Look with me at Colossians 1.15-18— “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For 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. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
As the Word described in John 1.1-5, Jesus Christ is eternal. He has always existed. He has always existed and always will exist. He stands outside space and time. He is God! When the beginning happened, He already was. He is eternal: no beginning and no end. Alpha and Omega. We can’t ever claim the no-beginning thing. You and I did start at a point in time. Jesus Christ though, invites us into His experience of no end. And no writer of Scripture talks more about eternal life than John does. He had a special grasp on it. Perhaps, outside of Holy Spirit inspiration, it could be that He saw the end of all things but God and His people in the revealing of Revelation.
Jesus is the Creator. Both Colossians 1.15-18 and John 1.3 agree, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” The “all” is actually pretty inclusive. It has an all encompassing ring to it, unlike ‘most’ or ‘some’. Everything that was made, was made by Him.
Let me give you the two basic, big philosophical options: 1). Something made everything. 2). Nothing made everything. Those are your choices. And I would say they are both hard to believe. What you choose here matters.
I would imagine, for the most part, those who would be reading this have a set thought on what they believe and it doesn’t waver. I also understand that what I’ve already offered is probably enough for them, with no need to move into any form of detail. It is sufficient for me too. I believe, by faith. This isn’t because my parents or church taught me this. Oh yes, I was taught, but Ive also doubted. I have searched and I have come to conclusions on my own. The deistic evolutionist would like christians everywhere to doubt themselves. Well, I do. I do doubt myself, and man for that matter. What I don’t doubt is God, and His word. To understand fully what God did and is doing even now is unfathomable to me. But that’s ok. I don’t want to trust something I can completely grasp when I’m contemplating the eternal. I don’t even understand that! Someone who stands outside of my senses made everything… I can get behind that, because it cant be explained. The other option of a black hole theoretical universe centered in a Cambrian explosion is less explained than the Creator God. It comes down to a choice.
Frankly, the other option only appeals to people who simply don’t want to believe in God. Their choice is, ‘nothing made everything’. It eliminates all responsibility. How convenient! If God did the creating and we are that creation, then there are responsibilities we have to face. One is our sin. We have an original sin and sin nature to deal with. We are responsible to answer to this Creator. And, He is responsible to question our allegiance. If though, one believes in accidental causal primordial soup evolution… well then you have nothing to worry about. You came from nothing and you are going to nothing. No responsibilities except those that man (self) impose or reject upon themselves. The second area of responsibility comes from the first, you have a responsibility to deal with this sin. Here our scripture tells us that God Himself steps in where we couldn’t and redeemed us back to Himself, destroying the sin against us. Three, we would have a responsibility derived from both one and two… we should obey willingly any and all commands this Creator-Savior says. Why wouldn’t you? I mean, what kind of thing is this? An Eternal, Creating, Redeeming, Loving God has made a way. Why wouldn’t I want to obey Him?
I wouldn’t have to be forced, activated, demanded to, or coerced into changing my will in this matter. I would willingly want to follow that kind of God. Wouldn’t you? Therefore I see it being an issue of selfishness versus selflessness. Selfishness would prefer the primordial soup, gases, sparks, matter collisions over a God whom you have to answer to. Either space, time, and planets appear with no source or explanation; or Jesus is in our view constantly waiting on us to care.
John’s gospel, along with the Colossians quote above tells us of a Someone, who wants an intimate relationship with us. The choice is up to you. I choose Jesus. I know that means I have certain responsibilities. I’m ok with that. I want to serve Him. I want to be responsible to Him. I want to obey. He makes me want to not be selfish.
Last, the Cambrian notion removes all personal attachment. Of course, this leans even harder into the selfish category. It gets real personal when I realize that Jesus, who made me, loved me and saved me, also speaks and listens to me. I’m in a relationship that takes work and surrender to achieve closeness. All relationships do. The greatest do at least. Selflessness is key to greatness in a relationship. Don’t you think the One who created you has certain legitimate claims on your life?
Believer… be a disciple, surrender daily, give it up, sell out, and follow the One and Only. He’s earned it.