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Chapter 9

Jesus Christ — Creator and Redeemer

Christians are so accustomed to thinking of Jesus in His human manifestation that they tend to overlook the fact — even though they know it doctrinally — that He was also our great Creator. We can never fully understand, at least not in this life, the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, but we can believe them.

Before His incarnation in human flesh, Christ was one with the eternal Father as God the eternal Son, and also one with the eternal Holy Spirit — one God, in three persons, the Holy Trinity. At His incarnation, He became the Son of Man, evermore thereafter to be in human flesh, while still retaining His deity and eternal status as Son of God.

Though we cannot understand these mysteries, we can at least feel them, and know them by faith as true when we read the Scriptures and experience the presence of the Lord Jesus in our lives, through His Holy Spirit. And in our study of creation, we do well to remember that all three persons of the godhead participated in the work of creation and now participate in the work of conserving, or saving, their creation.

Since it is the second person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who “declares” God to us (John 1:18) as we see Him on the earth in His incarnation, hear Him speak through the Scriptures, and sense His presence through the Holy Spirit, it is His work of creating us and then redeeming us from sin that we wish to emphasize in this chapter. Therefore, when we speak of God, whether as Creator or Redeemer, in a very real sense we are speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ.

King of Creation

The most important of all truths, the foundation of all doctrine, the beginning of all reality, is the fact that God in Christ is Creator! There is no possibility of really knowing the fullness of anything until we first know that the origin and meaning of everything is God. What He does is right, and what He says is true — by definition! (See John 14:6.)

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” These opening words of the Bible constitute what is at once the most simple and the most profound statement ever made. This is the most widely known sentence ever written, easily understood by the simplest child, yet inexhaustibly compatible with the most advanced scientific comprehension of the universe. The eternal God created time in the beginning of time. The infinite God created the unbounded space of the heavens. The omnipotent God created the elements of matter comprising the earth and all other systems within the space/time cosmos. The transcendent God created, for He was prior to created time and external to created space. The Creator is an eternal, infinite, omnipotent, transcendent Being.

Furthermore, God is both personal and omniscient, capable of creating spiritual and intelligent beings who in turn can examine and comprehend the intelligible universe that He created. And since He created both the universe and the creatures who must comprehend it, it is clearly necessary that acknowledgment of Him as Creator must precede any meaningful study and understanding of His creation.

When the primeval words of Genesis 1:1 were first spoken and recorded (most likely to and by Adam himself), there was no need to defend them, for there was no one who disbelieved them. But then, through Satan (and man’s disobedience), sin came into the world. In heaven, at the very throne of the King of creation, one of God’s created spirit beings, the anointed cherub Lucifer, rebelled against his Creator (despite the revealed fact that he had been “created” — Ezek. 28:15). Lucifer sought to “exalt his throne” and to be “as the most High” (Isa. 14:13–14); therefore, he was cast down by God to the earth (Ezek. 28:17), the dominion of those human persons whom God had created “in his own image” (Gen. 1:27) — and for whom Lucifer and all other angels had been created to be “ministering spirits” (Heb. 1:14).

On earth, as “that old serpent” (Rev. 12:9), Satan led the first man and woman (Adam and Eve) to follow his own rebellious desire to be “as gods” (Gen. 3:5), and since that tragic time all mankind has shared in Adam’s primeval (or original) sin, “worshiping and serving the creation more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever” (Rom. 1:25). In the minds and hearts of men, God is no longer King, and, therefore, they are “without God” (literally “a-theists” — Eph. 2:12). They now love “the things that are in this world” (1 John 2:15), and “walk according to the course of this world” (Eph. 2:2), serving “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), but there is no hope for men in this world (Eph. 2:12).

Nevertheless, it is Lucifer (now become Satan, the devil, the adversary) who has been dethroned, not God! God is still on His throne, the eternal King of creation.

It is important to note in Scripture just a few of the many references to God as King. He is “a great King” (Mal. 1:14), an “everlasting King” (Jer. 10:10), and is “the blessed and only Potentate” (1 Tim. 6:15).

1 He is the King of time, for He created time: He is “my King of old” (Ps. 74:12) and “sitteth King for ever” (Ps. 29:10).

2 He is the King of space, for He created infinite space. He is “King of heaven” (Dan. 4:37), the “King invisible” (1 Tim. 1:17), who “hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host” (Neh. 9:6), although even “heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee” (2 Chron. 6:18).

3 He is the King of matter, for He made all “things” in space and time. He is “King of all the earth” (Ps. 47:7), and all “give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne . . . saying, Thou art worthy . . . for thou hast created all things” (Rev. 4:9–11).

4 He is the King of energy, for He has energized and empowered an infinite and eternal universe. God is Light, the “King of glory” (Ps. 24:10), “dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto” (1 Tim. 6:16).

5 He is the King of life, since He is “the King immortal” (1 Tim. 1:17), “who only hath immortality” (1 Tim. 6:16), and He is the One who “giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25).

6 He is the King of all the angels, the host of heaven, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven . . . whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers” (Col. 1:16). He is “the King, the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 14:16).

7 He is the King of all nations, both “the King of Israel” (John 1:49) and “King of nations” (Jer. 10:7, literally “King of Gentiles”).

8 He is the King of all the redeemed, those who have been “translated . . . into the kingdom of his dear Son” by “redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13–14). Therefore, He has become also the “King of saints” (Rev. 15:3), and He will one day be universally acclaimed as “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16).

Since He created all things, He is indeed the king of all creation, the potentate and sovereign, Master and ruler, Lord and judge of all things. As His creatures, we can only acknowledge His authority, trust His wisdom, believe His Word, obey His commandments, receive His grace, accept His salvation, and praise His name!

But the sad, strange thing is that there are multitudes of people who rebel against His authority, refuse His salvation, and even deny His true existence as the only personal Creator God. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” (Rom. 1:22–23).

In every age people have been unwilling to believe in God as Creator and to submit to His authority, so they have invented lesser gods to serve. They have given the created world itself the attributes of deity, stupidly, rebelliously believing that the universe is the ultimate reality. They have “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the [creation] more than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25).

