Before man can work he must have both tools and materials, but God began with nothing, and by His Word alone out of nothing ma

CREATION-DISTINCTIVES

Before man can work he must have both tools and materials, but God began with nothing, and by His Word alone out of nothing made all things. The intellect cannot grasp it. God “spake and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:9). Primeval matter heard His voice. “God said, Let there be… and it was so” (Gen 1).

A.W. Pink

The Attributes of God, Baker Book House, p. 49.

God can do all He wills (and does) but need not do all He can (and does not). That is to say, God’s infinite power is manifested in the works of creation, but isn’t exhausted by them. God could have created more than He has, if He so pleased. What God has done, therefore, is no measure of what He could have done or can do.

Sam Storms
One Thing, Christian Focus, © Enjoying God Ministries, 2004, p.119. www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.

If you were to take every single, solitary grain of sand off of every square inch of beach on the face of the earth, you wouldn’t equal the number of stars in the galaxies of the universe. And your God made them all! More amazing still, He named them all! The psalmist declared, “He determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names” (Ps. 147:4).

Sam Storms
One Thing, Christian Focus, © Enjoying God Ministries, 2004, p.92. www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.

God is distinct from His creation. He isn’t a part of it; it isn’t a part of Him. He didn’t “arise” from it; it didn’t’ “arise” from Him. He spoke, and where nothing was before, it was.

J. Budziszewski