Jesus, the Eternal God

When the apostle John wrote his gospel about the life of Jesus, he began his biography by making the boldest of claims.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. — John 1:1–2

There have been a lot of claims about who Jesus is. Some say He was only a prophet, while others say that He was just a good teacher. Still others claim that either He was a lunatic or a liar. And there are some who claim that He never really existed, that he was a mythological character, like Zeus or Poseidon.

• People are going to have to decide for themselves who Jesus really is, but the Jesus I want to talk about is the Jesus of the Bible. He’s the only one I care about.

When I first read the above passage in John 1, I thought to myself, Who is this Word person? As I continued to read, I found out who the Word is.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. — John 1:14

John identifies Jesus as the Word, the ultimate authority on everything. The way I see it, if His claims are true, that He was murdered and raised from the dead, He is the authority.

• If His resurrection is an historical fact, no one could seriously argue that He isn’t worthy of my praise.

Resurrection defies every law of nature we know. Once something is dead, it’s dead like Rover, dead all over. There is no coming back from that, that is unless a supreme, almighty, infinite God intervenes and reverses the laws of science. In Jesus’ case, Satan killed the earthly body of Jesus, but by God’s power, He was raised from the dead.

Not only does John claim that Jesus is eternal, with no beginning or end, he also claims that Jesus was the one responsible for creation.

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. — John 1:3–4

When most of us think of creation, we imagine some distant God speaking it all into existence. However, since Jesus’ appearance in the flesh, we now have a visual image of our Creator. He is God, but He is also a man of skin and bones. When God came to live here, He came eating and drinking. He is like us in this way, but He’s also different in that He is God, and as God, He is the one who made us and put air in our lungs.

What a preposterous idea that the Creator would become one of us, walk around on this planet for thirty-three years, die a brutal death, and be raised from the dead. But that is the story John tells about Him.

• The God who created every atom and molecule in the entire universe walked on earth as a man.

But if it’s true? It is the greatest story ever told.

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Jesus, the Word of God, Is the Creator

According to the Bible, all God had to do was say, “Let it be!” (with apologies to the Beatles) and every bit of creation began to be. That’s it. He spoke and it began to exist. An accomplishment like that seems like a lot of work to us, but it wasn’t for God. He just said the word, and it was done. Just like that. Jesus is that Word of God, the Creator who brought all things into existence.

And what an amazing universe He created for His glory and our enjoyment. From the trillions upon trillions of celestial bodies that occupy space across the vast universe to the unseen world of atoms and the cells of living things, our environment is incredible. In fact, it is so vast and so precisely designed that the only thing we can say about it is that it is unfathomable.

I’m no scientist, but I’ve been an observer of the cosmos for over seven decades. I’ve seen a thing or two, even back when I was a rank and filthy sinner, that caused me to take pause for a moment and wonder to myself, How did it all get here?

I’ve discussed these things before, but I was awestruck at a young age by the annual migration of waterfowl. Even as a young boy traipsing through the woods and swamps in Northwest Louisiana, my observations led me to ask simple questions about the origin of the universe. How do ducks know when it’s time to leave the far north and head south for the winter? How do they know the way? How do they find the same ancestral water holes year after year? The same flight patterns? The same migration routes? The same stops along the way?

And then there is the pesky beaver. In my persistent fight with the Castor canadensis, the North American beaver, I also marveled at their uncanny ability to construct intricate dams and huts out of sticks and mud. They will not, they cannot be deterred. Embedded deeply within their DNA is something that commands them to stop the flow of water, and they will not relent until they have accomplished the one task they’ve been designed to complete. To say they are driven to do what they do is an understatement. They are equipped to do this, either by the impersonal forces of evolution or by an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator who implanted this unquenchable desire in every cell. You decide which one you’re going with. All I know is that their entire lives are spent working like crazy to impede the flow of water.

As I said, it’s not just that beavers build dams and huts, but that the knowledge of how to accomplish that task seems to be implanted in their brain. The beaver comes out of his mother’s womb with that particular skill set intact. I concluded early on that they are so hard-wired to do what they do that nothing mankind does will stop them. Trust me! I’ve tried. I hate to admit failure, but even though I may have won a battle or two, the beaver has so far won the war.

As much as I despise the destruction they cause, however, I am amazed at how well they do their job. No training! No schooling! Simply by instinct. Nothing more! In fact, I don’t think it’s knowledge at all. It’s more like an uncontrollable impulse, like breathing or the blinking of eyelids, like they were designed by a superior being specifically to accomplish that one task.

Observing things in the woods is where I began to question why things exist. Even the most committed skeptic would be forced to admit that waterfowl migration and dam-building beavers are at least worthy of note. At the very least, almost everyone who observes the same things I see will say, “Hmm, that’s interesting.” Right?

As I said, I am obviously no scientist. In my early days, I coached high school sports and taught a few English classes. In my late twenties, I designed the duck call that has supported our family for almost fifty years. Sixty days or so out of every year, I rise early in the morning, take a short jaunt to one of my blinds, and there I unceremoniously harvest ducks. The rest of the year, I’m either plowing the earth and planting the crops that will feed the wildlife I will harvest or repairing and brushing duck blinds.

I’m really just a simple man living a simple life. There’s not much to me, to tell the truth. So, if you were to ask me to explain the universe in scientific terms, I would have to refer you to someone more qualified. This, however, is the beauty of creation. It so overwhelmingly declares the reality of God that we don’t have to be astrophysicists or molecular biologists to marvel at creation. Even a phys-ed teacher and duck call maker can be dazzled by it.

• Yes, even the simplest and most unsophisticated people can see what both the scientists and I see and be dumbfounded by its majesty.

Something about creation seems to be screaming in our ears that there is more out there than we can imagine. That inaudible voice tells you and me that something or Someone is behind it all, and that this creative force is amazing beyond our comprehension.

Excerpted with permission from I Could Be Wrong, But I Doubt It by Phil Robertson, copyright Phil & Kay Enterprises, LLC.

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Your Turn

People are going to have to decide for themselves who Jesus really is. What do you think? What do you think about this gorgeous planet and all the creation? How do you think it came to be? ~ Devotionals Daily