The Image of the Invisible God

When I wrote to the Colossians I would not let them settle for a small Christ, for men had come among them dressing up a Jesus who was only part of the picture — one power among many. So I lifted my pen and lifted their eyes: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15). Firstborn — not made, not first among the things created, but the heir over all of it, the one who was before it. Hear how I press it: "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 he is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). Whatever you fear that seems to rule your days — power, or death, or the unseen things — it was made through him and it is held in his hand. He is not competing for the throne. He owns it.

Then I turned from the whole wide creation to the church, and named him head of it, "the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent" (Colossians 1:18). Mark that word: everything. Not first in most things, but preeminent in all. And why? "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Colossians 1:19). The God you cannot see with your eyes has made himself known in a Son you can — and this same fullness stooped to a cross, "making peace by the blood of his cross" (Colossians 1:20), to reconcile to himself all things. The one who holds the stars together let his own blood be spilled to hold you.

Now bring it near, for here is the sweetness of it: "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death" (Colossians 1:21-22). Do not soften that word once — you were far off, and set against him in your very thinking. That is the honest name of what we were. But now. He has reconciled you, and to what end? "In order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him" (Colossians 1:22). You who could not stand will be made to stand, spotless, before the God you fled.

So how then do you live under a Christ this large? I told them plainly: "continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard" (Colossians 1:23). Not earning the reconciliation — it is finished in his flesh — but staying put in it, refusing every voice that would sell you a smaller Savior or add something to his cross. When the day grinds you down, when the unseen things press hard, do not go looking for another help. He is before all things, and he holds you together too. Remain in him, and be at peace.