And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 

Colossians 1:17  

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind… 

Job 38:1 

Christ holds everything together. This first portion of our text declares that, ‘in Him all things consist,’ or hang together. Hebrews 1 says that He upholds all things by the word of His power. We conclude from these phrases that Christ is indeed, holding everything together. The second portion of our text is the beginning of a lengthy speech by God in which He delineates His relationship to all that exists. What is important for our purpose of seeking Christ in the Scriptures is that He speaks to Job out of the whirlwind just as certainly as He spoke to Moses out of the burning bush. As the incident at the burning bush was a Christophany, a preincarnate appearance of Christ, so also is this occasion of God speaking to Job out of the whirlwind. What follows is a veritable litany of situations in which Christ describes, with various details, His control over all that is. We have no other occasion in Scripture where Christ so clearly and at such length articulates His relationship to all creation. It outlines specifically how it is that in Him all things consist. Therefore as we consider what He said out of the whirlwind we understand that this is not what someone has said about Christ. Rather it is what He Himself has said. In Him all things consist.

Our Great and Sovereign God, 
we rejoice that You rule over all. 
We praise You that nothing exists without You.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.  

Revelation 1:8 

Christ never equivocates about His identity or His eternity. John wrote, ‘the Revelation of Jesus Christ.’ One of his introductory remarks is, ‘Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come…and from Jesus Christ.’ Thus we understand he is referring to the Father as a Person distinct from Christ. When John writes the first words of Christ in the verse which serves as our text, Christ speaks of Himself and says, ‘I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End…who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’ Christ speaks of Himself using the same exact phraseology as John used in referring to the Father. Thus Christ is claiming equality with His Father specifically with regard to His eternity. He seals His declaration with ‘the Almighty.’ As we often say, the words of Christ Himself are the end of all controversy for us. When He makes a categorical statement, as in our text, we accept it as certainly as He states it clearly. Christ is just as eternal as the Father. He ‘is and was and is to come, the Almighty.’ If we accept His verification regarding this, we have every reason to accept everything else He declares Himself to be. He claims to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He says no one comes to the Father except through Him.  

Our Glorious, Eternal Savior, 
we rejoice that You are the same substance as the Father. 
We praise You that You are equal in power and glory. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for you loved Me before the foundation of the world.  

John 17:24 

Christ has had an eternal relationship with His Father. He refers to it in His High Priestly prayer from which our text derives. He says, ‘You loved me before the foundation of the world.’ Thus when we speak of God, we must include Christ as one of those who are from eternity. Other passages lead us to include the Holy Spirit. For example, Genesis indicates the Holy Spirit was at work in creation. John 1 speaks of Christ, the Word, as creating all that is. Hebrews 1 tells us it was God Who employed His Son in creation. When we add together all the Scripture says about these three, we have good reason to believe in the Trinity. This means when we hear Christ speak of the love His Father had for Him, ‘before the foundation of the world,’ it is entirely consistent with everything else we know about Him as the essential, eternal Son of God. Our faith does not rest in some recent addition to the Trinity. Rather, from what Christ says, as well as from the rest of the Scripture, we conclude that as the Father is eternal, so also is the Son. The more convinced we are of the truth, the more willing we are to confess, as Thomas did, ‘My Lord, and my God!’ The longer we gaze upon Christ, the more worthy He appears to our wondering eyes.  

Our Holy, Triune God, 
we rejoice in every Person of the Trinity. 
We praise You that all of You are eternal. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge:  but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Proverbs 1:7 

Within the heart of humanity there is the insatiable thirst for knowledge.  Throughout the course of history, the pursuit of knowledge has consumed the time, attention, and energy of a vast multitude.  If we trace history back to the origin of humanity, we find that there are indications of this thirst in our first parents.  When the serpent appealed to Eve, his selling point was that if she and Adam would eat of the tree they would become, ‘like God, knowing good and evil.’  The desire for knowledge was innate and Satan merely exploited it for his own ends.  If we are to achieve knowledge, where shall we start?  Our text for today provides us with the answer.  ‘The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge.’  This is not ‘fear’ in the sense of craven terror, but rather, reverence, respect, and regard for God.  If we would truly achieve knowledge, here is where it begins.  This beginning will lead us inevitably to Christ.  It is by Christ that God has spoken to us.  He is ‘the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person.’  He ‘upholds all things by the word of His power.’  To honor and reverence God is to honor and reverence Christ.  Therefore, if we are to know, we must come to know God, and that means we must know Christ. 

Our Great and All-knowing God, 
we rejoice that You are willing to make Yourself known to us. 
We praise You, that as we seek Your Face, 
in reverence, You will by Your Holy Spirit, 
show us Christ. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Proverbs 1:7 

As the absence of light is darkness, so the absence of wisdom is foolishness.  If ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,’ to refuse to revere God is foolishness and ignorance.  The writer of Proverbs is very blunt.  He declares ‘fools despise wisdom and instruction.’  A writer in Psalms describes this rejection by saying, ‘The fool has said in his heart there is no God.’  This is not merely the person who declares that God does not exist, but includes the one who says, in essence, ‘there is no God for me.’  This is to ‘despise wisdom and instruction.’  This inevitably makes the person who rejects Christ a fool in the biblical sense. Christ said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’  He was not backward or equivocating in any way.  He proclaimed that to dishonor Him was to dishonor the Father.  For this reason, the knowledge of God must include and involve the Person and Work of Christ at every level.  To reject this is to reject the knowledge of God and thereby to become a fool.  This is not a good road for anyone to take.  Therefore, our appeal to you who read this little work is ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.’ 

Our Wise and Wonderful God, 
we rejoice that You have, in Your Wisdom,  
shown us Christ. 
We pray that by Your Spirit, 
You will continue to open our hearts, 
and illuminate our minds to understand more of Him. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning