There is much confusion about how God created the universe. I don't mean how He technically did it, but how it was done in time. The problems begin with the question: "Who created the things we can see?". The Scriptures say that it was God Who created the heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1). But is this the end of the story? I don't think so. The Scriptures have more to say on the subject. To find a more precise answer we have to look a bit deeper into things than Genesis 1:1 only.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
(Gen.1:1; KJAV)But there is more. The Scriptures say that the creation of what we can see was done by someone else than God the Father:
16 "for in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him, 17 and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him." (Col. 1:16,17; Conc. NT)
Who is this "Him"? The answer is found in verse 18:
"And He is the Head of the body, the ecclesia, Who is Sovereign, Firstborn from among the dead" (Col.1:18; Conc. NT)
This "Him" or "HE" is the firstborn from among the dead. The only one who fits this description is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
So it was Christ who created this world and all that is around it, the universe and the spirit world! That is surprising when you consider the explanation that the churches have! They teach that it was God Who made it all! In a way, they are right; but it is not the complete story as we will see later.
What we have to look into is the question of the Trinity, is it a reality? Is Christ equal to the Father?
The matter of the Trinity stands or falls with the question: was the Word/the Son created, or is He, like the Father, eternal? I think the Scriptures say that the Word, the One we know as Christ, was created and therefore has a beginning. Anything that is created or made, has a point of beginning.
Let's look at two words from the Scriptures for this:
"Who is the Image of the invisible God, Firstborn of every creature, 16 for in Him is all created," (Col. 1:15, 16a; Conc.NT)
"14 "And to the messenger of the ecclesia in Laodicea write: 'Now this is saying the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, and God's Creative Original..." (Rev. 3:14; Conc. NT)
The Scriptures here say that Christ was "God's creative original", in Whom all was created. He was the firstborn of all creatures. When God created Him, He created in Him the universe and the ability and means to create the universe "from Him". The last act of creation was the making of mankind.
Some might suggest that this "firstborn" relates to the new beginning that Christ made when He rose from the dead. But this is not so. Rev. 3:14 clearly states that He was created as the first ever. He was the original.In Genesis 1:1 we read:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
This "in beginning" (or "in begin" as other translations have it) is the translation for the Hebrew word "reshiyth" (Strongs# 07225). This word has its root in the word "rosh" (Strong's #07218). "reshiyth" is found 598 times in the OT and has these translations in KJAV - head 349, chief 91, top 73, beginning 14, company 12, captain 10, sum 9, first 6, principal 5, chapiters 4, rulers 2, misc 23.
"Reshiyth" is found 51 times and has these translations in the KJAV: beginning 18, firstfruits 11, first 9, chief 8, misc 5.
The root says it is a word that is connected to a person, the head, chief; in short: a leader. It is not connected with a moment in time. If the root is not connected with time, why would the word that is based on this be related in time? When we look at the possible translations, we find one that fits the description and amazes us: firstfruit!
We know someone Who is called "firstfruit".
"Yet now Christ has been roused from among the dead, the Firstfruit of those who are reposing.(1Cor. 15:20;Conc.NT)
and
"Yet each in his own class: the Firstfruit, Christ; thereupon those who are Christ's in His presence;"(1Cor. 15:23;Conc.NT)Christ is called THE Firstfruit. Now look again at Genesis 1:1! "In begin God created the heaven and the earth", or was it "In Firstfruit God created the heaven and the earth"?
This makes sense, when we compare this with Colossians 1:16 and Revelation 3:14 (see above). Christ (the Word) was the Firstfruit of the whole creation. "In Him" God created the heaven and earth. And He, God the Father, gave Him the mission to create, from what He had "in Him", the universe and all that is in it.
It all had a goal. God was alone and could not show some of His fundamental qualities to anyone else: His love, His compassion, His righteousness, His light etc.... He needed to create beings that could appreciate all these wonderful things.
For that purpose God created His Word, the One we know as Christ. "In Him" He invested all that was necessary to make what is needed for creatures to exist and to learn what it is like to be temporarily without all these wonderful things of God.
Had we known them and not experienced the dark side of these things, we could never appreciate them. Can we appreciate light, without knowing darkness, love without knowing hate, warmth without knowing what cold is, goodness without experiencing evil?
God's Word created all that; that is, God created it all through Him (Col 1:16), and will reconcile all through Him (Col 1:20).
That decision to reconcile all, was not taken at the moment when sin entered the world; it was taken long, long before that. In 2Timothy 1:9 it says that God made this decision "before eonian times," meaning, before time even began!
Mankind was not able to bridge the gap that came between creation and God because of sin, therefore God created this bridge. He gave the One Who had made this universe, the Son of His Love, for a price; to reconcile God with the world from above. Mankind was already saved from before the beginning, it just had to wait until Christ died on the cross of Golgotha to realize this fact. Now we fully expect its implementation. It is assured that this will happen.We can summarize the entire creation system with the same method that God used to write the Scriptures—structure.
The explanation of the structure that is shown in the picture is as follows:
A1 God alone, all in Himself.
--B1 God creates the Son.
------C1 The Son creates the universe; beginning of time.
------------D Time and history during 5 eons.
------C2 The universe returns to the Son: end of time.
--B2 The Son returns and subjects all to God.
A2 God All in all.
