The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
Colossians 1:15-16 NIVUK
Before Covid-19, we loved to travel. We will once more, as soon as the virus calms down. But the prospect of sitting in a sealed metal tube, travelling at four hundred and fifty miles an hour, at a height of thirty five thousand feet, with either anti-vaxxers or people who think a mask is some form of a muzzle does not appeal to me. Even worse if we'd have to stay there for hours on end.
Instead, I have to enjoy myself watching old travel shows of places we haven't been to yet: Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, The Maldives, Machu Pichu, the Bolivian Salt Flats, the Masai Mara Nature Reserve and other such places. When I see them in pictures or on TV, I get an idea of what they are like.
What we see in these verses about Jesus as our Creator is similar to that, but so, so much more.
Firstly, we see that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The work in Greek here for 'image' is 'eikon', from which we get our English word icon (I'm sure you will have figured that one out!). What this doesn't mean is that Jesus is a picture of God. As the commentator David Guzik points out, a different Greek word could have been used if this was the case. Neither does it mean that Jesus looked like God, in the same way a child resembles their parents.
No, this is way more than that. This means that Jesus is the physical manifestation of God on earth. He is God incarnate. As John points out poetically:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 NIVUK
And as Jesus Himself told His disciples:
Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’ Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’ Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”?
John 14:6-9 NIVUK
What Jesus is saying here, what John said and what Paul said in Colossians 1 are all the same thing: Jesus is God. He is God in human form. He is God on earth. There cannot be and is no mistaking it. Jesus is who He claimed to be. He is God.
Our verses in Colossians 1 go on to say that He is the firstborn over all creation. What can this mean? He clearly wasn't born in Eden!
We think of conception as being the time when something that was not becomes someone who is, and birth is when this person that was conceived is revealed. So if Jesus is God, there cannot be any time when He was not. So how can He be born, let alone firstborn?
This is when we tread the pathways of the Divine. Firstly, we need to be careful of our understanding of how the Bible uses the word 'firstborn'. In a patriarchal society, the firstborn son took over the estate when the father died. In this way, he was supreme over his brothers and sisters. So the word 'firstborn' is not just about the order in time when people were born. It also carries the idea of supremacy, of being higher in rank.
And the idea that Jesus existed before He was born to Mary as a baby? That is a profound mystery. What we do know is that by some incredible miracle, as Gabriel told Mary:
The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Luke 1:35 NIVUK
And that should be enough for us.
Why?
Because of what Colossians 1 says next:
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
Colossians 1:16 NIVUK
Paul explicitly mentions heaven and earth and things visible and invisible because he has three things directly in his sights. Firstly, the Greek myths of creation and gods and demigods. Secondly, the Jewish Phariseical obsession with angels and demons and spiritual powers. Thirdly, the Sadducees' and gnostics' denial of their very existence. Paul says that they exist and that Jesus created them.
In fact, he uses three prepositions to describe what happened at their creation. He says that all things were created in Him, through Him and for Him. In Him because they were initiated in His creative mind. Through Him because He was instrumental in their creation - He did it. For Him because they are created to serve Him, for His purposes and glory.
John agrees with this:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:1-3 NIVUK
‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’
Revelation 4:11 NIVUK
Maybe the idea that Jesus created the world for His purposes and for His glory sits uneasy with us. But if it does, then this is nonsense. How many of us have walked through and art gallery and marvelled at great paintings by great artists? How many of us have praised them for their incredible work? How many of us have read brochures and books where art experts have tried to understand the meaning of the artwork, why the artist created it, what they were trying to say?
So why do we find it so hard to grasp that Jesus created the world for His purpose and His glory?
Those who deny that there is an intelligence and an inherent creativity behind creation consign themselves to a lifetime without meaning, purpose or direction. Those who believe it was someone else other than Jesus who created the world deprive themselves of His meaning, His purpose, His direction.
Because the reality is that those who believe that Jesus created the world are to be envied by those who do not. They believe that they are not here by chance - they are individually and uniquely created and designed by a loving God who does not mistakes. This gives them far greater dignity than any other human being. They believe that their life has meaning and purpose - to join in the chorus of all of creation in bringing glory to their Creator.
In short, those who believe in Jesus as their Creator have the answers to the great existential questions that drive others to despair and disillusionment. Our world is sick. They have the cure.
If you believe this, maybe its time you realised the full joyous implications of what you believe. If you don't, maybe it's time you believed.
But Jesus is not just the Creator. The Bible also teaches us that JESUS IS THE SUSTAINER:
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