J.C. Ryle on Christ Before Creation

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

"There was a time when this earth had no being.  Solid as the mountains look, boundless as the sea appears, high as the stars in heaven look, they once did not exist.  And man, with all the high thoughts he now has of himself, was a creature unknown.

"And where was Christ then?

"Even then Christ was 'with God' and 'was God' and was 'equal with God' (John 1:1; Phil. 2:6).  Even then He was the beloved Son of the Father.  'You loved me,' He says, 'before the foundation of the world.'  'I had glory with You before the world began.'  'I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was' (John 17:5, 24; Prov. 8:23).  Even then He was the Savior if 'foreordained before the foundation of the world' (1 Pet. 1:20), and believers were 'chosen in Him' (Eph. 1:4)" (Holiness, J.C. Ryle).