Who Is This Jesus?
BY JAMES BEDDOWS
For those OF US who call ourselves Christians, I think there is no more significant question that can be asked than this: "Who is Jesus? Who is this Jesus that we say we trust and want to follow?" Well, there is a passage of scripture in Colossians Chapter One where God gives us a concise answer to this question.Colossians 1:15-22 The church in Colosse was under attack from false teachers. Some of them were saying that Jesus was not God, that he was an angel, just a created being. Paul will not tolerate anyone detracting from the glory and the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, out of love and care for the well-being of the Colossians and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he launches into this important section of the word of God.
The Image of God
He begins by saying in verse 15, "Jesus is the image of the invisible God."God is invisible. In His essential being, God is spirit. He does not have a body like man. In I Timothy, Paul describes Him as "the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God" (1:17) and as having "immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (6:16).
Nevertheless, one can get to know what God is like by knowing Jesus, because He is the image of the invisible God. This word "image" does not mean resemblance; it is talking about an exact likeness. The Lord Jesus Christ corresponds exactly in essence to the invisible God.
Consider for the moment the doctrine of the Trinity. There is only one God, but He exists in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is beyond our understanding, but it's a doctrine essential to Biblical Christianity. When we say I believe in God, we are making a Trinitarian confession: I believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
In the light of that doctrine, Paul is categorically declaring here that Christ is the Second Person of the Trinity. He is God in human flesh. A perfect commentary of this statement is given by the Lord Jesus Himself in John 14:9. There, He declares: "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." In other words, "Look at me, and you are looking at God."
So, who is this Jesus? He is the One who bears the very stamp of God's nature, He is the expressed image of God's person. He is the final and complete revelation of God.
The Firstborn
Paul goes on to identify Jesus Christ in verse 15 as: "the firstborn of every creature." Here we have a statement that heretics have used for centuries to deny the deity of Christ. They would turn to this verse and say, "Jesus cannot be God because if he is the firstborn of all creation, then he is obviously a created being." Oh, how desperately these people need to be saved!The expression "firstborn of every creature" does not in any way mean that He is a created being. First of all, in the original language Paul uses a Greek word that means firstborn, which is altogether different from another word that means first created.
Next, in John 1:18 Jesus is said to be "the only begotten Son". The word "only" refers to that which is absolutely unique. If Colossians 1:15 teaches that Jesus is the first created being, then we have a problem harmonizing it with what John 1:18 is saying, because Christ cannot be both only begotten and first begotten. First begotten quite naturally means that there's more to come; whereas only begotten means there's no more to come.
Moreoever, we have to think of the broader context. Why was Paul writing to the Colossians to begin with? He was writing to them because the heretics there were going around saying that Jesus is just an angel, a created being. If Paul were saying the same thing with the word firstborn, then Paul would be a heretic. The fact, however, is that everything Paul teaches in Colossians 1:15-22 is affirming that the Lord Jesus Christ is Eternal God the Son.
What then does this word "firstborn" mean? It certainly can mean first to be born. In Hebrews 11:28, God uses the same word when He speaks of the firstborn of Israel being spared from destruction along with those of the Egyptians just before the Exodus. But in this context, it means above all else, first in rank, absolutely supreme sovereign being. The new English Bible puts it well when it says: Jesus Christ is the primacy over all created things.
The Creator and Sustainer
In verses 16 and 17, Paul writes, "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things..."Using the word "invisible" and all those other nouns that follow, Paul is effectively saying that the Lord Jesus, instead of being an angel, is in fact the Creator of all angelic beings. And in saying that He is before all things, Paul reveals that when the universe came into existence, Christ had already existed. He is eternal.
On one occasion during His earthly ministry, Jesus was addressed by the hostile Jews, the religious people of the day, about Abraham. He said this, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad" (John 8;56). These hostile Jews looked at Him and said, "You're not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" And here's what He said to them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." Jesus didn't say, "Before Abraham was, I was." He said, "Before Abraham was, I am." In other words, "I am the Eternal God in human flesh."
So, here in verse 17, Paul is simply saying that Jesus is the Eternal God. Yes, Paul is really repeating himself. Time and time again, he is saying the same thing about Jesus. But he's not concerned about that. His only concern is that people would understand who this Jesus isthe Eternal God entering into time and space as a human being.
The sustainer. In the second half of verse 17, Paul says, "and by him all things consist." If you go to the New International Version, it says, "in him all things hold together."
Here, Paul wants us to understand that Jesus Christ did not just create the creation, he has been sustaining all that He has created as well.
Why is it that there is order in creation and not disorder? Why is it that there is cohesion and not confusion or chaos? Scientists might say, "Well, there are certain natural laws and rules." But who put those laws and principles into place? The Almighty God, of course.
