who This One was in the beginning, This One Who came as our Redeemer: Col. 1: 14-17

tells us He was "the firstborn of every creature". This title of Christ must not be

misunderstood however. It does not mean that Christ was the first of all created beings,

for we go on to read "for by Him were all things created". In verse 17 we read "And He

is before all things, and by Him all things consist (or hang together)". There is nothing

untidy about the cosmos, everything moves in an orderly fashion and is absolutely

ship-shape. This preposition translated "before" is the Greek `pro' and indicates priority

of position or dignity--"that in all things He might have the pre-eminence".

The fact that Christ is the Creator of all things is stated many times in the N.T. It was

not the Father, but the Son. When we say "all things", it is well to remember that He did

not create anything evil, poisonous or mis-shapen. These became so after creation, and

were the direct result of sin. We also understand that He assumed a shape in order to

create, for we read that man was made "in our image, after our likeness". This fact is

borne out in John 1: and Heb. 1:

We know too, that He assumed human form in order to redeem. Through the death of

His Son, when His blood had been shed all who by faith accept Him as Saviour, become

a redeemed people. Redemption goes back beyond our own personal sins to the one sin

of Adam that involved us all in death. In the Scriptures the first ray of hope for sinful

man is found in Gen. 3: After Satan had beguiled the woman in the garden, the Lord

God said in pronouncing his ultimate destruction, "I will put enmity between thee and the

woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (i.e. Christ, the seed of the woman) shall

bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (verse 15).

This prophecy foretells the temporary sufferings of Christ, but His final victory.

Christ has come and suffered. Satan's overthrow awaits fulfillment.

Incredible as it may seem to us, the Hebrew word "GAAL" which is translated so

many times by the word "kinsman-redeemer", has also another meaning and office. It

also means "avenger", and we find it so used in connection with the cities of refuge.

These havens of safety were provided by the Lord Himself, for the nation of Israel when

they entered Canaan, and were given as a means of escaping from retribution from the

next of kin. They could not be used by the cold blooded killer, but only when the killing

was unintentional, an accident, an act that was not premeditated. This man it was who

could find safety in one of these cities; but the murderer "shall be surely put to death"

(Numb. 35: 31).

One aspect of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ was that "He might destroy him

that had the power of death . . . . . and deliver them . . . . . to bondage" (Heb. 2: 14, 15).

The double office of the Saviour is again suggested in Isa. 63: 4, ". . . . . the day of

vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come".

In I John 3: 8 ". . . . . the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the

works of the devil".  In Heb. 2: 14 the devil himself is said to be destroyed by the

coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.