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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:26-27; John 1:3; 3:35; Col. 1:15-18; Heb. 1:2-3; Rev. 3:14; 4:11
Before the foundation of the world, God had a plan in Christ and for Christ. Based on His plan, God created in order to accomplish His plan. God’s creation is for the accomplishment of His plan, and His creation is according to His plan. All things have meaning, but they are not self-existing and self-generating. According to God’s plan, all things were and were created because of God’s will (Rev. 4:11).
God’s plan is in Christ, and God’s creation is through Christ. Without Christ, God has no plan, and without Christ, God has no creation. All God’s plan and creation are in Christ. He planned in Christ and created through Christ. All things came into being through Christ, and apart from Christ not one thing came into being which has come into being (John 1:3). Christ is the sphere of God’s plan and the means of God’s creation.
We should not think that only redemption is in Christ and that creation has nothing to do with Christ. God’s creation is through Christ and in Christ. Colossians 1:16 says, “In Him all things were created...; all things have been created through Him and unto Him.” This indicates that all things are through Christ and because of Christ. Although God wanted to create all things, nothing was created apart from Christ. Just as God did not redeem apart from Christ, He did not create apart from Christ. God redeemed in Christ, and God created in Christ. God created all things in Christ and through Christ; thus, all things — in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible — were created in Christ and came into being through Christ. Christ is the Creator of all things, and all things are the creation of Christ.
The Bible tells us that Christ is not only the Creator of all things but also “the Firstborn of all creation” (v. 15). This means that Christ is the first creature, the first of creation. Although He is the Creator, He became flesh, a creature. Hence, in God’s eyes Christ was not only the Creator at the time of creation, but He was also a creature. In God’s eyes Christ was a creature when creation began; He is “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14). Since Christ is a creature in God’s eyes, God could be “in Him” and could take Him as the base and means to create through Him so that all created things would be created in Him and be out from Him (Col. 1:16).
From our perspective Christ became flesh, a creature, four thousand years after Adam was created. Yet from God’s perspective, Christ is the Firstborn of all creation; that is, He was a creature at the beginning of creation. This is possible because God is not limited by time. From the beginning of the creation of all things, Christ has been a creature; therefore, He is the Firstborn of all creation, the first of all created things. In creation Christ not only represents the Creator but also the creature. He is both the Lord who creates and the Firstborn of all creation. In Him we see both Creator and creature.
God made Christ the Firstborn of all creation so that all creation would be out from Him and so that He would “have the first place in all things” (v. 18). The first place in all creation and the first place in all things belong only to Him. He is not merely the Creator, who is above all creation, but also the Firstborn of all creation, the One who is before all creation. Christ is above all as the Lord of all, and He is before all as the Firstborn of all creation.
God created all things in Christ and through Christ so that all things would express Christ. God made Christ the Creator of all things so that all things might be an expression of Christ. Anything that is made expresses and represents its maker. A person’s thoughts, character, innate ability, and wisdom are expressed through the things that he makes, and it is possible for others to understand him through the things he makes.
For example, the character and ability of the creator of a building, a machine, a writing, or a picture are expressed and represented in the thing that is made. In the same way Christ created all things, and all things express the wisdom and power of Christ. When we look at all things, we should see the Creator of all things, the Christ who created all things. When we look at these things, we should see the glory, beauty, wisdom, and power of Christ. If we understand God’s intention adequately, we will realize that God desires that everything in creation would express Christ. If we truly know God’s creation, we will see that it is an expression of Christ, declaring His wisdom and power.
If we know the maker of a delicate item, we will think of its maker when we see the item. If you have written something beautiful, every time people read it, you will “appear” in their reading, and they will spontaneously get a “taste” of you. Although people are reading what you have written, they are actually reading you. If we know Christ and look at all things with the view to knowing Christ, we will sense that all things are filled with Christ and are Christ. Although these things are not Christ Himself, those who know Christ will have a sense that these things express Christ. The universe is great and wonderful, and all things are bright and beautiful to express the power of Christ and to declare the glory and beauty of Christ. Although all things cannot express His power, glory, and beauty completely, let alone Himself fully, they enable us to know of Him and of His power, glory, and beauty. Thus, before He was incarnated in time on earth, He was being expressed in creation through all things for man to see, know, and appreciate.
