to them, God had abdicated his authority and man was now in charge. This is the age of humanism. This is where man replaced God as the center of society. To be sure, demons would rush into this moral and spiritual vacuum as the Enlightenment gave way to the bloody French Revolution and to world wars far beyond anyone's comprehension. All of this, men thought, we can reason, we can create this ideal society, and it led to nightmare societies. It says, moreover, gangster politicians, as author Paul Johnson called them, would arise after the bright light of reason was overpowered by the dark side of human nature. Hitler, Stalin, and Mao quickly stepped to the center stage, all of them thinking that they could be the center of society, that reason would prevail without God's help. And nowadays, we still have the same age of reason with these gangster politicians. Now it's Putin in Russia, Xi in China, Yim Kang-un, Kim Yong-un in North Korea, to just name a few that are continuing with this humanism and this rise of man's reasoning without the help of God. It all has happened as Romans chapter 1 verses 18 through 21 predicted would happen. Notice, let's read Romans chapter 1.

Verse 18. Paul is talking about the society in his days, but also projecting forward. It says in verse 18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made. If you want to know something about the architect, look at what he has created, the buildings, the art forms. That will tell you a lot about the person. Same way, you look around and it tells us a lot about God's nature and his thoughts. It goes on to say, These are understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. This is what the world is today. The children of the Enlightenment, the idea that through reason we don't need religion, we don't need any intervention from God, man can solve his own problems, and boy have we made a mess of it, as Enrique mentioned in his sermonette.

And so, as we turn now to Psalm 104, I can only cover about half of it today. Part one of Psalm 104, the creation, him, and us, because this applies to us. It's not just a reading of the Bible, but how we can apply it in our own lives. So let's cover three purposes today about Psalm 104. First, we can appreciate more the world that surrounds us. Many times we take it for granted. We will see how carefully built it was. It shows God's love and concern. Secondly, to acknowledge and praise God for all that he has done and is doing for us as the sustainer through Jesus Christ.

So we'll see that when it talks about God, remember, God the Father is over everything, but he is using Jesus Christ to actually carry things out. In Colossians chapter 1 verse 15, the second purpose is explained here to acknowledge and praise God as the sustainer through Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter 1 verse 15. And we're going to read all the way through 18.

Let's start in verse 15. It says, I'm talking about Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, talking about God the Father, the firstborn of all creation, the term firstborn from the term archae, which means he's over all the creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him. So Jesus Christ is the one that created the angels, created the universe under God the Father's supervision.

And he is before all things and in him all things consist. Or other translations say subsist. They're sustained by him. He's the active force. He's still carrying things out under God the Father's guidance. And the third purpose is to see the scientific underpinnings of Psalm 104. It shows much more proofs of God's existence and his saving faith. How tremendous! God has created all these things to be a service to us, tools for us. Now imagine what it takes here in Orange County to be able to manage just in one day how much it takes to manage Orange County.

You've got millions of people. They need housing. They need electricity. They need water. They need food supplies. They need transportation. They need gas to be able to operate. And those are just few things, but just imagine how complex it is to administrate all of these things. The fans blowing now, the electricity, the microphone, the lights that we have, air conditioning system.

All of these things have to be managed by somebody, or else we'd be in darkness right now. Imagine how much more it takes for God in one day to run the universe to make sure all the animals are fed. That all of the things work, that the earth continues with the right spin and the orbit and all the things that God intervenes for things to work out. That's why this Psalm 104 is not only a hymn of creation, but also about God being the sustainer of creation.

It's not just creating it and just leaving the scene. No, he is actively involved. So let's go to verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 104. And I hope you always remember this Psalm as one of the most inspiring parts of the creation of God. Psalm 104 verses 1 and 2.

