The apostle had told us in the former verse that Jesus Christ is the
first-born of every creature. The Arians thence concluded that he himself was
created out of nothing in order of time before the world. But it is not 'the
first created of any creature,' but 'the first-born,' which noteth a
precedency, not only in point of antiquity, but dignity; and is as much as to
say, Lord of every creature. For the first-born was the lord of the rest, and
the title may be given either relatively or comparatively.
1. Relatively; when the rest are of the same stock, or have the relation
of brethren to him that hath the pre-eminence. So it is given to Christ with
respect to new creatures: Rom. viii. 29, 'That he might be the first-born among
many brethren.'
2. Comparatively only; when several persons or things be compared,
though there be no relation between them. So David is called the first-born of
the kings of the earth,' Ps. lxxxix. 27 - that is, superior in dignity and
honour. So here it is taken not relatively, for so Christ is
primogenitus the first-born, that he is also unigenitus the
only-begotten. None went before or come after him, that are so begotten of God.
What he asserteth in that verse, he now proveth by the creation of all things,
in ver. 16, and the conservation of all things, ver. 17. We are now upon the
first proof. Surely he that created all things is supreme lord of all things,
or hath the right of the first-born over them. Two ways is Christ said to have
a right to the creatures: as God, and as mediator. His right as God is natural
and perpetual; his right as mediator is by grant and donation. It is a power
acquired and obtained. His natural right is antecedent to his actual susception
of the office of mediator; for it comes to him by creation. He made all, and it
is fit that he should be sovereign and lord of all. But the other power and
sovereignty is granted to him as a part of his reward and recompense for the
sorrows of his humiliation: Phil. ii. 9, 10, 'Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name above every name; that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth.' The apostle speaks not of this latter now, but of the former
- his right as the only-begotten Son of God: he is the first-born, that is,
Lord of the whole creation. And good reason, 'for by him were all things
created that are in heaven, and that are in earth,' etc. In the words, the
creation of the world is ascribed to Christ. Take notice -
1. Of the object of this creation.
2. Christ's efficiency about it.
1. The object of creation is spoken collectively and
distributively.
[1.] Collectively: 'By him were all things created.'
[2.] Distributively: They are many ways distinguished.
2. Christ's efficiency about them; in these words, they were 'created
by him, and for him.'
[1.] By him,- as an equal co-operating cause, or co-worker with God the Father:
John v. 19, 'Whatsoever things the Father doeth, those doeth the Son likewise.'
To bring a thing out of nothing belongeth unto God. The distance of the terms
is infinite; so must the agent be. Creation is an act of divine power.
[2.] They are for him: they are by him as their first cause; they are for him
as their last end. God is often represented in scripture as first and last:
Isa. xli. 4, 'I the Lord, the first and the last, I am he;' Isa. xliv. 6, 'I am
the first and the last; there is no God besides me;' so Isa. xlviii. 2, 'I am
the first; I am also the last.' Now all this is repeated and applied to Christ:
Rev. i. 17, 'He said unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last; I have the
keys of death and hell;' Rev. ii. 8,' These things saith the first and the
last, which was dead, and is alive;' Rev. xxii. 13, 'I am Alpha and Omega,
beginning and the end, the first and the last.' Now these expressions do imply
his eternal power and Godhead. He hath been before all things were made, and
shall be when all things in the world are ended. He is the first being from
whom all things are, and the last end to whom all things are to be referred. He
is the efficient and final cause of all the creatures.
I shall take the method offered in the text, and show you :-
First, That all things were created by him.
Secondly, Why the creation of angels is so particularly mentioned
and insisted upon.
Thirdly, That all things were created for him.
