In the person of Jesus Christ the unknowable God becomes known

The Supremacy of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is the supreme Sovereign of the universe.

Colossians 1:15-20 gives seven reasons why Christ is preeminent. These verses are at the heart of the epistle’s main emphasis on the exaltation and preeminence of Christ.

Jesus Christ “is the image of the invisible God” (v. 15). Jesus is supreme because of His relationship with God the Father. He is the perfect resemblance and representation of God. God is invisible and unknown except by self-revelation. In the person of Jesus Christ the unknowable God becomes known.. The very nature and being of God have been perfectly revealed in Christ. Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Everyone who saw Christ, the visible manifestation of the invisible God, has thereby "seen" God indirectly. The apostle John who saw Jesus face to face wrote, “No one has ever seen God, but God the only Son . . . has made Him known” (v. 18). Jesus Christ is the perfect visible representation and manifestation of the “invisible” God (1 Tim. 1:17). Jesus is the perfect image, likeness and glory of His Father. He is “the exact representation” of the Father’s being (Heb. 1:3). The Son is in the “exact likeness” of His Father.

Jesus is supreme over all things because He is “the firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15). He preceded the whole creation, and He is Sovereign over all His creation. As Creator He has dignity, supremacy, sovereign power over it. As “firstborn” Jesus is the Messiah-God (Ps. 89:27-29). Jesus Christ was not created, but is the Creator who is Sovereign over all His creation.

Jesus is supreme because “in Him all things were created” (Col. 1:16-17). “All things were created by Him,” and “for Him,” and “in Him they all hold together.” Not only is He the final Cause of creation, but also the conserving Cause that keeps it together. Everything in the universe continues to exist because of Him (Jn. 1:3; Heb. 1:2; Rev. 3:14). Nothing is to be excluded in His supremacy in creation. Christ reigns supreme over all creation, visible and invisible, material and spiritual (Eph. 1:21; 3:10; 6:12; Phil. 2:9-10; Col. 2:10, 15; Rom. 8:38-39).

Jesus Christ is supreme because He is head of His church (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23). Paul has in mind the invisible body of Christ into which every believer was baptized by the Holy Spirit when he believed in Christ as his Savior (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 2:15; 3:4-5; Col. 1:26).

Jesus is supreme because He is “the firstborn from among the dead” (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5). Christ rose from the dead never to die again (1 Cor. 15:20). His resurrection marked His triumph and supremacy over death forever. Jesus “was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). He lives for all eternity “on the basis of the power of an indestructible life” (Heb. 7:16). Because He lives He is given preeminence and supremacy over all creation. He is exalted over all creation by God the Father “to the highest place” and has been given “the name that is above every name . . . to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11). There is no name like the name of Jesus. He is the Sovereign God of all because He rose from the dead.

Moreover, He is supreme because “all the fullness dwells in Him” (Col. 1:19). “All the fullness of the Father pleased to dwell in Him.” In Christ Jesus God in all His fullness was pleased to take up His bode. The Divine nature in all its fullness dwells in Christ. Phillips translates, “It was in Him that the full nature of God chose to live.” Another way of saying it is, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (2:9). “Fullness” means “completeness.” Paul says the full and complete deity dwells, abides permanently, and supremely in Jesus Christ. He is the absolute and perfect God.

Jesus Christ is also supreme because we have peace with God through His blood (Col. 1:19-23). He has reconciled “all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (v. 20). Jesus is supreme because He is the Reconciler. Through Him God reconciles sinful man to Himself. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:10). We have received reconciliation through Jesus Christ. Peace has been made through His blood. We were alienated, strangers, cut off from God, and the blood of Jesus has reconciled us to the Father. Our reconciliation is appropriated through faith in Christ. God is not reconciled to us; we are reconciled to Him by Jesus Christ.

Such preeminence and supreme exaltation of Jesus Christ should cause us to spontaneously break forth in praise, adoration and worship of our great Savior from now throughout eternity.

Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

(c) 2006 Message by Wil Pounds. Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author's written consent.

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