Jesus is the Creator (Hebrews 1)

The Bible is very clear that God made everything. It is also clear that each of the divine persons were involved in the work of creation. When it describes the involvement of the Son of God in the work of creation, the authors that refer to what he did say that everything was created through him or by him, with the purpose of being for him. He was the agent that God the Father used in the work of creation. It was part of his work as the Mediator.

An enormous creation

One obvious factor is that the Son of God made a big creation. In fact, we have no idea how big the universe is. There are at least 100,000 million galaxies. Each galaxy contains 100,000 million stars. The distance of our galaxy is 600 trillion miles. The sun that we see every day is big enough to hold two million planets of the size of the earth. There are many other details of the size of the universe that could be mentioned.

 

The physical size of the universe should astonish us, especially when we remind ourselves that the Son of God made it all with a word. Yet that is not all that the author says in this chapter because, as we can see, he also says that the Son of God made the invisible world in the sense that he is the creator of the angelic host. Angels are superior to us in power and in action, yet they are not self-created nor are they self-existent. They depend for their existence on the power of the Son of God. 

 

Even when we have said that the Son of God made the physical universe and the invisible universe, we have not said everything that the author had in mind. The word that is translated ‘world’ in ‘through whom he created the world’ actually means ages or periods of time. Time, in any of its lengths, is a divine creation. We can divide into seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, decades, centuries, millenniums and ages, but when we do, we are speaking about the creative power of the Son of God.

 

When the author says that Jesus upholds all things by the word of his power, he does not mean that Jesus and the universe are static and that he keeps it still, without moving an inch. Instead, the universe is moving under the control of Christ. God has a plan for it, and that plan is under the control of his Son. That is how he could say that he had all authority in heaven and on earth. Because if he did not have all authority, it would mean that some places were independent of his power. He is in control of it all. 

 

Pause to consider

Since the Son of God made everything, we can ask how close he is to all of the creation. After all, some parts of it are a long way from us. The answer may astonish us, but since he is omnipresent none of it is far from him. We can also ask, since it is so big, how much about does he know? He knows everything, but he does not merely know the details sequentially, he also knows them immediately and fully (he knows already, and indeed always has known, what the universe will be like a century from now). And a third question is, why does the universe continue? The author of Hebrews answers this question when he says that Jesus upholds all things by the word of his power. We could go out at night and look at all the stars and other heavenly bodies hanging above our heads and ask, ‘Why don’t they fall away in some kind of descent?’ The answer is that their stability as well as their moveability is under the control of Jesus. And he controls it all with the same ease with which he made it all – by the power of his word. 

 

So far we have been thinking about the inanimate creation. But what about us? In his work of creation, Jesus created our space. We, that is the human race, have been given the earth to live on. Nothing has changed that reality, not even the flood which God sent as an expression of his judgement. He promised Noah that the seasons would continue to function, with sowing and harvesting taking place. But Jesus did not only make our space, he also made our time(s). As Creator, he knew where you would live, and he knew when you would live. You are suitable for the twenty-first century, even although sin has marred the creation and us.

 

An enduring creation

Later in the chapter, the author considers the prospects for the earth. He does so as he explains the role of angels. They are permanently busy in his service, but there is at least one thing they are not doing, which is preserving the creation, and there is at least another thing they will not do and that is they will not bring about the renewal of the earth. The writer goes to an Old Testament psalm (102) to find a summary of what Jesus has done, is doing and will yet do for the creation. 

 

The first detail that we can note is that we are listening in to a divine conversation. Verses 5-14 are some words that God said to his Son and about his Son, and which are found in the words given to the prophets mentioned in verse 1. What is the timing of the conversation? We can see that they were not said when the work of creation occurred because in the conversation it is in the past. Nor is the conversation taking place at the end when the renewal occurs because in the context the renewal is still future. So the Father speaks to the Son about his work of creation and some stage between the original creation and the renewal of creation.

 

It is interesting to think about how God the Father addressed Jesus in these verses. He calls him ‘Son’, ‘God,’ ‘Lord,’ and says that he has a kingdom, and that he sits on an eternal throne. Obviously, the Father is pleased to indicate how delighted he is with Jesus. We should not be surprised at that since we know that on two occasions – his baptism and his transfiguration – the Father expressed his pleasure in the Son by using words that people could hear.

 

The Father first summarises the workmanlike skill of Jesus at the beginning as he laid the foundation of the earth and produced the heavens. We can something of the pleasure of Jesus in this activity when we read Proverbs 8:27-31: ‘When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.’ It is almost as if the Father is saying to Jesus, ‘You did it on my behalf.’ It was his abilities that brought it all into existence.

 

Then the Father contrasts the differences between the creation and his creating Son. What is the creation like now? It is perishing, and what is perishing are the things in the heavens and the things on earth. In comparison to Jesus, the creation is just like an old garment. Why is it like that? Because of our sins which caused God to curse it at the beginning, and since then the creation, as Paul says in Romans 8, had been groaning. When we look at the immovable mountains and the wide oceans, as well as the innumerable stars, we should say to ourselves, ‘We are looking at an old, worn-out garment.’

 

The Father continues by saying to his Son, ‘The day is coming when you will once again, as it were, take your hands that formed the universe and use them to roll it up like a garment.’ The next time you are folding a shirt or a blouse, say to yourself, ‘Jesus will roll up the universe in a shorter time than it is taking me to do this!’ But he will not throw the garment out. Instead, he will renew it and as Paul reminds us in Romans 8 this will take place when Jesus returns and the creation itself will enter into the liberty of the children of God.

 

The conversation closes with the Father saying to his Son, ‘You are the same, and your years will have no end.’ In other words, even although he is now also a man, he still possesses his creative skills and his endless power, and as he did at the beginning, so he will at the re-beginning bring into existence an incredible universe, one that he will maintain in existence for ever.

 

The encouragement

Jesus once came down to meet with Abraham (Gen. 15:1-6). In fact, he came several times to see Abraham by means of what we call a theophany, a temporary assumption of a human form. He came on this occasion to inform Abraham that his descendants would be many. We are told that the Lord ‘brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”’ Two looked up to the sky, both knew that the number of believers would be many, but only one of them knew the fullness in the meaning of his words. But the stars would tell Abraham of the richness of the promises of God.

 

Isaiah was sent by God to comfort his people who were complaining that God did not seem to care about them. God says to them, ‘To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.’ Then God asks, ‘Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint’ (Isa. 40:25-31). It is as if God is saying, ‘When you are wondering if I care, take a look at the stars. Remind yourself that keeping the universe in existence does not tire Jesus. Even as he knows the names and number of the stars, he knows the names and number of his people and where they are at any given time.’

 

How can we respond to the greatness of Jesus? By recognising his majesty, by rejoicing in his competence, and by revering his power.