Our Father’s Loving Design: Part 3, Foundational Principles

Part 1 in this series on Our Father’s Loving Design gave three vital truths to understanding the world around us.  Part 2  showed that the first chapter of Genesis describes the origin of every science known to man. Now we will get into the details of God’s design all around us.

Micro to Macro

The closer you look at man-made things, the more you see their imperfection. Under a microscope, or through a telescope, God’s creation shows even greater perfection. As people, we have a perspective based on our size, lifespan, and environment. Yet the creation holds stellar giants beyond our imagination, and microscopic masterpieces beyond compare.

Every science shows God’s perfect order from the smaller to the larger (micro to macro). Anatomy observes the human body and its basic unit—the cell. Within the cytoplasm of each cell are organelles and structures: the nucleolus in the nucleus, ribosomes, vesicles, the rough endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi apparatus, the cytoskeleton, the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, vacuoles, cytosol, lysosomes, and centrioles. Cells combine to form tissues, tissues form organs, and organs make up systems. Each is specialized for its God-designed function, from the smallest to the greatest.

Chemistry also astounds me in the Creator’s simplicity and complexity. There are currently 118 known elements that each have a position on the periodic table based on their atomic structure. That is why they can be grouped in columns that have similar properties and reactions, based on their outer ring of electrons. These simple elements range from hydrogen (1) to oganesson (118).  The amazing thing is that everything is made from these building blocks—including your body, which is mostly hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon (organic chemistry).

That ties in directly with Physics which has been called “the fundamental science.”  All natural sciences like chemistry, astronomy, geology, and biology follow the God-designed laws of physics. Once again, we see the micro to the macro. Atoms are made of quarks, protons, neutrons, and electrons. Atoms form molecules, and molecules make compounds. Man has only scratched the surface of the network our Creator has designed.

Even natural laws and principles can be seen at different magnitudes. For example, the property of adherence is what holds things together. Tiny ionic bonds and chemical bonds give ice or salt their beautiful crystalline structures. On a larger scale, magnetic attraction is the foundation of life on earth–gravity holds the universe together. There are also physiological factors that hold people together: emotions are affected by hormones (think about your first date, or seeing your child for the first time). And of course, there is also a spiritual unity that holds the body of Christ together.

Astronomy has star cycles with stellar “births” and “deaths.” These include protostars, blue supergiants, blue giants, red giants, red dwarfs, supernovas, sun-like stars (yellow), brown dwarfs, white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. The 48 visible constellations in the sky are made of 12 major pictures that pass through the ecliptic, and each has three other associated pictures that add detail. The result is a detailed story of God’s promised redeemer and the work he would do.

Botany shows the same micro-to-macro design. Plant cells have many of the same organelles and structures that are found in animal cells. One major difference is the plant’s strong cell wall and rectangular shape which adds strength and allows cells to “stack” on one another. That is why redwoods can grow to be nearly 400 feet tall (and why you with your flexible cell walls can’t). Plant structures include seeds, roots, stalks, leaves, and fruit.

Biology has the same structures noted above in human anatomy. And when each animal is viewed as a complete creature, they have stages of life: prenatal development, infancy, childhood, adulthood, and old age.

Together, plants and animals form a life cycle. Animals eat plants to gain nutrition and life, and then they put their mineral waste back into the soil. Also, when plants and animals die, they decay and put basic building materials for life into the soil. This is true for man, where we are made of the earth and go back to the soil (Genesis 2:7; 3:19; I Corinthians 15:47). Plants use those minerals from the soil for life and growth.

Circular and Elliptical Motion

We are living on a sphere that travels in an ellipsis around the sun. And the electrons in the atoms that make up our body travel in ellipses around the nucleus.

God’s design is beautiful, and our Solar System is a very orderly place. The four inner planets, the asteroid belt, and the gas giant planets all orbit in the same plane around our star, the Sun.

Since Mercury is the innermost and most inclined planet, not including it in the group brings the average plane-of-orbit of the planets to only about two degrees. Even the farther-out Kuiper belt objects seem to line up on that plane.

The Sun is spherical and there are stars appearing with planets orbiting in every direction imaginable, yet all these worlds line up. In fact, scientists have found this true in other star systems as well.

Even after the discovery of modern quantum mechanics, electrons orbiting a nucleus much as planets orbit the sun is still a useful analogy. Like gravity acting on planets, an electromagnetic force attracts the orbiting electron to the nucleus. Physicist Niels Bohr introduced the idea of quanta, which are discrete energy states in which electrons persist in a stable form. It’s kind of like only going from floor to floor in a building. There are specific levels of movement.

God also designed planets to have a central axis with poles at either end. Each planet in our solar system rotates on its axis and has a North and South Pole (where an axis meets the surface).

