In “Before the World Was” (Tidings, Dec.), Bro. Jim Harper establishes that “the foundation of the world” refers to the creation of man recorded in Genesis 1:27. Based on this precise identification, he interprets “the glory which [Jesus] had with [his Father] before the world was” (John 17:5) as alluding back to Genesis 1:26. I’d like to add another line of reasoning to support his conclusions.
Psalm 8 is a psalm of David celebrating Genesis 1: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For…
- thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
- and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
- Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas” (Psa. 8:4-8).
In particular (as the highlighting shows) the psalm celebrates Genesis 1:26, God’s giving man dominion over all creation.
Verses 4-6 of Psalm 8 are quoted in Hebrews 2:6-8 to prove that “unto the angels hath [God] not put in subjection the world to come” (Heb. 2:5). The inspired writer explains: “For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (vv. 8-10).
These verses show that Jesus was the man to whom dominion was given in Psalm 8, hence also prophetically the man in Genesis 1:26. Furthermore, they show that the sequence in Psalm 8 (identified as a, b, and c in the quotation above) corresponds to three stages of Jesus’ career:
- his earthly ministry ending with his death,
- his glorification and heavenly ministry, which “.. we see,” and
- his return to rule as king over all things, which “now we see not yet.”
In John 17:5 Jesus is declaring his willingness to lay down his life (a), and he is asking his Father to crown him with glory and honor (b), as promised before the foundation of the world.
The underlined phrases above indicate the strong tie between the glorification of Christ and his death. The importance of this correlation is indicated by the number of passages in which it is taught: e.g., Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34 (and their parallels in Matthew and Luke); Luke 24:26; John 12:23-26; 13:31,32; Acts 2:22-36; 13:26-39; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 10:12; 12:2; and Revelation 5:11-13.
Finally, these verses in Hebrews show that Jesus is the captain of many sons that are being brought unto glory. Through his suffering, death, and resurrection, Jesus became “the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18), “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14; cf. Gen. 1:1). Thus, as Jesus is “the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3; cf. Gen. 1:26), even so those “whom [God] did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29; cf. Heb. 2:10-15).
In conclusion, I’d like to thank our brother for his insightful and stimulating thoughts.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One