Pastors Corner

Christ, Creator of All Good Things

Colossians 1:16 - “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him.”

The book of Colossians teaches us many things but one of the most important things is that the First Cause of all good things is Christ the Creator. Christ created nations and the laws of divine establishment to keep mankind sane and protected. He watches out for our well being under His laws of divine establishment and sets the stage for evangelism. A quick analysis and interpretation of Colossians 1:16 reveals these things.

Colossians 1:16 “ For by Him all things were created,” is a continuation of verse 15 which tells us that Jesus Christ is the exact image of deity and the “firstborn” or preeminent One of all creation. As the God-man He created everything out of His own essence. This debunks the Big Bang Theory and the myth of Evolution.

“both in the heavens and on earth.” This tells us that Christ created the heavens or universe and “all things” in it plus all things upon the earth. Remember that we are dealing with Almighty God and it strains our intellect to comprehend such things which is why we must use our faith to believe what God has written in the Scriptures.

“visible” - what we can see, “invisible” things we cannot see. Visible like man, invisible like the structure of the universe. So we have in this part, “the visible things and the invisible things.”

“whether thrones (human governments) or dominions (constituted authorities) or rulers (demonic rulers, Ephesians 6:12) or authorities (demonic authorities)” -Thrones refers here to the sovereignty or the power of a national entity.

With the creation of man God has set up a system for man’s survival and from self destruction, in spite of the fact that we have Satan ruling the world and he is antagonistic to those who follow Christ.

So to protect mankind the Lord created “thrones” which refers to nations and nationalism.

It is not God’s will for mankind to be one group until the Millennium, until Jesus Christ reigns.

Nations are protected by the laws of divine establishment which are for our benefit.

The laws of divine establishment are for the orderly function and survival of the human race in time during the great war between God and Satan. These laws apply both to the believer in Christ and to the unbeliever alike. The laws of divine establishment are: free will, marriage, family, and nationalism.

The law of free will guarantees both human freedom and privacy. This freedom of choice and right to live gives the human race the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness provided, of course, that it does not violate common law. The exception to this is always the criminal. All members of the human race are free to believe in or reject Jesus Christ as savior, ( John 3:18, 36 ).

The second law is marriage between a man and a woman. Marriage is both the framework and the protection for marriage (intimate) love. Marriage forms the basis for stability in society and rejects that concept of anarchy known as communal living.

The third law is family. Family is for the perpetuation of the human race. The physical birth of man always finds the baby helpless. There are two times when you are totally helpless. One is at the point of physical birth and the other is at the point of the new birth. In both cases everything is provided. At the point of physical birth God has provided protection, provision, and training. This is accomplished through parents.

Parental authority is the basic authority of life. In addition to food, shelter and clothing parents must train the children in the functions, the principles of life, and teach them a vocabulary. Children should be taught respect for privacy, property, the rights of others, respect for law and order, and patriotism. Parents additional responsibility is to evangelize their children, to provide Biblical teaching for their children (Deuteronomy 6:6-9; 7:9), and teach them to respect their local pastor (Hebrews 13:3,17).

The final law is nationalism (Genesis 10:5; Acts 17:26-28; Deuteronomy 32:8). Nationalism protects the freedom and the rights of X number of individuals in the human race. This includes national definition, racial, geographical, and linguistic. Remember that one of the national definitions is linguistic. The language content of a nation determines the ability of the nation.

There must be interior protection in a national entity and the principle of the police officer and police work is part of proper law enforcement. Secondly, there must be exterior protection and this demands a military establishment. No national entity can survive the fall of its military establishment.

Included in nationalism is the principle of government, common law, and a common culture which must protect the freedom, property, and rights of its citizens. The Bible does not advocate any type of government because the type of government is not as important as the concept of government. Economy must be based on free enterprise. Once the government interferes with business the economy will destroy itself or it will be maintained on a false basis so that any moment the whole thing collapses.

When a nation is obedient to the laws of divine establishment then there is fertile ground for evangelism, protection from a state religion, and protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals.

When a national entity declines certain alternate divine laws come into operation. These are laws of judgment. These are laws connected with national disaster, laws which function when there is national degeneration. These are called the five cycles of discipline in Leviticus 26.

The First Cause of all good things is Christ the Creator. Christ created us and then protected us with the laws of divine establishment. His goal was to protect the free will of everyone so they may have the opportunity to believing in Him as their personal Savior. Therefore, Christians, honor Him with your life especially during the Thanksgiving season.

Chaplain Ron McMurray