Christ Is the Creator - Devotional

Gracetoyou.org ^ | 1997 | John Macarthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

“In [Christ] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).

Christ created everyone and everything.

The sheer size of the universe is staggering. The sun, for example, could hold 1.3 million planets the size of Earth inside it. The galaxy to which our sun belongs, the Milky Way, contains hundreds of billions of stars. And astronomers estimate there are millions, or even billions, of galaxies.

Who created this awesome universe? According to the false teachers at Colosse, it was not Christ. They viewed Him as the first and most important of the emanations from God; they were convinced it had to be a lesser being who eventually created the material universe. Believing matter to be evil, they argued that neither the good God nor a good emanation would have created the universe.

But the apostle Paul rejected that blasphemy, insisting that Christ made all things, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible. When he mentions thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities (v. 16), he is referring to the various ranks of angels. Far from being an angel, as the false teachers taught, Christ created the angels (cf. Eph. 1:21). Jesus’ relation to the unseen world, like His relation to the visible world, proves He is God, the Creator of the universe.

Man is certainly interested in knowing about the universe that Christ created. That is evident, for example, by his exploration of space. Manned space capsules photographing the earth rising over the lunar horizon and satellites beaming pictures to us of planets at the outer edges of our solar system leave us in awe and wonder. Even more amazing is, not that man has gone into space, but that God came to Earth. In Christ, the invisible God who created everything and everyone became visible to man. How sad that while man looks into space, He refuses to look at the One who came to Earth.

Suggestions for Prayer

Worship Christ for His awesome work of creation.

For Further Study

Read Psalm 19:1-6. What testimony does this passage give of the Creator?

[metmom]

Studying God’s Word Ping

[Telepathic Intruder]

"astronomers estimate there are millions, or even billions, of galaxies."

Try closer to a trillion. But more to the point, we were made a little lower than the angels. But the angels are made below Christ. The angels were made by God, which is why the fallen angels were still called "sons of God" in the Bible, when they came to earth as Nephilim. We are made from our parents. But is Christ made by God, or is he God himself? Being a part of the trinity, it seems he is the latter.

But to another point. Can you know God by knowing the universe? Are science and religion two paths to the same thing? You could argue that you can't know Picasso by studying his paintings. But you can, maybe, get some understanding of his character. I would say that only God can reveal himself to you if he chooses, regardless of which path you take.

[metmom]

Paul is pretty clear that God is revealed in nature and you can know His character through it.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Psalm 73]

"Christ created everyone and everything."

Deeper than just "created" - "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist" (Col 1:17)

There isn't a sub-atomic particle in the entire universe that could exist outside of Jesus - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"

Hard to fathom that He not only knows and loves each of us intimately, but came here in the form of a human baby born in an animal stall to walk the same dusty roads as us.

That's my Jesus!

[kosciusko51]

Romans 1:20-23 (ESV)

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

[metmom]

It is staggering to think of. The tedium of growing up and walking everywhere.

He clearly knew who He was and what He was about from a young age, and yet had to live 30 years before starting His ministry.

And he put up with so much nonsense from the religious leaders. It amazes me how He actually engaged with them a t times.

[MHGinTN]

John 14: Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?<>p> 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

Tyhe place where we can see The Father is where He is in our 4D limits well ... as Jesus. And Jesus NOW is in a glorified Body which is greater than our $D, so John tells us in 1 John 3:2 That when He appears to take us to The Father's House where are mamny rooms, we shall see Him as He is NOW for when He appears we shall be like Him, in greater variable bodies / glorified bodies fit for eternal living.

[MHGinTN]

Please excuse the typos. Didn’t have on my reading glasses.

[right way right]

John 1
New International Version
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word,(A) and the Word was with God,(B) and the Word was God.(C) 2 He was with God in the beginning.(D) 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.(E) 4 In him was life,(F) and that life was the light(G) of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness,(H) and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.

[right way right]

From Genesis 1:26

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Who is “us”?... “our”?

I would say the Holy Spirit was also there...as well as Jesus.