Of course, the only alternative to creation is evolution, whether it be the naive evolutionism of ancient polytheism (which deified the forces of nature as heavenly “birds and fourfooted beasts and creeping things”) or the more modern evolutionism of the Darwinians (which invests such impersonal processes as mutation and natural selection with imaginary creative powers). No imagined substitute for the Creator, of course, can really create anything, and the only explanation for the age-long compulsion of men to believe in such counterfeits is that “they did not like to retain God in their knowledge” (Rom. 1:28). They have “imagined a vain thing” (Ps. 2:1).

But whether or not men believe in the great King of creation, He still is the Creator. “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar” (Rom. 3:3–4).

The believer in evolution (whether in the pantheistic polytheism of the ancients or the naturalistic humanism of the moderns) is described in the Bible as “without excuse” and “willingly ignorant” (Rom. 1:20; 1 Pet. 3:5). He must believe that effects can be greater than their causes, that random mindless particles can generate complex reasoning people, and that magic wands can transform frogs into princes.

When the Israelites turned from serving their Creator to worshiping idols, God rebuked them with these words:

As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed . . . saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth (Jer. 2:26–27).

And if it is shameful foolishness for a man to believe that his origin was from a wooden or stone image that he himself had made, how much more foolish it is to believe that a living, thinking human being could emerge from the non-living chemicals of a primeval soup! Surely the readers of these words will not be guilty of such unreasoning credulity as that! “Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Ps. 100:3). “For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods” (Ps. 95:3).

Pre-Incarnate Appearances of God to Man

Since God is omnipresent, He is necessarily invisible, at least in the essential triune glory of the godhead. Yet He had created man in His own image, for fellowship with himself, and therefore He somehow must reveal himself to man in a form of manifestation accessible to the human senses (sight, hearing, touch) — that is, in effect, He must appear in the form of an angel, or even as a man.

God is also omnipotent, and therefore He can do this whenever and however He so wills. To actually become man’s Redeemer and Savior, however, He must do more than appear as man, He must be a man, able to suffer and die for man’s sin, and then also to defeat death and rise from the dead as a glorified and immortal man, yet still physically a real man. Here we encounter the amazing event of God’s eternal Son becoming incarnate forever as the Son of Man.

One of the most familiar passages in the Bible — familiar because of its frequent appearance on Christmas cards and in Christmas sermons — is also one of the most profound and mysterious passages in the Bible. I am referring to Isaiah 9:6–7.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The mystery is how a mere child, born like other children, could also be “The everlasting Father.” The very words seem to constitute, in the modern parlance, an “oxymoron,” that is, an impossible contradiction in terms.

The same mystery is evident in that other very familiar Christmas verse, Micah 5:2:

But thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

That is, how could a Babe be “brought forth” (note verse 3) from a mother in Bethlehem when He had already been “going forth” from everlasting?

Then, consider also the wondrous prophecy of the virgin birth, “which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet [that is, in Isa. 7:14] saying,” as proclaimed by the angel in Matthew 1:23:

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

God himself — “with us” — in the guise of a virgin-born child! How can such things be?

God himself had told Moses: “There shall no man see me, and live” (Exod. 33:20). Similarly, the apostle Paul spoke of God as “dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16).

Indeed, the very concept of an everlasting, omnipotent God who created the mighty universe seems impossible to grasp by mere mortals, especially by those astronomers and cosmologists whose whole careers are spent in studying the universe and trying to understand its origin and nature. Surveys have shown that only a very small percentage of scientists in these fields are active in any kind of church. Their very purpose in life seems to be to try to explain not only the presumed evolution of the universe, but even its very existence, without God! The big-bang theory, with its initial period of supposed “inflation,” increasingly involves the assumption (at least by those who think about origins at all) that our universe simply evolved out of nothing, by means of a “quantum fluctuation in the primeval state of nothingness,” or some such strange notion.

Such explanations are considered by secular scientists to be preferable to believing that “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). While it is true that one cannot prove that God created, neither can anyone prove that the universe created itself. At least the concept of Almighty God as Creator presents a reasonable First Cause, able to account for the complex of myriad effects that comprise the cosmos, whereas the assumed primeval nothingness explains nothing! Creationists, therefore, have a reasonable faith, based on good evidence, whereas cosmic evolutionists have a highly credulous faith, based on the omnipotence of “nothing.”

It may, indeed, be true that we cannot actually “see” God, for He is “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God” (1 Tim. 1:17). Christ himself said that “no man hath seen God at any time” (John 1:18). And to those in this scientific age who stress that the scientific method requires “observability,” this may seem to be a problem.

But the fact is that God has been seen by men! Enoch and Noah both “walked with God” (Gen. 5:24; 6:9), and “the Lord appeared unto Abram” (Gen. 12:7; 17:1; 18:1), as well as Isaac (Gen. 26:2). Also, Jacob testified: “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Gen. 32:30).

Scripture also says that Moses was a man “whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut. 34:10). During the period of the conquest and the judges, there were several occasions when “the angel of the Lord” appeared to men and was recognized as the Lord himself (note the case of Gideon and also that of the parents of Samson, for example — Judges 6:22; 13:21–22). The patriarch Job could say, after deliverance from his sufferings: “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee” (Job 42:5).

Much later, the great prophet Isaiah testified: “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” (Isa. 6:1). Ezekiel also saw that “upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man upon it. . . . This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (Ezek. 1:26–28).

Still other occasions are recorded in the Old Testament when the Lord appeared to men, either in a vision or “face to face,” as well as even more times when He “spoke” audibly to men. As would be expected, numerous skeptics throughout the centuries have said that this was one of the Bible’s “contradictions.” In many places, they say, the Bible says that no man can see God, whereas in other places it says that many men did see God.

This superficial discrepancy, of course, is beautifully resolved by the wonderful truth of the triune godhead, and was specifically clarified by the Lord Jesus Christ, when He said:

No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him (John 1:18).

That is to say, whenever the omnipresent, invisible God has deigned to appear to men, He has done so in the person of His eternal Son, who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15).

