The Craftsman At God’s Side Series

There are certain times in the Bible when you just have to take a step back and say, “This is beyond me. I’m just going to believe it, without trying to understand it.” When the Bible says that Jesus was brought forth, or begotten, by the Father, from eternity, don’t try to understand it. Just stand in awe of Christ, and believe, and worship him.

Many people picture Christ as the Savior of all mankind, and that’s it. But the Bible tells us that Jesus was also involved in the creation of the world. Verse 27 says, “When He prepared the heavens, I was there.” Verse 30 says, “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman…” Jesus was the craftsman, the skilled worker, crafting the world alongside of God the Father. The two of them worked as one God, working closely together.

Christ, the water of life, crafting the lakes and the oceans. Christ, the rock of salvation, crafting the hills and mountains. And notice how Christ felt after he was finished crafting his creation. Verse 30 says, “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him.” Christ is pictured as delighting in the creation of the world and especially delighting in mankind.

A few years back, while I was still working, my assignment was to develop an acoustical panel that had the highest sound rating in the industry. Let me explain what an acoustical panel is. It is just a fancy name for a movable wall that divides a room. They are used in meeting rooms, schools, churches, and most other places where it is important to reduce sound. I had a man working for me by the name of Rufus White. He was very good at coming up with ideas and making things work, and he was also a good friend. To make a long story short, we were successful; we obtained a 56 STC rating when our panel was tested in Chicago, Illinois. We celebrated by going out to dinner on the company; as I recall we enjoyed lobster that evening. Besides getting paid that was the best part of my job. At dinner we talked about all our hard work and we pictured this new product being sold all over the country and we took pride in a job well-done.

That’s how the Bible pictures Christ at the creation of the world. He looked at what he had crafted – nature in all its beauty and majesty, and especially mankind, the most complex creation in the world, and he took great delight. But Christ knew that soon, Satan would come, and along with Adam and Eve He would bring sin into the world.

In 1989, on a routine flight from Chicago, an airplane’s middle engine fell apart. Pieces of the blade flew through the air, cutting the plane’s hydraulic lines. The pilot made an emergency landing in Sioux City, Iowa. The video footage of the plane somersaulting down the runway in a ball of fire was shown on the national news. About half of the passengers on board were killed. It took years to discover the cause of the crash. It was finally concluded that when the titanium fan hub was manufactured, an almost microscopic bubble remained on the metal. That little bubble went undetected for 20 years, but it finally led to a tiny crack, which led to a bigger crack, which led to the entire plane going down.