Between eternity in the past and eternity
Between eternity in the past and eternity in the future is a gap, with time as a bridge to span it. On this bridge called time, Christ as the Word of God, through whom all things were created, was incarnated as a man. Creation was the first event on the bridge of time, and in carnation was the second. Creation means that things not being are brought into being through the Word. Before creation, nothing existed, but by Christ's creation all things came into exis tence. Incarnation is God coming into His cre ation. Although everything created by God was perfect and good, yet nothing of creation had been joined to God. Creation was but a prepar atory step for incarnation. God firstly brought all created things into existence so that He could later become one with His creation. This is the reason that God created the heavens, the earth, and man as the center of the universe. It was His design to prepare creation so that He could join Himself to it. "The Word became flesh" means that God joined Himself to His creation by His incarnation. In incarnation, the flesh which God put on became His tabernacle (1:14). This tab ernacle was the building of God on a small scale; it was a miniature of the New Jerusalem, God's tabernacle in eternity (Rev. 21:2-3). By creation,