Since the Son is, indeed, “in the form of God . . . equal with God” (Phil. 2:6), He too is omnipotent and can surely assume the form of an angel or of a man or even of a burning bush (note Exod. 3:2–6), when He so wills. Thus, men have on occasion in the past actually seen God. It was not God in His essential triune glory, of course, but, rather, God declared and manifested as God the eternal Son, forever “in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18), yet eternally “going forth” (Mic. 5:2) to manifest the godhead.

All such appearances of God to men were what are called “theophanies,” or pre-incarnate appearances of Christ. The English word “theophany” is from two Greek words meaning “God appearing,” and it beautifully defines these many appearances of God the Son to men before He actually became man, as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah!

Now, however, He has become forever Emmanuel, “God with us!” He who was the very “brightness of (God’s) glory, and the express image of his person” (Heb. 1:3), “was made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). He was one with “the Mighty God” and “the Everlasting Father,” but has now become one with us, “made like unto his brethren” (Heb. 2:17) in order that He, as Emmanuel, might also become “JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). He who had “created all things” (Eph. 3:9) finally created a human body in which He himself would dwell and in which He would then die for our sins and rise again for our justification.

The Word [that is, the creating Word!] was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

His 1st-century disciples were thus privileged to see God “manifest in the flesh” and then “received up into glory” (1 Tim. 3:16). We who live in the 20th century have not been given that particular privilege, although He does, even now, “abide” in us by His Spirit (note John 14:21–23; 15:15).

But we also shall see Him in the flesh one of these days, for He is still a true man, resurrected and glorified, forever the Son of Man as well as God. Furthermore, “when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:2–3).

And when we finally see Him, it will be far more glorious than when John and Peter saw Him by the Sea of Galilee. The only place in the Bible where His physical appearance as Son of Man is actually described is when John saw Him on the Isle of Patmos, many years later, after His resurrection and ascension. Here is how John saw Him, and this is how we shall see Him, not as a baby in a manger and not as our sin-bearing substitute nailed to a cross, but as our eternal King of kings and Lord of lords!

I saw . . . one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were like a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength (Rev. 1:12–16).

Then, when we, as his heavenly bride, the true Church, shall “see him as he is,” we can say with thanksgiving, “This is my beloved, and this is my friend” (Song of Sol. 5:16).

The Incarnation

In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by him. . . . And the Word was made flesh (John 1:1–14).

We can never understand the doctrine of the incarnation, whereby God the Creator became man the creature, for it is beyond the limits of finite comprehension. But we can believe it, and rejoice in it!

In fact, we must believe it, for “every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God” (1 John 4:3). “If ye believe not that I am he,” said the Lord Jesus, “ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).

We not only must believe, but we can believe, for He has proved himself to be God Incarnate by “many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3), especially by His bodily resurrection after dying for our sins. Thereby has God “given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). Only the Creator of life could defeat death. Buddha is dead and Mohammed is dead, and so are Confucius and Plato and all the great men who ever lived, but the “Word made flesh” who was “put to death in the flesh” (1 Pet. 3:18) has been raised from the dead and is “alive for evermore” (Rev. 1:18)! “Wherefore he is also able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” (Heb. 7:25).

1. How Could the Creator Become Man?

Since “by him [that is by Christ, the Word of God] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth” (Col. 1:16), He must have created the very body in which He would dwell when He “was made flesh.” This body, however, could not be a body produced by the normal process of human reproduction, for it must be a body unmarred either by inherent sin spiritually or by inherited genetic defects physically or mentally.

It would necessarily have to be a perfect body, a body like that of the first man, Adam, whom He had created long ago in the beautiful Garden of Eden. He would, in fact, come to be called “the last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45), since there would never be another man created as that “first Adam” had been. There would be one important difference, however. The first Adam was created and made as a full-grown man, but the second must be “in all things . . . made like unto his brethren” (Heb. 2:17). From conception to death, He must be “in all points . . . like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). In particular, His blood must be “precious blood . . . as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:19), for that blood must be “offered . . . without spot to God” (Heb. 9:14).

Therefore, the body of the second Adam must be formed directly by God and placed in a virgin’s womb. This was the very first promise made after the first Adam brought sin and death into the world. Speaking of “the woman, and . . . her seed,” God said that He “shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). The prophecy was addressed to Satan, whose lie had elicited Eve’s sin. This wonderful body of Jesus would not grow from a man’s seed, as in every other human birth, nor would it grow from a woman’s egg, for in either way a sin-carrying and mutation-riddled embryo would necessarily result. It must instead be a seed uniquely and miraculously formed by the Creator himself, then planted in the virgin Mary’s womb. The body growing from this perfect seed would become His “tabernacle” for 33 years as He lived on His planet Earth among those whom He had come to save.

“Lo, I come,” He would later promise through David (Ps. 40:7). Through Isaiah He said: “[The] virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son,” and that child would also be “the mighty God, the everlasting Father” (Isa. 7:14; 9:6). Still later, another inspired prophet would anticipate that “The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man” (Jer. 31:22).

Note that the “new thing” in the chosen woman must be “created.” When the time came, the angel assured young Mary that “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

Then, “when he cometh into the world, he saith . . . a body hast thou prepared me” (Heb. 10:5). Most significantly, He used the same word “prepared” (Greek, katartizo), which the writer of Hebrews also then would use when he testified that “the worlds were framed by the Word of God” (Heb. 11:3), recognizing that the same Living Word who had framed the worlds had also framed His own human body! And in that tiny cell in Mary’s womb resided all the information not only for His own growth into manhood, but also for the creation, preservation, and redemption of the whole creation. It was His by right of creation and soon would be doubly His by right of redemption.

2. When Did the Creator Become Man?

It has become customary in much of the world to observe the Creator’s incarnation on December 25, which is assumed to be the date of the birth of Jesus. However, various other dates have been observed by different groups or promoted by various writers, dates in January or March or October, for example. The Early Church apparently never observed Christmas at all, and the date of December 25 began to be identified as Jesus’ birthday only in about the fourth century. In fact, many believe that Christmas celebrations are essentially a continuation of the old Roman Saturnalia or other pagan practices centering upon the winter solstice, during the year’s longest nights.

