Prologue to the Gospel of John Part 2: Jesus and His Relationship to Creation
John 1:3 The Word is the Creator of All
“All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
John 1:3 NASB1995
Continuing this series on the Prologue to John, after we discover that the Word has been there since the beginning (eternity past) and is with God and is God, we now find out through the divine insights given to John that all things (creation) came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being.
As a person who studied science and mathematics to become an engineer in the career that God guided me to (I did not give Him any credit at the time),this is just awesome, in the most profound sense of the word, and we must acknowledge the infinite power of the Triune God. One of the things that made me wander away for a few years into the secular weeds was a narrow and parochial viewpoint that could not reconcile the observable and vast wonders of the Universe with a God who would care about me. But what “size” God would satisfy the most atheistic heart? I now know that He can be infinite in every way and still care about His creations on a small planet in a corner of a single galaxy. It is enthralling to believe that!
That same Son who was born as a tiny baby in Bethlehem and gathered the Apostles and cried at the tomb of Lazarus and performed many miracles and died on the Cross and was resurrected is the same eternal being who created the following:
The Word created a universe that is now estimated to contain at least 200 billion galaxies, including those small ones that are just being discovered at the edge of that universe with the new James Webb Space Telescope. The number could reach 1-2 Trillion galaxies! Each of those galaxies contain an average of 100 million stars. Galaxies follow orderly rules of physics, especially gravitational laws for their formation and shape. Stars follow those same rules of physics from their formation, through their active lives, and into their decay and death.
The Word created a building block system of things (including living things) down to the subatomic level. The periodic table of the elements screams order and intelligence. Each new element that is discovered can be inserted into the proper period in that table and has orderly subatomic particle compositions and shells and isotopes and decay predictions. Helium and Oganesson (the latest named element) are both characteristic of noble gases, even though the latter only manifests itself for microseconds or less. The composition of molecules, atoms and subatomic particles always behave as expected and show remarkable evidence of design.
The Word created an incredibly complex, microscopic structure known as DNA that describes life itself. In order to avoid any thought that life had to be created by God with its remarkable mysteries, scientists now think that RNA molecules somehow magically combined in puddles of water early in our planet’s history from depositions by comets to create the “double helix”. I used to study system failures and try to get to root cause in my career. By saying that life came from comets, that naturally begs the question as to where that life came from originally. If you want your head to hurt, go read a tutorial about how DNA works with only four base pairs and a handful of elements.
The Word created a single planet in that vast universe (at least so far) with Millions of species of living beings (most have not been discovered). If we find biological life on another planet, does that negate the existence of God? I used to think so and most scientists dutifully follow the atheistic path that tells us we mean absolutely nothing given the incomprehensible size of the universe, but our faith should be strong enough to know that His thoughts are much higher than ours and we only see through a mirror dimly. Our faith should be able to withstand and find hope and wonder in discovering life elsewhere and know that an infinite God is even more infinite, if that’s possible. It may be that we are unique or extremely rare. But God also created the beings that populate Heaven and they are not like humans at all. The diversity of life on this planet is also a source of great joy to me and shows the creative imagination of God. Check out these Little Peacock Spider species, by the way; more and more of them are being discovered every day and they are smaller than the nail on your little finger. They have gone unnoticed for centuries, but their beauty and design is obvious. He IS the life principle (zoe in the Greek)!
The Word created a system of mathematical equations that can be used to describe everything that we see, through complex physics and other scientific theories. He is the Great Mathematician and Physicist! I love math and it is such a pure and predictable “thing”. As more theories are developed in Physics, like Quantum entanglement, which I mentioned in my last devotional, the more bizarre and intriguing the universe becomes. Physicists, sadly, are mostly atheistic, justifying this refusal to acknowledge an intelligent design and designer by now speculating that our fine-tuned universe may be one of an infinite number of universes and it just happened to turn out the way it did by pure chance. Only an Infinite Intelligence could make this reasonable:
Now a little side story showing how God guides us: We flew down to Florida recently and our flight was delayed over four hours (we found out after we got up really early and made it to the airport). Battery charges for our gizmos were becoming an issue so I popped into the bookstore in the concourse to look for a couple of “dead tree” books to tide us over on the flight. In the “religion” section of this small bookstore, two C.S. Lewis books that I did not own (“Miracles” and “Weight of Glory”) were sandwiched between books on Wicca, horoscopes and Buddhist meditation guides. Sold! I read about half of “Miracles” on the plane and was dumbfounded at how perfect this book was in light of this post that I was writing (well, I shouldn’t be dumbfounded - we are constantly being guided by the Holy Spirit). I am still absorbing what I’ve read, but Lewis makes his arguments using impeccable logic and reasoning comparing the mental processes of those who are hung up on “Naturalism” (what you can see and sense) versus those who can acknowledge “Supernaturalism” and the hand of God in our Creation. God created the natural order and He can perform miracles, which supersede the natural order. We can reason our way to knowing the Word as the Alpha and the Omega of all that exists. Here’s a short quote from “Miracles” that dovetails nicely with my thoughts and this devotional:
If it is maintained that anything so small as the Earth must, in any event, be too unimportant to merit the love of the Creator, we reply that no Christian ever supposed we merited it. Christ did not die for men because they were intrinsically worth dying for, but because He is intrinsically love, and therefore loves infinitely. And what, after, does the size of a world or a creature tell us about its ‘importance’ or value?
Love is not quantifiable or measurable!
Also, here’s a short commentary but succinct by David Guzik in Enduring Word about this verse, which I find to be so full of complexity:
a. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made: The Word created all things that were created. Therefore He Himself is an uncreated Being, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:16.
i. “In Genesis 1:1, GOD is said to have created all things: in this verse, Christ is said to have created all things: the same unerring Spirit spoke in Moses and in the evangelists: therefore Christ and the Father are ONE.” (Adam Clarke)
b. In Him was life: The Word is the source of all life – not only biological life, but the very principle of life. The ancient Greek word translated life is zoe, which means “the life principle,” not bios, which is mere biological life.
i. “That power which creates life and maintains all else in existence was in the Logos.” (Marcus Dods)
My next devotional from the Prologue to the Gospel of John examines John 1:4-5, Jesus as the Life and Light of the World.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear God - As I sit in wonder and contemplate all that You have created, I know You are a Living God who is infinite in power, infinite in wisdom, is the source of all Life but yet loves us beyond our ability to comprehend. May I never make the mistake again in my life of doubting Your power and your miracles and mistaking them for random chances! We matter because of You! In Jesus Name, Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
“Miracles” published by HarperCollins 2001; copyright C.S. Lewis 1947, 1966.
Commentary by David Guzik on Enduring Word is used with written permission.