When we cross a bridge over a busy highway, why doesn't that bridge disintegrate so that we fall onto the speeding cars underneath it? It's because Jesus Christ is sustaining all things. Second by second by second, everything is what it is because Jesus keeps it that way.
Hebrews 1:3 teaches exactly the same truth when it says that Jesus is "upholding all things by the word of his power". This helps us better understand why our Lord says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Jesus is the word of God that sustains all things.
The Head of the church
We next read in verse 18, "And he is the head of the body, the church." Notice first that Paul uses the body to portray the church. He is reminding us that the church is not just an organization; it is an organism.The church certainly is an entity that is organized, but it is much more than that. It's an organism. What's an organism? This is how the dictionary defines it: An organism is a body composed of different organs or parts performing special functions that are mutually dependent and essential to life. In short, an organism is some
thing that is living.So, Paul reminds us here that the church is something that is alive. When Paul speaks of the church, he speaks of the true church, the fellowship of all true believers. The true church doesn't consist of everyone that attends church, nor everyone who is a member of the church. No, the true church consists only of those who have repented of their sin and have trusted in Jesus Christ for their salvation.
But Paul's focus here is not on the church, but on the person of Christ, because he's answering the question Who is this Jesus? And so he says: This Jesus is the one who is the head of the church. When Paul says that, he is saying at least two things:
First, Jesus is the ruling, governing head of the body. Think of the manner of our services as God's people. Have you been serving the Lord with diligence and with enthusiasm and with passion? Or are you someone who says, "Oh God, thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, the king of the church, through which I have been serving in any which way I please"?
As we think of Christ as the head of the church, moreover, we've got to appreciate how the Lord Jesus wants us to live. In I Peter 1:16, He says, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." As the leader, He wants us to strive in the power of the Holy Spirit to become more and more like Him in all aspects of our life.
In verse 18, after the word "church" we find the expression: "who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."
This is a further comment concerning Christ's relationship to the church. Paul wants us to see here that besides being the ruler of the body, Jesus is the beginning of the church. The statement "firstborn from among the dead" points to the resurrection. He wants us to understand that the resurrected Lord of glory is the source of the life of the people of God. Hence, He is preeminent. He is the preeminent Lord. We don't make Him that. He is that.
The Reconciler
In verses 19 to 22, Paul concludes:For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.We see here that it was in His pleasure and for no other reasons that God reconciled all things unto Himself.This reconciliation is necessary because, for one thing, creation is alienated from God. When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, God told him, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake." The harmony that existed between creation and the Creator was gone. Thus, we read in Romans 8 that even creation is waiting in eager expectation for deliverance from its bondage to decay.
More important, man is not at peace with God. By nature, we are alienated from God. Born a sinner, man hates God because this holy God
keeps on exposing his wicked works. And so he is an enemy of God.Finally, reconciliation is needed because God is not at peace with man. This comes as a withering shock to many today, because all people want to think about is God's love. But the word of God teaches that God hates sinners. For example, we read in the Book of Psalms, "The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity" (5:5) and "God is angry with the wicked every day (7:11).
In the New Testament, God declares in Ephesians 2:3 that before we became saved, we were "by nature the children of wrath"that is, the children on whom the wrath of God rests.
Means of reconciliation. It was through the Lord Jesus that God made peace with all things. Because God's righteous wrath rests upon guilty sinners, and because God has declared in Hebrews 9:22 that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, somebody had to die for guilty sinners to be forgiven. Otherwise, they will be eternally condemned. And that somebody had to be someone who is qualified to die for guilty sinners.
And this is where the Lord Jesus came in. Being God in human flesh, He was able to make peace by shedding His blood on the cross. Moreover, He was qualified because in Him and in Him alone dwell all the divine essence, all the power and attributes of God. Through His death and resurrection, as a result, Christ is able to present us holy and unblameable and unreproveable in God's sight. As God the Father looks at us Christians today, He views us as those who are clothed with the perfect righteousness of His Son.
Conclusion. In closing, let me ask you: Is this the Jesus that you know? May it be so, because if all you can look to is your religion, your church attendance, your service done under the name of God and say, ìOh, Iím going to get to heaven,î then youíre wrong!
You need to know Jesus as the Eternal God that created the universe and has since been sustaining it. You need to understand deep in your heart that He is the Son of God who died for your sins, thereby reconciling you with God the Father. And you must let Him be the preeminent Lord of your life. Time is running out. Seek Him today while it is still the day of salvation. o
Rev. James Beddows is pastor of Candlewood Baptist Church, 52 Stadley Rough Road, Danbury, CT 06811.