The fact, however, is that no one really knows the date of His birth, so no one should be dogmatic on this subject. Nevertheless, there is one particularly intriguing possibility: On the night that Christ was born, shepherds were in the field watching their sheep (Luke 2:8). Although it is barely possible that this could be in late and cold December, it seems far more likely that it would be sometime in the early fall.

If so, the birth of Jesus would have been in the fall, and it is significant that there was an ancient Christian feast called Michaelmas, observed on September 29 by many early Christians, especially in England and western Europe. The name later was also appropriated to identify a period during the fall when certain courts were in session.

In any case, the name “Michaelmas” meant “Michael sent,” just as “Christmas” means “Christ sent.” It is very probable that Michael was the “angel of the Lord” (Luke 2:9) who was sent from heaven to announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. The Feast of Michaelmas thus may well have originated to commemorate this coming of Michael and the angels to welcome Jesus at His human birth.

This date would be just days before the great Feast of Tabernacles, which the pre-exilic Israelites observed each fall in gratitude for the annual harvest, with each family dwelling for a time in a tent, or “tabernacle.” When John wrote that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), he did not use the usual Greek word for “dwell.” Instead, he said, literally, that the Word (that is, the Creator) “tabernacled” among us for a time. It was as though He had come into the world at just the appropriate time for the joyful Feast of Tabernacles, as Michael and the angels sang of “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10)!

As glorious as the birth of Christ may have seemed, however, this was not His incarnation. He had already been “made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7) nine months earlier, when He created a body for himself and took up His residence in Mary’s womb. That was the time when “the Word was made flesh!”

And so it may be wonderfully significant that the real “Christmas” (i.e., “Christ sent”), when the Christ was sent from His throne in heaven to enter a “tabernacle” of flesh, would have been nine months earlier than “Michaelmas,” when Michael and the angels were sent to announce His birth. But that brings us back to December 25 again! The actual number of days between the two dates is 278, which is the ideal period of human gestation.

Whether or not these inferences are correct (and, remember, no one really knows when Christ was born), they at least yield a greater appreciation of His miraculous conception! How appropriate it would be for Him to enter the world right at the season of darkest and longest night, for He would come as “the light of the world” (John 8:12) to bring “life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). Then, at “Christmas” time, we can remember and commemorate with deep thanksgiving (not with Saturnalian revelry and pagan greed) the amazing Christmas gift of God himself, when “God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9)!

3. Why Did the Creator Become Man?

No question that begins with “Why?” can be answered scientifically. Such questions can be answered only theologically, and that means they can only be truly answered from the written Word of God, the Bible. And this greatest of all questions has the most wonderful of all answers!

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:17).

When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law (Gal. 4:4–5).

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15).

But that is not all, of course. His first coming, followed by His sacrificial death, bodily resurrection, and glorious ascension, is a prophetic promise of His second coming.

At His first coming, He “tabernacled” among us for a little while; at His second coming, there will be “a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: For the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:3–4). “And there shall be no night there . . . for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:5).

How infinitely sad it is that so many today reject or ignore such a gracious, loving, holy, powerful Creator/Redeemer. Not only do they miss all the true meaning and blessing of Christmas now, but, unless they respond to Him in repentance and faith, they will be everlastingly separated from Him in the glorious eternal ages to come.

Creation and the Cross

Thus, the Creator who has become Savior will also be consummator and eternal sovereign. The coming of the Creator into the world — both for His human incarnation and for His final, everlasting reign — comprises all the motivation and power for Christian faith and life. But to understand the meaning of His coming, one must first understand and believe the record of His primeval work of creation and man’s terrible rebellion against Him, followed by the curse.

At creation, the Lord looked forward to the Incarnation. At the Incarnation, He had to anticipate the Cross. Then, on the Cross, He looked beyond to the crown! The eternal Word, by whom all things were made, was himself made flesh (John 1:1–3, 14), when He came into the world that He had made. Thus did creation foretell Christmas, and Christmas fulfill creation!

The word “Christmas,” in its primary sense, means “Christ-sent,” or “Christ’s Mission” (the suffix mas is derived ultimately from the Latin mittere, “to send”). He came as God’s greatest missionary, manifesting the love of God toward us, “because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).

But this required the Cross, and so He “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). Nevertheless, He, “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2), and, therefore, He will some day be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords.

One of the most poignantly sad verses in all the Bible is John 1:10. “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” How could it possibly be that men and women, lovingly formed and commissioned by their maker to enjoy productive and happy lives in a world of beauty and fullness, could then turn on Him and refuse His loving care and guidance?

Yet that is what Adam and Eve did even though they had walked with Him and talked with Him in the beautiful garden that He had planted for them. Worse, that is what the whole of humanity did when God the Creator eventually came into the world again, this time only to be despised and crucified by the ones He loved. But, of course, those were cruel days, when people were still brutish, and ignorant, caring little for the grace of life, steeped in the carnality of pagan religion and unaware of their long-forgotten maker. If only He had waited until our 20th century to come into the world, when the marvels of modern science and communication, culture and education, would have spread the joyful news quickly all over the world!

But, then, as one takes a closer look at the pseudo-intellectual arrogance of the establishment scientists, the skeptical bias of the communications media, the depravity of modern pseudo-intellectual humanistic culture, and the anti-creationist mindset of the educators, it becomes obvious that Christ would be even more vehemently and viciously repudiated in the modern world than He was in the ancient world.

As a matter of fact, He will be coming again one day into the world that was made by Him, and the world will indeed know Him this time — not as a loving Savior, but as an offended and wrathful Creator and judge! “God that made the world and all things therein . . . hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:24, 31).

Until He comes again, however, this is still the age of grace and there is still the wonderful Christmas message of salvation to all who will hear. The great Creator has become the incarnate Word, and the Savior of men. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:11–12).

Christmas is thus only one stage, a preparatory stage, in God’s great plan of the ages. Yet it is the only one which the world as a whole acknowledges. Creation is denied, the Cross is ignored, and the coronation is ridiculed; but Christmas is eulogized, commercialized, and scandalized. It often seems as though human activities for the first 51 weeks of each year are designed merely to support a year-end madness of covetousness and carnality in its final week.