First, For creation by him. This is often asserted in
scripture: John i. 3, 'All things were made by him, and without him was not
anything made that was made.' John begins his Gospel with the dignity of
Christ's person; and how doth he set it forth? By the creation of the world by
the eternal Word. And what he saith is an answer to these questions - When was
the Word? 'In the beginning;' Where was the Word? 'With God;' What was the
Word? He 'was God;' What did he then do? 'All things were made by him;' What!
all without exception? Yes, 'Without him nothing was made that was made,' be it
never so small, never so great. From the highest angel to the smallest worm,
they had all their being from him. Two things are to be explained: -
1. How he made all things.
2. When he made the angels.
1. How he made all things. Freely, and of his own will: Rev iv. 11, 'Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive honour, and glory, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.' They use three words to set forth the honour that is due to Christ for creating the world: glory, because of his excellencies discovered; honour, which is the ascription or acknowledgment of those excellencies; and power, because 'the invisible things of his Godhead and power are seen by the things that are made,' Rom. i. 20. For in the creating of the world he exercised his omnipotency. And this they do, not to express their affection, but his own due desert: 'Thou art worthy, 0 Lord.' The reason they give is, because he hath created all things for his own pleasure, or according to his own will - not out of necessity. There was no tie upon him to make them, but only he of his good pleasure thought fit to do so. He might have done it in another manner, or at another time, or in another order. There is nothing in the world that hath a necessary connexion with the divine essence, so as, if God be, that must be; nothing external cometh from God by necessity of nature, but all is done according to the counsel of his own will. Some thought all created things did come forth from the Creator by way of emanation, as rivers flow out of their fountain; but there is no stream floweth out of any fountain but it was before a part of that fountain while it was in it. But that cannot be said of any creature in respect of God, that it was any part of God before it came out from him. Others say the creatures came out from God by way of representation, as an image in the glass from him that passeth by or looketh on it; but before the world was made there was no such glass to represent God. Others would express it thus - that the world cometh out from God as a shadow from the body. But yet this will not fit the turn neither: for the shadow doth not come out from the body, but follows it, because of the deprivation of light from the interposition of another body. Others say - all cometh from God as a footprint, or track in clay or sand, from one that passeth over it; hut there was nothing on which God, by passing, might make such an impression. Whatever good intention they might have by setting forth the creation by these expressions, yet you see they are not proper and accurate. These expressions may have their use to raise man's understanding to contemplate the excellency and majesty of the Creator; for they all show his incomparable excellency and perfection, together with the vanity, nothingness, or smallness of the creature if compared with him, as great a bulk as it beareth in our eye. They are but as a ray from the sun, a stream from the fountain, or a drop to the ocean; an image in the glass, or a shadow to the substance; or like a footprint of a man in the clay or sand; and so are but certain signs leading up to the thing signified, or letters and syllables out of which we may spell God - as the streams lead us to the fountain, the image to the man, the shadow to the body, or the track to the foot that made it. But the scripture, leaving those comparisons, showeth us that the world came out from the Creator as the workmanship from the artificer, the building from the architect, Heb. xi. 10. Now every artificer and builder worketh merely out of the counsel of his own will. And herein they resemble God; but only what they do with great labour, God doth with the beck of his own will and word: Ps. xxxiii. 6,' By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.' A bare word of his immediately created all the world, the heavens and earth, and all that is in them.
2. When did he make the angels? for in the history of Moses there seemeth to
be a great silence of it. I answer - We read, Gen. i. 1, that in the beginning
- that is, when God did first set himself to create - that then he created the
heaven and the earth; but we read again in the 20th verse, 'That in six days
the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.' I argue,
that if within that compass of time, the Lord made heaven and earth, and all
things that are in them, angels are included in that number, being the
inhabitants of heaven, as men and beasts are of the earth, and fishes of the
sea; as here, by things in heaven, the apostle principally understands the
angels, and by things on earth, men. Therefore, as things on earth were not
made but after the earth, so things in heaven were not created but after the
heavens were created. The heavens were not created till the second day, nor
perfected and fitted till the fourth. Therefore, as God did furnish the earth
with plants and beasts before men, so did he adorn the heaven with stars before
he filled it with angels; for he first framed the house and adorned it before
he brought in the inhabitants. Therefore, probably they were made the fourth
day. If this seemeth too short a time before the fall of the apostate angels,
you must remember how soon man degenerated. Some think he did not sleep in
innocency, quoting that Ps. xlix. 12, 'Man being in honour abides not, but is
like the beasts that perish.' The word signifies a night's lodging in an inn -
shall not lodge or stay a night. Others make his fall on the next day, the
Sabbath, for at the end of the sixth day all was good, very good. The angels
fell from their first state as soon as they were created - so short and
uncertain is all created glory.
