Thomas worshipped Jesus, and called him, “My Lord and my God!”. Why? Wasn’t Jesus just “a good man”? Well, ask yourself how many men can raise the dead. How many men can make a blind man see? How many men can speak to the storm and make it calm down immediately?
The answer is “one, and only one”. And how many men, as Thomas clearly recognized, come back from death, in plain sight, and in solid flesh?
One man. Yes, a man, but also God. There is no confusion or ambiguity. When Christ came into the world, he was not created: he was already in existence, for ever, and ever. The Scriptures are plain on this, to those who are not blinded to it. It’s on every page, for those who are willing to see it:
“…his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe” (Hebrews 1:2).
God created the universe through his Son. But in case you think that this is just a reference to some attitude or “spirit-of” type of likeness, read on to the next verse:
“The Son is the exact radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (verse 3).
Christ sustains all things! There could be no physical universe without Him-past or present. Paul said the same thing in a letter:
“For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible….He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).
There’s no mistaking who Paul’s talking about: it is “the head of the Church” (verse 18). He is, as the writer of Hebrews also said, “The image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).
Jesus Christ himself told the religious leaders “…before Abraham was born, I AM” (John 8:58), for which they persecuted him.
Christ is called “the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15) but this is a reference not to his conception or his origin, but to his authority. When he came into the world, he didn’t begin his existence, except only as a man. God had never been man before. Jesus was fully human, and fully God.
So when we worship at this time of the year, thanking the Father for sending His one and only son into the world, we need to thank him for humbling himself by manifesting in human flesh, and we need to remember that we are worshipping the Creator, and the sustainer, of all things.
Thanks for reading. For anyone interested, I wrote a little series of posts (three parts) called “Jesus: Man or God-man?” which you can find in my search bar.
Fuel for Faith 