But there is much beyond Christmas! For the Lord Jesus, there was a lifetime of service and sacrifice, consummated by eternal joy. “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you,” He said. For us also, as His servants, there must be service and sacrifice and, then, ultimately thankful satisfaction and joy everlasting.

Before Jesus actually went to the cross, He lived the greatest human life, performed the mightiest works, and left the finest teachings that the world has ever known. God had become man, in Jesus Christ, and He not only revealed God, but He also revealed man as God had intended man to be.

In addition to showing us how to live, He also taught us what to believe. Among many other things, He taught us what we should believe about creation.

Jesus the Creationist

When God became man, He became man as God intended man to be. He lived as God wanted man to live (1 Pet. 2:21), and He thought as God intended man to think (Phil. 2:5). What the Lord Jesus Christ believed, His disciples must believe, if they are truly His disciples. Thus, so-called “Christian evolutionists” in effect are denying His lordship. It may indeed be possible for a Christian to be an evolutionist (either through ignorance or deliberate disobedience), but evolution itself cannot be Christian, for the obvious reason that Christ was not an evolutionist. Consequently, there is no such thing as Christian evolution!

True Christians, of course, accept the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, so they certainly should no longer accept evolution — once they realize that He believed and taught the historicity and accuracy of the literal Genesis record of special creation. The following quotations from His own words indicate how clear and comprehensive was this teaching of Jesus.

1 He accepted the compatibility of the two supposedly contradictory accounts of creation in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2.

Have you not read that he . . . made them male and female [quoting Gen. 1:27], And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and, they twain shall be one flesh? [quoting Gen. 2:24] (Matt. 19:4–5).

1 He accepted the historicity of the creation record, basing His teaching concerning the integrity of the home, the most basic of all human institutions, on its truthfulness.

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder (Matt. 19:6).

1 He believed that the creation of man and woman was at the beginning of the creation, not four billion years after the earth’s beginning and 15 billion years after the “big bang.”

From the beginning of the creation God made them male and female (Mark 10:6).

1 He believed that the cosmos actually had a beginning, and not that matter was eternal.

Such as was not since the beginning of the world [Greek kosmos] to this time (Matt. 24:21).

1 He believed that it was God who did the creating, not some natural process.

From the beginning of the creation which God created (Mark 13:19).

1 He believed in the fixity of the created kinds.

Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? . . . A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit (Matt. 7:16–18).

1 He believed in the Sabbath as a rest day in commemoration of God’s completed creation.

The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath (Mark 2:27).

1 He believed that the world had been “founded,” not just accidentally condensed from agglomerations of particles.

For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).

1 He believed that even the sun belonged to God.

He maketh his sun to rise (Matt. 5:45).

1 He accepted the record that God had made even the fowls of the air and had made provision for their food (as noted in Gen. 1:30).

Behold the fowls of the air . . . your heavenly Father feedeth them (Matt. 6:26).

These and other teachings of Christ, plus the complete absence of any reference by Him either to evolution or long ages (both of which beliefs were universally accepted by the pagan philosophers of His day) make it undeniable that He accepted the account of special creation recorded in Genesis as completely authoritative and accurate in the most literal sense. Therefore, no true believer in His authority and integrity can afford to do less.

A Tale of Two Weeks

The two greatest events in all human history are the creation of the world and the redemption of the world. Each of these events involved a great divine week of work and a day of rest.

Creation week accomplished the work of man’s formation; the week that is called Holy Week or Passion Week (perhaps a better term would be Redemption Week) accomplished the work of man’s salvation.

Creation week, which culminated in a perfect world (Gen. 1:31), was followed by man’s fall and God’s curse on the world (Gen. 3:17). Passion Week, which culminated in the death and burial of the maker of that perfect world, is followed by man’s restoration and the ultimate removal of God’s curse from the world (Rev. 22:3). A tree (Gen. 3:6) was the vehicle of man’s temptation and sin; another tree (1 Pet. 2:24) was the vehicle of man’s forgiveness and deliverance.

It is fascinating to compare the events of the seven days of creation week with those of redemption week. The chronology of the events of redemption week has been the subject of much disagreement among scholars, and it may not be possible to be certain on a number of the details. The discussion below is not meant to be dogmatic, but only to offer a possible additional dimension to their understanding and harmony. The traditional view that Friday was the day of the crucifixion is further strengthened by the correlations suggested in this study.

First Day. The first day of creation involved the very creation of the universe itself (Gen. 1:1). An entire cosmos responded to the creative fiat of the maker of heaven and earth. Initially, this space/mass/time (i.e., heaven, earth, beginning) continuum was created in the form of basic elements only, with no structure and no occupant (Gen. 1:2), a static suspension in a pervasive, watery matrix (2 Pet. 3:5). When God’s Spirit began to move, however, the gravitational and electromagnetic force systems for the cosmos were energized. The waters and their suspensions coalesced into a great spherical planet and, at the center of the electromagnetic spectrum of forces, visible light was generated (Gen. 1:3).

In a beautiful analogy, on the first day of Passion Week, the Creator King of the universe entered His chosen capital city (Zech. 9:9–10; Matt. 21:1–9) to begin His work of redemption, as He had long ago entered His universe to begin His work of creation. Even the very elements that He had created (Luke 19:39–40) would have acknowledged His authority, though the human leaders of His people would not.

Second Day. Having created and activated the earth, God next provided for it a marvelous atmosphere and hydrosphere, in which, later, would live the birds and fishes. No other planet, of course, is supplied with air and water in such abundance, and this is strong evidence that the earth was uniquely planned for human and animal life. The hydrosphere was further divided into waters below and waters above “the firmament.” The waters above the firmament (the Hebrew word for firmament means, literally “stretched-out space”) probably comprised a vast blanket of transparent water vapor, maintaining a perfect climate worldwide, with ideal conditions for plant, animal, and human longevity.

