J.C. Ryle on Christ and Creation

"Christ is all" (Col. 3:11).

"There came a time when this earth was created in its present order.  Sun, moon and stars, sea, land, and all their inhabitants were called into being, and made out of chaos and confusion.  And, last of all, man was formed out of the dust of the ground.

"And where was Christ then?

"Hear what the Scripture says: 'All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made' (John 1:3).  'By Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in the earth' (Col. 1:16).  'And You, Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands' (Heb. 1:10).  'When He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a compass upon the face of he depth; when He established the clouds above; when He strengthened the foundations of the deep; when He gave the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment; when He appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him' (Prov. 8:27-30).  Can we wonder that the Lord Jesus, in His preaching, should continually draw lessons from the book of nature?  When He spoke of the sheep, the fish, the ravens, the corn, the lilies, the fig tree, the vine, He spoke of things which He Himself had made" (Holiness, J.C. Ryle)