2. _God is the Maker of heaven and earth._ Our Catechism explains these words thus: _"I believe that God has made me and all creatures."_ God has made _me;_ it is due to Him that I came into existence, that I am living. He gave me life and everything that I have. God, however, did not only make me, but me _and all creatures._ Creatures are all things that God has made. Heaven and earth, all the angels, the sun, the moon, the glittering stars, all things on earth, the mountain and the mighty oceans, all animals, large and small, all the plants on land and in the water, man himself; all things that we see, yes, even those we do not see, all things, visible and invisible, are His creatures. God has made them all, they are the work of His almighty power. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Gen. 1,1. "By Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible." Col. 1,16. 3. In Bible History you have already learned _how_ God made or created heaven and earth. Before God began to create the world, nothing was there except God alone, the Creator. God always was, is, and in all eternity will be. _"From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God."_ Ps. 90,2.--God did not have any material out of which to make this world. _Out of nothing_ He created heaven and earth. God simply said, "Let there be light," and there was light. He simply said, Let there be the sun and the moon and the stars, and, behold, there they were, shining in all their splendor. In this manner, by speaking, by His word, God made all things, visible and invisible, heaven and earth. God has created everything without any means; _God has made heaven and earth and all creatures out of nothing, by His word._ We do not understand how this is possible; but we believe it because God Himself has revealed it to us in His Word. _"Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God."_ Heb. 11,3. God made all things by His word, with the exception of His foremost creature, man. It pleased Him to form the first man in a different manner. Do you know how God made Adam? Read Gen. 1,26-28 and 2,7.--God could have made heaven and earth, as we see them now, in one instant, but it has pleased Him to do it in _six days._ In six days _"the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them."_ Gen. 2,1. And when all this was finished, _"God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good."_ Gen. 1,31.