The Divine Credentials
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2024 · 22 December 2024
I want to talk about Immanuel, “God with us” - Who is this child? The announcement to Joseph was that this child would be named Jesus, for He would save His people from their sins; and that His name would be Immanuel, which in Hebrew means “God with us.” God came down to save His people from their sins. I want us to think about the reality of who Christ is today.
Let us to turn to the words of Paul in Colossians 1. Here the Holy Spirit pulls together a portrait of Christ to identify Him. In fact, this passage identifies Him with regard to His relationship to God, to the world, to angels, to the church, and to all people. Verse 15-18 says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him,”
In heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.”
This is really a stunning summary of statements that give us an accurate portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s begin with verse 15, “He is the image of the invisible God.” Now we know in Genesis 1:26 -27, the Bible says that God created man, God made man in His own image, according to His own likeness. We were created on the sixth day in the image of God, according to God’s likeness.
No other creature was made in God’s image. Man alone can reason. Man alone can think abstractly. Man alone comprehends morality. Man understands beauty. Man possesses emotion. Man expresses will. Man understands artistry, creativity, craftsmanship. Man has a complex language, a language far beyond any form of communication by any other creatures. Man experiences love.
God is a trinity, three-in-one, is a God of relationship, and God created us to have relationships with one another, and even with Himself. That’s the creation of man. But here it doesn’t say God made Jesus in His image; it says He is the image of the invisible God. Man was created in God’s image. Man is not God. Christ is the image of God, and therefore is God. He was not created by God.
There was no question in the minds of His enemies that He claimed to be God; and He demonstrated the reality by His words and His works. Look at His deeds, His miracles, His attitude toward sin and righteousness, toward people and their struggles and their problems, toward life, toward death, toward children, toward religion and you see God’s attitude toward all of that.
In verse 15 Christ is identified as “the firstborn over all creation.” Now that’s not chronology, because there were many people born before He was born. And it also does not mean that He was created in the sense that He was not existing, and being created came into existence. He always existed. Hebrews 10:5 says, “A body You have prepared for Me.”
He already existed, God just made a body for Him to be placed into, to come into this world to live, die and rise again. But what does it mean He is the firstborn? “Firstborn” is a word in the Greek that means “the primary one.” Of all the people who have ever been created He is the premier one. That’s what “firstborn” means. The firstborn was the Son who had all the rights.
Christ is the heir of everything God possesses. He is the one who in the future will take the title deed to the universe and will take back the universe, establish His kingdom, and then create a new heaven and a new earth. Looking at His life, He displayed power over nature, over disease, and even over death. He says in Matthew 25 one day He will come back and judge every single human being.
In John 5 He says the Father has committed that judgment to Him. He will discriminate and determine the eternal destiny of every human being. He said, “All authority is given to Me in heaven and earth.” He is God and He claimed to have the power that only God has over everything and everyone. And He gladly received the words of Thomas, “My Lord and my God.”
Verses 16-17 explains His relationship to the world, “For by Him, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth.” And He created it all in six days. Living in the modern world we understand what the universe is, the vastness of infinite space and everything in it. The heavenly bodies: sun, moon and stars. And the complexity of life on the earth in its infinite glory.
Verse 16 says, He has created everything in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, which would include angels and every other invisible reality like personality, intellect, and every other invisible aspect of reality. Now Paul moves from the physical creation to the angelic creation. This is angelic language: thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities.
Verse 17 says, “He’s before all things.” If you’re the Creator you have to be there before the creation. “He is before all things.” That’s why in Revelation 22:13 He says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” That simple statement speaks of Christ as an eternal being. He is the only one who existed before the creation.
The end of verse 17 says, “in Him all things hold together.” This has been the dilemma of scientists for many years. “Everything that exists in material form is made up of atoms.” Physicists know that they should repel each other. “What holds the nucleus together?” They should blow up instantly. What holds them together is the Creator. He holds everything together.
And 2 Peter 3 tells us, that the day is coming when the entire universe will have an atomic implosion. The universal wipeout of the present universe to be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth. Laws of nature are not the laws of nature, they’re the laws of God. There’s only one word to describe the power behind it and that’s God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 18, His relationship to the church. “He is also head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” Christ is the head of the body. The church is simply the organism that responds to His will and His Word. In Him was life, and He is to us life. Christ is the ruling head of His church.
And then it says, “He is the beginning.” It really means “the source” of the church. We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. He gives us life through His Spirit; He regenerates us. There is a church because He gave it life. He continues to give life to everyone in His church. “He is the firstborn from the dead.” Now we know what “firstborn” means.
That looks at His resurrection, because He is of all that have ever risen, the premier one. That gives Him the first place in everything. By His resurrection He showed that He had conquered every enemy: sin and death and hell, all the forces of Satan. There’s nothing in life or death that can hold Him. He is life; He overpowered death. So He is the life-giving source of the church.
Verse 19 says, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.” The Father didn’t make Him God, He was eternally God. This is not talking about His deity. What fullness is He talking about? John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The fullness that is in Christ is the fullness of divine love, all righteousness, all divine forgiveness, adoption, inheritance, sanctification, holiness, wisdom, strength, knowledge, understanding, peace, joy, and comfort, all those spiritual realities are all in Christ. All that any sinner needs is in in Christ. He is all you need. Let us pray.