In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:1-3).

We all know that all things were created by God. But do we know that all things were made through the preexistent Word?

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command (lit. word), so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (Heb 11:3).

Since we humans are born into this physical world, we live as if the world we live in is the only world that exists, and cannot think of the time when it did not exist. When we make something, we always use some kind of material, and make it into another thing that is also material. So, the truth that “what is seen was not made out of what was visible” needs to be taught to us, and we need to accept it by faith: that is, by believing what God’s word says. God’s word always accomplishes what he says. Everything was created according to what God said, and this world came to exist as the fulfillment of his word. Furthermore, we need to be taught that this Word is not a medium of communication, but a living being.

The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,

before his deeds of old;

I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning,

before the world began.

When there were no oceans, I was given birth,

when there were no springs abounding with water;

Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills,

I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields …

I was there when he set the heavens in place,

when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,

when he established the clouds above and …

Then I was the craftsman at his side.

I was filled with delight day after day,

rejoicing always in his presence,

rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind (Pro 8:22-31).

In the context, this “I” is the personified “wisdom” who existed before creation. And this “wisdom” has come to be expressed as “the Word” in the gospel of John.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

The preexistent Word has become the incarnate Word by coming into this world in space, and into the midst of human history in time: he was born as a baby—a descendant of Adam. Having become a human, he has become a visible image of invisible God—the visible fulfillment of the invisible Word. His life on earth, from his birth till the time he was lifted up into heaven, was the fulfillment of God’s word as he himself said:

This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:46-47).

Yet, note that this fulfillment is not restricted to him, but also extended to his disciples as well—“repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” As believers in Christ, we have become part of this fulfillment of God’s word.