He says, and of course it says, bless the Lord, O my soul. If you notice, it's the same repetition as Psalm 103. These Psalms go together. One shows God as the merciful God that redeems and forgives us. And that's 103. Psalm 104 is God as the creator king and sustainer. So it starts out and he says, O Lord my God, you are very great. So David realizes how active God is, the greatness of God. He goes on to say, you are clothed with honor and majesty. Just like this kingly roll, the creator king with all of this majesty. In verse 2, it says, who covered yourself with light as with a garment, who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. So here again, David is revealing certain things about God. He's the creator of light, and he clothes himself because he is spirit. And so it's this brilliance that comes out of God, the glory of God. He is spirit, he's clothed in light, and he uses light. In Genesis 1 verse 3, and you'll see the parallel between Psalm 104 and Genesis 1, about the creation. And now in Psalm 104, God adds more details, not only in God the creator, but as the sustainer. And so in Genesis 1.3 it says, let there be light and there was light. And it says that God is clothed in light. Scientifically, light is one of the great mysteries of physics. It is called a photon, which is a package of electromagnetic energy. Now, the curious thing is it has no mass or weight. That's why it can travel at the speed of light, and nothing slows it down. It is both a particle and a wave. So it's got two different properties combined. That's why it's called a wave particle. And that's confusing and confounding. Even Einstein was puzzled by light. And light has these properties. I don't want to get technical about it, but what really puzzled Einstein was what is called a wave particle. A quantum entanglement, where light that is spread out actually has communication. It's called an entanglement, where a photon knows the position of the other photons, even at an enormous distance. Well, Einstein couldn't believe that. So he said, oh, this quantum entanglement, that's not fact. That's fiction. There's no way that these photons can know where the positions and the information of other photons is. And so he called it the spooky action at a distance. And he said, no, it doesn't exist. Well, Einstein was wrong. More and more scientific experiments have shown there is that quantum entanglement, that light somehow is able to know what's going on in other parts. It gives information at a faster speed than light itself. So this is one of those puzzling things that seems to be a contradiction. And here we see God is clothed in light. He's familiar with it, just as familiar as we know our clothing when we wear it. For God, it's not confusing. For man, it is. Then it says, he stretches out the heavens like a curtain. So when you open a curtain up, it stretches out. And God, and here God is saying, I stretch out the universe like a curtain. Now, how could David have known that to be true? Now, we know that the universe is stretching. It is expanding. We only knew that this past century, that the universe is expanding, just like a tent that is spread out on its tent pegs. Notice what it says in Isaiah 40, verses 21 and 22. Isaiah 40, verses 21 and 22.

Talking about God, it says, it is he who sits above the circle of the earth. So here, it denotes the roundness of the earth. So back in those days, how were they to know that the earth was round? There are still people that believe in a flat earth today. But it says here, he who sits above the circle of the earth. It's circular. It's not square or flat. And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. In the Good News Bible version, it says, do you not know? Were you not told long ago? Have you not heard how the world began? It was made by the one who sits on his throne above the earth and beyond the sky. The people below look as tiny as ants. He stretches out the sky like a curtain, like a tent in which to live.

So the universe is expanding just like a tent being stretched out on its pegs. What physical law have they found that makes that expansion of the universe possible? It's called the cosmological constant. It also is called dark energy because it can't be directly detected. And that is what keeps expanding the universe. Out of the 34 constants or physical laws that govern the universe, this is the most exact of all the laws, exactly 10 to the 120th power of exactitude. It's the greatest measuring and fine-tuning that they have found in the universe. Now, you can calculate, according to scientific evidence, that there are approximately 10 to the 80th atoms in the universe. 10 to the 80th. That includes everything known. And here, the cosmological constant is fine-tuned 10 to the 120th. Just mind-boggling the exactitude that that has. But that makes it into the stately expansion of the universe. It's kind of interesting that they talk about the universe being approximately 14 billion years old. We don't know how exact that is, but at least the time of the earliest light coming to the earth that they've measured, apparently going by the speed of light, would be 14 billion. And you think, well, that's the size of the universe, right? No. Because of the expansion, it's 92 billion light years across. Because it has been expanding so much that the light that comes 14 billion years, that was that time. But you have to multiply that by the expansion rate. And so now it's 92 billion light years across. So God does a quite a job of stretching out this universe. In verse 3, it says, He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters. This is Psalm 104, verse 3. Who makes the clouds His chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind. Here, the focus goes from the universe now to the earth and the climate of the earth, which makes life possible. He establishes the foundation of life on earth with a water cycle in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. That's why He says He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, which is talking about above the earth, who makes the clouds His chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind. So this is the foundation for life on earth with the water cycle, which is the basis for plant and animal life to thrive. 70% of the surface of the earth approximately is covered with water. In verse 4, it shows us that not only that God create physical life on earth, but also He put angelic life on earth to take care of His people here on earth. Verse 4, it says, Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire. We can read this in the New Testament. Keep one finger in Psalm 104, and then we can go to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 1 verse 7.

Hebrews 1 verse 7. It's quoting Psalm 104.

I mean, Hebrews 1 verse 7. It says, And of the angels, He says, Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire. Talking about here His serving angels. And then it goes on to say in verse 14, Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? So the earth is not just populated physically with water and animals. God placed angels here to take care of those people that He is calling that need His protection, His guidance, His blessings. Going back to Psalm 104 verse 5. Psalm 104 verse 5. It says, You who lay the foundation of the earth so that it should not be moved forever. So here it's talking about the stability of the earth. Its spin, its orbit, its angle. It is so stable. It is so reliable. God made it so. In the the Passion Translation of verse 5, the verse says, You are creator, form the earth, and you hold it all together so it will never fall apart. God made sure the earth was very well built for His future children. God created the inner and outer stability of the earth. The inner stability is based on the layers of the earth, the crust, the mantle, and the core. And the core is a giant spinning engine moved by radioactivity. In that core, made mostly of iron and also elements of uranium. So just like atomic energy can drive submarines and electric plants, it also drives this spinning of the earth. The outer stability of the earth depends on the gravitational force of the sun. It keeps the earth orbiting around it. The earth goes around the sun once every year. And so God laid all of these foundational principles so that we would have a stable planet to live on. Notice verse, notice Job 26 verse 7. Job 26 verse 7 tells us here how God keeps the earth suspended in space without any pillars to support it. Job 26 verse 7.

