The Word of life

Here, then, we have two great personages, two uncreated, eternal Beings—God and the Word, both divine—presiding over the Creation. As the late British theologian F.F. Bruce commented on the opening passages of the Gospel of John: "The Personal Word is uncreated, not only enjoying the divine companionship, but sharing the divine essence" (The Message of the New Testament, 1972, p. 105, emphasis added). This Word was and is God, just as the Father is God.
Later, in his first epistle, John adds to our understanding: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life" (1 John 1:1, New International Version). Here that same "Word" (Jesus Christ) of John's Gospel account is called "the Word of life."
It's easy to overlook the importance of this crucial verse and read right over its enormous significance. The one who became Jesus Christ, declared to be on the same plane of existence as God the Father, was born as a human being and perceived by and through the physical senses of human beings—particularly His early inner core of disciples, including the very one who wrote these words, John. These men became Christ's apostles—His messengers—and were special witnesses of His resurrection.
John wrote that the Word, who was with God from the beginning, lived among them in the human flesh. Although He was born a physical human being, the disciples actually saw, touched, conversed with and listened to One who was, as will become increasingly clearer, a member of the divine family.
John continues: "The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us" (verse 2, NIV). "The Word of life" in 1 John 1:1 is called "the eternal life" in verse 2.
John goes on to say: "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ" (verse 3, NIV). As revealed by the Holy Scriptures, God the Father and Jesus Christ form a divine family.
They have a distinct and loving family relationship. Addressing the Father, Jesus said, "You loved Me before the world began" (John 17:24, REB). He refers here not to our limited human love but to the divine love of the heavenly realm.
Christ the Creator
The apostle John not only wrote the fourth Gospel account and three epistles preserved in the New Testament, he also penned the book of Revelation. It was here, in Christ's message to the seven churches of Revelation, that Jesus clearly identified Himself as the beginner or source of God's creation. "These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God's creation" (Revelation 3:14, REB).
Jesus not only died for our sins so we could be reconciled to the Father, but He is our Creator. The apostle Paul plainly tells us that "God created all things through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 3:9).
In Colossians 1:16 Paul is even more specific. He writes: "For by Him [Christ] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him."
This passage is all-encompassing. Jesus created "all things . . . that are in heaven"—the entire angelic kingdom, which includes an innumerable number of angels—and the whole universe, including planet earth. Many people do not grasp the clear biblical fact that Jesus Christ is our Creator!
The book of Hebrews affirms this wonderful truth as well. "[God the Father] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:2). The abundant witness of the New Testament Scriptures shows that God the Father created everything through the Word—the One who later became Jesus Christ—so both divine Beings were intimately involved in the creation.
The book of Hebrews presents Christ as the being through whom the Father brought the world of space and time into existence, and who "sustain[s] all things by his powerful word" (verse 3, NRSV). Scripture, then, reveals that Jesus not only created the universe, He also sustains it.