Colossians 1:15-20 says...
Today's verses are Colossians 1:15-20, which read,
v.15 - He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
We studied yesterday that Paul was praying for these new Christians in the church in Colossae. His prayer included some of the truths from Scripture about salvation and the transformation of the believer. His prayer continues about the foundational truths about our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the image or copy or likeness of God. Jesus is and makes the invisible God visible to us. He is also the firstborn but in context this word is not about chronological order of birth but the chronological order of rank. A firstborn received the inheritance of the father and had an exalted rank over all others. So a firstborn could be a firstborn in rank and not be a firstborn in order of birth. Jesus is in rank over all creation because of verse 16.
v.16 - For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Jesus is in rank over all creation because it was created by Him. The creation included the heavens and earth. The creation included what we see and what we don't see. The creation included the order of the heavens and earth. Creation happened through Him and is also for Him. There is a pleasure and purpose in all of creation that Jesus is over in rank as the firstborn because He is the author of it.
v.17 - He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
This Creator Jesus was here before any creation happened so Jesus is eternal. Jesus is also the sustainer of all creation. He holds all things together. He is over all but is also the glue in which it all maintains its direction and purpose.
Paul is instructing the young Christians in the church of Colossae that the Jesus who saved them through the cross by the grace of God was also the One who created them and everything around them. He is bigger than just a man who took it on the chin for them or took their place on the cross. Jesus is God and God made Himself visible through Jesus who created and maintains everything seen and unseen. Hopefully the Christians' view of Jesus is growing through this instruction.
v.18 - He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
Jesus is not only the Creator of all things and over all things but He is also the head of the body of Christ, the church, the family of God. He died and He raised from the dead not to die again as the first to do that. Jesus raised people from the dead but they would eventually die again. Jesus died and then rose again to live eternally in a physical sense just as His followers will do someday following suit. He has gone before us in this matter and this physical resurrection gives validity to everything that He has said. Jesus rules over all of creation that He created and He rules over all the church that He created through His life, death and resurrection so that they too could be physically resurrected. The church created is those who will be physically resurrected to life to live with Him forever.
v.19, 20 - For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Why Jesus and why creation and why the cross and why the church? It was for the glory and pleasure of God. It was His plan. God's plan was for Jesus to create all and then also provide the way for what He created to be reconciled to God. The plan was for the reconciliation to come through the cross that He died upon and later to be physically resurrected from the tomb He was laid in. We are able to have peace with God because God had a plan through Jesus for that to happen.
As Jesus and God are getting bigger in the eyes of the Christians in Colossae and they are getting smaller in the picture of all things, the amazement should be rising that someone so small could be thought of, created, and provided for to receive salvation that came not from them but the One who created them. "How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God and all will see how great, how great is our God" is how the song goes that could be sung after these verses that lay out the back story to our conversions. Let's pray.
"Lord, our salvation is tied to our creation. Our creation is tied to our Creator. Our Creator provided Himself to be the instrument used to bring us to peace with God. How great is the love of Jesus. May we realize His bigness in our smallness in this whole matter. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.15 - He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
We studied yesterday that Paul was praying for these new Christians in the church in Colossae. His prayer included some of the truths from Scripture about salvation and the transformation of the believer. His prayer continues about the foundational truths about our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the image or copy or likeness of God. Jesus is and makes the invisible God visible to us. He is also the firstborn but in context this word is not about chronological order of birth but the chronological order of rank. A firstborn received the inheritance of the father and had an exalted rank over all others. So a firstborn could be a firstborn in rank and not be a firstborn in order of birth. Jesus is in rank over all creation because of verse 16.
v.16 - For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Jesus is in rank over all creation because it was created by Him. The creation included the heavens and earth. The creation included what we see and what we don't see. The creation included the order of the heavens and earth. Creation happened through Him and is also for Him. There is a pleasure and purpose in all of creation that Jesus is over in rank as the firstborn because He is the author of it.
v.17 - He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
This Creator Jesus was here before any creation happened so Jesus is eternal. Jesus is also the sustainer of all creation. He holds all things together. He is over all but is also the glue in which it all maintains its direction and purpose.
Paul is instructing the young Christians in the church of Colossae that the Jesus who saved them through the cross by the grace of God was also the One who created them and everything around them. He is bigger than just a man who took it on the chin for them or took their place on the cross. Jesus is God and God made Himself visible through Jesus who created and maintains everything seen and unseen. Hopefully the Christians' view of Jesus is growing through this instruction.
v.18 - He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
Jesus is not only the Creator of all things and over all things but He is also the head of the body of Christ, the church, the family of God. He died and He raised from the dead not to die again as the first to do that. Jesus raised people from the dead but they would eventually die again. Jesus died and then rose again to live eternally in a physical sense just as His followers will do someday following suit. He has gone before us in this matter and this physical resurrection gives validity to everything that He has said. Jesus rules over all of creation that He created and He rules over all the church that He created through His life, death and resurrection so that they too could be physically resurrected. The church created is those who will be physically resurrected to life to live with Him forever.
v.19, 20 - For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Why Jesus and why creation and why the cross and why the church? It was for the glory and pleasure of God. It was His plan. God's plan was for Jesus to create all and then also provide the way for what He created to be reconciled to God. The plan was for the reconciliation to come through the cross that He died upon and later to be physically resurrected from the tomb He was laid in. We are able to have peace with God because God had a plan through Jesus for that to happen.
As Jesus and God are getting bigger in the eyes of the Christians in Colossae and they are getting smaller in the picture of all things, the amazement should be rising that someone so small could be thought of, created, and provided for to receive salvation that came not from them but the One who created them. "How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God and all will see how great, how great is our God" is how the song goes that could be sung after these verses that lay out the back story to our conversions. Let's pray.
"Lord, our salvation is tied to our creation. Our creation is tied to our Creator. Our Creator provided Himself to be the instrument used to bring us to peace with God. How great is the love of Jesus. May we realize His bigness in our smallness in this whole matter. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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