Truth and Scripture

Today I would like to take a look at something about the creation that shows us an irrefutable truth from which all truth proceeds. First of all let's look a a scripture that brings us to the point: "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead" (Rom. 1:20). This verse plainly tells us that the realities of God are revealed to us by and through the creation, if we are paying attention that is. In regard to paying attention, let's look at another verse that talks about that: "Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth" (Prov. 17:24). What this verse is saying is that it is wise to actually see what is right in front of us, and it is foolish to be looking for truth and reality off in the distance somewhere. So let's be wise and take an up close and personal look at this grand revelation about the God of heaven and earth, that is found in the account of the creation in first chapter of the Bible. I'm going to skip everything that is prior to the creation of any life, because it is the life that is in the earth that reveals this powerful truth to us. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.... And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth... And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good" (Gen. 1:12,20-22,24,25).

After the creation of mankind we see this: "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so" (Gen. 1:29,30). Okay, so what I've copied here from the creation tells us something repeatedly, and it is the thing that reveals the most powerful and basic thing about God and his 'Godhead' that we can learn. In all of the plant kingdom that God created, he said clearly that each and every form of plant life would reproduce "after its kind, whose seed is in itself." And of all animal life, which includes humans, it is said also that they would reproduce "after their kind." Now it doesn't definitively say of the animal life that "its [their] seed is in itself [themselves], but it is clearly evident to all of us that it's certainly that way. In other words, every form of animal, including humans, ours and their 'seed' is surely in ourselves and in themselves. I don't think we need a sex education course here to confirm that to be true. So what we have seen from the creation is that there is absolutely no form of life in the earth that did not exist in another of its kind before it came forth to being. Plants reproduce after their kind because the seed OF their kind is already in them, and it can produce nothing BUT its kind. There is no life in the earth that did not COME OUT OF something of its own identical kind. The seeds that we can plant in a garden didn't just originate as seeds. They came out of a plant of the identical kind, and that is why they will produce that kind of plant; whether it be watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers, you name it. There are seeds in all forms of life that come forth from that life form to produce another just like it, though there are variations in size and other things that distinguish each as an individual plant. The Bible clearly shows us that the seed of humans comes out of the father's body,a dn of course into the woman's body to fertilize an egg, so as to produce another human: "And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him" (Heb. 7:9,10).

The scripture also shows us that we were all 'in' Adam's body when he sinned, and that is why we are partakers of his curse until we are born again by faith in Jesus: "For as IN Adam all die, even so IN Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor. 15:52). This verse plainly declares that the curse of death upon Adam and his descendants is broken when we are "by one Spirit.. baptized into one BODY [of Christ]" (I Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27; II Cor. 3:17). So we were sentenced to death along with Adam because we were literally in him, and thereby were made partakers of everything that he inherited as a result of his sin. Likewise we are heirs of eternal life if we are in the body of Christ, because eternal life is what he has inherited for his obedience. The scripture says it like this: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned... Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life" (Rom. 5:12,18). This is not actually the particular truth that I intend to point out here, but it is inseparable from it because it shows that whatever is in a person will produce after its own seed, or kind if you will. Sin and death were in Adam, so we being the seed that came out of him inherited both. Eternal life is in Christ, so when we become his seed by being baptized with his 'Spirit of life' into his body, we become partakers of eternal life (Rom. 8:2). And again, in both cases we inherit these things because we are literally the 'seed' of one or the other, and are literally from or in their body. So the process of redemption, which is to say the remission of sins and the literal deliverance FROM sin; follows suit to the rule that was established in the creation in the beginning, in regard to everything producing after its kind because its seed is in itself. Now I want to get to the heart of the issue, which in fact is how the Son of God came into being. Let's start with this much renowned and revered verse: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (Jn. 1:1). We know that 'the Word' with that capital W is referring to Jesus Christ the Lord (Rev. 19:13). So Christ was both with God in the beginning, and WAS God as well. But how is that?

The Bible tells us in two consecutive verses that Christ was "before all things," and also that he "is THE beginning" (Col. 1:17,18). Several verses tell us that it was he who created all things, but one verse in particular plainly puts him directly with the Father at the time of the creation, as John 1:1 tells us: "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph. 3:9). Now I want us to see where all of this invaluable knowledge was derived from by the apostles. Like the remainder of the new testament writings, this truth also came from the old testament writings: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth... When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth... When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him" (Prov. 8:22-25,27,29,30). Proverbs 8 is the testimony of wisdom, but a close look at these verses tells us that this is about a 'person,' and not just the faculty of God's wisdom. One of the meanings of the word 'Qanah,' which is the Hebrew word for 'possessed' in verse 22, is 'to acquire.' God did not acquire wisdom at any time. God the Father never had a beginning and wisdom has always been in him, even as all of his attributes have always been in him. You see, Christ is called "the wisdom of God" by the apostle Paul in I Cor. 1:30. It was he who was 'acquired' by God before anything else existed, as Colossians 1 and verse 22 here tell us. The term 'set up' in verse 23 comes from 'nacak,' and literally means 'to be poured out.' We're getting there now, so lets look at some more of this revealing passage. In verses 24 and 25 the term 'brought forth' comes from the Hebrew word 'chuwl,' and some of the meanings of the word is 'to travail,' and 'to be born.'

