THE SONG OF CREATION

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities: all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Col. 1: 15-17)

Paul was up against a group of people who were already corrupting the gospel and down-playing Jesus by false ideas they were propagating across the empire. Their teaching was what was the beginning of Gnosticism, a philosophy which was a mixture of existing religions and which taught that to be “saved” one needed to have secret “knowledge” – (gnosis is the Greek word for knowledge) into which only a few select people were initiated.

They taught that matter is evil and spirit good implying, on the one hand, that Jesus could not have been fully man, and on the other hand, that Creation was the work of a lesser god, called a demiurge, not the Supreme Being who could have nothing to do with matter; that between God and the created world there existed a series of lesser beings, the last being the creator of the universe.

Paul jumped right in by stating two facts clearly: that Jesus is the ‘firstborn’ over all creation – not, as some have interpreted, the first of God’s creatures, which would contradict Paul’s statement that Jesus is the image (copy or likeness) of God, but the prototokos or prototype of creation. ‘Firstborn’ refers not so much to the first one born to parents, but the one who had the authority and responsibility in the family.

Jesus is both firstborn over and agent in creation. Everything was through Him and for Him and He holds it all together by His powerful word.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. (Heb. 1: 3)

Gnosticism as a philosophy is not as rife today as the teachings of evolutionists. Who is right? The evolutionist who states categorically that everything in the universe came into being by chance, or the Bible and those who believe it, that Creation is God’s handiwork and that Jesus Christ is the Word through whom everything was created?

Paul had no problem in believing that God created the universe and neither did David. There were no scientists in their day trying to make them believe otherwise.

David spent time watching sheep in his youth. In the summer time he must have often sat out under the stars. There were no city lights to dim his view of the heavens. He was captivated by the splendour of the dome above him and, because of his knowledge of the writings of Moses, he had no need to ask, “Who made all this?” There could only be one answer; not chance but God – the God of his forefathers whom he worshipped.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words, no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world. (Psa. 19: 1-4a)

Nowadays we know that the stars are not silent. With the invention of the radio telescope, astronomers are able to listen in to their music. The Velar Pulsar drums out a perpetual rhythm to God who made it. David got it right, after all. The stars are proclaiming the glory of their Creator.

The creatures on earth are not silent either. They have ways of communicating that fascinates scientists. Who knows what whales and dolphins are singing about, or the songbirds which lift their voices to the heavens? They may be saying something to their own kind, but sometimes they warble just for the joy of being alive. Have you ever heard the song of crickets played at ultra-slow speed? It sounds like the song of angels!

Unlike us humans, who make every excuse not to acknowledge and worship our Creator, the inanimate and animal world have never questioned their origin, or thought up a lame reason why they are here. They do what they were created to do, to honour their Creator, and to do what they were created to do – to show God off by being themselves.

When we acknowledge Jesus and put Him in His rightful place, the entire universe is right-side-up, a glorious creation of God and awaiting its restoration to perfection just as we, God’s children are doing.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.