Who Really Created the Universe in Genesis 1?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say, time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody with us again. Oh, we're losing a few, but then some of them wanted to get home before dark, so that's understandable. But we're glad you're here to help us finish up this last half hour today. And again, for those of you on television, we welcome you. Remember, we're just an informal Bible study. We are not underwritten. We are behooved to no one. And we just trust that the Lord will bless you as we open the Word. And we always appreciate your letters, your financial help, but most of all your prayers, of course, because if the Holy Spirit didn't do this, we would be beating the air, so to speak. But we do trust that the Lord is using it for His glory. Now again, we always have to remind our new listeners that if you want to pick up on what you've missed, you can always order the tapes and videos or books, whatever. We've put it in all three formats. And if you're interested, you just give us a call, and we'll tell you how to order them. Okay, I think that's all the announcements we have for today. Let's get right back. After all, this is Bible study, and we like to buy up the time and do as much as we can. With Leanne sitting here looking at me, I can't help it. Last half hour, remember, I couldn't find the verse that I wanted, and she had it written. And like my wife always says, she said, Les, you could look at a gallon of milk in the refrigerator and not see it. Well, she did the same thing. Here she had 1 Corinthians 2.9 in big print, and I missed it. So before we start, let's go back and look at it, because those of you who were with us in the last program, you'll know what we're talking about. I think things like this is what makes our program different. We were talking about that we just can't get a glimpse of what glory is going to be like. We have an idea that it's going to be fantastic, but I couldn't find the verse, and Leanne found it and several others. So now we'll look at it before we go back to Ephesians, and it's 1 Corinthians 2.9, where Paul writes, "...but as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." And so this we can rest on, that there's something out there waiting for us that's beyond human comprehension, and we think we're getting close. You know, I don't set dates, but I think we're getting close to the time when God's time for the planet is running out, and whether we go by the valley of death, or whether we go by the outcalling, we can rest assured that one day before too long we're going to be in this glorified presence, and in this glorified state. Okay, but now let's get back to where we were in Ephesians chapter 1, and again I always have to remind, in case we have brand new listeners, and we know we do every day, that the book of Ephesians is a deeper doctrine book than Romans and Galatians and so forth, and it is constantly teaching us of our exalted position in Christ as members of the Body of Christ, of which He is the Head. And that was in my closing remarks, that Paul never refers to Christ as the King of the Church, but only as the Head of the Body. Now we'll see this in this very next two, three verses, which hopefully we should get done in this half hour. Verse 21, "...he has set Him," now let's go back to verse 20, "...which He wrought in Christ," that is the power of resurrection, "...which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies." And then here's His position now during this Age of Grace, "...far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion." In other words, there is no power on earth, or in heaven, or in hell, that He is not far above. That's His power, that's His sovereignty. Now, the reason I do this all the time, I constantly run into people who never understood until I taught it, I had it happen again just a couple weeks ago, that they had no comprehension that Jesus Christ was the Creator of Genesis 1-1. And it just blows them away, and yet Paul makes it so plain, as well as John's Gospel, that it was God the Son, the One who became flesh, who spoke the Word of Creation. And so we have to recognize that He has the power of creation, He has the power over everything that He ever created naturally, and so there is nothing to compare with the power of Jesus Christ. And that's why we can trust Him, we can place our faith in Him, because He will fulfill that which He has promised. In fact maybe I should show you, let's run through these quickly, because my goodness, when I have someone who has been in church less than 50 years, and an educated man, has educated children, highly educated children, and then was just blown away by these verses that showed that Jesus was the Creator. And he said, that's not the end of it. He said, when I took it into my Sunday school class, they about threw me out the church. And I said, well then who in the world do they think created? Oh, they said God did. Well, who do they think Jesus is? Oh, he said, I don't know. But listen, we have to remember that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, He was a member of the Godhead, and according to the New Testament, He was the Creator of Genesis 1-1, even though it's just referred to as God. Let's just take a brief look, because I didn't intend to do this either, you know, I'm impromptu, I know I am. But John's Gospel, chapter 1, because this still fits what we're seeing in Ephesians, that He is above all powers and dominions and principality. Why? Because He created them. He created them. You know, I've always made the statement, when they were nailing Him to that Roman cross, what was the real situation? The created beings were doing it to their own Creator. You ever thought of it that way? And with one word, He could have just zapped the whole kibbutz of them. They could have all been wiped off the scene with one word. But why didn't He? Because Philippians says, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross, in order to purchase man's salvation. But He wouldn't have had to. He was the Creator. All right, let's look at them real quickly. John chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word, that's capitalized, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He's one and the same. Verse 3. All things were made by Him. Without Him, that is without the Word, was not anything made. Then you come down to verse 14, and it explains it. