Beholding glory pt 2

Please, if you would, let’s return
to Colossians chapter one for our ongoing study of this incredible
letter. Colossians chapter one, we are
well into our study by now, this being our seventh week in this
epistle. And as we saw in verses three
through 14, the verses leading up to the section in which we
find ourselves, Paul is rejoicing in God’s work of salvation, both
for the Colossians and really for his work of salvation throughout
the world. He’s thankful for God, carrying
out his great plan of redemption. But in verse 15, Paul embarks
upon a different reason, if you will, to give thanks. In verse 15 through 20, he turns
to God to thank God for the Redeemer himself, God’s Son, our Lord
Jesus. And in so doing, Paul thereby
instills great confidence, both confidence in the Redeemer and
confidence in God the Father as the author of salvation. This was by design, because the
ill winds of false teaching were already blowing, and they were
seeking to erode the confidence of the church in those very truths. Confidence in Christ, confidence
in God. To Paul, such pernicious meddling
did not come as a surprise. Paul knew that the devil could
sour the hearts of many through the plentiful false teachers
that were coursing through the region. The devil never ceases
to harass Christ’s church and God’s people individually. There were doctrinal and theological
errors wafting about in the Colossian region, just as they are everywhere.
We noted that instead of really pinpointing and identifying specific
error and focusing on that, Paul instead focuses on God’s truth. Teaching the Colossians the truth
would enable them to skillfully discern error. It was divine
truth that enabled the Colossian believers to identify the spiritual
lies that were so prevalent. And the most important subject
upon which Paul wants to dwell is the subject of Jesus Christ,
his nature, and his work. This is what Paul begins to do
in the section before us, verses 15 through 20. We began our consideration of
this section last Sunday, and I gave you a very basic outline
that will carry us along, really, for about the next month or so.
And I said that this entire section addresses the nature and work
of Jesus Christ. The first two verses, verses
15 and 16, declare Christ’s divinity. That’s where we started last
week. Then verse 17 tells of Christ’s preeminence, that He
is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Just an amazing declaration of truth. And then finally in verses
18 through 20, the third subsection Paul speaks of Christ’s responsibility. He is the head of the church. That is his position. And his
specific work in that regard is reconciling all things to
his Heavenly Father. Christ’s divinity, Christ’s responsibility,
pardon me, Christ’s preeminence and Christ’s responsibility.
That’s the short and simple outline, and in it, Paul covers his relationship
to the Father, his relationship to the world, and his relationship
to the church. This is, again, one of the most
significant theological treatments anywhere in our Bible about our
Savior, Jesus. It’s an expositional portrait,
if you will, of Jesus the Redeemer. So as I said, it will take us
several weeks to properly study it, and for our purpose this
morning, I do want to read the whole section for you this morning,
verse 15 all the way through verse 20. Colossians 1, beginning
in verse 15. He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together. He is also the 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. 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.” Incredible passage of scripture. Now, last day, last Lord’s Day,
we saw our introduction into this passage, and we began with
that very first sentence of verse 15. That’s all the further we
made it. He is the image of the invisible God. And in that section,
I suggested to you that we are beholding glory. We are catching
these glimpses of the Redeemer’s nature. And the first thing that
we noted last week was the beloved son’s face. Paul told us three
things about his beloved son, God’s beloved son. First of all,
his identity. We saw in verse 15 that when
Paul suddenly mentions he, he is the image, we were not immediately
certain who he is. To whom was Paul referring, we
wondered, and we had to look backward. After a quick glance
back to what Paul had just said previously in verse 13, it became
very clear that the only reasonable answer is that Paul is speaking
there of Christ. Jesus, God’s beloved son, as
Paul mentions him in verse 13. He is the image of the invisible
God. And as Paul is painting a mental
picture, if you will, of the beloved son’s face, we saw that
he next told us of Christ’s representation. That is, he is the image of God. Jesus Christ, God’s beloved son,
is the image of God, and we noted that the word that Paul used
here is a word that sounds the same way in Greek as it does
in English. It’s the word icon. Paul does
not intend to say, as we tend to use that word, that Jesus
has achieved some level of greatness and should be considered an icon. That’s how we use that word,
but rather Paul says here that Jesus is the very image of God. This is how the word is used
in scripture. That something is made to resemble
something else or someone else. It’s a near copy of the original.
