Thursday, January 22, 2004 (78)
JESUS, THE EXACT LIKENESS OF HIS FATHER. The Lord Jesus is the precise representative of the Father. Not only did He symbolize the Father but He is the very image of God. He is not the Father, He is the Son, but He is in the exact image of the Father. Col. 1:15 He expects those who follow Him and claim to know Him to be able to differentiate between the Father and the Son, while at the same time recognizing the fact that to have seen the Son is to have seen the Father. This is readily illustrated by the request posed to Jesus by Philip, whose curiosity got the best of him and desired Jesus to show him the Father. Is there to be found a tone of disappointment in the response of Jesus? Have I been so long with you and still you do not know me. Not too unlike Christianity today. How well do we know Him? Jesus first called his attention to the unity that is the Godhead. I Am in the Father and the Father is in me. There could be no closer association. I speak the words of the Father who dwells in Me. So, in His words spoken to them, they were hearing the words of the Father. He repeated, for them, that absolute affinity and relationship which can only exist in God. The Father dwells in Me. Also the works that He performed were at the direction of His Father. He exalted and glorified the Father in all things. John 14:9-11
CHRIST ACTIVE IN THE CREATION OF ALL THINGS. The Word is very positive on the action that Jesus had in creation. Paul announced that is was BY Jesus that all things were created. That plainly places the responsibility and the workmanship on the Son. He was not only the architect but the builder as well. Col. 1:16 When we stop to ponder the creation around us and the astoundingly perfect order of everything, from the universe with its multitudinous galaxies to the most minute of living cells, all being maintained by an unknown and unseen power, a mystery to scientist but clearly revealed in the Word of the Lord. Through Him all things were made or brought into being. Nothing was created apart from Him. He was the very center of all creative activity. John 1:3 He was the origin, the beginning of all things, the very channel through whom all came into existence. 1 Cor. 8:6 His participation in creation reveals His Deity. For, He who built all things is God. Heb. 3:4 When the end comes, it is Christ who will fold all of creation and destroy it as if though it were nothing. His final action in relationship to His creation will be to destroy it and begin with a new heavens and a new earth. Heb. 1:10-12 The whole purpose of His creation is seen in the fruit, the nation of the redeemed which He will receive from among His creation. An established seed. The offspring of those who have served Him. The natural man cannot receive the future plan and purpose of the Lord. But rest assured that the ages to come, be they on earth during the Millennium or in the new heavens and new earth will be the very best that the Lord can possible create. Ps. 102:28 He will feed His flock and like any good shepherd will pay special attention to the lambs or the young. While at the same time leading those that are yet to give birth. Isa. 40:11.