Secondly, All things were created for him - that is, for the honour of the Son,
as well as for the honour of the Father and the Holy Ghost. Now this is
necessary to he thought of by us, because there is a justice in the case that
we should return and employ all in his service from whom we have received all,
even though it be with the denial of our nearest and dearest interest. He is
worthy of this glory and honour from us, and that we should trust upon him as a
faithful Creator in the midst of all dangers.
1. I will prove that the greatest glory the creature is capable of is to serve the will and set forth the praise of its Creator, for everything that attaineth not its end is vain. What matter is it whether I be a dog, or a man, a beast, or an angel, if I serve not the end for which I was made? And that is not the personal and particular benefit of any creature, but the glory of the Creator, for God made all things for himself Prov. xvi. 4; whether he made beasts, or man, or angels, it was still with a respect to his own glory and service. God is independent and self-sufficient of himself and for himself. Self-seeking in the creature is monstrous and incongruous. It is as absurd and unbeseeming to seek its own glory as to attribute to itself its own being: Rom. xi. 36, 'Of him, and through him, and to him are all things.' God's glory is the end of our being and doing, for being and doing are both from him, and therefore for him alone. Above all, it concerneth man to consider this: who can glorify God not only objectively by the impressions of God upon him, and passively, as God will overrule all his actions to his own glory, but actively, as he is the mouth of the creation - not only to honour God himself, but to give him the praise which resulteth from all his works. It was well said of a heathen, Si essem luscinia - if I were a nightingale I would sing as a nightingale; Si alauda - if I were a lark I would pere as a lark. When I am a man what should I do but know, love, and praise God without ceasing, and glorify my Creator? Things are unprofitable or misplaced when they do not seek or serve their end ; therefore for what use are we meet, who are so unmeet for our proper end? Like the wood of the vine that is good for nothing, not so much as to make a pin whereon to hang anything, Ezek. xv. 2 - good for nothing but to be cast into the fire unless it be fruitful. What are we good for if we be not serviceable to the ends for which we were created?
2. The design of God was that the whole creation should be put in subjection to the Word incarnate - not only this lower world, wherein man is concerned, but the upper world also. Our Redeemer, who hath bought us, hath an interest in all things that may concern us, that they may be disposed of to his own glory and our good and advantage. All are at the making and at the disposal of our Lord Jesus Christ Therefore it is said, Heb. ii. 10, 'For whom are all things, and by whom are all things.' God that frameth all things ordereth all things their proper end. His works are many, and some are more excellent and glorious than others; and one of the chief of them is the salvation of man by Jesus Christ. Therefore all things are subordinated thereunto, to the glory of the Mediator by whom this is accomplished: 1 Cor. viii. 6, 'But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.'
Secondly, Why the creation of angels is so particularly and expressly mentioned ? I answer - For four reasons :-
1. To show the glory and majesty of the Redeemer. The angels are said to 'excel in strength,' Ps. ciii. 20, and elsewhere they are called 'mighty angels.' This potency they have from their Creator, who giveth power and strength to all his creatures as it pleases him. Their strength may be conceived by that instance, that one angel in a night slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand in Sennacherib's camp. Now these potent creatures are infinitely inferior to our Redeemer, by whom and for whom they were made. Though they are the most excellent of all the creatures, yet they are his subjects and ministers, at his beck and command, both by the law of their creation, as Christ is God, and also by the Father's donation, as he is Mediator and God incarnate: 1 Pet. iii. 25, 'He is set down on the right hand of God; angels, authorities, and powers being made subject to him.' And again, Eph. i. 21, 'He hath set him far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come.' They have a great name, but Christ hath 'a more excellent name than they,' Heb. i. 4, for they are all bound to worship him, ver. 6, and serve him, for he employeth them for the defence and comfort of the meanest of his people. They are subject not only to God, but to Christ or God incarnate. Look, as it is the glory of earthly kings to command mighty and powerful subjects - 'Are not my princes altogether kings?' Isa. x. 8, that so many princes held under him as their sovereign and served him as their commander; and when God speaks of the Assyrian he calleth him 'a king of princes,' Hosea viii. 10, namely, as he had many kings subject and tributary to him - so is this the majesty of our Redeemer, that he hath these powerful creatures, the mighty angels, in his train and retinue. These heavenly hosts make up a part of that army which is commanded by the Captain of our salvation.