It’s not something that sort of resembles what it represents. And it’s an indistinguishable
copy. You might think that you’re looking
at the real thing, like one’s face in the mirror or some dignitary’s
face on a coin. An image is an accurate representation
of the original. It’s not that Jesus merely resembles
his father, but that he is the exact representation of the father. In other words, Paul says that
Jesus Christ is the exact image of the father. Paul told us a
third thing about the beloved son’s face, his resemblance. He is the image of the invisible
God. And we were struck by that third
element. It sounded strange to our ears.
How can it be that something invisible is also imaged? How can something be made to
represent something that is invisible? That got our attention. But when
we went on to consider what Paul was suggesting is that we merely
cannot see with our physical eyes. God has revealed. Not only
in His creation, His invisible attributes have been seen, Romans
1, but also in His Son, He has declared Himself to us. He has revealed Himself to us
in His Son. This is how the visible is made,
rather the invisible is made visible, the unseen seeable. God has revealed himself again
and again in order to cultivate fellowship with his creation. He wants to be known. He wants
to be loved. He wants to be understood. And
in his son, Jesus, he has made himself visible. Jesus Christ
is the image of the invisible God. Well, we’re just beginning
the process in this section of beholding glory, capturing these
glimpses of our Redeemer’s nature. And here in verse 15, we not
only see a glimpse of the Beloved’s face, but Paul tells us next
of the Beloved Son’s position, that He is the firstborn of all
creation. And this is where we pick up
this week. We’re beholding glory, catching
these glimpses. We’ve seen the Beloved Son’s
face, and now let’s look at the Beloved Son’s position. And the first thing that Paul
tells us, he tells us about the Beloved
Son’s position in creation. He is the firstborn of all creation. Now that one little sentence,
it’s really a portion of a sentence, it has stirred thousands of pages
of debate and commentary, and in large measure it has been
exceedingly misinterpreted and misapplied. Much of the confusion
has come from a misunderstanding of that word, firstborn. So we
need to consider what Paul is saying here by firstborn and
then what it means that he is the firstborn of all creation. To begin with, this second statement
of verse 15 is spoken of the same individual as the first
statement. This is still about Christ. The
subject and the verb are merely implied here. They are assumed
by the previous statement. so that we can understand it
as Paul saying he is the firstborn. It is telling us about God’s
beloved son. It’s just telling us another
aspect of the son’s nature. That statement told us about
the beloved son’s face. This one tells us about the beloved
son’s position. Both of them speak of Christ,
our Redeemer. So Jesus Christ, God’s son, is
the firstborn. And most scholars take this in
one of two ways. Either he is first in order of
time, or he is first in order of privilege and position. That’s
what they understand and explain by means of looking at that word,
firstborn. Those are the two primary meanings.
Let’s just examine both of them. I can tell you that one thing
that we can be certain it does not mean is this idea that Jesus
is somehow part of God’s creation. It does not mean that. If we
were to isolate this verse, lift it out and away from its place
here in Colossians 1, we might come away with that kind of understanding
of this portion of a sentence. We could reasonably conclude
that Jesus was created too. It’s just that he was created
first. But we dare not wrench this sentence
from its context. And so we cannot take this to
mean that Jesus was in any way created. In fact, the very next
verse, you noted as we read, the very next verse says that
all creation is attributed to Christ. And all creation there
prohibits him from being part of that creation. Context is
always crucial. He is the co-creator as God,
not one who was created by God. So it doesn’t mean that Jesus
Christ was born in any kind of a physical sense as God. And so this interesting word,
the firstborn, which is a compound word made up, as you can see,
of two English words compounded together to make up a third word,
firstborn. We already know that the latter
word, born, is not the sticky part, as I just explained, because
we know that Jesus Christ as God was not born. He was born
as a man. He took on human flesh. He came
down from heaven and became the God-man, but he was not born
as God. He had no beginning as God. And so when Paul speaks of Jesus
being the firstborn here, we know that he is not suggesting
that Jesus, the second member of the Trinity, came into existence
by birth. Our concern here is not with
the word born. And it basically comes down,
this idea of firstborn, it comes down to the word first. And that
word is the one that produces the question here. What does
Paul mean by firstborn? It comes down to one of two meanings,
first in order of time, or first in order of position. Let’s look at each of those briefly.
