To remind believers of the supreme and sovereign Lordship of Jesus Christ, the church has always had hymns and anthems that worship Jesus as Lord and God. Here are a few examples: “All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all!” “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise; the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.” “Crown Him King of kings, crown Him Lord of lords, Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, Emmanuel God is with us and He shall reign forever more.” “Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne. Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own. Awake my soul and sing of Him who died for thee and hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity.” “We will glorify the King of kings; we will glorify the Lamb. We will glorify the Lord of lords who is the great I Am.” “His Name is Wonderful, His Name is Wonderful, His Name is Wonderful, Jesus my Lord. He’s the Great Shepherd, the Rock of all ages; Almighty God is He.”
In this doctrinal teaching about the Lord Jesus, the church has followed the example of the Apostle Paul who included the early hymn about the Lord in Colossians 1:15-19. It is even possible that Paul wrote this hymn or creed and taught it to new Christians as he established new churches during his missionary journeys. Christians then and now must be taught the vital truth that Jesus Christ is God. True believers have always been compelled to recognize that the Bible is predominantly the book about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament records the preparation for His coming. The four gospels describe Him as God who has come in human flesh, that is, in a physical human body, while at the same time remaining completely God, in order to save sinners. In the book of Acts, the message of salvation in Christ began to be spread throughout the world. The epistles give details of the theology of the work of the Lord Jesus and the representation of Christ in His Body, the church. The book of Revelation presents Jesus on His throne, ruling and reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords.
That every part of Scripture witnesses about Jesus Christ is affirmed in the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke’s gospel. With His disciples surrounding the resurrected Jesus, He pointed them to the Bible and “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). In our day, our Lord’s disciples should be reminded that Jesus is Lord and God, with all of the characteristics and attributes of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Since Jesus Christ is the eternal God, who created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, we must remember that we are commanded to obey Him and surrender to His leading in our lives. Even now, the Lord Jesus is preparing to return and when He does, He will rule as Lord and God over all the earth.
The present passage starts at verse fifteen and continues through verse twenty-three and can be divided into two main parts: the supremacy of Jesus Christ in verses fifteen through nineteen and His matchless work of redemption and reconciliation in verses twenty through twenty-three. These verses list six aspects of the Lord Jesus’ attributes and works: Jesus Christ is; 1) the image of the invisible God; 2) the firstborn of all creation; 3) the Creator of all things both in the heavens and on earth; visible and invisible; 4) the firstborn from the dead; 5) the preeminent One who has the Father’s fullness dwelling in Him; and 6) the designer and provider of divine reconciliation. Today we will discover the absolute and total supremacy of Jesus Christ by looking at His relation to His own deity, His relation to the universe, and His relation to the church. We begin with the supremacy of Jesus in relation to His deity.
THE SUPREMACY OF JESUS IN RELATION TO HIS DEITY. Colossians 1:15
Jesus Is God. First, let us examine the context. Beginning in verse three, Paul explained to the Christians of this church that he had been praying for them and then he gives them His specific requests, one being that they be filled with the knowledge of God’s will with all wisdom and understanding. He then turned their attention from their local church to what Jesus Christ had done for them, especially recognizing that in Jesus we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. In so doing, he called Jesus God’s beloved Son. Having now focused their attention on the Lord Jesus Christ, he now leads them to a more complete understanding of who He is and he does so by inserting these truths in the form of a creed or hymn that was well known in the church’s early days.
If you will look carefully at these verses, you will notice that there are a number of pronouns used–words like “He” and “Him.” How can we be sure that these pronouns are speaking about Jesus? These pronouns take their source from the closest noun in the preceding context. Paul called Jesus “His beloved Son.” Having written “Son” he then identifies Jesus “the Son” as the subject of the following verses by using the prepositional phrase, “in whom.” Everything that follows down through verse twenty-three is about Jesus. Two words are used to speak of Jesus’ deity in verse fifteen, “image” and “firstborn.” Both words are vital to understanding who Jesus really is.
