Colossians: The Christ of Our God

There is one thing about God that is disturbing for nearly everyone, and that is that he is invisible-- meaning that he is without form that we can perceive, but in Christ he is given the form of a man. God the Father is invisible, but Jesus Christ reveals Him to us in visible form.

This is also evident in John 1:18,"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only (Son), who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known". God the Father is invisible, but we can learn about some of His qualities and attributes by studying His handiwork in the creation. I guess this is why I am a geologist, because God designed it to be this way. "For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made," Romans 1:20.  We cannot see God the Father with our eyes, but His presence is just as real and as certain as my presence here or yours.

Fully God Fully Man

In becoming a man, however, Jesus did not discard His divinity, His divine identity.  Jesus is the image of the invisible God. It means that He is the exact representative or manifestation of the invisible God.  He is the invisible God made visible for our sake.  No one has seen God at any time, but God the Son has made Him known to us. This is evident in 1:19 and 2:9, verifying that God was both fully God and fully man. Jesus is not just the Son of God, He is God the Son, and all the fullness of God dwells in Him.  Everything that is true of God is true of Christ.  Every attribute of God is present in Christ.  Every characteristic of Almighty God is found in Christ, who is Himself God Almighty. 

The Creator and Sustainer

Christ is the author of all creation; there is nothing that he himself did not create. It's easy to be confused about that term “firstborn,” because it sounds as though Jesus was the first thing created by God, and then He created all the others. The term firstborn is a term that was used to denote the heir; he owns the universe. There is something unique about Christ, he not only created all things, but he also sustains all things as well. It is by Christ that all things are held together and how they were created (1:16-17).

The Head 

Jesus is also the head of the church being the head of the body. I love how Paul uses analogies to help make it  easier to understand our Lord. I believe he does this just as Christ used parables to teach, so those who can hear will listen and understand. He said that just as the body has many different bodily parts, so the church has many different people and all of us have our own function to fulfill as God has gifted us. We can see this in so many ways, but the way I like to look at it is that Christ is the brain. He’s the controlling force; he directs all the parts of the body as He sees fit. The sin in our lives is much like a bodily infection that wants to take over the brain. Just as the brain sends out signals to parts of our body, Christ sends us conviction and spurs our hearts by the Holy Spirit, yet we still act often times in disobedience.

I would just like to end by one thing I have learned from Colossians. When I struggle with sin, I look at the preeminence of Christ, and ask myself," What am I not believing about Jesus and what am I believing when I am sinning?" If he is our Christ, who is our life, the Name above All Names, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Lover of our souls and the Redeemer of our Lives, then in all things, He must have the supremacy. Jesus is the answer to my problems.