Let’s look at first in order of time. Is it possible that
it means that? This again is not a suggestion
that Jesus was born physically prior to the rest of humanity,
rather that Jesus was already in existence from all eternity
as the second member of the Trinity. John chapter 1 says this so clearly. In the beginning was the Word. He was already in existence when
creation came to be. When the first inklings of creation
were sensed, Jesus was already in existence. Before there was
such a thing as creation as we know it, the earth, the sun,
the moon, and stars, the trees, creation, creatures, humanity,
Jesus Christ was already existing eternally. He is before all things. But there’s a second possibility
that this could mean. The second way that firstborn
might be understood is that Jesus Christ was first in order of
privilege and position. In that sense, he is said to
be the supreme Lord of all created things. And the use of this word
is presented this way frequently in scripture. Just listen to
a few. Exodus 4.22, if you want to jot
it down and look later. Exodus 4.22, God speaks of his
people in this way. Israel is my son, my firstborn. Israel had a special place in
God’s heart, a place of prominence among the nations. King David
likewise is spoken of in this manner. Psalm 89.27. I shall make him my firstborn,
the highest of the kings of earth, a special place, a place of prominence
and privilege. And there are other such examples
as well. Hebrews 1.6 speaks of Christ
in this way. When again, He brings the firstborn
into the world, he says, and let all the angels of God worship
him, a place of privilege and prominence. As you probably noticed,
none of those examples is speaking of physical birth order, but
rather of supremacy. Just as the eldest son in a family,
the firstborn, held a place of prominence and rights and privileges
in the family, especially in the Jewish culture, so also does
Jesus over all creation, a place of prominence and position. And
so you say, how do we choose between the two? Was he born
first? Or does he occupy a place of prominence and position? And
I would suggest to you that of the two meanings, first in order
of time and first in position and prominence, they probably
should be combined, blended, if you will, here. Because Jesus
is prior to, he is in existence before all creation. And because
of that, he is supreme over all creation. He is dignified. He is supreme. He is sovereign
over all. Christ’s place is a place of
superiority, lordship, and dominion. The Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign
over all creation. Come to a second observation
here in this passage. As we’re pondering the Beloved
Son’s position in creation, secondly, we see the Beloved Son’s accomplishment
by creation. And here, Paul dispels any idea
that Christ could be of the created order. Look, if you would, at
verse 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. And so we have it. Jesus Christ is preeminent. That
is the significance of his position. And immediately here, Paul, in
verse 16, looks to highlight the effect, or if you will, the
productiveness of his position. What has he done? What has he
accomplished? That little word for, at the
beginning of the sentence, tells us that Paul is providing support
here for his previous statement. He’s giving us the reason that
he has presented Christ as the firstborn of all creation. This
description answers the question. What has Jesus done or accomplished
in this position? Paul declares, not once but twice,
his position of prominence has led to all things being created. Now our tendency, my tendency
anyway, might be to race ahead and immediately look at the four
statements that Paul provides here to tell us of the extent
of Christ’s creation. Let’s resist that temptation
for just a moment and savor those four simple words. All things
were created by him. or if you will, five words, if
you look at the repeat of that truth at the end of the sentence,
all things have been created. It’s the same basic statement,
only the verb forms are different. Let’s ponder the superlative
nature of that statement. All things were created. What
that immediately declares is that there is not a single star
in the sky not a drop of water, not a pebble or a mountain, not
a creature, sky, land, or sea, not a single individual, not
an atom or molecule that Jesus Christ himself has not created. What an incredible thought. In
many places in scripture, Jesus Christ is affirmed as the co-creator
of the entire universe. none clearer than John 1 3 which
says that all things came into being through him and apart from
him nothing came into being that has come into being that pretty
much sums it up doesn’t it jesus christ is the sovereign of the
entire universe because he is the creator of the entire universe
everything in it He is the one who is responsible for having
brought every possible thing into existence. And it’s not
as if Jesus simply arranged things that were already in existence,
like an organizer or a decorator, as if he merely straightened
up a mess that was already in existence. No, Jesus Christ created
everything out of nothing. At His beckoning, all things,
every element of creation came into existence suddenly. Jesus Christ brought all things
to life. He is the cause of life in every
living thing. He is the cause in the beginning
of every inanimate object as well. No matter what or where
it is, everything in God’s vast creation owes its existence to
the Son. And now, having pondered the
richness of those four or five little words that all things
