JESUS IS THE CREATOR
John 1:3
Morning Meditation 7/22/16
Verse 3 says, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
I move ahead with fear and trembling. John says things that only the Holy Spirit could have Authored. My first response is to credit John as being a deep thinker. Then I come back to the reality of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God has chosen through John to reveal things that were just as hard for him to understand as for us. The apostles were taught that at times they were to obey and wait until later to understand (John 13:7).
Our text says, “All things were made by him.” The words “all things” mean “each and every thing.” Paul agrees with this statement for in Colossians 1:16 he says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”
The words “were made” (ginomai) translate a word that means “to be born, to come into being.” It is an aorist tense, middle voice and indicative mood. The aorist tense means that he did this at a point of time. When we celebrate some persons birthday, we are pinpointing a time and place. The creation of the universe and everything in it had a beginning time and place. We do not have to know when to know that there was a time and place. This destroys evolution. It was not a process, it was an act. The Linguistic Key to the New Testament says, “The creative activity is viewed as one event in contrast to the continuous existence in verse one.” The middle voice means that He himself did it for his own benefit. John confirms this in Revelation 4:11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Notice the posture in verse ten of those who are saying this. To realize Jesus, the eternal Logos, created the heavens and the earth and all things therein will produce in a believer the spirit of worship. This is not a worship worked up by song or poetic utterance, but worship based on the realization of facts. Excuse me, “Glory to God and the Lamb forever!” A worship that does not originate in the realization of the greatness of a Giving God is just wood, hay, and stubble.
We know how he did it: Psalm 33:6,9, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth . . . For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” You will notice it is “By the word of the LORD.” The word “word” (dabar) means “speech, word, speaking.” When Jesus spoke things happened. He spoke to the winds and waves of the sea and they obeyed: Matt. 8:26, “And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” He cursed the fig tree and it immediately died: Matt. 21:19, “And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.” He said to the leper in Matt. 8:3, “And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” Jesus restored life to the dead by speaking. We see this in John chapter 11 when he stood by the grave of Lazarus: John 11:43-44, “And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.” Jesus created the universe and all things therein with his spoken word. We are not told when he did it but we are told how.
The words “by him” is “dia autos” meaning by or through him. The “Word” of verse one has now become a personal pronoun. The idea of a Mediator in the Godhead is inherent in this passage. When God moves out to create, it is through Christ that he does it. When he moves to save, it is through Christ. When he moves to sustain the saints, it is through Christ (Heb. 7:25). Paul says in Romans 11:36, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (They tell me that Selah, in the Psalms, means to stop and think about that for a while. Well, Selah!).
Not only is Jesus, the divine Logos, the one through whom the creation came into being, but it is sustained by him. Paul says in Colossians 1:16-17, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” The last few words in this passage are, “and by him all things consist.” The word “consist” (sunistao) means “to cohere or held together.” This is a verb and is a perfect tense, active voice and indicative mood. The perfect tense and active voice means that he did it in the past and it remains true. This means that the creation STANDS as having been done by him (Jesus). He who is the Head of the Church (verse 18) is the Creator and Sustainer of all creation.
Then John says, “And without him was not anything made that was made.” The word “without” (choris) means “apart from him, separate from him.” The word “anything” (heis) is the numeral “one.” This means that apart from him there was not ONE THING MADE. The word “made” is found three times in this verse. The first two are aorist tense verbs and go back to the point of time of creation. The last is a perfect tense. This means that the creative act that was performed in the past remains as an eternal fact. You see, it does make God a difference what we believe about creation. He tells us in his word that he is the Creator. Man comes along and says that if you teach this to our children in the public schools, you are teaching religion. So under the guise of the separation of church and state, they do not allow the truth about creation to be taught and substitute a lie as fact, i.e., the theory of evolution. Satan hates the Word of God. He hates Jesus. And he will use any method he can to deny the Word (Logos). And in doing this he is attempting to keep our children as slaves of sin and Satan and doom them to an eternal hell. (Rom. 1:20).
Hebrews 1:1-3 says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”