So we are looking at the origin or birth of the person of wisdom here, but let's not stop there. Next this 'wisdom' tells us that during the creation of the world, he was 'by him' [God]. This term 'by him' is from the term 'etsel' in the Hebrew language, and it means 'beside, near, conjunction, proximity.' Now that's some really powerful stuff, I have to say. Again, God's faculty of wisdom was never 'beside' him because it has always been IN him. Always. Also in verse 30 wisdom says that he was "brought up with him." The term 'brought up' is derived from the word 'amown,' and it means 'a master workman.' So this person of wisdom in this passage says he was 'born,' and with God, and by God, and a master workman for God. That sounds a whole lot like "the Word was with God," and also like "he is before all things." But if that isn't enough, verse 30 holds one more treasure of knowledge, saying "I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." Our word 'delight' here comes from the word 'sha'shua,' and it means 'an object of delight.' So put that together with the word 'rejoicing,' which comes from 'sachaq,' which means simply 'to laugh, to play, or to sport.' Now I don't believe that God's spirit of wisdom laughed, or played, or sported before him before and during the creation of the world; but I believe that a beloved Son DID! In fact it was Christ to whom the Father was speaking repeatedly in the account of the creation in Genesis 1, and that is particularly evidenced in verse 26, where he pointedly said; "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." So we know that Jesus Christ was 'brought forth' before anything else existed, even as the new testament scriptures tell us; but HOW WAS he brought forth, and where did he come from exactly? Well, all we have to do is look at Genesis chapter 1 and we have our answer. We are told in a number of places that Jesus is "the only begotten" Son of God [Do I really need reference verses here?]. Angels are referred to as "sons of God" in Job 1:6, Adam is called "the son of God" in the genealogy in Luke 3:38, and those who are born of God's Spirit now are also called "sons of God" (Jn. 1:12; Rom. 8:14; I Jn. 3:1; etc.).

But Christ has the distinction of being "the only begotten" Son of God, so it's very integral to our faith and knowledge that we understand what that means. The Hebrew word for 'beget' is 'yalad,' and it means 'to bring forth,' to gender.' The Greek word for the word 'begotten' is 'monogenes,' and is very telling indeed. The meaning for 'monogenes' is, 'single of its kind, only.' WHOOOOOOHOOOO! Wow! Now we're talking about God's Son, who is absolutely ONE OF A KIND, and has no comparison or equal among all that exists! What these things tell us is that the Son of God came forth from his Father's body, and that is why he is also God, as in "the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Bible tells us of the Son of God: "[God] 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" (Heb. 1:2,3). That passage tells us that God made the worlds by and through his Son, and also that his Son is "the brightness of his glory... [and his own] "express image." The word 'brightness' there comes from the Greek word 'apaugasma,' and means 'a reflection.' The term 'express image' comes from the word 'carakter,' and it means 'a mark, a stamp, or an impression.' So we see that the Son of God, who came out of the Father, is just like him, though no doubt there are variations that distinguish him as an individual apart from the Father; even as we see in mankind, animals, and plant life as well. To be certain, Christ is known as 'the Word of God' because he was literally spoken from God's mouth into being. That is the simplicity of why he is called 'the Word of God.' In fact he was the very first Word that God ever spoke, and I will show you why that is. First of all God was alone in eternity before he begot his Son. There was nobody to talk to, and there was absolutely nothing to talk about. God was all that existed, so when he decided to finally speak there was absolutely nothing to speak ABOUT, other than literally EXPRESSING HIMSELF! Think about it. Nothing existed apart from him, so all he COULD DO was express himself. So when he spoke, he spoke another of his kind into existence, that being the one who is the reflection of himself, and the one who has the identical mark and impression of God on his entire being.

What this also means is that The Son of God was already in God BEFORE he was spoken out of him into being an actual person. If we were in Adam's body, and Levi was in Abraham's loins, and plants bring forth their own kind from the seed that is already in them; then all of the very substance of Christ was in the Father's body before he was begotten. That is the revelation of the creation. IT IS ALL JUST LIKE THE FATHER AND THE SON, BECAUSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR IT TO BE ANY OTHER WAY!!! You see, the truth is that God is STILL all that exists, and everything and everyone else is part of him. The Son is the only being or thing of any kind in existence, who was NOT created, but rather he was begotten from the Father's own person, and existed in the substance of the Father from all eternity. He HAD TO BE "the brightness of his glory... [and] the express image of his person." The Father's seed was in himself and he could only beget someone 'after his own kind.' There is no one else like Jesus Christ, who is also God along with the Father; he being the ONLY ONE OF HIS KIND, who was the seed that was in the Father, and was 'brought forth' according to the Father's kind! Therefore everything in the creation can do NOTHING BUT mirror God and his Son, because God and his Son are still the only reality that exists; and therefore everything they have made can only be a reflection of God in some way. I could go on and on and on with this, because this mighty truth encompasses the entire Gospel, and as we have seen, the entire creation. How could it not? But for now I will close with this powerful and telling scripture: "For by him [Christ] 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" (Col. 1:16). Yes, when it comes to the Father it's all about Jesus because that's the way he wanted it to be when he decided to have someone to be with him, and he begot the Son. When it comes to Jesus it's all about the one whom he laughed and played before when nothing but he and his Father existed. And they decided that they would include us in the family, and make us partakers of all that they have together. I don't know about you, but that touches my heart really, really deep. God bless.