The Universe was made out of real nothing. Not the nothing that our minds can think of, vis a vis the void of deep space that is really a thing — that is, a void in deep space. Physicists have discovered that 14 billion years ago in literally less then a tiny fraction of the blink of an eye Creation exploded into this vast and ever expanding time and space Universe with the power of trillions of Hiroshima bombs from something that contained all that is our Universe in less space than a single atom takes up.
There is — of course — a problem with this description. “Size” of an atom, “heat, force and sound” of an explosion, “fraction” of a second — these are all meant to convey the experience of witnessing the “Big Bang” from the frame of reference of it taking place within the Universe we all know — which is exactly not where it took place. The Universe came to being within Something that is not a thing we have anyway to think about. No time or space, sound or temperature. When our minds begin to comprehend that there is no way to comprehend this event we can begin to understand how far away it is from our ability to get our mental arms around what the God of Israel is.
The God of Israel has a name that cannot be spoken by human lips; has a form that cannot be depicted by the work of human hands. The God of Israel spoke the Universe into existence and “when He was finished He saw that it was good”, this according to the ancient creation story passed down by word of mouth for eons before it was written upon scrolls by Hebrew scribes almost 40 centuries ago. It was experienced by no one as a colossal explosion in less than a blink of an eye, tiny as an atom at its beginning.
That the God that is beyond all comprehension whose Word becomes whatever reality He conceived of before He speaks it — that this God was One Being with a Manchild born of a young Jewish Virgin at a particular time and place is an unacceptable concept to all people of Middle Eastern monotheistic Faiths save the Christians — who can conceive of no other theological juxtaposition.
This is because we have felt and still feel the loving, compassionate and Divine touch of His still Human Hands when we are most lonely and mournful and fearful, and most overwhelmed by situations and forces beyond our control in this vast time and space Universe.
And in the morning we wake up and see with Him that it is — in fact — good.
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