Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3180
“All things were created by Him and for Him.” Colossians 1:16.
THERE can be no mistake as to the Person concerning whom Paul is writing under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit—it is Jesus of Nazareth, the Incarnate Son of God who was crucified on Calvary for, writing concerning the same Person in the 14th verse, the Apostle says, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” It is, therefore, that Savior whose blood was shed for His people’s redemption who is here declared to be the Creator of all things and by whom all things consist!
The first verse of the Book of Genesis tells us that, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” so someone may ask, “How do you reconcile that statement with Paul’s declaration that all things were created by Christ and for Him?” No reconciliation is needed, for the two statements are identical, as Jesus is God, and “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Jesus said, “I and My Father are One,” and so they are! We know not how it is, but the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct Personalities, yet there are not three Gods, but only one, as the Apostle John writes, “There are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit; and these Three are One.” The one God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the Father, Son and Spirit—Three in One and One in Three!
The subject I have to speak about is the honor and glory of the Second Person of the blessed Trinity, even our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! But it is so vast a theme that the preacher, at the outset, confesses that the task is too great for him to accomplish! He staggers beneath the weight of his theme which seems to him too great for the human mind to compass or for human lips adequately to express! All I can hope to do is to be lost in my subject that Jesus Christ may be
All-in-All.
The text tells us that all things were created by Christ and for Him, so we will, first, consider Paul’s statement. And, secondly, we will review the rejections arising from it.
I. First, then, let us CONSIDER PAUL’S STATEMENT—“All things were created by Him and for Him.” So, first of all, Heaven, itself was created by and for Christ Jesus. Then there is such a place, as well as such a state, and of that place Jesus is the center! There is such a place, for Enoch is there. “Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him.” God took him bodily to some place—and that place is Heaven. Elijah is also there—the horses of fire and the chariots of fire took not merely his spirit, but the entire Elijah—and he is in Heaven. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has gone back to Heaven, went there in His own body. When He passed into the skies, He went up into the heavenly places, as well as into the heavenly state—and there He lives at the right hand of God, even the Father, enthroned in the New Jerusalem, the Holy City of God—
“See how the Conqueror mounts aloft,
And to His Father flies!
With scars of honor in His flesh,
And triumph in His eyes!
There our exalted Savior reigns,
And scatters blessings down—
His Father well rewards His pains,
And bids Him wear the crown.”
God, absolutely considered as a pure Spirit, needed no such place as Heaven. God is everywhere! Long ago He asked, “Do not I fill Heaven and earth?” The idea of there being needed any celestial court or place of abode falls short of the true idea of the Omnipresent Jehovah. Neither do I suppose that it would have been necessary to have a place for angels, for the holy spirits would have been able to behold the face of God everywhere—wherever they might be, there they would see God and, consequently, no special place would have been needed to be set apart for them! But it was ordained, in the eternal purpose of God, that there should be created a race of beings who should not be pure spirits, but who should have bodies made of material substances. And it was resolved by Jesus Christ that He would become one of these beings—that He would take upon Himself their nature and would become, in fact, a Man! Now, when a spirit becomes linked with a material substance, it must have a place in which to dwell and, therefore, Heaven was created both for Christ and for His people. When the Son of Man shall come in His Glory, He will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Prepared, that is, with this view—that there might be a special central place for the display of Christ’s Glory—and that all His people might be there with Him. These are His own words—“Father, I will that they, also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My Glory.” They are not merely to be as He is, but to be with Him where He is and, therefore, Heaven was created by Him and for Him—and for His people who are vitally united with Him!