Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:3
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This question has kept people guessing for thousands of years. Some say – surely the chicken came first, because it had to lay the egg. Others say it must have been the egg that came first, because where else would the chicken have come from? Actually, like many of life’s great questions, the answer is to be found in the Bible; Genesis 1:21 says, “So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” It was, therefore, the chicken that came first, because God created the birds before he created eggs!
Today’s verse gives a similarly startling revelation. Christians believe that God created the universe, the earth that we live on, and everything on it, and also that Jesus was the Son of God, born round about the first year A.D. What is startling about this verse in John’s gospel today, though, is that although God was the creator of all things, all these things were made through Jesus. If it was not for Jesus, nothing would have been made! Just before our verse, John states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” He then goes on, referring to Jesus, to tell us that, “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” When seen in parallel with Genesis, we can see that Jesus, as the word, is the instrument through which all things were created. Each time, the act of creation begins with God saying, “Let there be…” Things come into existence through his word. Jesus, therefore, was intimately involved with creation!
Yesterday, we saw that God created the heavens and the earth. Today, we get a better idea as to how God created all things – through his word, which is Jesus. This is an amazing revelation, and helps us to understand not just how God created the earth, but also helps us better understand the nature of God, and of Jesus. Why not ponder this today?