That which gives special interest to “creation” is that, in Scripture, it is attributed to Christ—the Lord.
No doubt, speaking in the abstract, it is viewed as the work of God, and so we read in Genesis 1:1, that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” but in the same chapter (v. 26) it is said, in sacred colloquy, “let us make man,” indicating co-operation on the part of the Holy and omnipotent Godhead; for each Person in the Godhead is God; and, hence, in the creation of the highest creature on earth, we find a consultation between those Persons, which was not taken in the production of any lower part of it. Man was created in the image and likeness of God, and was placed in sovereignty over all His works.
“God created!” Let that formal statement be clearly apprehended. There was, and there is what Scripture calls “creation.” There is “the whole creation” and its “beginning” (2 Peter 3). The fact is stated with the utmost simplicity and with a naturalness that bespeaks absolute truth.
No lengthened explanation, no wordy elaboration to meet the incredulity of man is given.
The thing itself is so inconceivable, that no other solution is possible but that “God created.” That profound, but entirely satisfactory, record, suffices for faith, and is, at once, the simplest and the only key to it. It is “by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” Speculation and cosmogonies may fade in this light.
Very well, creation is the work of the Godhead, but, in particular, it is that of the Second Person, as the Scriptures, when giving assignment, invariably declare. And therefore, if that be so, the work of creation, in its omnipotence, its design, its intricacy, its minuteness, its continuance, its perfection, becomes to the Christian a matter of deepest interest. Our Lord Jesus Christ is Creator! Wondrous fact indeed, but when cordially admitted, the further and much greater work of redemption becomes more glorious in our estimation; for, if every detail in the former were perfect, how could a flaw or defect be found in the latter? A perfect Creator is also a perfect Redeemer, and vice versa as well.
These two facts are placed in juxtaposition in Colossians 1:1-18, “For by Him [the Son of God] were all things created that are in heaven and in earth,” and not only created “by Him,” but “for Him”—a most significant statement surely, and one which throws creation into an extraordinary place of importance, viz., for the special purpose and enjoyment of the Son of God—the Christ; and again “He is before all things,” necessarily so, if “by Him they were created;” and, lastly, “by Him all things consist.” They subsist, they are maintained in existence by His power and will. These “all things” depend, both for their origin and support, on the will and pleasure of the Son of God.
He is also, as risen from the dead, Head of the body, the church—the Redeemer—pre-eminent in all things. The same two facts present themselves to us in Hebrews 1 and 2; we read in Hebrews 1:10, “And thou, Lord, in the beginning [mark that word] hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thine hands”—hands of the universal Creator; while, in Hebrews 2:10, we find Him qualified through sufferings to be the Leader of His people’s salvation, and also their Deliverer from the fear of death by having annulled the power of the devil. Blessed Saviour! Or, again, in Hebrews 1:3, He who upholds all things by the word of His power, has made expiation for the sins of His people, and has sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. What rich qualifications are His Finally, if in John 1 He is seen as the Lamb of God—the sin-bearer, so too is He revealed as God—the Word—by whom were all things made, and without Him was not anything made that was made. He was indispensable in creation from beginning to end; and when He shall fold up, as a vesture, all that He had made—change it, and cause it to perish, He, withal, shall remain, and prove Himself to be “the same”—“the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth,” and the worthy Co-Recipient of the glad homage of “every creature in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea,” as they ascribe “Blessing and honour and glory and power to Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever”—
The power of earth’s Creator
Gives glory to Thy Name.
The love of earth’s Redeemer
Enhances still thy fame.
Creator and Redeemer
Almighty Saviour! Lord,
The power and grace that saved us
For ever be adored.