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Now that's not hard to comprehend, is it? Who dwelt among the Jews? Jesus of Nazareth. And what was the purpose for all of His miracles, and signs, and wonders? To prove to them that He was the Son of God. All right, now let's leave John, and let's run quickly over to Ephesians, where we just were, but come over to chapter 3. Come ahead a page or two, and we'll hit it again when we get there. I used to almost cringe when I would repeat things, but I'm learning. Everybody says, keep repeating, keep repeating, so we will. Ephesians 3, verse 9. And Paul says, the purpose of His apostleship is to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things, but how? By Jesus Christ. So you see God of course, the Triune God, as we've seen so often on our program, back in Acts chapter 2, in counsel, they predetermined everything that would happen, everything, before anything was ever created. The Triune God determined that Jesus the Son would be the one to call everything into being. And that's why Paul writes that God created all things, but by Jesus Christ. All right, then the next one is Colossians chapter 1. And my people can't argue with the Word. I don't care what they think, they can't argue with it. Colossians 1, and this is an interpretation. I mean, this is exactly what it says. I'm not twisting it. I'm just reading it exactly as sets in the King James, and I don't think any of the other translations can follow this up. I mean, this is pretty obvious. Verse 14 of Colossians 1, so we determine who we're talking about. In whom we have redemption through His blood. Now only one person of the Godhead shed His blood, and that was Christ. Verse 15, who is the image or the visible manifestation of the invisible Godhead? Now I put the Godhead on, because I want you to see that the word God here implies the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All right, and God the Son is the firstborn or the first of anything that was ever created, because He was God, preexistent. Now then, verse 16, plain language. I don't care whether it's in the Greek or whatever language. Here I'd have to say plain English. This is plain English. For by Him, by the Son, were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible, invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or princip... Boy, I'm glad I came back here. I didn't intend to do this. But see, they're the same words as Ephesians. Dominions, and principalities, and powers. All things were created, how? By Him. By who? Jesus the Christ. See that? And that's why God could set Him far above everything, because He'd created Him. He is the Creator. He was the Creator. And then even now, they weren't just created by Him, but they were created what? For Him. And then the next verse says, "...and by Him, by His power, all things consist, or are held together." You know, I mentioned in one of the previous programs, I think in our last taping, that of all the billions, upon billions, upon billions, and trillions, and trillions of bodies in outer space, have you ever seen the astronomers record crashing one into another? No. No, there may be explosions of new ones being made, but you don't ever read of one body banging into another one, and causing a turmoil out there. Why? Because the Creator has perfect control of every one of them. Every one of them. He knows exactly where they are at any given moment in time. Why? Because that's the only way they could keep from crashing into each other, and you would have a, like a nuclear fission out in space. All right, I've got one more. Hebrews. I could even take you to Revelation, but we won't take time for that, because Revelation says the same thing that all the rest of these do, that He created everything by Jesus Christ. But now Hebrews, chapter 1, and again I'd like to start with verse 1. Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 1. Hebrews 1, chapter 1. God, G-O-D, just like in Genesis 1-1. Same word. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke in times past unto the fathers, that is, the fathers of the nation of Israel, by the prophets, hath in these last days, now I'm always qualifying that the last days of Scripture are from His first advent until the end. We are in the last days. Now we're also getting close to the latter days, which means the end of the last days. But in these last days, that is, beginning with His birth in Bethlehem, He hath spoken unto us by His Son, whom He, God, the Trinity, hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also God did what? Made the worlds. Now you put all those together. Who's the Creator? Jesus of Nazareth. Now, think for a moment. Where did He get the power to calm the ways of the Sea of Galilee? Well, He's the Creator of them. Where did He get the power to raise dead Lazarus? He's the Creator of them. He's in total control. There is nothing, there is nothing that He doesn't supersede. And see, all of this fits together. Now come back with me to Ephesians. Like I say, I'm glad I thought of that. That wasn't me, I guess that's the Spirit's work. But whatever. Now Paul fits right in with all that by declaring then, that when God set Him at His right hand, up in the heavenlies, verse 21 again, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion. That covers everything. Heaven, hell, earth, space. Everything is under His control. And every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And now verse 22. And because of that exalted position, God hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the King of the church. That's not what it says. See? Oh, that's what I have a lot of people have you think. That's not what it says. He has set Him to be the Head of all things to the church, which is His, what? Body. Now, if we are the body, are we a decapitated organism without a head? No. No. Now let's come back to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And here he almost gets down to such simplicity that it's ridiculous. But he's trying to drive the point home. What is the body of Christ? Well, it's just like this human body, composed of billions of cells. And every cell, a fingernail, or an eyeball, or an eardrum, or whatever, is a different makeup. And yet they're all cells that comprise the human body. Alright, he's