The Signs of the Times, vol. 13
July 7, 1887
“The Excellency of Christ” The Signs of the Times 13, 26, pp. 406, 407.
GOD has not only spoken unto us by his Son, but by him also he made the worlds. It was Christ the Son of God who made all the multitude of worlds that roll in space. God made them by him. For “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:1-3. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16. 17. SITI July 7, 1887, page 406.1
The word “consist” here conveys the idea that all things were not only put together by him but that by him also they hold together. The same thing is told in another way by reading two texts together. Hebrews 11:3 says, “The worlds were framed [put together] by the word of God,” and Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Christ’s “upholding all things by the word of his power.” Thus the worlds were put together by Christ, and by him they hold together,—by him all things consist. Notice further that it was by his word that the worlds were framed, and it is by the word of his power that all things are upheld. It was by the word of Christ that the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. It was he who spake and it was done; it was he who commanded and it stood fast. It was he who weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance. It was he who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure. It was he who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. It was at the sound of his glorious voice that all the multitude of worlds started into space and began their wondrous orbits; and it is according to his ordinances then established that they continue this day. “God created all things by Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 3:9. SITI July 7, 1887, page 406.2
It was to that time that he referred when, in his last night on earth, he said in his prayer, “Father, ... thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” It was to the glory of that time that he referred, when, in the same prayer, he prayed, “O Father, glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” John 17:5, 24. And Paul speaks of him then as “being the brightness of his [Father’s] glory and the express image of his person.” Hebrews 1:3. Of the brightness of that glory we may form some faint idea by reading the description of him by one who saw him in his glory more than seven hundred years before he came into the world to purchase for rebels a pardon. John, in telling of the refusal of the Jews to believe on Jesus, quotes from Isaiah a prophecy which he says was fulfilled then and by them, and says that “these things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.” John 12:39-41. By comparison it is seen that John 12:40 is a quotation from Isaiah 6:10. Therefore the sixth chapter of Isaiah was said when that prophet saw Christ’s glory and spake of him. SITI July 7, 1887, page 407.1
In that place Isaiah says: “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Verses 1-3. This, says John, was Jesus whom Isaiah saw in glory—a glory so intense that the bright seraphim standing in his holy presence covered their beautiful faces with their wings. After he had returned to that glory which he had with the Father before the world was, he was seen by John, who describes him thus: “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters; ... and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” Revelation 1:14-16. That this was Jesus is certain, for he said to John, “I am he that liveth, and weas dead.” SITI July 7, 1887, page 407.2
Well, indeed, might Paul say of him that, “Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?” Hebrews 1:4, 5. Unto none of the angels did the Father say that, for none of the angels were begotten of the Father, they were all created by Christ, for we have read that whether they be “thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers,” all were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made; while the Son himself was directly begotten of the Father, and so is called his only begotten Son, saying, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Therefore it was that “when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.” SITI July 7, 1887, page 407.3
We have seen by Isaiah, the bright seraphim worshiping him upon his throne high and lifted up, before he came to the world. And when he came into the world, an infant in Bethlehem born, he was the same person whom all the angels had worshiped before he came thus to the world, and change of place and circumstances did not in the least degree disentitle him to their worship. The Word was with God, and the Word was God, and “the Word was made flesh, and as flesh came to dwell among us, although an infant, yet he was the Lord of glory, and the word went forth, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” Accordingly we read: “She brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.... And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.... And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.” SITI July 7, 1887, page 407.4
Again, unto the Son, God said: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” And again the Father says to the Son, “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.” His years can never fail, for his “goings forth have been of old, from the days of eternity.” He is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” He is “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” And blessed be his glorious name forever and ever. SITI July 7, 1887, page 407.5
J.