Jesus Is the Image of the Invisible God. “Image” is used often in the Bible. In both original languages it means exact likeness and representation. You will remember that God created Adam and Eve in His image. While created in God’s image, when the first human being sinned and fell from God’s glory, the image God created in them was marred and corrupted. Before they sinned and fell, Adam and Eve were innocent, free from sin, and incapable of dying. They forfeited these qualities when they sinned by choosing to obey Satan rather than their Creator God. As time went on, the human race deepened their sinfulness and strayed further from God’s image. However, when someone puts their faith in Jesus Christ, that man or woman is promised that the image of God will be restored in him or her. God will make true believers sinless like Jesus when they are glorified in His presence in heaven.
Unlike human beings, Jesus Christ is now, always has been, and always will be the perfect, absolutely accurate image of God. Because of our sin, we cannot see God, but since Jesus is God, He is God’s image and when we see Him, we see God. John said, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
Anyone who saw Christ, the visible manifestation of the invisible God, has thereby “seen” God the Father indirectly. For “no one has ever seen God, but God the only Son has made Him known” (John 1:18). Paul wrote of the “invisible”; God (1 Timothy 1:17), but Christ is the perfect visible representation and manifestation of God. Image means the very substance or essential embodiment of something or someone. So, Christ’s supremacy is first shown in His relationship with God the Father. Christ is the perfect resemblance and representation of God. Jesus did not become the image of God at His incarnation, but has been from all eternity.
Jesus the Firstborn of All Creation. In the original language, “firstborn” is a title of position or rank and it is a title of honor as in being the most favored. This is the highest rank creation holds and it belongs to Jesus. In the Old Testament, Esau was born first, but his twin brother, Jacob, was given the birthright of being the firstborn. It was an honor given by their father. Solomon was not the son born first, but David made him the firstborn and heir to the throne of Israel.
Israel was certainly not the oldest nation on earth, but God honored Israel by making that nation His firstborn. In Exodus 4:22 we read, “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, Israel is My son, My firstborn.” This was God’s choice, giving Israel the honor of the first rank among the nations. In Psalm 89, the Messiah is designated as God’s firstborn, “He will cry to Me, “You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.” “I also shall make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” (Psalm 89:26-27). Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Divine Trinity was given the title of God’s firstborn. “Firstborn” indicates two things of Christ: He preceded the whole Creation, and He is Sovereign over all Creation. In Revelation 1:17, Jesus declared Himself to be “the First.” Here He used a word that means “absolutely first.” “Firstborn” also means sovereignty. So, firstborn declares both Christ’s priority to all Creation (in time) and His sovereignty over all Creation (in rank).
THE SUPREMACY OF JESUS IN RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE. Colossians 1:16-17
Jesus Created All Things. We need to keep in mind that the early church recognized the supreme authority of Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote these words about thirty years after Jesus had suffered the shameful and gruesome death on the cross. The teaching of Jesus’ supremacy did not come from the Reformation or some time later, but was the original teaching of the apostles. They contended that the Jesus who was beaten so badly that he was indistinguishable as a man, whose head bore a crown of thorns and who died on the cross was, in fact, the great God and Creator of all things. His pre-eminence in creation, redemption, and exaltation above every creature was being clearly proclaimed by the Apostle Paul and all the rest of the apostles.
Jesus Christ is Lord over all creation because He made it. All creation shows the wonder of His design. In addition to the entire material universe, the Lord Jesus created all of the laws of nature, which modern science endeavors to understand and apply. The father of modern physics wrote, “According to everything taught by the exact sciences about the immense realm of nature, a certain order prevails–one independent of the human mind. This order can be formulated in terms of purposeful activity. There is evidence of an intelligent order of the universe to which both man and nature are subservient.”
