Nature's Laws Are God's Laws

If you ever doubt that God is personally involved in your life, there's a short verse in the book of Hebrews that will hopefully lay such pesky thoughts to rest. But first, a few words on our subconscious suppositions.

An Unnecessary Hard Line

I'm going to take a little guess here, and say that most people, including Christians, separate the laws of nature from the laws of God. Here's what I mean: on the one hand, we have the Scriptures, and in the Scriptures we have what theologians call the special revelation of God. That is to say, God has definitively and decisively spoken in and through the words of the Bible, and in doing so he has revealed himself in such a way that he can be truly known and believed and worshiped. He has done this supremely through sending his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2, John 1:1ff). Thus, we can also know the revealed will of God through the Scriptures: we don't have to tap into ethereal mysteries in order to know what God asks of us (Deuteronomy 30:12). He has, in other words, given his law to us.

But on the other hand, we have what theologians call the general revelation of God. Or, as Paul would say it, all humans can know that God exists, "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made" (Romans 1:20). Even if someone never cracks open a Bible during all of their days on this good green earth, they can still know that an Almighty Creator exists.

So there are natural laws in place that reveal the presence of a Lawgiver. The law of gravity, for instance, keeps us all from floating away into the void. You don't need the Scriptures to discover such a law as that. You could also throw in the law of conscience: people know that some things are right and some things are wrong, that some things are just and some things are unjust (in fact, folks who say it seems wrong for a good God to send people to hell are appealing to this very law, often without realizing it). Granted, lots of people are confused about what's right and what's wrong, but that's the way the cookie crumbles with a fallen humanity.

Now, the problem is that we tend to draw a hard line between the laws of nature and the laws of God -- and what I specifically mean by that, is that we think that God sort of pulled a "set it and forget it" with the laws of nature. He's busy doing other things, and he's just kind of let the natural laws do their thing, so to speak. Yet that is as far from the truth as heaven is from hell.

Upholds, Present Tense

Read this verse from Hebrews very carefully: "[Christ] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3a).

Aside from the monumental statement in the first half of that verse, which affirms the divinity of Jesus, notice the present-tense of that word "upholds." Jesus upholds, right now, the whole cosmos by his mere word. Every atom in existence continues to exist because he tells it to exist.

So, here's what that means: when you're boiling water in a pot so that you can make spaghetti for dinner, the reason that the water obeys natural law and boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit is because Christ is telling the water to boil at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The reason that the water in your ice cube tray will turn into ice cubes in your freezer, is because Christ is telling the water to freeze at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The reason that the stars hold to their courses and the earth continues to rotate on its axis according to the laws of nature, is because Christ is telling them to do so.

In other words, God's providence truly does reach down to most minute, subatomic particle. In Christ all things hold together (Colossians 1:17).

He’s the God Who Is There

Now, why have I gone off on this little diatribe here?

Because it shows us just how personally involved Christ is in the lives of his people. Every single human being on this planet who is drawing breath right now, is drawing breath because Christ is upholding their lungs, the air, and everything in between. He grants this unimaginable gift even to the greatest blasphemers and worst sinners; his rains fall upon the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).

But for those who call upon him by name and lay hold of him by the hand of faith, Christ promises to be personally present down to the very end of all things (Matthew 28:18-20). The same power that sustains the universe is the same power that is working everything in your life, even the worst of it, for your ultimate good (Genesis 50:20, Romans 8:28). If you woke up today believing in Jesus, you did so because Jesus is upholding your life and your faith at this very moment, and he has promised he will not lose you (John 6:37-40). Your very heart is beating because Christ is telling the molecules of your heart to inhere and do their job.

So when you look at the world around you, and you are tempted to say, "Everything is just moving along according to the laws of nature, and there seems to be no real evidence of God's presence," remember: the reason that everything is just moving along, is because Christ is telling everything to move along. You are alive right now because Christ is telling you, "Live." Nature's laws are God's laws. As Francis Schaeffer once said it, God is the God who is there. He is still with us. He has not forgotten us. The evidence is all around us.