“GOD, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS.”
By G.
THE caption of this article is also the title of the Sunday-school lesson in this paper. This subject brings to view the power and dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ in a marked manner. The fact that He was the active agent in the creation is not generally recognized, nor is it appreciated as it should be by those who concede to Him the honor. Christ had a glory with the Father before the world was. John 17:5. He was the Father’s Counselor. “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.” John 1:1-3. This Word was Christ, as is shown in verse 14, which says, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” Also in verse 10 we read, “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” We have further direct testimony on this point in Colossians 1. Here Paul says that Christ is the “image of the invisible God; the first-born of every creature; 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.” Verses 15, 16. But that is not all of His power and dignity; “He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” Verses 17-19. Christ having been the Creator of all things, it was He that made the Sabbath day; He that rested upon it, and then blessed and sanctified it. And this is how it comes that “the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28. This thought also adds force to the injunction in Deut. 5:15: “Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence thru a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Now this reason for keeping the Sabbath day does not supersede the reason given in the blessing and sanctifying of the day, and in the commandment to keep it holy, namely, because the Creator had rested on that day. It rather gives emphasis to that reason, and adds to the obligation to observe the day. The deliverance from Egypt was typical of the redemption from sin thru Jesus Christ our Saviour. So the Sabbath day that Christ made as a memorial of creation and the Creator’s rest, is also a memorial of redemption, for which provision was made “before the foundation of the world.” Eph. 1:4; 1 Peter 1:18-20; Rev. 13:8. But what is redemption? It is simply a re-creation, a making over again. “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature” [margin, “there is a new creation”]. 2 Cor. 5:17, R.V. “We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Rom. 8:23. Now “there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” 1 Cor. 15:44. “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.” Verse 46. Then the redeemed body will be a new creation. From the deliverance from Egypt to the entrance into the promised land, there was worked out in type the plan of salvation. Therefore the observance of the Sabbath day in commemoration of the deliverance from Egypt was really in memory of the new creation, as well as of the creation of the heavens and the earth in the beginning. The earth also is to be redeemed, and we will note how that is to be accomplished. Peter says that the present earth is to be destroyed by fire, and the Creator says, by the prophet Isaiah, “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.” Isa. 65:17. The proof is positive that redemption is a creation; hence it is proper that a Sabbath memorial of the one should be a memorial of the other, the Creator and the Redeemer being one and the same. And inasmuch as Christ, who personally brought Israel out of Egypt, did not then choose another Sabbath day for the celebration of redemption, why should men assume to do so now without any authority from Him? It is pertinent to note that the Sabbath of the Lord, as a memorial of creation, is a “perpetual” institution. It is a sign between God and the children of Israel forever. See Ex. 31:13-17. All of God’s people are Israel. “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3:29. Every person in the new earth will be there by virtue of being Abraham’s seed thru faith in Jesus Christ. “He is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.” Rom. 2:28, 29. “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Phil. 3:3. These scriptures show who are the children of Israel, between whom and the Creator the Sabbath of the Lord is a “perpetual covenant.” It is perpetual because it will be transferred to the new earth, where Christ will “reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” See Luke 1:30-33. The perpetuity of Israel and the Sabbath memorial is also set forth in more ancient prophecy: “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:22, 23. Note that the newly created inhabitants of the new earth, are “flesh,” albeit their bodies are spiritual. The resurrection body of Christ was a spiritual body, altho He had “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39), and went up to heaven in that form. And when He comes again, and the dead in Christ are raised to life, and the living righteous are changed to immortality, they will be like Him. 1 Cor. 15:51-53; 1 Thess. 4:15-18; 1 John 3:2. God worked thru Christ in creation as well as in redemption, or re-creation. Jesus says, “I and My Father are one.” Again He says, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” They were together in the creation work; they were together on Mount Sinai, when the immutable law was rehearsed; they were together in the sacrifice for sinners. God gave His Son, and Christ gave Himself. And they were together in the earthly ministry of Christ; for “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,” and in Christ dwelt “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Christ expressed astonishment that Philip had been so long time with Him and had not seen the Father. John 14:8, 9. In God and in Christ is all creative and redemptive, or re-creative, power. He that honoreth the Father, honoreth the Son, so “let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” G.