Right near the very beginning light came barreling out of God’s mouth at a smidgeon under 300 000 kilometers per second. Pleasingly constant in it’s rate of travel, it’s been able to go around this celestial ball more than seven times a second ever since. That’s quite something, even if not a new idea to anyone. The big idea which this forms a part of, i.e. creation at God’s behest, has commonly come to being referred to as creatio ex nihilo – Latin for “creation out of nothing”. Something out of nothing.
Take the point. God didn’t merely fashion and form in the way we do, but created. Where there had been nothing, matter materialised, and there was something. But that matter did not materialise out of nothing. That’s a colossal misbelief right there. It came out of God Himself. Spirit – God is Spirit – created. Not creatio ex nihilo, but creatio ex Theos (out of God) or creatio ex Spiritos (out of Spirit).
Making a careful distinction here is not some sort of theological fine point in the haystack of theological minutiae. It recognises that God is, that heaven is, that the spirit-realm is, and it recognises that that these eternal realities are the beginning and end of all things. In other words, temporal things are temporary, and our touch, taste, see, hear and smell reality is transient. That’s the mind-shift I’m appealing for.
Not to mention thinking this way as being foundational to all Christianity – “for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists” (Hebrews 11:6b ESV) – believing that things can and will materialise out of the spirit-realm and into the material realm by means of God’s Word is meat and drink to anyone even vaguely interested in cultivating faith for miracles. Given the starting point of responsibly exegeted Scripture, a promise made by God to me/us should provide every reason for me/us to expect something out of nothing as it were. We could be talking healing, deliverance, provision; all pertain.
Remember the Israelites in the wilderness. Food (manna) out of nothing. Water out of a rock. Clothes that didn’t wear out. A forty year long case study with probably around two million people involved, all of them living by something out of nothing.
Skeptics there are a-plenty of course. Every time the signs and wonders show up there’s someone to cry foul. I’m not suggesting that there hasn’t been a bit of skullduggery on occasion, but my point is that seeing things materialise out of nothing should be the norm for us believers. Right thinking leads to believing right, and when we’re talking faith, right believing is what leads to seeing. Something out of nothing? Not really. Salvation (in all it’s forms, including signs and wonders) out of Spirit thanks to Word – absolutely!