Creation and Redemption - the Same
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).
In this brief sentence we have the whole of the truth of the Gospel summed up. He who reads aright may derive a world of comfort from it.
In the first place, let us consider who it was that created the heaven and the earth. "God created." But Christ is God, the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person. (Heb. 1:3). He Himself said, "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30). He it was who, representing the Father, created the heaven and the earth. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1-3). And again we read of Christ, that "by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (Col. 1:16, 17). The Father Himself addresses the Son as God and as Creator. The first chapter of Hebrews says that God has not at any time said to any of the angels, "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." "But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom." And He has also said to the Son, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thine hands" (Heb. 1:5, 8, 10). So we are well assured that when we read in the first chapter of Genesis, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," it refers to God in Christ.
Creative power is the distinguishing mark of Divinity. The Spirit of the Lord, through the prophet Jeremiah, describes the vanity of idols, and then continues, "But the Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King: at His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion” (Jer. 10:10-12). The earth was made by His power, and established by His Wisdom. But Christ is "the power of God, and the wisdom of God." So here again we find Christ inseparably connected with creation as the Creator. Only as we acknowledge and worship Christ as the Creator do we acknowledge His Divinity.
Christ is Redeemer by virtue of His power as Creator. We read, "We have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins," because that "by Him were all things created” (Col. 1:14, 16). If He were not Creator, He could not be Redeemer.
This means simply that redemptive power and creative power are the same. To redeem is to create. This is shown in the statement of the apostle that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation and this power is the power of God as is seen by means of the things that He has been made. (Rom. 1:16, 20). When we consider the works of creation, and think of the power manifested in them, we are contemplating the power of redemption.
There has been a great deal of idle speculation as to which is the greater, redemption or creation. Many have thought that redemption is a greater work than creation. Such speculation is idle, because only infinite power could perform either work, and infinite power cannot be measured by human minds. But while we cannot measure the power, we can easily settle the question of which is the greater, because the Scriptures give us the information. Neither is greater than the other, for both are the same. Redemption is creation. Redemption is the same power that was put forth in the beginning to create the world and all that is in it, now put forth to save men and the earth from the curse of sin.
The Scriptures are very clear on this point. The Psalmist prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10). The apostle says, that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," (2 Cor. 5:17) or a new creation. And again we read, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10).
Compared with God, man is "less than nothing, and vanity” (Isa. 40:17). In him "dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). Now the same power that in the beginning made the earth from nothing, takes man, if he is willing, and makes of him that which is "to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph. 1:6).
E. J. Waggoner.
Excerpted from "The Gospel in Creation"