“Something New, Something Old” - January 1, 2012
Do you see how Paul now presents something “new” to them? He describes for them their “unknown god.” Apparently no one else had ever done such a thing in Athens.
This term “devotions” is an Old English word meaning “worship.”
Besides all the Greek gods and goddesses; and in case they might have missed one, the Greeks would often set up altars to someone they referred to as “The Unknown God.”
And we can sure that these philosophers wanted to hear something new. But they believed they could tell Paul a lot about the Olympian gods, when they gave him the opportunity to speak, he felt compelled to say something to them about the one they openly admitted they didn’t know. This God, Paul proceeds to say, is the One True and Living Creator.
And who is that? Who is this “Unknown God”?
First, He’s the Creator of everything. The Greeks had no Creator-God. They had a supreme god, Zeus. The Romans called him Jupiter. But Zeus simply was more powerful than the rest. But they had no idea Who the Creator was.
Here’s what they believed. “First, there was Gaia, or Mother Earth, and Uranus, or Father Sky. These two begot the Titans, who begot the Olympians, which included Zeus.” [Found on www.wiki.answers.com].
But watch how Paul puts presents the unknown God to them; verse twenty-four. (24) “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
(25) Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
(26) And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;…”
Now you and I might have an idea of what and Who the Creator is; especially if we’ve grown up hearing the Bible’s teaching on God, the Creator.
But imagine being a soul who lived where everyone around you worshiped twelve demon-gods; gods who were constantly displeased with them; gods who showed their displeasure by storms and crop failure and such; demon-gods; gods they lived in constant fear of.
And while they worshipped their Olympians, the true Creator is ignored. Isn’t it interesting also that, even though they don’t know the true God, these Greeks, like millions across the globe today, did know that they need to worship Someone?
Paul tells them exactly Who He is.
Who is He?
First, He’s a sovereign Creator. He’s LORD of heaven and earth. He’s the Maker of the world and everything in it; everything that lives and everything that isn’t alive; the rocks and the clouds and the volcanoes.
One of the simplest things to tell people when it comes to God is this. God is your Creator. And whether they choose to believe it intellectually or not, it’s the truth. And the truth, as you already know, is what sets us free.
Folks, do you know that there is nowhere in the universe you can look where you can’t “see” the Creator God in the sense of knowing His existence?
Imagine if the Greeks of Paul’s day knew what we know today. Imagine this: an extremely complex world; something old and something new; everything from DNA to light. Complexity, as we all know by experience is not impersonal. It’s rooted in intelligence.
One strand of DNA, the fundamental, unchangeable in every single living thing. It is an information code and it can make copies of itself.
Light: electromagnetic radiation. It flows in a straight line. It is both a particle and a wave. It travels at a rate of 186,000 miles per second.
Something old and something new.
Imagine this: the earth is the perfect distance from the sun; something old and something new. It is tipped at exactly 23.5 degrees and it rotates twenty-four hours every day at 67,000 miles per hour and revolves around the sun once every year.
Imagine this: lightning; something old and something new.A 20,000 (Celsius) degree strike traveling at 186,000 miles per second is about three miles long. Something old; something new.
Imagine this: water. No living things can exist without it. Something old; something new.
Imagine this: salt. This is one grain of table salt. It is composed of one ion of sodium and one ion of chloride. These ions bind together to form a crystal. It is the only rock eaten by human beings. Something old; something new.
All of creation is a mathematical mystery.
Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner for quantum electrodynamics, said, "Why nature is mathematical is a mystery...The fact that there are rules at all is a kind of miracle." [Found on www.everystudent.com; an article by Marilyn Adamson “Is There A God?”
One of the great writers of the past century was J.I. Packer. He wrote these simple words. “God’s world is not a shield hiding the Creator’s power and majesty. From the natural order it is evident that a mighty and majestic Creator is there.” [Found on www.cslewisinstitute.org].
This term “devotions” is an Old English word meaning “worship.”
Besides all the Greek gods and goddesses; and in case they might have missed one, the Greeks would often set up altars to someone they referred to as “The Unknown God.”
And we can sure that these philosophers wanted to hear something new. But they believed they could tell Paul a lot about the Olympian gods, when they gave him the opportunity to speak, he felt compelled to say something to them about the one they openly admitted they didn’t know. This God, Paul proceeds to say, is the One True and Living Creator.
And who is that? Who is this “Unknown God”?
First, He’s the Creator of everything. The Greeks had no Creator-God. They had a supreme god, Zeus. The Romans called him Jupiter. But Zeus simply was more powerful than the rest. But they had no idea Who the Creator was.
Here’s what they believed. “First, there was Gaia, or Mother Earth, and Uranus, or Father Sky. These two begot the Titans, who begot the Olympians, which included Zeus.” [Found on www.wiki.answers.com].
But watch how Paul puts presents the unknown God to them; verse twenty-four. (24) “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
(25) Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
(26) And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;…”
Now you and I might have an idea of what and Who the Creator is; especially if we’ve grown up hearing the Bible’s teaching on God, the Creator.
But imagine being a soul who lived where everyone around you worshiped twelve demon-gods; gods who were constantly displeased with them; gods who showed their displeasure by storms and crop failure and such; demon-gods; gods they lived in constant fear of.
And while they worshipped their Olympians, the true Creator is ignored. Isn’t it interesting also that, even though they don’t know the true God, these Greeks, like millions across the globe today, did know that they need to worship Someone?
Paul tells them exactly Who He is.
Who is He?
First, He’s a sovereign Creator. He’s LORD of heaven and earth. He’s the Maker of the world and everything in it; everything that lives and everything that isn’t alive; the rocks and the clouds and the volcanoes.
One of the simplest things to tell people when it comes to God is this. God is your Creator. And whether they choose to believe it intellectually or not, it’s the truth. And the truth, as you already know, is what sets us free.
Folks, do you know that there is nowhere in the universe you can look where you can’t “see” the Creator God in the sense of knowing His existence?
Imagine if the Greeks of Paul’s day knew what we know today. Imagine this: an extremely complex world; something old and something new; everything from DNA to light. Complexity, as we all know by experience is not impersonal. It’s rooted in intelligence.
One strand of DNA, the fundamental, unchangeable in every single living thing. It is an information code and it can make copies of itself.
Light: electromagnetic radiation. It flows in a straight line. It is both a particle and a wave. It travels at a rate of 186,000 miles per second.
Something old and something new.
Imagine this: the earth is the perfect distance from the sun; something old and something new. It is tipped at exactly 23.5 degrees and it rotates twenty-four hours every day at 67,000 miles per hour and revolves around the sun once every year.
Imagine this: lightning; something old and something new.A 20,000 (Celsius) degree strike traveling at 186,000 miles per second is about three miles long. Something old; something new.
Imagine this: water. No living things can exist without it. Something old; something new.
Imagine this: salt. This is one grain of table salt. It is composed of one ion of sodium and one ion of chloride. These ions bind together to form a crystal. It is the only rock eaten by human beings. Something old; something new.
All of creation is a mathematical mystery.
Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner for quantum electrodynamics, said, "Why nature is mathematical is a mystery...The fact that there are rules at all is a kind of miracle." [Found on www.everystudent.com; an article by Marilyn Adamson “Is There A God?”
One of the great writers of the past century was J.I. Packer. He wrote these simple words. “God’s world is not a shield hiding the Creator’s power and majesty. From the natural order it is evident that a mighty and majestic Creator is there.” [Found on www.cslewisinstitute.org].