Creative Power of Jesus

 

Last night we were at a dinner party hosted by a refugee family. We laughed most of the time and ate some delicious food. Before the meal, someone mentioned the quilts I’d made for them so out they came, and those guests who had not seen them were open-mouthed. I was praising God that part of being made in His image is being creative.

After dinner, one of the refugee family said something about her design skills and since none of the guests had seen the evidence, out they came. She is a remarkable artist. We were all open-mouthed at her drawings and watercolors.

This morning’s devotions are about the creativity of Jesus Christ. The key verse follows the one that tells how God revealed Himself. It says:

But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1:2)

Think this way: Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, that same Word that God spoke brought the universe into existence. This means that Jesus Christ is also is the agent through whom God created the world and all things. It sounds a bit like science fiction, but it is not at all an invented thing like AI or human technology. The Bible is clear that Jesus did it and that He has the power to do it. While humans are creative, we are nothing in artistic skill compared to Him:

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)

As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. (Romans 4:17)

I try to imagine life with His creative ability. As MacArthur suggests, I’d enlarge my house, have an acreage with a horse, and a perfect occupation, or I could sit on my patio and make money! Fortunately, God did not give us sinners the power to create something out of nothing. Our creative abilities do not go that far.

The ability to create ex nihilo (out of nothing) belongs only to God. Since Jesus creates that way, His divine nature is declared. Remembering the words in Genesis, His creation was “good” until humanity sinned and changed it. This required that God intervened with great mercy, grace and love to restore what He had made. This is our desire and our hope:

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19–21)

The word used in Hebrews 1:2 for world is not the usual “kosmos” but “aionas” which appears in only one other verse: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3) It can mean far more than the visible world and certainly includes space, time, energy and other less visible entities than rocks, trees, and people. The power of Christ to create is far beyond cloth sewn together or lines and shapes on canvas or paper! He used no hands in the process; He just spoke it and all things appeared.

While most of the world accepts some sort of spontaneous ‘big bang’ theory, the idea of God speaking as the source of creation has been ridiculed. Is it harder to believe that creation has a design and an Author than it is to believe it just happened?

PRAY: Jesus, I know that You are God in human flesh, but also that You are the Word of God who created all things. You have given me a love for words, for precise communication. These thoughts remind me of that amazing book, “The Humiliation of the Word” by Jacques Ellul. Everyone should read it and see the parallels between images replacing language and how the world views You. While the wonder of creation awes me, Your ability to open human hearts to eternal truth is staggering!

PONDER: Think today about the ability of Jesus to use all things to transform His people into His image — not fully for we cannot speak worlds into existence, but we can use our words far more effectively than we do when it comes to bringing glory to His name.

 

 

Faith is a gift . . .

 

Where does faith come from? Why do I believe that if I plug in my hair dryer and turn on the switch it will run? Why do I believe the sun will come up in the morning? Or that the news will be on at 6 p.m. every night? This kind of faith is based on experience and confidence in the reliability of electricity, the sun, and the television station. At least two of them could fail and then my faith would be shattered.

Biblical faith is not quite the same. For one thing, it is a gift from God — He grants the ability to believe what He says:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

I can look at evidence in creation and believe God exists. I can realize that there is something or someone far beyond my experience, but unless I go for affirmation about who that is by the way He revealed it, I could come up with all sorts of ideas about who or what God is:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature . . .  (Hebrews 1:1–3)

The faith that is given by God is not the faith that can be conjured up by human reasoning, or experience, or logic, or supposition. It is a gift from God and this gift includes revelations about Him that we cannot otherwise know. For instance: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3)

I recall how I believed in evolution when Jesus saved me, even argued with my mother about it. However, faith wins . . . for in a short time I realized that creation by God was true. I cannot see that or prove it by scientific experiment, but I just know that it is true — because God said so.

This is how biblical faith works; it reveals as God speaks and gives insights that unbelievers can’t know, such as how the physical universe began, where it is heading, and how it will end. I know Who governs the universe and how I fit into the total scheme of things. I know why I exist and how to invest my life in matters of eternal consequence. This is all because of Christ and the marvelous gift of faith that comes with Him:

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14–16)

MacArthur says that most people refuse God’s counsel. They believe the enemy’s lie that God does not exist, or that He does not want the best for us, or that His book is out of date and cannot reveal unseen matters to us. However, such things aren’t beyond the realm of knowing—if a person is willing to be taught by God’s Word.

The Bible clearly states that God spoke the physical universe into existence, creating visible matter from what was non-physical or invisible. He “gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” (Romans 4:17) These are not observable but understood by this gift of faith in which God opens our heart to His realm, to His realities. The most brilliant human minds cannot see such things but those who have this faith can say with the psalmist, “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.” (Psalm 119:99–100)

PRAY: Again, I know that faith is not my own doing. Jesus, it is Your gift to me, a gift that comes by grace — Your goodness and sacrificial love. All praise to You, the God who reveals Himself to sinners such as I.

PONDER: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world . . . .” (Psalm 19:1–4) The gift begins with what can be seen in creation yet it culminates in Jesus Christ. I want Him to always enable me to proclaim Him in every possible way every time that He reveals Himself!