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“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ.” – Colossians 1:15-19.
If you asked people worldwide who Jesus is, you would probably get a variety of answers. Some may say He is a great teacher, while others would point out He is the founder of a major religion. Still, others may refer to Him as a healer or miracle worker, while some may simply describe Him as a great man. Each of these describes Jesus accurately. But each falls short — very far short — of who He really is.
Colossians 1:15-19 contains the grandest theological statement about Jesus Christ in the whole New Testament. Paul is telling us that Christ is God revealed in the world. There is nobody above Jesus. Nobody ranks higher than Him. He is supreme. When it comes to God, Jesus shows us what God is like. It tells us He is the visible revelation of the invisible God. Hebrews 1:3 tells us He “…radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God,” Paul is telling the Colossians in the first three chapters of Colossians: “Please don’t let anybody make you think that you need Christ plus some other angels plus some additional heavy theological knowledge plus some other teachings. All you need is Christ. That’s all you need.”
If you want to know what God’s like, look at Christ. He’ll tell you what God is like. If God were man, we would expect Him to be sinless. Jesus was. If God were a man, we would expect Him to speak the most incredible words ever. He did. If God were a man, we would expect that He would do miracles easily, and He did. If God were a man, we would expect Him to love, and He did.
This is the very heartbeat of Christianity. This is the very essence of all we believe, the foundation of our faith. When you settle in your mind and in your heart who Jesus is—that He is the Lord, the Savior, the Christ, the Redeemer, and the King, and that He is all these things because He is the Son of God—then you have laid the foundation of faith on which everything else will rest.
We need to see Jesus in all of His glory constantly. We need never to stop being amazed or in awe of who He is and what He’s done for for each of us. Or in the words of Peter, “…you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…” (2 Peter 3:18)
Discussion Questions:
- Jesus is God’s Son and reveals God to us. Would you put that first in your list of fundamental beliefs surrounding Christianity? If not why not?
- How do we hang on to that truth each week?