All created things not only prove the existence of God but also express Christ. Since the creation of the world, God can be known and the invisible things of God can be perceived through the things made (Rom. 1:20-21). When man looks at all things, he naturally knows that there is a God who created all things; however, in order for man to see in these things the Christ who created them, there is a need for revelation. We can know God by seeing all things in nature, but we can know Christ only by seeing all things with revelation. Without revelation it is possible for people to have a sense of God through the wonder of His creation, but it is not possible for them to see that even the finest detail of the things that have been made expresses the power, glory, and beauty of Christ.
Although all things of creation express Christ, they do not represent Christ fully. Consequently, God made man to be Christ’s explicit representative by creating man in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). Christ is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4). Therefore, man was made according to Christ. Created man is a type of Christ in order to fully represent Christ (Rom. 5:14).
Many know only that Christ came in the likeness of men and was found in fashion as a man when He was incarnated (Phil. 2:7-8). But we must realize that man was created according to the image of Christ. Before Christ took on human form in His incarnation, man was created according to His image. Thus, created man had His image, and created man was in His image. Nevertheless, man did not have His life. Christ was incarnated in the humanity that was created according to His image so that man might have His life. This is like a sculptor who makes a wax figure according to his own image. Although the wax figure has his image, it does not have his life. If the sculptor could become a wax figure and take on the form of the wax figure and bring his life into the wax figure, would he resemble the wax figure, or would the wax figure resemble him? Surely we would say that the wax figure resembles the sculptor because the wax figure now has both the image and the life of the sculptor. Similarly, before Christ was incarnated and took on the form of man, the man whom He created according to His own image already had His image but not His life. Although man could not express Christ’s life, man could represent Him according to His image.
God not only made Christ the Creator of all things but also the Upholder of all things. All things were not only created in Christ; they cohere in Christ. Colossians 1:17 says, “All things cohere in Him,” meaning that all things subsist in Christ as the holding center. All things subsist as a regulated, orderly, and harmonious system because of Christ. They are upheld by the power of Christ. Christ upholds and bears all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3). All things are regulated and maintained in order by Christ. When we see the subsistence of all things, we should see the Christ who is upholding all things.
According to the Bible, the existence of all things expresses the power of God. The Bible further shows that all things exist for the expression of Christ. God delights in all aspects of all things expressing Christ. Consequently, He uses the creation of all things to express Christ and the existence of all things to express Christ. Nevertheless, it is possible to look at the existence of a multitude of things and have a sense of God’s wondrous might but not have a sense of Christ. It is natural to look at the things that have been made and have a sense of God’s wondrous might, but it requires revelation to look at the things that have been made and have a sense of Christ. Those who look at the wonderful things in nature can praise God for His might, but those who look at the wonderful things in nature with revelation can sense the power of Christ and admire Him. If we have revelation and are in the light of revelation, we will see that all things exist today in order to express Christ and His power.
God appointed Christ to be Heir of all things (v. 2), and God has given all into Christ’s hand (John 3:35). All things were created through Him and unto Him (Col. 1:16), and all things cohere in Him (v. 17). Eventually, all things will be inherited by Him. He created, upholds, and will inherit all things. All things are out from Him and through Him and to Him (Rom. 11:36). In the past Christ was the source of all things, today Christ is the course of all things, and in the future Christ will be the end of all things. The source, the course, and the end, that is, the beginning, the course, and the consummation, of all things are Christ. Christ is everything to all things.
Christ is both the Creator and a creature. Christ is both the wisdom of God’s creation and the power of God’s creation; Christ is both the means of God’s creation and the purpose of God’s creation. Christ is both expressed by all creation and represented by man among creation. The beginning and end of creation are Christ, and the course of creation is also Christ. The beginning of creation involves His creating, the course of creation involves His upholding, and the consummation of creation involves His inheriting. Creation is out from Him, through Him, and unto Him. If we look at creation in the past, we will see Him; if we look at creation in the present, we will see Him; and if we look at creation in the future, we will still see Him. From beginning to end, creation is a story of Christ. In God’s creation every detail and every aspect are Christ. God takes Christ as the center of creation and the purpose of creation; therefore, in God’s creation Christ is everything.
We must never think that Christ is related only to God’s redemption but not to God’s creation, that He participated only in God’s redemption but not in God’s creation. Christ is in God’s redemption as well as God’s creation. Furthermore, Christ is everything in God’s creation. We should see Christ in every detail and aspect of God’s creation, because Christ is everything in God’s creation.
