Ages ago I was listening to an episode of Adventures in Odyssey that spoke of Jesus calling Him Creator. To be honest, that pulled me up short and I missed a lot of the rest of the episode. See, I had always thought of Him as only existing from the time of His manger entrance, and not as Creator. Oh, I knew He was there at the beginning, but that didn’t stop me from thinking that way. It didn’t sink in that HE created all things. It’s not like scripture says that everything was created through Him and for Him.
The meaning of that hits full force when we read Peter’s sermon to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost. He tells them they killed the very Author of Life. That rang some serious bells, because the Jews knew that the Author of Life was YHWH. God. Jehovah. Elohim. Adonai. Now this former fisherman and scoundrel was telling them they had killed Jesus who is the Author of Life?
Then he went on to tell them that it didn’t matter that they killed Him, God returned Him to life and that he and the others of The Way had actually seen the evidence of it. In Jewish culture, they could ignore the testimony if there was only one witness. Charges for crimes couldn’t be brought with only one witness. At least two are required.
As Peter spoke, there were many witnesses, more than just the twelve apostles. There were others in the upper room when the resurrected Jesus appeared. More than two witnesses were sharing that they had seen the Author of Life alive after the Jews had killed Him.
That’s nice. What’s all this mean to me today, Faye?
It means the same as it did to them. Jesus didn’t start when cells molded into a human in Mary’s womb. As part of of the triune God, He spoke light and life into existence. Before Him, nothing that we know existed, not even time. This powerfully creative God made everything and everyone. He holds everything together, keeps the planets in orbit, makes the sun come up and go down. He holds all of light and life in His hands.
This is our Savior.
We need to stop thinking of Jesus as some meekly weak human who was born in Bethlehem. He created Bethlehem and everyone in it! Yes, He walked humbly among His creation, but He was and is as powerful and creative as He was when He spoke everything into existence. He is every bit as powerful as the One who caused the earth to swallow those offering ungodly sacrifices to Him.
He is God, and while He is to be loved, He is also to be feared, respected, and revered. He didn’t take the throne of Heaven when he ascended from Earth, He stepped off it for a moment of eternity to walk on Earth. He chose to rein in His power and majesty while living as a human so that he would not destroy the created ones He loved.
