The First and the Last

“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 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, and by Him all things consist.”  Colossians 1:15-17

God is a Spirit (John 4:24).  Father God does not have a body like you and me, but we were created in His image.  We think of the term “image” as being the way someone looks, but since God is invisible, how can we be made in His image?  God’s image refers to His personality–who He is, what He thinks, how He conducts Himself in relation to humans, His morals, and His freedom to make choices.  He reveals His image to His creation in His word.  He created humans for fellowship with Himself and with each other which reflects His love.  He created humans as righteous and innocent (not sinless) beings with a conscience to tell right from wrong.  He also gave humans the ability to reason and choose.  As we all know, though, humans lost their innocence in the garden of Eden, thus the choice of God to send His Son, Jesus Christ, the perfect image of His Father, to sacrifice His life so that humans could have the opportunity to be redeemed back into a state of innocence, God’s image for mankind as originally intended.  Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, existing before the world was made.  He is also the first to be resurrected from death by His own power to live again in His resurrection body never to die again.

Everything that was created was created by Jesus (John 1:3).  This includes the things of heaven and earth, things that we can see and things not visible to us.  We see the mountains and the trees, but we can’t see the wind that blows through the trees.  We can see other people, but we can’t see into their souls.  He made kings and kingdoms, rulers, authorities, different ranks with commensurate powers.  There was nothing made that He didn’t make, and all that Jesus made, He made for His own use and glory.  Jesus has always existed.  There was nothing before Him and everything came because He brought everything into existence, and everything survives because of His power.

Jesus is the head of the body, the church, which consists of all people who have been born again by repentance of sin and faith in Christ, made available by His sacrifice because of God’s grace, mercy, and love.  As stated before, Jesus is the first to rise again from death never to die again.  Those few whom Jesus brought back to life, Lazarus (John 11:43), Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:41), and the widow’s son (Luke 7:14-15) all died a physical death again.  Our salvation and eternal life hinges on Christ’s resurrection (I Corinthians 15:13-17).  God restored life to Jesus as a sign of approval and satisfaction in Jesus’ sacrifice to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind.  Jesus has the preeminence above everything.  He surpasses all in greatness, holiness, righteousness, love, mercy, honor, and in obedience to His Father.

Everything that God is, love, mercy, grace, righteousness, justice, peace, holiness, sovereignty, and honor is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).  This is what God intended for His Son, and He was well-pleased that Jesus is the epitome, or exact replica of God Himself in human form.  Jesus must be all that God is in order to forgive and provide salvation to men and women.  In Revelation 22:13, Jesus said the He was “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last”.  “Alpha” and “Omega” are the Greek letters representing the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet which are used to express God’s eternal nature.  In Genesis 1:26, “God said, Let US make man in OUR image…”  From God’s statement, we know that Jesus Christ was with God in the beginning, and because God is eternal, we know that Jesus will be with Him throughout eternity.  Jesus stated plainly in John 10:30 that He and His Father are One which makes it impossible that One would exist without the Other.  Christ is the focal point of scripture.  Man was created for Christ, to love, worship, honor, and serve Him.  Christ gave His life for a ransom in order that those created for Him could have close, intimate fellowship with Him.

I remember one of my former pastors used to say that he never got over being saved.  Every Christian should be in awe of what Christ has done and continues to do for us.