Whenever I am stressed by what I see going on in the world around me, I remember what the Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians Chapter 1. I think in verses 15 – 17 is the definitive description of just who Jesus Christ is and it is truly glorious.
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
When we read this statement by Paul, I think too often we gloss over what it means when it says, “The Son is the image of the invisible God.” First off, who or what is the “invisible God”?
The invisible God is the Glorified, 3 distinct persons in one, God. The God that if looked upon by human eyes would be more than our mortality could endure. The God who when He passed by, Moses who had to hide in the cleft of a rock and turn his back and yet from this encounter Moses still reflected God’s glory to such an extent that he had to cover his face so that others would be protected from the reflection of that glory on Moses’ face.
Yet this God in Christ, humbled himself and was made a little lower than angels. Hebrews 2 & Psalm 8:5.
Hebrews 2:9
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
I think because we read these verses and others, where it speaks of Christ humbling himself and setting aside His glory, we tend to think that this somehow subordinates Christ’s position; it does not.
Hebrews 1:3 tells us that:
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…
Notice He is the exact imprint; He is
not a copy, He is the radiance, the shekinah glory, the radiant light of God,
Creator, all Powerful, Omnipotent (all powerful Supreme God), Sovereign;
anything you can say about God applies to Jesus Christ because, He is God. He
became a man, but while a man, and setting aside His glory was still in essence,
God.
You might say, Al, how is it possible
that a glorified, all-powerful God can become like us? The short answer is, I do
not know and neither does anyone else. All I can say is, “He’s God”.
The scripture teaches that Christ was
fully man while also being fully God. The entirety of Christianity rests upon
this foundational fact. Christ being
fully human while maintaining his deity is why certain groups, who claim to
be Christian, are not.
He is the first born of all creation.
So is this teaching that he was created, not at all. When Christ became man,
Scripture teaches that He set aside His glory and humbled Himself. When He
ascended to the Father’s bosom, (John 1:18) as the only Begotten of God (or as
some early manuscripts, God Begotten) this refers to Him as first in
prominence. Notice He returned, He returned to where He once was.
Christ retuning to the Father’s bosom
is a picture of the parent/child relationship. When scripture says that we are
created in the image of God, the parent/child relationship that we experience
in the flesh has existed in the Godhead eternally before creation and will
continue eternally as it always has.
I believe that for some reason we want
to believe that at creation God came up with all these new ideas, which He
tried out in creation. God is eternal, His ideas are eternal, His actions are
eternal, and His relationships are eternal. The only thing not eternal is
creation. It had a beginning and it will have an end.
God is not created, and Christ is not created.
If Christ were created, He would not be
eternal and would not be God.
16 for in him
(Jesus Christ) all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all
things were created through him (Jesus Christ) and for him (Jesus Christ).
The “in him” referenced here refers to
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ created, notice, “All things”.
Strong's 3956: All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole. Strong’s Concordance.
All things references “all things” Physical, Spiritual, Intellect, Thoughts, Freedoms . . . You name it and it was created by Christ. Even all thoughts, all words and languages, Christ created everything. It is as vast as we can possibly imagine. By the way, He also created our imaginations and our ability to imagine.
You cannot escape the creation of Christ and it was all created by Him and for Him. We are created for God. Everything is created for God and then sin entered in and tainted everything. That’s why God became man. To defeat sin.
The creative unity of the Godhead is nowhere better revealed than in 1 Corinthians 8:6.
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.
Christ was in the bosom of the Father before, during and after creation. He left the bosom and became a servant, a man. But He returned to the bosom of the Father upon His ascension to glory, the glory he previously had with the Father. John 17:5
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
· The same God who promises to keep us – John 17,
· to work all things for our good – Romans 8:28,
· who continuously intercedes for us – Hebrews 7:25,
· whose love we cannot be separated from – Romans 8:38,
· who’s hand our name is written on – Isaiah 49:16a,
· who knows us personally – John 10:14,
Psalms 139:13-16 NIV
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Now if you truly believe this, what can life do to you? If this man/God, Jesus Christ is your Lord, Savior and Judge, what do you have to fear?
To look into your judges eyes and see your savior there. Michael Card.
(17) He is before all things.--The words "He is" are both emphatic. He, and He only, is; all else is created. It is impossible not to refer to the "I am" of Eternal existence, as claimed by our Lord for Himself. "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58; comp. also John 1:15). Hence the word "before" should be taken, not of supreme dignity, but of pre-existence.
By him all things consist.--That is, hold together in unity, obeying the primeval law of their being. In this clause is attributed to our Lord, not only the creative act, but also the constant sustaining power, "in which all lives and moves has its being”.
These verses claim the deity of the Christ. They claim the eternity of the Christ. They claim the sovereign authority of the creation by the Christ, they claim the relationship of the Father and the Christ, they claim the relationship of the created and the Christ, they claim the oversight of all things by the Christ. . .
If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31