Some planets, such as Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter, have axes almost completely perpendicular, whereas Earth’s axis has an axial tilt of about 23.5 degrees, causing seasons throughout the year.

Organic Structures

The Bible talks about many aspects of plant and animal life. God’s design has balance and coherence. Think about how vital liquids are to us. About 70 percent of the human body is made up of water and more than 70 percent of Earth is covered in water.

Human blood and plant “blood” are also similar liquids. Hemoglobin and chlorophyll have similar structures. The main difference is that the porphyrin ring of hemoglobin is built around iron (Fe), whereas the porphyrin ring of chlorophyll is built around magnesium (Mg). That is why plants look green and why we are red-blooded (notice the red color when iron rusts).

The same is true with gases. It is interesting that humans inhale oxygen and expel carbon dioxide and plants do the opposite. God beautifully designed plants and animals to depend on one another.

Individual heart cells have their own distinctive beat, but after touching each other they find a common rhythm. Like so many other parts of God’s creation, the human body has an amazing ability to heal itself, protect itself, grow, and reproduce itself. It is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalms 139:14).

The life of the body is carried in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) which carries oxygen and food to, and also carries waste away from each cell. The Bible talks about two organs that are vital to maintaining healthy blood: the heart and the kidney. The heart pumps the blood and the kidneys filter it. The Bible compares these organs to the way we can send God’s Word to our mind and filter (purify) our thoughts.

Psalms 26:2:
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins [kidneys] and my heart.

Other organic structures mentioned in scripture are the skeletal system with its bones, joints, and marrow (Hebrews 4:12), the reproductive system with egg and sperm, called “flesh and blood” (Hebrews 2:14), and stem cells for blood and cellular production in bone marrow (Genesis 2:21,22; Leviticus 17:11).

Gestation periods in land animals and birds are another area of organic structure that show God’s systematic design. They are always multiples of a week (7 days). E. W. Bullinger, on page 9 of Number in Scripture, gives the following times for babies to develop: mice and chickens take 21 (3×7) days, hares and rats take 28 (4×7) days, ducks take 42 (6×7) days, cats take 56 (8×7) days, dogs take 63 (9×7) days, lions take 98 (14×7) days, sheep take 147 (21×7) days, and people take 280 (40×7) days. Bullinger also covers “Design Shown in the Works of God” (pages 1-19) for the heavens, chronology, nature, the vegetable kingdom, physiology, chemistry, sound and music, and color.

Perspective from Earth

God made the Earth for man, and He made man to love and worship Him.

Ecclesiastes 12:13:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear [love and respect] God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

We live on a world that has “front row seats” for so many of God’s spectacular performances. For example, the sun and moon appear nearly the same size as seen from Earth.   How did the Creator do that? He made the sun’s diameter about 400 times larger than the moon’s diameter. But the sun is about 400 times farther away, so it works out just right! And that’s why we can see such awesome displays as a total eclipse of the sun, with its brilliant corona, prominences shooting forth, and the “diamond ring.”

Psalms 19:1-4:
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun [the ecliptic].

From earth’s point of view, the sky glorifies God and tells the marvelous story of His promised redeemer, the Messiah. “Their line” is the line of the zodiac, 12 major pictures in the story.

Since this line is a circle, where does the story begin and end? The ancient sphinx had the head of a woman and the body of the lion. It showed the head (beginning) of the circle was the woman (Virgo) and the tail (end) of the circle was the lion (Leo). This showed that the Messiah would be conceived of a virgin and return like a lion (“the Lion of the tribe of Juda” in Revelation 5:5).

The “line” of the zodiac is set in “a tabernacle for the sun.” This is the ecliptic, an imaginary line on the sky that marks the annual path of the sun.  It is the projection of Earth’s orbit onto the celestial sphere (an imaginary sphere centered on Earth where objects in the sky are “projected” on its inner surface). The ecliptic is literally a “tabernacle” (tent or home) for the sun, and also marks the line along which eclipses occur, where the moon and planets and asteroids travel, and where the zodiac tells its story.

Other amazing sights from Earth’s perspective are comets, the northern lights (aurora borealis), and shootings stars (asteroids and meteors). Auroras are cause by solar winds that disrupt electrons and protons so that they precipitate into our upper atmosphere. They ionized and excite the atmosphere, producing brilliant colors in spectacular shapes.

Meteors are streaks of light that cross the night sky when bits of interplanetary rock and debris (meteoroids) vaporize in the upper atmosphere. They speed at tens of thousands of miles an hour and ignite about 30 to 80 miles above the ground, where most are destroyed.

Meteor “showers” are named for the constellation in the part of the sky where they are seen. When we lived on Guam, I stayed up through the night to watch a Leonid meteor shower in the constellation Leo. It was one of the most beautiful and entertaining evenings I can remember.

