Proverbs 8:24-25. 24When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. 25Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth,
In Genesis it says that the earth started out “formless and void,” or empty and without shape. It describes God gathering all the waters together as seas and then creating the land. Genesis says that all of this was “good.” Or we might say it was all WISE.
Proverbs 8 is saying the same thing. Lady Wisdom tells us the story of creation. She says that even before the seas and land were made, she was brought forth. She was begotten. Born.
Wisdom is both eternal and begotten. Sound familiar?
Christ too is eternal and begotten. God the Son is eternally begotten, or brought forth, from the God-head. Like wisdom, Jesus is begotten not created. Like wisdom, Jesus the Word of God comes from his source – God the Father.
Jesus, the uncreated one, is the wisdom through which everything else was created. “All things were made by him,” John says. Paul concurs that all creation is by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. That means that creation will look like Christ. Like the cross. Like love and sacrifice.
Romans 1:20. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
All we have to do is look around us and we can see the glory of the cross in everything from the flowers, to the birds, to the clouds, skies, and seas. The depths and the mountains reveal Christ. How? By their self-giving. Their sacrifice. The depths giving up their space to make room for the earth, the land, the mountains. The mountains using their strength to give shape and boundary to the seas. Together, side by side, the earth and seas creating the beauty of contrast. The glory of two opposites joining in one space.
All of this serves to give us a picture of Jesus, the God-Man. The bounding of his freedom, the giving of his essence that others might live.
So take some time to look at creation today. See the wisdom of God there. Yes, in the supreme knowledge and orderliness of fine tuning, and in the beauty and transcendence of nature. But more importantly in the image of Christ that all of creation brings forth for us to see. The image of love and self-sacrifice, the image of death and resurrection, the image of glory and beauty bursting forth from a formless and empty world.
You: Do you pay attention to the creation around you? What gets in the way of this?
You in Christ: Like Christ, you were brought forth in wisdom to look like Christ. What are the implications of this for your day today?
Christ in you: Spend some time in nature looking for examples of self-giving and sacrifice.
Pray: Father, thank you for this amazing planet and for an amazing Savior, your son, Jesus. Amen.
To Live is Christ 