I.　"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"—Gen. 1:1:

A.　Beginning here refers to the beginning of time—cf. John 1:1:

1.　Time began at the creation of the universe and continues until the final judgment at the great white throne—Rev.20:11-15.

2.　Timeis for the accomplishing of God's eternal purpose, which God made in eternity past for eternity future—Eph.3:11.

B.　The Hebrew word for God in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim, meaning "the Mighty One"; the Hebrew name here is plural, but the verb created is singular; this is a seed of the Trinity:

1.　God is one, but He is also three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—Isa. 45:5; 1 Cor. 8:4; 1 Tim. 2:5; Matt. 28:19.

2.　God is the Triune God; it was the Triune God who created.

C.　God is the unique Creator; only God can create—Mark 13:19;Eph. 3:9; Rev. 4:11:

1.　The word created in Genesis 1:1 means to bring something into existence out of nothing.

2.　God is the One "who made the world and all things in it" (Acts 17:24); He is "the living God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and all things in them" (14:15).

D.　The motive of God's creation was to fulfill God's desire and to satisfy His good pleasure—Eph. 1:5, 9.

E.　The purpose of God's creation is to glorify the Son of God and to manifest God Himself, especially in man through His Son, who is the embodiment of God and the image, the expression, of God—Col. 1:15-19; 2:9; Psa. 19:1-2; Rom. 1:20; 1 Tim. 3:16.

II.　"You have created all things, and because of Your will they were, and were created"—Rev. 4:11:

A.　 The basis of God's work in creation was God's will and plan—Eph. 1:9-10:

1.　God has a will, and according to this will, He conceived His plan—3:11.

2.　According to His will and plan, He created all things—v. 9.

B.　God's will is God's wish; God's will is what He wants to do—1:9:

1.　God's good pleasure is of God's will; His good pleasure is embodied in His will, so His will comes first—v. 5.

2.　God's will is His determination for the carrying out of His purpose—v. 11; 1 Cor. 1:1.

C.　God is a God of purpose, having a will of His own pleasure, and He created all things for His will so that He might accomplish and fulfill His purpose—Rev. 4:11; Eph. 3:9-11; Col. 1:9:

1.　God's will is His heart's desire, His mingling with man, and the fulfillment of His eternal plan—Eph. 1:5, 9, 11; 5:17.

2.　The will of God is to obtain a Body for Christ to be His fullness, His expression—Rom. 12:2, 5; Eph. 1:5, 9, 11, 22-23.

3.　God's creation of the heavens and of the earth began the fulfillment of His eternal plan to carry out His intention to have a full expression in man in the universe—Gen. 1:1; Eph. 3:11, 21.

D.　We need to be filled with the full knowledge of God's will—Col. 1:9:

1.　God's will in Colossians 1:9 is His will regarding His eternal purpose, regarding His economy concerning Christ—Eph. 1:5, 9, 11.

2.　To have the full knowledge of God's will is to have the revelation of God's plan so that we may know what God plans to do in the universe—Rev. 4:11.

III.　"All things came into being through Him [the Word], andapart from Him not one thing came into being which has come into being"—John 1:3:

A.　Although creation was God's work, the means of His creation were the Son of God and the Word of God—Col. 1:15-16; Heb.1:2; 11:3; John 1:3; Psa. 33:6, 9.

B.　Since God is the Creator of all things and since Christ is God, Christ is the Creator of all things and also the means through which all things came into being—Heb. 1:10; Psa. 102:25.

C.　In John 1:3 we see that all things came into being throughChrist as the Word:

1.　For all things to come into being through Him and for nothing to come into being apart from Him means that apart from Him nothing has existence—v. 3.

2.　Creation is calling things not being as being through theWord; the Word is both the means and the sphere—Rom.4:17; Heb. 11:3; John 1:3.

3.　Through Christ as the Word, the means, all things came into being; therefore, Christ is both the Creator and the means by which and through which all things were created—Heb.1:10; John 1:3.

D.　Christ upholds "all things by the word of His power"—Heb. 1:3:

1.　After creating all things, Christ became the Upholder of all things; He is not only the Creator and the means of creation but also the Upholder.

2.　He created the universe, and now He upholds it by the word of His power.

E.　Christ is "the beginning of the creation of God"; this refers to the Lord as the origin or source of God's creation, implying that He is the unchanging and ever-existing source of God's work—Rev. 3:14.

IV.　"In Him all things were created, in the heavens and on theearth…; all things have been created through Him and unto Him…And all things cohere in Him"—Col. 1:16-17:

A.　In Him means in the power of Christ's person—v. 16:

1.　All things were created in the power of what Christ is.

2.　All creation bears the characteristics of Christ's intrinsic power.

B.　Through Him indicates that Christ is the active instrument through which the creation of all things was accomplished in sequence—v. 16.

C.　Unto Him indicates that Christ is the end of all creation; all things were created unto Him for His possession—v. 16.

D.　In, through, and unto indicate that Christ is related to creation in a subjective way—v. 16:

1.　He did not create the universe merely in an objective way, as an objective Creator.

2.　Christ did not stand apart and call everything into being; on the contrary, the process of creation took place in the power of His person, the unique power in the universe.

3.　He was not merely an objective Creator but also the subjective instrument through which creation was processed.

4.　Creation took place in the power of Christ's person, throughHim as the active instrument, and unto Him as the goal.

E.　All things cohere in Him means that all things cohere, subsist together, in Christ as the holding center, just as the spokes of a wheel are held together by the hub at their center—v. 17.

F.　Firstborn of all creation refers to Christ's preeminence in all creation, for Christ has the first place in all things—vv. 15-18.