Paralleling the primeval provision of life-sustaining air and water, on the second day of redemption week, He (the Christ) entered again into the city (having spent the night in Bethany) and taught in the temple. As He approached the city, He cursed the barren fig tree (Mark 11:12–14) and, then, in the temple, overthrew the tables of the money changers (Mark 11:15–19). This seems to be the second time in two days that He turned out the money changers (the parallel accounts in Matthew and Luke indicate that He also did this on the first day)

Both actions — the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple — symbolize the purging of that which is barren or corrupt in the Creator’s kingdom. He had created a world prepared for life (air for the breath of life and water as the matrix of life), but mankind, even the very teachers of His chosen people, had made the world unfruitful and impure. As physical life must first have a world of pure air and water, so the preparations for a world of true spiritual life require the purifying breath of the Spirit and the cleansing water of the Word, preparing for the true fruit of the Holy Spirit and the true temple of God’s presence, in the age to come.

Third Day. The next day, the sight of the withered fig tree led to an instructive lesson on faith in God, the Lord Jesus assuring the disciples that real faith could move mountains into the sea (Mark 11:19–24). In parallel, on the third day of creation, God had actually called mountains up out of the sea (Gen. 1:9–10)!

It was also on this day that the Lord had the most abrasive of all His confrontations with the Pharisees and Saducees. He spoke many things against them, and they were actively conspiring to destroy Him. It is appropriate that His challenges to them on this day began with two parables dealing with a vineyard (Matt. 21:28–43; see also Mark 12:1–11 and Luke 20:9–18), in which He reminded them that they had been called to be in charge of God’s vineyard on the earth and had failed. Like the fig tree, there was no fruit for God from their service, and, therefore, they would soon be removed from their stewardship.

Likewise, the entire earth was on the third day of creation week prepared as a beautiful garden, with an abundance of fruit to nourish every living creature (Gen. 1:11–12), and it had all been placed in man’s care (Gen. 1:28–30; 2:15).

But mankind in general, and the chosen people in particular, had failed in their mission. Before the earth could be redeemed and made a beautiful garden again (Rev. 22:2), it must be purged, and the faithless keepers of the vineyard replaced.

This third day of Passion Week was climaxed by the great sermon on the Mount of Olives in which the Lord promised His disciples that, though Jerusalem must first be destroyed, He would come again, in power and great glory, to establish His kingdom in a New Jerusalem (Matt. 24 and 25; Mark 13; Luke 21). It was appropriate that He should then spend the night following that third day with the handful of disciples who were still faithful to Him, on the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:37), for the mount would call to memory that far-off third day of creation week when He had drawn all the mountains out of the sea. Also, the Garden of Gethsemane on its slopes, with its little grove of vines and fruit trees, would bring to mind the beautiful Garden of Eden and the verdant world He had planted everywhere on the dry land on that same third day. Because of what He was now about to accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31), the ground would one day be cleansed of its curse, and all would be made new again (Rev. 21:4).

Fourth Day. On the fourth day of creation week, the Lord Jesus formed the sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven. There had been “light” on the first three days, but now there were actual lights! Not only would the earth and its verdure be a source of beauty and sustenance to man, but even the very heavens would guide his way and keep his time.

But instead of the stars of heaven turning man’s thoughts and affections toward his Creator, they had been corrupted and identified with a host of false gods and goddesses (see Job 25:5). Furthermore, instead of creating a sense of awe and reverence for the majesty of the One who could fill all heavens, they bolstered man’s belief that the earth is insignificant and meaningless in such a vast, evolving cosmos. Perhaps thoughts such as these troubled the mind of the Lord that night as He lay on the mountain gazing at the lights He had long ago made to overcome the darkness.

When morning came, He returned to Jerusalem, where many were waiting to hear Him. He taught in the temple (Luke 21:37–38), but the synoptic gospels do not record His teachings. This lack, however, is possibly supplied in the apparently parenthetical record of His temple teachings as given only in the fourth Gospel (John 12:20–50) because there the Lord twice compared himself to the light He had made: “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46). “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth” (John 12:35). He who was the true light must become darkness, in order that, in the new world, there would never be night again (Rev. 22:5).

Fifth Day. There is little information given in the gospels about the fifth day of redemption week. When there were yet “two days” until the Passover (Mark 14:1), right after the bitter confrontation with the scribes and chief priests on the third day, these enemies began actively seeking a means to trap and execute Jesus, though they feared to do it on the day on which the Passover Feast was to be observed (Mark 14:2).

It was either on the fourth day or possibly on this fifth day, which was the feast day, that Judas Iscariot went to them with his offer to betray Jesus. He had apparently been seriously thinking about this traitorous action ever since the night when the Lord had rebuked him for his greed. This had been in the home in Bethany, on the night of the Sabbath, just before the day when Christ entered Jerusalem riding on the ass (John 12:1–8). This seems to have occurred at the same supper described in Matthew 26:6–13 and Mark 14:3–9, even though in these it is inserted parenthetically after the sermon on the Mount of Olives, probably in order to emphasize the direct causal relation of that supper to Judas’ decision to betray his Master (Matt. 26:14–16; Mark 14:10–11).

On this day of the Passover, the Lord Jesus instructed two of His disciples to make preparations for their own observance of the feast that night (Mark 14:12–17). So far as the record goes, this is all that we know of His words during that day, though there is no doubt that He was teaching in the temple on this day as well (Luke 21:37–38). Perhaps this strange silence in the record for this fifth day is for the purpose of emphasizing the greater importance of these preparations for the Passover. The fact that John indicates the preparation day to have been the following day (John 19:14) is probably best understood in terms of the fact that, at that time, the Galileans are known to have observed the Passover on one day and the Judeans on the following day.

Multitudes of sacrificial lambs and other animals had been slain and their blood spilled through the centuries, but this would be the last such acceptable sacrifice. On the morrow, the Lamb of God would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He would offer one sacrifice for sins forever (Heb. 10:12). With the blood of His cross, He would become the great peacemaker, reconciling all things unto the maker of those things (Col. 1:16, 20).