Jesus created all things in the heavens and on earth, which, stated together like this, means the entire universe. The universe stretches out beyond human comprehension and it is also beyond our comprehension that the Lord Jesus created all of it and is the Sovereign Lord over all of it. He is the Creator of all we can see and all we cannot see. Today’s space telescopes enable us to see galaxies never before seen and we know Jesus made them all. Microscopes take us to a world of the incredibly small and we know Jesus created the micro-world as well. There are forces we can measure and we know there are forces in the universe that we have not yet discovered, but we know Jesus created all of them and reigns and controls all of them.
Jesus Is the Supreme Authority. The Lord Jesus created thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities. These are realms of authority that exist throughout the universe. In our world, there are authorities and rulers who exert power, but all of these are under the control of the Lord Jesus who is the ultimate and supreme authority. The New Testament bears witness that everyone from the local law enforcement officer to the most powerful government leader is under the authority of Jesus the King.
There are realms that are not visible to the human eye. In the spiritual world, Jesus reigns supreme. Among the myriads of righteous angelic beings there is only One supreme authority and that One is Jesus. Satan rules over the dark sphere of demons and evil spirits and yet everyone of them is under the authority of Jesus Christ and all must obey Him. He is in control. All things were created through Him and they were created for His glory. He is the end for which all things exist, the goal toward Whom all things were intended to move. All things are designed to serve His will.
Jesus Holds All Things Together. Jesus is before all things, which means He existed before anything was created. He is the Everlasting God who has always existed and Who always will exist. He is the eternal first cause of everything that was created. All things hold together through Him. All things hold together because Jesus is both the unifying principle and the personal sustainer of all creation. His sovereign power makes the universe a cosmos instead of a chaos. He alone brings order rather than confusion. He gives purpose and direction to all things.
THE SUPREMACY OF JESUS IN RELATION TO THE CHURCH. Colossians 1:18-19
Jesus is the Head of the Body, the Church. Paul has shown that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Supreme Sovereign over the universe. But Jesus is also responsible for the new creation of which He also reigns as Lord of lords, and that is His church. For Jesus to be the “head” of the church is to be its Chief, its Leader, and its Ruler who guides and governs it. As the Head, Jesus controls every part and gives life and direction. His life is lived out through all the members and He provides unity. He energizes and coordinates the diversity of the body. He makes the church a living organism composed of members vitally joined to one another. The church is the means by which Jesus carries out His purposes and performs His work.
He is the firstborn from the dead. Of all those raised from the dead, Christ will always be the first in rank and importance. His resurrection guarantees all of those who believe in Him will also be raised from the dead.
Jesus Has First Place in Everything. All these lead us to understand that Jesus Christ is given first place over all Creation. He is preeminent. The same eternal Word who became flesh and humbled Himself is now exalted by God the Father. As we learn in Philippians 2:6-11, “Although He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
All the Fullness of God Dwells in Jesus. The exalted Christ is described by the reality that all God’s fullness dwells in Him. This verse is one of the most powerful descriptions of Christ’s deity in the New Testament. Fullness is a key word in Colossians, is used in 1:19 and 2:9. The noun means “completeness.” This full and complete Deity is said to “dwell” or “abide lastingly or permanently” in Christ. It also expresses the totality of Divine powers and attributes. The profound testimony of God’s Word is that the Lord Jesus Christ is fully and completely God in every respect. He always has been and He always will be. Peter called Him “Our God and Savior” (2 Peter 1:1). Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus is Lord!
I would like to call one more witness to the stand. I am sure you remember that after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to ten of His disciples the very night He rose from the dead. The ten rejoiced when they saw the Lord. But one was absent. The absentee was Thomas, who was elsewhere that night. The others tried to convince him of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but he refused to believe. His natural skepticism clouded his thinking and he imagined the others were wrong.
A week later all eleven were together when once again Jesus, the risen Lord, appeared with them. Jesus invited Thomas to touch the scars left by His sacrificial death. Thomas’ reaction is significant. Upon seeing the scars of the nails, Thomas believed saying, “My Lord and my God.” Thomas gives us clear testimony that Jesus is God.
Jesus is God and the One and Only Savior. Only He can forgive your sins and save your soul. If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord, will you do that today?
