Creation and Redemption

Christ in Creation

What is revealed in the first verse of the Bible?

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1.

What contrast is repeatedly drawn in the Scriptures between the true God and false gods?

Tell them this: “These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heaven.”  But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightening with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. Everything is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish. He who is like the Portion of Jacob is not like these, including Israel, the tribe of his inheritance – the Lord Almighty is his name.” Jeremiah 10:11-16. (See Jeremiah 14:22; Acts 17:22-29; Revelation 14:6-10.)  

Through whom did God work in creation?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:1-3.  

Christ the Creator Redeems

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” Romans 5:8,9.

What scripture speaks of the Creator as Redeemer?

“But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1.

What prayer of David shows that he regarded redemption as a creative work?

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10.  

In what scripture do we learn that Christ, the active agent in creation, is also the head of the church?

“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Colossians 1:16-18. 

What scripture plainly states that it is creative power that transforms the believer?

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do the good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10. 

Creator’s Upholding, Sustaining Power

Who keeps the heavenly bodies in their places?

“Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” Isaiah 40: 25,26.

What is the measure of the power that is available for the help of the believer?

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised his from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 1:17-29.  

Through whose agency is the universe sustained?

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17.

What statement shows that Christ sustains all things, both material and spiritual?

“Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” 1 Corinthians 8:6.

God’s Memorial and Sign

Of what is the Sabbath a memorial and a sign?

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, not you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11. “It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.” Exodus 31:17.

As creation and redemption are both wrought by the same creative power, of what besides the original creation was the Sabbath to be a sign?

“”Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.” Ezekiel 20:12.

The Reason for Worship

Why is God worthy to receive glory and honor?

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

Revelation 4:11. 

Note – That comparatively modern view of creation known as evolution, which rests upon human research rather than those divine revelation, and which substitutes an impersonal force for a personal Creator, overthrows the very foundation of the gospel. Redemption is simply the new creation, and the Creator is the Redeemer. The Head of the original creation is the Head of the new creation. The original creation was wrought through Christ by the power of the word; the new creation, or redemption, is wrought exactly the same way. The evolution theory of creation inevitably involves an evolution theory of the gospel, and sets aside the truth concerning sin, the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and the necessity of becoming new creatures through faith in the saving power of Christ.  

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