As the Lord thought about the shedding of the blood of that last Passover lamb on that fifth day of Holy Week, He must also have thought of the fifth day of creation week, when He had first created animal life. “God created every living creature (Hebrew nephesh) that moveth” (Gen. 1:21). This had been His second great act of creation, when He created the entity of conscious animal life (the first had been the creation of the physical elements, recorded in Gen. 1:1). In these living animals, the “life” of the flesh was in their blood, and it was the blood which would later be accepted as an atonement for sin (Lev. 17:11). Note that the words “creature,” “soul,” and “life” all are translations of the same Hebrew word nephesh. Surely the shedding of the innocent blood of the lamb that day would recall the far-off day when the “life” in that blood had been created. And because He, the Lamb of God, was about to become our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), death itself would soon be swallowed up in victory and life (1 Cor. 15:54).

Sixth Day. On the sixth day, man had been created in the image and likeness of God, the very climax and goal of God’s great work of creation (Gen. 1:26–27). But on this sixth day, God, make in the likeness of man, finished the even greater work of redemption.

Under the great curse the whole creation had long been groaning and travailing in pain (Rom. 8:22). But now the Creator himself had been made the curse (Gal. 3:13; Isa. 52:14), and it seemed as though the creation also must die. Though He had made heaven and earth on the first day, now He had been lifted up from the earth (John 3:14) and the heavens were silent (Matt. 27:46). Though He had made the waters on the second day, He who was the very water of life (John 4:14) was dying of thirst (John 19:28).

On the third day He had made the dry land, but now “the earth did quake, and the rocks rent” (Matt. 27:51) because the rock of salvation had been smitten (Exod. 17:6). He had also covered the earth with trees and vines on that third day, but now the true vine (John 15:1) had been plucked up and the green tree (Luke 23:31) cut down. He had made the sun on the fourth day, but now the sun was darkened (Luke 23:45) and the Light of the World (John 8:12) was burning out. On the fifth day He had created life, and He himself was life (John 11:25; 14:6), but now the life of his flesh, the precious blood, was being poured out on the ground beneath the cross, and He had been brought “into the dust of death” (Ps. 22:15). On the sixth day He had created man and given him life, but now man had despised the love of God and lifted up the Son of Man to death.

Seventh Day. But that is not the end of the story, and all was proceeding according to “the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). “On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made” (Gen. 2:1). Furthermore, everything that He had made “was very good” (Gen. 1:31). God’s majestic work of creation was complete and perfect in every detail.

And so is His work of salvation! This is especially emphasized in John’s account: “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. . . . When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:28–30 — the emphasized words are all the same word in the Greek original). Jesus had finished all the things He had to do, and then He finished the last of the prophetic Scriptures that must be carried out. Then, and only then, was the work of redemption completed and the price of reconciliation fully paid, so that He could finally shout (Matt. 27:50) the great victory cry, “It is finished!”

The record of creation stresses repeatedly that the entire work of the creation and making of all things had been finished (Gen. 2:1–3). In like manner does John’s record stress repeatedly the finished work of Christ on the cross. Furthermore, as the finished creation was “very good,” so is our finished salvation. The salvation which Christ thus provided on the cross is “so great” (Heb. 2:3) and “eternal” (Heb. 5:9), and the hope thereof is “good” (2 Thess. 2:16).

Then, finally, having finished the work of redemption, Christ rested on the seventh day, His body sleeping in death in Joseph’s tomb. He had died quickly, and the preparations for burial had been hurried (Luke 23:54–56), so that He could be buried before the Sabbath. As He had rested after finishing His work of creation, so now He rested once again.

On the third day (that is, the first day of the new week), He would rise again, as He had said (Matt. 16:21, et al.) His body had rested in the tomb all the Sabbath day, plus part of the previous and following days, according to Hebrew idiomatic usage, “three days and three nights” (Matt. 12:40) — but death could hold Him no longer. He arose from the dead, and is now alive forevermore (Rev. 1:18).

Creation and Resurrection

Although most world religions believe in the immortality or transmigration of the soul after death, only three believe in the actual resurrection of the body. It is no coincidence that these are also the three monotheistic religions, believing in the special creation of all things, by a transcendent personal Creator God. The three religions, of course, are Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Judaism, and Orthodox Islam, and all three base their belief in creation on the Book of Genesis, the only book that tells of the actual creation of the space/time universe itself.

Unfortunately, however, Judaism and Islam refuse to acknowledge that only the Creator can be the Redeemer, and so reject the bodily resurrection of Christ, even though they may believe Him to be a great teacher and prophet. They still believe in a future resurrection, but it is a belief without foundation. Only the Creator of life can defeat death. Nevertheless, the fact that they recognize resurrection to be somehow contingent on creation is significant.

The two greatest events in the history of the cosmos were, first of all, its supernatural creation and, secondly, the Resurrection of its Creator from the dead. The evidence for each, to one whose mind and heart are open to evidence, is overwhelming. All real science points to creation, and the best-proved fact of history is the Resurrection.1 The Bible, of course, teaches that both are vitally true, vitally important, and vitally related, but even to one who does not believe the Bible; the evidence is still unanswerable. He may reject it, but he cannot refute it.

Furthermore, each is necessary to the other. The creation, invaded and permeated by decay and death, heading down toward ultimate chaos, can only be saved and renewed if death is defeated and life is restored by its Creator. The Resurrection, conversely, triumphing over death and promising ultimate restoration of the perfect creation, can only be accomplished by the Creator himself. The creation requires the Resurrection, and the Resurrection requires the Creator.

It is appropriate, therefore, that the Holy Scriptures so frequently tie together the creation of the world and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The creation took place on the first day of creation week, and the Resurrection likewise took place on the first day of the week following the Creator’s substitutionary death for the world’s redemption.

Death first entered God’s finished creation when Adam sinned (Gen. 2:16–17; 3:17–20; Rom. 5:12).

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. . . . The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:20, 26). Therefore, when the heavens and earth are made new again, the very elements will have been purged of the age-long effects of sin and the curse, decay and disintegration, and “there shall be no more death” (Rev. 21:4; also 2 Pet. 3:10–13; Isa. 65:17; 66:22; Rev. 21:1; 22:3).

The first book of God’s written Word begins with the mighty creation of heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1), but ends with “a coffin in Egypt” (Gen. 50:26). The final book of God’s Word introduces Jesus Christ as “the first begotten of the dead” (Rev. 1:5) and ends with “all things made new” (Rev. 21:5).

