Images of Creation

Randall C. Zachman summarises:

Calvin has developed an increasingly rich set of visual metaphors by which to describe the ways in which the invisible God makes Godself somewhat visible in the universe. The universe may be described as a "mirror or representation of invisible things" (Heb 11:3). The world may also be described as the theater of God's glory, which, when we behold it, should lead us to the knowledge of God who created it. The universe is the living image of God, in which God represents Godself to us. The world is the clothing that the invisible God wears so that we might behold God therein. Because the invisible God appeares to us in the fabric of God's works, the world is also the school in which we should be taught to know the God who created us. Finally, the universe is the speechless proclamation or the mute teaching that would instruct us in the true knowledge of God, who is the Author of all things.

Image and Word in the Theology of John Calvin (Notre Dame, 2007) p39, emphasis added. This paragraph comes with 6 endnotes giving citations.