Colossians 1c:15-20: Jesus Christ The Image of the Invisible God.

For this reason also, since the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
to please Him in all respects,
bearing fruit in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God;
being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might,
for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience;
joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Who rescued us from the authority of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Who is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.

For in Him all things were created,
both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through Him and for Him.

And He is before all things,
And in Him all things hold together.
And He is the head of the body, the church;
Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself,
having made peace through the blood of His cross—
through Him—
whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Colossians 1:9-20

In the second chapter of his letter to the Colossians, Paul wrote that he had struggled on the saints behalf so that their hearts would be encouraged, having been held together in love, even unto all the wealth of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.

This is part of the encouraging teaching that Paul delivered to the saints at Colossae, where some had been influenced by teaching of error; being persuaded that they had to earn God’s favour through works, and some had partially returned to living by the world’s reasoning and ways, instead of living by the mind of Christ and the guidance of Holy Spirit. So Paul directed their thoughts to Christ Himself and to the hope laid up for the Saint’s in heaven, where Jesus is.

The problems experienced by the saints at Colossae still occur in the church today;

Some people believe that God’s Word isn’t relative to today’s society, and there are expressions of this belief within our local church community, even from the pulpit. But the Word of God to the Saint’s in Colossae, 2000 years ago, is just as relevant today.

Given that Jesus holds the whole universe in subjection to Himself, maintaining the function and activity of every atom, despite man’s introduction of corruption into His creation; there’s no possibility that any portion of His Word could be irrelevant.

God knew every thought, word and action of every single person before He created the world; He delivered His Word applicable to mankind from the first man standing through to the last person’s final breath;

Jesus Christ is spoken of as the Word of God, we’re told in John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.“: He is unchangeably true and infinitely essential to mankind, in every culture and every generation.

So just as God exhorted the Colossian Saints to be on guard against moral regression and false teaching, He delivers the same words to exhort the Church today. 

God wants us to have clear consciences through obedience, so that our prayers will bring results; and He wants us to have a sound understanding of the truth through reading and meditating on His Word, for our own spiritual health, and to share the good news with others, through our words and actions.

We’re told in John 3:14-15:

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

• So for the purpose of being equipped to display the glory of God to the world, and “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” (Ref. Ephesians 3:10); through Paul’s letter to the Saint’s at Colossae; God directs our thoughts to Jesus Christ, in chapter 1:15-20, starting with the statement:
  
• “He is the image of the invisible God:”.
  • You may remember that in Genesis 1:26, God said “let us make man in Our image”, the word “image” used on that occasion means “resemblance; as a representative figure,”, whereas the word “image” used here in Colossians, is translated from the Greek word “eikōn”, which the bible scholar Thayer describes in context as referring to”… his divine nature and absolute moral excellence”. Then in Hebrews 1:3 were told that: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature”.
    
    Jesus also made reference to the fact of Him being the eikōn or image of the Father, in John 14:9, when He said “Have I been with you all so long and have you not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”.
    
• So as we read, we find that God the Father is revealed in Jesus’s attributes, including:
  • His Compassion: An example of this attribute was expressed when Jesus wept for those who grieved over Lazarus’ death in John 11:33-35; we’re told that the death of the saints is precious in the sight of the LORD, but Mary and the others were not viewing it in this light at the time, as they were overcome with their loss, but Jesus was compassionate to them in their weakness. “He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.“
  • And God is seen in Jesus’s patience, which was evident on many occasions, including through His teaching of His followers, who were noted as having little faith and being slow to believe in His death and resurrection (ref. Luke 24:25-26)
    
    As mentioned earlier, He knew what people were thinking, and what they were going to do, before He created them, but He patiently and intentionally engaged in conversation with them, to teach both them and us; Jesus’s conversations with the disciples weren’t just about passing on information, as valuable as that information was, these conversations were also inclusive of giving them the experience of the richness of fellowship with Himself, as He delivered spiritual wisdom, knowledge and understanding, in love. This type of fellowship was acknowledged in Luke 24 by the men who talked with Jesus while they walked on the road to Emmaus, after His resurrection “They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”. Jesus still patiently encourages, corrects, teaches and reveals God the Father to His children, in fellowship through Holy Spirit.
  • Then His Love: we read in John 13:1  “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.“.
    He never spoke a word expressing disappointment or anger to them for their part in contributing to His being crucified by men, or forsaken by the Father; The Holy One, the creator of all, even cooked fish for them on the beach after His resurrection. He supremely exemplified selfless love.
  • And He is Omnipresent, that is to say, He’s present everywhere, not able to be contained by anything in His creation, He’s infinitely bigger than all of it, which He is also present throughout. While He was occupying an earthly body before His resurrection, He was also at the same time,  with the Father in Heaven. In His prayer to the Father in John 17:24, He said “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me,…”, and in John 3:13 He said “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.“. And yet He fully experienced what His earthly body was subjected to while He occupied it, When He was spat on and whipped, He felt it all as any man would. When He was forsaken by His Father He felt the fullness of the separation from God, that would have been eternally experienced by all the saints. Only God manifest in flesh could do this.
  • Then considering His Omnipotence; His unlimited Godly power is mentioned in Mark 4:4 “And they (the disciples) became very afraid and were saying to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’”. And in Colossians 1:16, we can read “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” And in verse 17 ” in Him all things hold together.“. Though His earthly body was first seen in the form of a baby, He being God, occupying that body, was still holding all things together, as we’ve just considered, He wasn’t restricted to the location of His earthly body, even though He personally experienced all that it was subjected to.
  • Considering His Sovereignty and Authority: Colossians 1:19 tells clearly where Jesus stands in these two points: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,“. Then it’s reiterated in 2:v9 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily,”.
    
