by Tad Lindley
We’ve probably all heard the song Jesus Paid It All. You know, the one that goes, Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. Jesus paid for the sins of man in the events that culminated in his brutally beaten, naked body crucified almost 2,000 years ago. But did you know that way before Jesus paid it all, Jesus made it all?
In the beginning
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:1-3) It is an irrefutable fact that God created all things. Day by day in the beginning God spoke things into existence. He spoke to the invisible nothingness and from all of that came forth everything that we now see. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. (Hebrews 11:3 NLT)
Even his nostrils!
It was not just the word of God that did all the work. Other parts of his mind and body were involved too. His hands were involved. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them they stand up together. (Isaiah 48:13) His power, his wisdom, and his understanding were involved. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. (Jeremiah 51:15) Much later God even used his nostrils to make the ocean do what he wanted! And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. (Exodus 15:8)
All by himself
When you consider all that is in this universe, it is far more than we can ever hope to comprehend, and yet God made it all. And when he made it all, he made it all by himself (his words, not mine). I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. (Isaiah 44:24) And in case we are reading the Bible too fast, he comes and hits again with a similar statement, For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:18)
The only place he got help
In fact the only place I see that God had any assistance in Creation was in the forming of man, because, speaking to somebody, presumably the angels, God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness… (Genesis 1:26) I know some might say, “Well Brother Lindley, that was one third of the Trinity speaking to the other two-thirds of the Trinity.” That sounds good, but there is only one major problem with that. The Trinity did not exist yet. In fact the doctrine of the Trinity was not created until about 325 AD when a council of men in Nicea voted it in. You can check the history books and verify this fact.
Then how does Jesus fit into this?
I have shown you in the scriptures, that God made all things, and that he did it by himself. So you may be wondering if God made it all in the Old Testament, how then can I be saying that Jesus made it all. The reason that I can say that, is because the Bible says it. Turn with me to John 1:1 in your Bible. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So whatever the Bible says about the Word, it is referring us straight back to God, because the Word was God. Now look ahead to John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us… That’s got to be Jesus. How about this? God was manifest in the flesh… Same idea from I Timothy 3:16. God from the beginning of the Bible, is concealed in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, he is revealed in human flesh as Jesus Christ.
Jesus made it all
Now if you will backtrack with me in John 1, we will see that speaking about the Word that was made flesh, the Bible makes these statements: All things were made by him, and without him was nothing made that was made. (1:3) He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (1:10) Now read this from Colossians where it speaks of Jesus: 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 principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. (Colossians 1:15-16) Not only has Jesus paid it all, Jesus made it all!
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
