0780. Christ with the Father

Christ with the Father

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.

In Him was life; and the life was the light of men" (Joh_1:1-4).

In the verses before us there are several succinct statements:

1. Christ was "in the beginning." We have met those who thought that Jesus Christ never existed until He was born of the virgin Mary and laid in the manger at Bethlehem. Such a conception of Christ robs Him of His eternity, and leaves Him little more than man.

Praise God that the One we trust and worship is the One Who is from everlasting to everlasting.

Gen_1:1 says: "In the beginning God." The word "Elohim" is plural–Christ is included. He was in the beginning.

2. Christ was with God. In Joh_17:24, Christ, in His upper room prayer, speaks of "the glory I had with Thee before the world was." In the Gospel of John we read often of Christ as coming forth from the Father and of His going back to the Father. To Nicodemus, Christ said: "No man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man which is in Heaven." Such words could have been said of none other than He Who was eternally with God.

3. Christ was God. Let us read 1Jn_5:20 : "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is True, and we are in Him that is True, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the True God, and eternal life."

Sometimes we meet those who say: "Why does hot the Bible come out in plain language and say that Christ was God?" That is just what the Bible in this verse does do. Of Christ it says: "This is the True God." What more could be asked?

Let us take another passage, Heb_1:8 : "But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom."

Is this not plain enough? The Father addresses the Son, saying, "Thy throne, O God!" Jesus Christ was very God. Not only was He very God in His earth life, but very God in eternity past, and very God in eternity to come–from everlasting unto everlasting He is God.

4. Christ created all things. Two passages must suffice.

(1) Heb_1:10-11 : "And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands: they shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment."

This passage carries us back to the beginnings of the physical universe. We have no time here to speak of the denials of the evolutionary theory. We do say this, that Darwin’s theory, and any other theory that teaches that the creation was a result of scientific development, instead of a direct creation of God, is atheistic in the extreme.

Evolution denies the Word of God.

(2) Col_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."

In this passage Christ, the creator of all things, holds all things together. That is, the planets are held in their orbit by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not deny that there are plant-governing laws, but these laws are made operative by our blessed Lord.

5. Christ was life. It is worth while here to quote from John’s First Epistle: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life."

How wonderful! Christ was the Word of Life; He was the Life manifested; the Life which the disciples saw and to which they bore witness. He said: "I am * * the Life" (Joh_14:6). The Spirit wrote by John: "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1Jn_5:12).

In Joh_17:3, we read that "this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only True God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent." In 1Jn_5:11, we read, "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." Christ is that life.

6. Christ was light. "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1Jn_1:5). Christ was light; therefore He could say: "Let there be light" (Gen_1:3-4). Christ is light: "He lighteth every man that cometh in the world! Christ will be light: "The Lamb is the light thereof" (Rev_21:23).

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR