John 1 reveals the two sections of eternity. How can God, who had no humanity in eternity past, have humanity in eternity future as His dwelling place? This will not happen overnight. Between these two sections of eternity is the bridge of time. In eternity past God planned and purposed, but He did not do anything. In eternity future God will not do anything, because, at that time, everything will have been accomplished. In eternity future He will simply enjoy His finished work. In eternity past He planned, and in eternity future He will enjoy. Everything that God needs to accomplish He accomplishes on the bridge of time. God is driving the car of His economy from the first section of eternity, through the bridge of time, into the last section of eternity. By driving His car across the bridge of time, all the necessary work is completed. Once God has traveled from eternity past, through the bridge of time, and into eternity future, He will declare, “Finished!” In eternity future God will enjoy His finished work.
How long is this bridge of time? It may be more or less than six thousand years long. On this bridge of time God accomplishes five things, and we need to consider each of them in turn. We begin with creation.
Verse three says, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being which has come into being.” Creation brings things into being. The meaning of creation is to call things not being as being (Rom. 4:17). The purpose of creation is to produce a receptacle to receive God as life. Consider the items in creation: the heavens, the earth, the billions of physical things, and man. What is the most important item in creation? Nothing is more important than man. Man is a V.I.P., a very important person. According to the Bible, the heavens are for the earth, and the earth is for man (Zech. 12:1). Everything is for man. The minerals, the vegetable life, and the animal life are all for man. The air, sunshine, and rain supply the vegetable life; the vegetable life is for the animal life, and both the vegetable life and the animal life are for man. All the living things on the earth are for man. Man, for whom all these things are, is for God, receiving God and fulfilling His purpose. There is a spirit within man which is the very receiver of God. By His creation, God produced the heavens for the earth, the earth for man, and man with a spirit as a receiver to receive God as his life.
Man is the center of the universe. Man, the center of the universe, has a mouth for eating and for calling. Eating is our most important daily activity. Regardless of how busy a person may be, he will take time to eat every day. Most people eat several times a day. Do not feel ashamed to say that your most important daily activity is eating. I am a good eater. I eat both material food and spiritual food, which is Christ. I eat the Lord by calling, “O Lord Jesus.” Eating the Lord is an important matter. All the silent Christians are being starved to death. I was such a dumb, silent Christian for years, and I nearly died. But today I am an eating Christian. I eat by calling on the name of the Lord. God created us with a spirit and with a mouth that we might receive Him as our life.
Have you ever thanked God for His creation? You need to say, “O God, my Creator, I thank You that You have created the heavens, the earth, and everything in it. I thank You for creating me. I thank You, Lord, that You created me with a spirit and a mouth.” Many Christians have never thanked the Lord for creating them with a spirit and a mouth.
Romans 8:16 shows the importance of our spirit, and Romans 10:9-10 shows the importance of our mouth. Justification is related to our heart, and salvation is related to our mouth. Although many Christians say that it is sufficient to have a believing heart, Romans 10 makes it clear that we also need a mouth. We need to believe with our heart and call on the Lord with our mouth. The more you say, “O Lord Jesus,” the more you will be saved. Why are you so weak? Because you do not call on the name of the Lord Jesus. If you call on Him, you will be empowered. Many Christians only know how to talk about their weaknesses. They do not realize that the reason they are so weak is that they do not use their lips and their tongue to confess the name of the Lord. “Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:11). If every Christian would say, “Lord Jesus,” continually, Satan would immediately be cast into the lake of fire. Hallelujah for our spirit and our mouth! We have a spirit within and a mouth without. Our spirit, our mouth, and our whole being come from God’s creation. Oh, how we need to worship God for His creation. We owe Him a debt of thanks for creating us. Even at the Lord’s table we need to thank the Lord for His creation. Creation was the first item on the bridge of time.