using the analogy of a human body to exemplify the body which is His church. Alright, look at it. Verse 12. For as the body, the human body, is one, has many members, hands, feet, eyes, all the rest of it. But all the members of that one body, being many, are one. But now before we go any further, what controls the body from the neck down? Well, the head. The head. You take the head off and we're nothing. But you've got to have the head. The source of all nervous nerve order, and all muscular reaction, and everything begins with the mind, the brain. Alright, now Paul is making that same analogy. You and I as believers are members of a body of which He is the head. And we're just as connected as ours is to our body. And so here he comes. He uses the analogy if the foot, verse 15, should say, well I'm not the hand, I'm not part of the body. Well, he says that's ridiculous, because that would never happen. And now he comes all the way down to verse 18. But he says, Now God hath set the members, that is you and I as believers, every one of them in the body as it is pleased him. Now in our mother's womb, and I've used this analogy so often, one of the miracles, one of the miracles of reproduction is that as the mother prepares that little baby in the womb, you don't have fingernail cells going someplace else, they go where they belong. And all these separate cells go exactly to the right place. And at the end of that nine months when everything is complete, birth. See, miracle of miracle. Well God doing the same thing in the spiritual realm. He is building the body of Christ. From believers from every walk of life, from every strata, from around the planet. The Chinese when they become believers are just as much a member of the body as we are. A black person is just as much a member of the body as we are. A Jew who becomes a believer is just as much a member of the body as we are. And we're all connected to that one source of everything, which is Christ the head. Alright, now then you come down to verse 27. Now Paul says, You are the body of Christ, but individually, God never loses sight of our individualism. But individually you are members, how? In particular. God hasn't lost us in the crowd. We're not just a number in God's mind, He knows us as an individual. See, well anyway, that's the body of Christ. Now come back again to Ephesians chapter 1, now verse 22. And he hath put all things under his feet, that is, dominions, principalities, and powers. He is now been given everything to be the head to the church, which is his body, and then the next word, the fullness. Now if you have a marginal Bible, the other word is what? Complement. We have as members of the body of Christ, we have become a complement. Not I, but he. We have become a complement. Now the best way to explain that of course, is to go all the way back to Genesis where everything begins. Come back to Genesis chapter 2, Genesis chapter 2, verse 18. Genesis chapter 2, verse 18. And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will, it's going to happen somewhere down the road, I will make him a helpmeet for him. Now you take the Hebrew root again, and what do you suppose that word helpmeet is in our English? Complement. See, God says it's not good for Adam to be alone. So I will make a complement for him, or a better definition would be someone called alongside to help. See, that's the whole idea of a husband and wife relationship even to this day. The wife is that complement to the man that really completes him and brings the help that he needs. And that's what Eve was to Adam. Now this was all set in type of course, looking forward to the greatest union that could ever take place, which was the marriage between Christ and the Church. See, and that's what makes it. Now let's go back to Romans. Let's go back to Romans. My, how these verses all just, they just drop right into place. Chapter 7, Romans chapter 7 verse 4. Romans 7 verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, you also, now remember he's writing to believers, you are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. Now this is not referring to the Church's body, but to His physical body that was crucified. That you should be, what? Married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead. See, there's that resurrection power implied again. And that we are united to Him who is raised from the dead, not just to escape hell fire. See, that's what a lot of people think, that salvation is just a fire escape. Oh no. Salvation is that eternal work of God of putting us into something that can function under His headship for all eternity. All eternity we're going to function in this role as being a member of a body of which He is the head. And so we should be married to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should what? Bring forth fruit. See, we're to be worth something. We're not to be dead wood. We're to be working, and we're to be bringing forth fruit, and again for His honor and for His glory. All right, now then if you can come back to Ephesians chapter 1. So He is given to be the head over all things to the church which is His body. And that's a concept few believers, I think, have any idea of. That we are members of a living organism. Now you know as well as I do, that as long as we're living, our body is a composite of living things. Our cells are alive, our enzymes are alive, and as soon as they die, we're dead. All right, now it's the same way with the body of Christ. The body of Christ is not an organization like a country club. I know that's most churches are getting to be, I'm afraid, but that is not the true scriptural definition of a local church. We are to be a living organism with life, not physical life, spiritual life. And that life is enhanced by fellowship, by the Word, by prayer, and all because we're connected to our head who is in heaven. But God knows He's waiting for the day, God knows that we're waiting for the day when there won't be that huge space between the head and the body. I'm saying that with a smile because I want you to realize why. Because one day we're going to be brought in union with Him, and we're going to revel throughout all eternity in His presence. I mean I've nothing to be afraid of, but oh, that's something to glory in. 74552. Through the Bible is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feltick.