It says, He stretches out the north over empty space. He hangs the earth on nothing. So whereas all of the other religions of the world had different ideas of how the earth could be held up, the Greeks thought there was this God Atlas that held up the planet on his shoulders. The Hindu people in India, they thought the earth was carried on top of elephants that were on top of a turtle, a giant turtle. And so when the elephants slipped, that's when you had earthquakes. That was the explanation. Well, we know all of that is false, but we know the Bible was right when it says God hangs the earth on nothing. In the contemporary English version of Job 26, 7, it says, who hung the northern sky and suspended the earth on empty space. It's the gravitational pull of the sun that keeps the earth from falling and leaving its orbit. Then we go to Psalm 104 again, verses 6 through 9. It says, you covered it, talking about the earth, with the deep, as with a garment, the water stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled. This also harkens back to Genesis 1, where it talks about the lifting up of the continents. In Genesis 1.3 it says, no, Genesis 1.9 through 10. Genesis 1.9 through 10. Then God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so, and God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. So he shaped it, he lifted the continents, put everything in its place. So although 70% of the surface of the earth is covered with water, this water is highly stable. You can imagine the thousands and thousands of miles of just pure water. It's a fluid. If it wasn't carefully calibrated, why these waters would come, and they'd cover the continents. And yet, the average wave on the earth is between six and ten feet. That's why you can go to the beach, and these waves that come, the average is between six and ten feet. It's a tiny amount for a huge surface of liquid, and it doesn't spill over the continents. Notice in Proverbs 8, verse 27 through 29. Proverbs 8 verses 27 and 29 talks about this phenomenon. Talking about God says, when He prepared the heavens, I was there when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth. So God said these oceans are going to go this far, they cannot go any further. In verses 10 through 13 in Psalm 104, again, God explains the vital hydrological cycle, this water cycle. It's what irrigates everything. It's what gives life. Notice in verse 10, it says, He sends the springs into the valleys. They flow among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst. By them the birds of the heavens have their home. They sing among the branches. He waters the hills from His upper chambers, talking about the rain coming down. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works. In other words, everything blooms. Everything is abundant because God has this water cycle. It's interesting again in Job 36 verse 26, it talks about this water cycle. Let's go to Job 36 verse 26.

It says, Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him, nor can the number of His years be discovered. For He draws up drops of water. He draws them up. This is called the cycle of evaporation. He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the midst, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man. So there is that cycle of evaporation and then condensation, and it comes down as rain. This is part of the creation that God has carefully sustained and calibrated. Continuing on, verse 14, it says, He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man. So what is the result of the rain? Well, you have vegetation. Now you have food for animals and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth. If we didn't have water, none of this would be possible. And wine that makes glad the heart of man oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengthens man's heart. See, we take this for granted. God can't take it for granted. He makes sure every day there's enough to feed humans and animals, plant life, because of the careful calibration of this water cycle, the hydrological cycle that you learned in high school, evaporation, condensation, all this. We take it for granted, but you can imagine all the work that had to be taken place for us to enjoy a nice shower in the morning, to be able to bathe and to have all the food because there's enough water to provide for it. Wine that makes glad the heart of man. God made wine and it has its proper place, nothing like a nice meal, and then have a glass of wine along with it. But just think the process of that grape being able to be ripened and crushed and eventually distilled. It makes this wonderful wine that we enjoy. Oil. That's the olive tree. It needs water to grow, and the little olives that eventually become this golden oil that we use so much, and the bread which strengthens man's heart. Bread is called the staff of life, but God is the one that's always there. He's not only the creator, but he's the sustainer, making sure everything works properly. That's what we can learn about Psalm 104. Notice in verse 16, it says, the trees of the Lord are full of sap. The cedars of Lebanon, which he planted. These trees just grow on their own, just like these huge forests that we have. Man didn't plant them. God made sure they grew. And the sap, of course, is the water that goes up through the trunk all the way up and feeds the tree and the branches, and that's where you get all of the leaves. And they're full of sap because God takes care of that water cycle, which is so vital. And yet, we take it for granted. So, brethren, the next time I hope to finish Psalm 104, the hymn of creation, to give glory to God. Let's read Psalm 104 verses 33 and 34.

Psalm 104 verses 33 and 34. This is what David exclaimed. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. Well, we do that when we come to Sabbath services. I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to him. I will be glad in the Lord. David was one that studied nature very carefully, and God inspired him to put these wonderful truths that many times we take for granted. So, God is not only creator, but he's the sustainer of everything that surrounds us.