Let us consider, therefore, three basic aspects of the Christian life which can be greatly strengthened by a clearer understanding and broader application of these two vitally related facts of creation and Resurrection. For each, a key passage of Scripture will be found especially illuminating.

1. Christian Assurance

In a society dominated by humanistic unbelief and worldly intimidation, Christians need more than emotionalism to assure them that their Christian faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ not only “works,” but is true. In the great “Resurrection chapter,” 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul is seeking to do just this — to assure these young and somewhat carnal Corinthian believers of the genuine validity of the Christian “gospel” which he had preached to them and which they had believed (verses 1–2). He stresses the key importance of the bodily Resurrection of Christ, with the overwhelming eyewitness verification of its historicity (verses 3–11), and then concludes that this guarantees the future resurrection of all who “have hope in Christ,” the great promise of the Christian faith (verses 12–19).

But that isn’t all. He further emphasizes that Christ’s Resurrection does far more than provide a future life for individual believers. It restores man’s lost estate, reversing the consequences of Adam’s primeval sin, conquering all the enemies of God and finally destroying death itself (verses 20–28). This great promise not only gives assurance of eternal life, but strength for a godly position and persecution, knowing beyond all doubt there is a better life to come (verses 29–34).

And then, to give still further assurance, he ties it all back to the mighty power of God in creation. All components of the creation (biological — verses 35–39, physical — verses 40–41, and human — verses 42–49) are treated. Every individual creation of God has been designed with its own marvelous structure for its own divine purpose, “as it hath pleased him” (verse 38). Since each is distinct, none could have “evolved” from any other; therefore only God was capable of creating it, and only He can preserve and revive it. As he raised up Christ from the dead, so will He not only raise, but transform, purify and immortalize our present bodies and the entire travailing creation (verses 50–57; see also Rom. 8:18–23). The concluding exhortation, therefore, is to “be steadfast” in our Christian faith and “always abounding” in our Christian work, in absolute assurance that this is not “in vain” (verse 58).

2. Christian Revival

The great need of the Christian church today is revival — not from apostasy, but from apathy and compromise. Apostate churches, denying the basic doctrines of Christianity, are not real churches, but mere socio-religious clubs, and their members still need to be saved. There are multitudes of generally sound churches and believers, however, that have become neutral in their stance, whenever they face the controversial issues that require them to choose between conformity to and confrontation with the world system that surrounds them.

Such churches are typified by the church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14–22), the last of the churches addressed in the seven letters of Revelation 2–3. This church represents a real Christian church, with its candlestick still in place (Rev. 1:20; 2:5), one which seems to be doing well outwardly, in “need of nothing” materially, but one which is “lukewarm,” and therefore “wretched” spiritually (verses 15–17). Such churches are urgently in need of revival, not a revival of mere emotional activity, but one of real substance and truth (verse 18) — that is, repentance (verse 19).

It is significant that the Lord Jesus Christ, in addressing the Laodicean church, begins with an emphasis on the creation and ends with the Resurrection and promised consummation. These are the most fundamental of all doctrines, consequently the ones most resisted by the world, and thus the doctrines on which there is the greatest temptation to become “lukewarm.” The Lord calls such churches first of all to recognize Him as the “Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (verse 14). He concludes by reminding them that His Resurrection and ascension provide the only assurance of their own future resurrection for the coming kingdom. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (verse 21). How urgent is it for churches today, with all their emphasis on self-centered spirituality and so-called abundant living, to get back to an understanding and proclamation of the bedrock doctrines of creation and Resurrection.

3. Christian Witness

When a Christian has firm assurance of his own salvation and is properly motivated in terms of God’s eternal purposes, then it is his responsibility to bear witness to others who need this great salvation, wherever and by whatever means he can, as God leads and enables.

No doubt the greatest Christian witness was the apostle Paul, and his example surely deserves study and emulation. It is significant that Paul always began where his listeners already were, in their own prior understanding of God and His purposes. When they already knew and believed the Old Testament Scriptures, he would show them from the Scriptures that Christ was the promised Messiah, going on from there to the Resurrection as the conclusive proof. When, however, his listeners neither knew nor believed the Scriptures, he would start with the evidence of God in creation, which they had distorted into a pantheistic polytheism. The classic example is that of the Greek philosophers at Athens (Acts 17:15–34). Note his words:

Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth . . . giveth to all life, and breath, and all things (Acts 17:23–25).

Then, in anticipation of the natural question as to how one would know which of the “gods” was really the God who had created all things, the Apostle first had to point out that the Creator of all men must also be the Judge of all men, and that all men needed to repent and turn back to Him.

Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead (Acts 17:31).

This two-fold testimony — creation pointing to the fact of God and the Resurrection identifying the person of God — constitutes an irrefutable witness, so that God in perfect equity on this basis, “commandeth all men every where to repent” (verse 30). Even though death triumphs over all other men, it could never defeat the Creator of life, and no one who believes in creation should ever stumble at the Resurrection. As Paul challenged King Agrippa, “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8).

By the same token, one who accepts the factuality of Christ’s Resurrection should never stumble over God’s record of creation. Yet there seem to be multitudes of compromising Christians today who are willing to believe that Christ was raised from the dead but who still reject His testimony about creation. “From the beginning of the creation God made them male and female,” He said (Mark 10:6, referring to Gen. 1:27). Not after 18 billion years of cosmic history and 4.5 billion years of earth history, but from the beginning of the creation, God made man and woman. In fact, the very purpose of the earth’s creation was that it should be a home for “the children of man” (Ps. 115:16). How can a Christian believe Christ’s words and then reject Moses’ words?

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5:46–47).

The Lord Jesus said, in two of the great “I am” passages of the Book of Revelation:

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending . . . which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:8).

And then He also said:

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death (Rev. 1:18).

He is both “before all things” and the “firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:17–18). Therefore, He is “able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” (Heb. 7:25).

1 Many volumes have been written on the evidences for Christ’s bodily resurrection. For a brief summary of these evidences, see Henry M. Morris’ book, Many Infallible Proofs (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1974), p. 88–97.