Earth’s Interrelation with Other Bodies

God put other objects in the heavens not only to bless us with their beauty, but to help the Earth and mankind to survive and function properly. Both the Moon and the Sun affect ocean tides, but the Moon’s effect is twice as strong because it so much closer.

Gravity pulls the water in the oceans upward so that the oceans bulge and tides are high. In other places on Earth, ocean water drains away to fill the bulges and makes low tides.

Seasons are caused by Earth’s changing relationship to the Sun. Earth revolves around the Sun every year, and it rotates on its tilted axis every 24 hours. This tilt affects its angle to the Sun and the length of the days. In summer, when the North Pole is angled toward the Sun, areas north of the equator get more sunlight for longer days and shorter nights. As the year progresses, the tilt changes so that the North Pole is pointing away from the Sun, which causes the opposite effect—winter.

Earth’s relationship with other celestial bodies gives us day and night, months,  and years. “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Genesis 1:14 ).

The Circle and Time

The lights in the firmament were for “signs” as well as for seasons. Why does a circle have 360 degrees? We have seen that the heavens provide 36 constellations that are visible to the human eye, which are “subchapters” for the 12 main “chapters” of the zodiac’s story of the coming redeemer.

These 36 constellations are called “decans” and were used by Ancient Egyptian astronomers to mark the beginning of each new “hour” of their night. So the original story of God’s coming Messiah formed the basis for our circle and for our measurement of time.

This 360-degree basis is used to reckon time, as with a sun dial. A solar year is about 360 days. Each day is divided into two sets of 12-hour periods. Each hour has 60 minutes times 60 seconds (360 times 10), units that correspond to the length of the human heartbeat.

The lunar cycle provides a way to break each about 360-day year into 12 “moonths.” The moon has an amazing effect on plants and animals (for example, the menstrual cycle; or statistics on increased crime, accidents, and injuries).

Principles of God’s Design in I Corinthians 15

The Plant Kingdom

I Corinthians 15:36-38:
…that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

When it comes to plants, we don’t sow a whole banana tree to get bananas. We plant the seeds (the word “grain” is from a root word meaning “seed”) which must “die” when they are removed from the tree. The plant cycle of seed production, fertilization, and growth are designed as it “pleased” God.

We see this cycle in Mark 4:26-29 which describes how a “man should cast seed into the ground,” “and the seed should spring and grow” “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” and “the fruit is brought forth.” Verses 4-8 of that same chapter show soil types in relation to plant development (way side, stony ground, among thorns, good ground).

The Animal Kingdom

I Corinthians 15:39:
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

God’s amazing design involves so many different kinds of tissues, even in the same animal. Here God notes the different kinds of flesh, listing them from most to least complex (man, land animals, fishes and birds). Man is the masterpiece with a body, a soul, and the potential for a spiritual connection to the Creator. Genesis 1 shows God setting up the animal kingdom from the least to the most complex (fishes and birds, land animals, man).

The Heavens and the Earth

I Corinthians 15:40,41:
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

Heavenly bodies and things on Earth have different “glories.” Compare a star to an elephant—quite a major difference! But the heavenly bodies also differ in their “glory” and show God’s design and handiwork in diverse ways. We noted above some amazing details about the Sun, Moon, stars and their cycles, and other heavenly bodies.

Principles of God’s Design in Psalm 104

The Book of Psalms is full of references to the Creator’s design. Psalm 104 is one hymn of praise that summarizes much about the creation.

Verse 1 says that God is “very great” and “clothed with honour and majesty.” He is the Creator.

Verses 2-4 describe things above the earth: light, the sky, the waters above, wind, and fire (lightning).

Verses 5-8 explain the origin of the Earth and the seas: pillars with the sea over it, bounds for the waters (no worldwide flood will ever happen again), the mountains and valleys.

Verses 10-12,16,17 describe life in lower lands: the plants and animals there, how the valleys are watered.

Verses 13-15,18 discuss the higher lands: in the high hills (mountains) live the wild goat, the marmot, cattle, and wild beasts. And man has tamed the land to develop agriculture for his own good.

Verses 20-23 talk about time, day and night: men are diurnal and go out to work in the day; some beasts and lions are nocturnal and go out to hunt at night. Yet God meets all their needs.

Verses 24-26 examine life in the sea: the countless swarms (schools) of sea creatures, the nautilus, great sea creatures.

The Psalm closes by showing that God supplies for all and should be praised.

Foundational Principles of God’s Design

These are just a few of the foundational principles of God’s design that we can see when we look around us. Our heavenly Father made all these good things for us, because He loves us. And now we can have sweet fellowship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ our lord.

I John 1:3,4:
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

 

PREVIOUS:

Our Father’s Loving Design: Part 1, His Goodness Around Us

Our Father’s Loving Design: Part 2, Genesis 1 and True Science