CHRIST, THE GLORY OF CREATION
William Mealand

THE scriptures of truth take on a deeper meaning when we perceive the profound disclosure of Christ as the glory of creation. For when we see Him, Who is the power and wisdom of God, creating and then fashioning anew this world of ours, we comprehend His majesty as never before.

Time was, when, perhaps, we thought of Him only as the Saviour born at Bethlehem, and dying at Golgotha. And, even though we believed He rose again and would be returning, yet little did we think He was the august Firstborn, as Paul reveals Him in his enthralling Colossian passage (Col.1:16-20).

When, however, we read that "all has been created through Him and for Him," it was borne in upon us that here were words to exult in. Words that so wondrously set forth the Christ of God as to compel and hold attention. The exalted estimate they give of Him is of such an unimagined grace and glory, as to create in the mind an indelible impression of His power.

Do we not see that, in a relative and subsidiary sense, He is the God mentioned so many times in the Genesis introduction? How impressively and with what marked emphasis it is recorded: And saying is Elohim...and making is Elohim...and blessing ...is Elohim. Again and again this little connective "and" initials some great action in the rehabilitation of the earth. Thus in stately procedure, Elohim, Lord of life and glory, moves.

Deity, the invisible God, decrees, and He "Who is the Image of the invisible God," carries out the rare design. The entire cosmos, even the whole universe, is through Him. And, though not acknowledged as it should be, it is for Him, too. How and when that will be waits upon God in the working of His purpose. As we view the present order, or rather, disorder of things, we see little in "man's day" to assure us of "the day of Christ." But we know that day will dawn. And then, not only the earth, but the heavens, too, will respond to His ruling touch.

The creation, so long estranged from God the Father, finds contact again in Him. And the lovely words of the Davidic psalm will be realized in still more radiant splendor:

The heavens are rehearsing the glory of El,
And the atmosphere is telling the work of His hands.
Day after day is uttering truth,
And night after night is disclosing knowledge.
No saying is there and no words,
Failing to be heard is their voice,
Yet their utterance comes forth into the entire earth,
And into the ends of the habitance
their declarations.(Psalm 19:1-4)

Incessantly, though inaudibly, the wonder of day and night discloses knowledge, and is reminiscent of Him upon Whom and for Whom it waits. And humans, made in the image of God, will rejoice and exult in Him when at long last they recognize the Christ of God as the glory of creation. It is said that "time works wonders," and time is always on God's side. Therefore, when the glad hour is due, unbroken, universal acclaim will hail Him Who not only creates but reconciles the creatures of His hand.

Moreover, since He is Firstborn of every creature and is before all, a perfect precedence, a noble priority is His. He is the great Antecedent, with an inherent right to commit Himself to His Father's purpose of the eons. Unhindered by and impervious to that sin and death which so spoiled the fair cosmos fashioned through Him, He rises triumphant above it all. The march of time, the trail of decay, deters Him not. Son of the Father's love, spotless Lamb of God, death masters Him not. He comes gloriously through, the all-conquering Firstborn from among the dead.

Should He not, therefore, be placed highly in our thoughts? For how truly it is written of Him:

"Thou, originally, Lord, dost found the earth,
And the heavens are the works of Thy hands.
They shall perish, yet Thou art continuing,
And all, as a cloak, shall be aged,
And, as if clothing, wilt Thou be rolling them up
As a cloak, also, they shall change.
Yet Thou art the same,
And Thy years shall not be defaulting."(Heb.1:10-12)

Great and marvelous indeed, are the achievements of God's illustrious Son, and just and true His ways. The glory of creation at first, He is the Effulgence of an even fairer creation at last. For in the new heavens and earth, in which righteousness is dwelling, there will be an ever-increasing advance in the knowledge and love of God, the Father. The Christ of God will point the way so gloriously, in the wisdom and majesty of His ruling power, that the inhabitants of every realm will be happy and content.

And, greater still, they will see that the pathway of obedience to the will of God secures the highest quality of life. It is so now, as every saint can prove. And it is far better than being at the mercy of our own powers, ideas and self-sufficiency. As a speaker has aptly said, "God says in effect: You can do what you like. You can think yourselves much cleverer than I am. You can run this world on your own lines, but in the last resort, it is My world and I am responsible for it. I shall have to take the consequences of the way in which you abuse and twist and break My creation. But, because it is still My creation, I guarantee that through an infinity of travail and pain and waste, which I bear far more than you do, it will fulfill the purpose for which I made it."

To see as God sees is to be enlightened indeed. And, with Paul as guide and interpreter, we are conducted to the heights of rare vision. The triumph and sway of Christ, as God sees it, is immeasurably greater than even some of His people conceive it to be. There are many who place limitations on the extent of His triumph. That the whole universe is for Him in as grand a sense as it was through Him, they cannot see. They counter the splendid truth by interposing man's perversity. There are, it is said, "incorrigibles," who, impervious to all appeals, must assuredly be lost, and that forever.

It cannot be too eloquently announced that Christ's sacrifice was for all. There is nothing to take its place, however it may cut across the pride of man. He, therefore, as the glory of creation, and its worthy Redeemer, draws all to Himself. Only thus can creation be for Him. Introduce a segment that is not for Him by dint of an opposing will, and to that extent creation is marred.

Reconciliation is divine, full and complete. Half measures do not go with God. With Him, the crowning issue will accord with the character and worth of the Sacrifice. Therefore, the triumph of Christ has to be complete. The blood of His cross bespeaks this, for realms on high and for earth below. A dignity attaches to the power of the blood which only His loved ones know. And some of these fail to realize the magnitude of its power.

There will come a time when the whole of creation will rise in full acknowledgement of His Lordship. Then, in a splendor words fail to describe, the entire universe, won to God, acclaims Christ as Lord, for the glory of God, the Father. No beings are untouched, their needs unmet. He is the Desire of every heart.

Would that now, in the interlude of God's grace, the Son of His love was more fittingly extolled! It is not enough that His earthly life and walk be stressed and praised. For, to the minds of many, thus presented, He is only the ideal Teacher to be copied and followed. It may be we are even brought to the point of His wondrous death, and risen life but are left there, so that it is not enthrallingly shown that He died for all, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God, and that He not only lives, but is returning for His own believing people.

As for His being the glory of the creation He so wondrously fashioned, and Reconciler of all being estranged from the Father, that is too much for feeble faith to claim. Where is man in all this? What part is left for Him to play? is not man emerging, and climbing up and up to a new order, a nobler world? And what of the Church, with capital "C," and its retinue of science and the arts?

This vain thought, that the world can be brought to the feet of Christ by means other than His direct rule, is contrary to God's declared purpose. Such a dream is but a mirage of the wicked one, though he may pose as a philanthropist. This world, even as other realms, awaits the coming of the Lord of life and glory.

In the meanwhile we are thankful for all good that comes through human hands. Yet we would gladly acknowledge God in the understanding way which sees Him as moving and controlling all, both good and evil. At the same time the anointed eye can perceive, in the Word of truth, the exalted character of the Christ of God.

At His voice, creation
Sprang to fairest sight,
All celestial powers,
All the hosts of light.
Thrones and dominations
Stars upon their way,
And the wondrous beauty
Glimpsed in earth's array.

And once again His voice, as many waters, will command, subdue and attract. In realms above, and earth beneath, He will move as sovereign Lord. Illustrious Head over all, He is, as at the first, the glory of creation.