    Then in Matthew 8:28-29 we’re told of demons acknowledging His Sovereignty, where “two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?“.
  • And then considering Mercy; Jesus granted Mercy, just as His Father does:
    He showed this very publicly in Luke 23:34, when, while He was hanging on the cross, He said “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. AND THEY CAST LOTS, DIVIDING UP HIS GARMENTS AMONG THEMSELVES.”.
    • The forgiveness that Jesus requested from the Father, kept the soldiers who crucified Him, from earthly penalty for their sin, they weren’t struck dead, they received a reprieve, so that they could still live to possibly receive forgiveness to eternal salvation, and it appears from scripture that at least some of them may have. Mark 15:39 tells us: And when the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
      
• After considering these attributes of God in Jesus Christ, we’re told in verse 15 that He’s “the firstborn of all creation.”. The term “firstborn” isn’t referring to His order of birth in Joseph’s family, it’s expressing that just as the firstborn was often traditionally granted honour favourably above the other children in the family, Jesus is to be honoured above all He created because “all things were created through him andfor him. And He is before all things,”. We’re told in 1 Chronicles 29:11 “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.“
  
• In verse 17 we’re told that “he is before all things,…”:
  The aspect of time and its relevance to mankind is prominent throughout scripture, and of course our lives are essentially linked to it, but not God’s, so we benefit when as best we can, we reckon this into our comprehension of His revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ.
  He created and manages time, it doesn’t manage or affect Him. Apart from God, all things have a commencement date, and many have an end date, and all of creation is subject to it, and affected by it, but He isn’t subject to, or dependent on anything He creates. He determined to create a giant fish, and have it turn up next to a small boat in a massive sea at a specific time to swallow a man who was about to be thrown into the water by some scared sailor’s. Before He made the earth, God established the exact time that Jesus was to enter the world: we’re told in Galatians 4:4 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,”, and before He made the earth, He arranged when He would depart, in John 7:6 Jesus said to His brothers, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always here.“. He wasn’t subject to it, it progressed according to His plans. Unlike His creation, He has neither beginning nor end. In John 8:58, Jesus used a phrase, that, of all existing beings, only He can use: “before Abraham was I AM“.
  His plans and promises pre-date any one else’s, there’s no created being historically or in the future who can alter or adversely affect Him, and He has graciously revealed to His children, quite a bit of what has been, what is, and what is yet to come. So with this knowledge, we can trust that He works all things together for good to those who are called according to His purpose.
  
• Then In verse 18, we’re told: “And he is the head of the body, the church.“.
  The word “Church”, is translated from the Greek word “ekklēsia, ” which means “called out”. God has established tiers of responsibility in service to himself, in the world, the home and in the church, and He made Jesus responsible for His chosen people who have been called out from the world. So when we pray to God, we’re told in John 14:13, to ask God the Father in Jesus name, because He’s our mediator and representative to God the Father, He’s the head of the Church, which is the people who’ve been called out and adopted into His family.
  • This relates to Paul’s reasoning in this letter, where he was exhorting the Saint’s to live according to their calling, and not to regress or go back to the way the people of the world live. Before salvation, people are largely governed by selfish desire and the devils influence, but Christians have Jesus Christ as our head, we’re blessed to be governed by God, including having the mind of Christ, and Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we’re told in 1 Corinthians 6:19 “… do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”.
    
• Then in v18b, we’re told “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”
  • Again the term firstborn is used, but this time it’s used to identify Him as “firstborn from the dead,”, differing from v15 where He’s described as “firstborn of all creation“; but her we see that He is also the supreme, preeminent or surpassing One of those who’s bodies will be, or have already been resurrected to an immortal perfect condition; If He hadn’t risen from the grave, He would have been just another man who died for a good cause. But the fruit of His resurrection is expressed in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”
    
• The last verse in this Colossian portion speaking of Jesus, says: “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.“.
  
  Although we could spend more time considering this portion, on this occasion, I’d like to share just briefly, two points from this text:
  1. The reconciliation of the saints, which resulted in peace with God, came at the cost of Jesus blood, and is of immense present and eternal significance. For just as was taught last Sunday, “… no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”  1 Corinthians 3:11
  2. Then the text “whether on earth or in heaven“, reiterates that all the Saints who died from the time of Adam and Eve, through to Jesus’s resurrection, and up to this very moment, are presently in heaven, but they’re not in heaven by being born into a particular family, or by their own will, or by the will of any other person, but by God’s will, through the blood of Christ.

So this brings us again to consider our present responsibilities on earth.

With even just a portion of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, when Saint’s around the world leave church building’s after the Sunday morning service, we’re called to take the light of the knowledge of Jesus, which is the gospel of reconciliation; verse 27 calls it the “riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” this is what we’re to take to all people, so that God will be known and glorified through the church; so that those who are presently in darkness will experience present and eternal salvation in Jesus Christ.

Essentially, through the knowledge of who Jesus Christ is, and by following in His way, holding His Word in love, and uncompromised, the Saint’s deliver the gospel to those the Father has given to Jesus.

In 3 Peter 2:5, we can read of Noah, who by the power of Holy Spirit, preached Christ’s righteousness to the world through his obedience. 

We’re told that God “did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;“

Later, quite a while after Noah’s time, Israel were given responsibility to express the Glory of God to the nations through obedience, and through God’s miraculous deliverance of them from their enemies, but many of them took on the practices of the nations instead of delivering God’s glory to them.

So I’ll finish speaking on this matter of Jesus Christ, for the moment, with these verses which tell of Israel’s and the churches responsibility, which is expressed in 1 Chronicles 16:23-34

Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place.
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; 
bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendour of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth; 
yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
Let the heavens be glad,
and let the earth rejoice, 
and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 
let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

_{A.P Overton 25-Jan-2026}