I learned how to make canned preserves. This new kitchen hobby was prompted by a harvest of strawberries, caused by a decision last year to plant, because I inherited an interest in growing food from my farmer Dad, who was also raised on a farm. And the causes march resolutely backward in time. Everything has a cause, a series of causes, and ultimately a first cause, if you think about it. The first domino has to be pushed over.
Philosophers have dissected this idea for ages. If the origin of the universe is uncaused then a Creator is not needed. If there is a First Cause, who is it, and what are the implications for our destiny?
William Lane Craig is a Christian philosopher who expounds on the cosmological argument for the existence of God. The syllogism is stated thus: If the universe began to exist, then the universe has a cause of its beginning; the Universe began to exist; therefore the universe has a cause of its existence. Craig adds to the conclusion saying, “If the universe has a cause, then an uncaused personal Creator of the universe exists, who without the universe is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless and enormously powerful.”
Only a force outside of the universe could be the First Cause. The ancient Hebrews came to know this First Cause as YHWH, the timeless and uncaused God of the Bible who spoke the world into existence ex nihilo, or “out of nothing.” It is not irrational that “by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (Heb. 11:3).
Francis Schaeffer describes the Trinity’s existence before creation. “Prior to the material universe, prior to the creation of all else, there is love and communication. And hence, when modern man screams for love and communication (as he so frequently does), Christians have an answer: There is value to love and value to communication because it is rooted into what intrinsically always has been.” Our desire for love and communication is evidence we are created in God’s image, and meant for an eternal relationship with Him.
In love, God has communicated to you about origin and destiny. The ultimate destiny of creation, including you, is to worship the Creator. From John’s vision, “Every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the seas, and all things in them, I heard saying ‘To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever’ ” (Rev. 5:13). God created you to eternally occupy the place Jesus prepared for you. He said, “I am the Way” to that place. By faith in Him, your destiny is sure. That’s good news!