2. This is mentioned to obviate the errors of that age. Both the Jews and the Gentiles had a high opinion of spirits and angels, as God's ministers and messengers; for he doth not always immediately administer the affairs of mankind. Now, as they were right in the main as to their service, so they added much of curiosity and superstition to the doctrine of angels, and by their vain speculations infected the minds of many in the Christian church, who were but newly come out from among them, insomuch that they fell to the worshipping of angels as mediators to God ; as the apostle intimateth, Col. ii. 18. Now, because this was to the disparagement of Christ, the apostles did set themselves to check this curiosity of dogmatising about angels, and the superstition or idolatry of angel-worship thence growing apace, Now this they did by asserting the dignity of Christ's person and office. As Paul, Col. ii., and the author to the Hebrews, chapters 1., ii., iii., 'Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.' It is true, Christ was sent from heaven as the angels are, and he came in a despicable way of appearance to promote our salvation and recovery, as they assumed bodies suitable to their message; yet his superiority and pre-eminence above the angels is clear and manifest. He was not only equal to them, but far above them, Heb. i. 3. Seven things are observable in that verse :-
3. Because Christ hath a ministry and service to do by them. He makes use of them partly to exercise their obedience, without which they forsake the law of their creation and swerve from the end for which they were made: Ps. ciii. 20, 'They do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word.' They do whatsoever he commandeth them, with all readiness and speed imaginable, and therein they are an example to us: Mat. vi. 10, 'Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.' They are our fellow-servants now in the work, hereafter in the recompense, when we are admitted into one society, under one common head and Lord, Heb. xii. 27, who shall for ever rejoice in the contemplation of God's infinite excellencies. Well then, if these excellent creatures, so great in power, be always so ready and watchful to do the will of God, and count it their honour to assist in so glorious a work as the saving of souls, or do any other business he sendeth them about, how should we, that hope to be like the angels in happiness, be like them in obedience also!
4. Because the church's safety dependeth upon it. We stand in need of this ministry of angels. The service of the angels is protection to the people of God - vengeance on their enemies.
Use. 1. Let us more deeply be possessed with the majesty of our Redeemer. He is the Creator of all things, of angels as well as men, and so more excellent than all the men in the world, whether they excel in power or holiness, which the psalmist expresseth thus: 'Fairer than the children of men,' Ps. xlv. 29. But also, then, the most excellent and glorious angels; he is their creator as well as ours, head of principalities and powers, as well as of poor worms here upon earth. Surely the representing and apprehending of Christ in his glorious majesty is a point of great consequence.
Use 2. Is to quicken us to thankfulness for our redemption; that our creator is our Redeemer. None of the angels did humble himself as Christ did do, to do so great a piece of service, and yet he is far above them. There is a congruity in it, that we should be restored by him by whom we were made; but he made the angels as well as men, but he did not restore them. No; they were not so much as in a condition of forbearance and respite; he assumed not their nature, he created all things, but he redeemed mankind. His delights were with the sons of men; he assumed our nature, and for a while ' was made a little lower than the angels,' Heb. ii. 9. We cannot sufficiently bless God for the honour done to our nature in the person of Christ, for it is God incarnate that is made head of angels, principalities, and powers - God in our nature, whom all the angels are called upon to adore and worship. The devil sought to dishonour God, as if he were envious of man's happiness: Gen. iii. 5,' God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof ye shall be as gods.' And he sought to depress the nature of man, which in innocency stood so near to God. Now, that his human nature should be set so far above the angelical, in the person of Christ, and be admitted to dwell with God in a personal union, this calleth for our highest love and thankfulness.
Use 3. Is an encouragement to come to Christ for sanctifying and renewing grace. I have three arguments :-
Now, when we acknowledge the debt and confess our impotency to pay it, and our willingness to return to our duty, will Christ fail us? A conscience of our duty is a great matter, but a desire of grace to perform it is more. Therefore, come as creatures earnestly desiring to do their Creator's will, and to promote his glory. God will not refuse the soul that lieth so submissively at his feet.