were or all things have been created, now we may move to consider
the breadth of Christ’s creation as outlined here by Paul. And
here, Paul provides four defining statements on the scope of Christ’s
creation. Would you just glance at verse
16 again? All things were created, both in the heavens and on earth,
number one. Number two, visible and invisible. Number three, whether thrones
or dominions. Number four, or rulers or authorities. The first measurement, if you
will, that Paul supplies regarding the scope of Christ’s creation
is in the heavens and earth. That all things were created
by him both in the heavens and on earth. Well, that pretty much
sums it up, doesn’t it? We hardly need another statement
of measurement after that. although Paul, as I said, provides
three more, everything conceivable in heaven itself, in earth itself,
whether it’s some living thing, a star, an angel, a galaxy, the
sun, all things in the heavens. Or on earth, from the most delicate
flower to the most fearsome beast, the land which became nations
and cities and people groups, all of it Christ created. Those
are the grand things spoken of in the early verses of Genesis
1, right? Lights in the expanse of the
heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars. Jesus created all of those
in the parallel passage of Ephesians, Ephesians written at the same
basic time that Colossians was written, Paul speaks there of
the summing up of all things in Christ. What a beautiful way
to put it. Including things in heaven and
things on earth. His point there is that as the
creator of all, all things are under his sovereign rule. Paul hardly needs to say anything
further to paint this picture of the extent of Christ’s creative
power, but he does add to this. Look at his second statement,
if you will. His second statement is that his creative accomplishment
includes things both visible and invisible. When Paul says
here visible, we have the same sentiment as we noted above. Paul hardly has to say anything
more than to say, Christ created everything that you can see and
everything that you can’t. Anything that we can see with
our physical eye, Christ created. But even what we can see is limited,
right? We might walk out and glance
up at the sky and see stars, but we can’t detect that one
of those stars might represent an entire galaxy of stars. And beyond those stars that we
can see with our naked eye, or even with the most powerful telescope,
beyond that are more stars. We can’t see it all. Those things are imperceptible
to the human eye. But Jesus also created all things
invisible. And here we might be tempted
to limit this to things like air, and oxygen, or gases, or
thoughts, or sounds, and such. And those should be reasonably
included in what we consider invisible. Jesus created sound. Jesus created light waves. But Paul is surely pointing to
the spirit world as well, as his last two sub-points point
out. Angelic beings, and even to people’s
souls, those are all unseen elements of God’s creation. As I said,
Paul adds a third and a fourth clarifying remark here about
Christ’s creative efforts. We’ll take them both together
this time. They include everything, whether thrones or dominions,
rulers or authorities. By thrones and dominions, Paul
is speaking vaguely, at least, about the angelic realm. Most
commentators limit this to angelic hierarchies, pointing to the
idea that there’s some kind of pecking order among the angels. That certainly is included in
the all things that Christ has created. Jude 9 speaks of Michael,
the archangel, indicating some kind of hierarchy existing among
the angels. Whatever power structure may
exist among the angels is ordained by God as an expression of Christ’s
creation. He’s in control of that. And that includes the hierarchy
and the power structure of the devil and his minions as well. But that thrones and dominions cannot
be limited only to the angelic world. When Paul adds here rulers
and authorities, he seems to expand that, and it seems that
he is likely acknowledging here earthly power structures. Those are all under God’s sovereign
dominion as well, under the Lord Jesus. Whatever hierarchy or
power structure that can even be conceived in humanity is also
under the Lord’s creation. Jesus sits as sovereign over
all because he created it all. Angels have no authority whatsoever,
no responsibility outside of Christ. Without him, they would
not even exist. Whatever throne, wherever they
sit, whatever dominion they oversee, whatever rule they exercise,
whatever authority they possess, ultimately they are subject to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is supreme over all things. I suggested to you there are
three observations, not only in our consideration of the beloved
son’s nature, the beloved son’s position in creation, the beloved
son’s accomplishment by creation, and thirdly, the beloved son’s
relationship to creation. Now, you may have noticed, as we delved into that second
point, we passed by two little words in our consideration of
Paul’s word picture. I couldn’t help but mention it
several times. He’s talking about the extent
of Christ’s creation, and if you would glance down at verse
16 once again, there, what Paul does is actually color his picture
of the Savior with three little prepositional phrases. All things
were created in him. And then again at the end of
the verse, all things have been created through him and for him. If this run on prepositional
phrases sounds familiar, it should, because Paul is using nearly
the same identical string that he uses in Romans chapter 11.
There, he’s speaking of God’s sovereignty, God the Father’s
sovereignty over creation. Romans 11, 36, just listen. Paul says, from him and through
him and to him are all things. Nobody can put God in any kind
of an obligation because He’s the one that gives it all. What
is ultimately said of the Father there in Romans 11 is said here
of the Son as well. All things were created by Him
and through Him and for Him. Let’s glance at each of those
just briefly. First, that in him all things
were created. Paul simply says that Christ
was the sphere, the realm in which everything was created.
And that’s a difficult concept for us to grasp. I was talking
with a friend this week about the idea of baptism, that we
are literally placed into Christ. We are immersed into Christ.
So this is a difficult concept to grasp, but Paul speaks of
Christ as being a spiritual realm in which the created order came
to be. This is sure proof of Christ’s
eternal existence. Because before there was a single
created thing, there was Christ. And part of creation, all of
creation, rather, came into existence in him. But Paul adds a second little
prepositional phrase, through him. He tells us here in this
little phrase that Jesus was the means of creation. Creation
was made not only in him, but through him. And this too is
an echo of the thought that recurs repeatedly in scripture. This
isn’t the only time that Paul proclaimed this truth. In 1 Corinthians
8, 6, Paul says that there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom
are all things. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is the
agent, if you will, the means, the conduit of creation. God operating through him. This tells us not only of Jesus
Christ’s eternal existence with the Father, but it also tells
us of the Father’s supremacy in creation. You see, the Father
was acting in creation as well, but he was doing so through the
Son. The author of Hebrews declares
this same truth. Hebrews 1-2, just listen. In
these last days, He has spoken to us in His Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also
He made the world. The Apostle John also declares
this truth, as we saw in that passage, John 1, 3. He says that all things came
into being through Him. And then he repeats the same
thing just a few verses later in John 1 10. He was in the world
and the world was made through him and the world did not know
him. Beginning to speak of Christ’s
rejection there by his people. But there’s a third prepositional
phrase and we’ll close with this. Third prepositional phrase, not
only by him and through him, But look at this, the very end
of verse 16, for Him or to Him are all things. Not only is it
that all things were created in Him, in Christ, all things
were created through Him, through Christ, but also that all things
were created for Him. They were created for Him. the
Lord Jesus Christ. And in this, Paul tells us that
Jesus Christ is the final end, the final goal, the ultimate
aim of all creation. He’s not a bystander watching
the world unfold before him. He is the end. Everything is ultimately made
for him. In the book of Revelation, John
quotes Jesus himself as presenting himself as the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the end. Those two Greek letters
represent, as you may know, the beginning of the Greek alphabet
and the end. Just as Jesus is the co-creator
of the universe, the beginning, he is also the end, the Omega. All creation was made for Him. Now I ask you this morning, if
Jesus Christ is the firstborn of all creation, and I believe He is, if Jesus
Christ created all things, heavens and earth, visible, invisible,
thrones, dominions, rulers, authority. If Jesus Christ created all things, if all things were created by
him and through him and for him, then he is in absolute control
of this world that he’s created. And as his child, you can go
to him. You can go to him with your confession,
You’re not surprising him. You’re not informing him of anything.
You’re just acknowledging that what you’re uttering before him,
you concur with his evaluation of your behavior. You can go
to him with your confession. You can go to him with your faith.
That’s his desire. He wants you to trust him. He
wants you to walk with him. You can go to him with your faith.
You can go to him with your thoughts. Some to be confessed and some
to be communicated to Him as your plans, your desires. You
can go to Him with your needs, whatever they are, physical,
spiritual. You can go to Him with your hurts
and fears. If Jesus Christ is the firstborn
of creation, if Jesus Christ created all things, if all things
were created by Him and through Him and for Him, then you can
go to him. Let’s go to him.