Colossians 1:16-18
by Dr. Grant C. Richison
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Colossians 1:16
"For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that
are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him."
The third distinctive of the glory of Christ is that he created all things;
all creation is designed for him, in him and creation is preserved by him.
Christ not only created all things but all things continue to subsist
because of him.
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"For by Him all things were created"
John 1:3 says that Christ created the world. Hebrews 1:2 says the Son made
the universe. The Father is the originating cause (source) and the Son
is the means by which the world came into being (Rev. 3:14).
The extent of the Son's creation is "all" things. This includes
the entire universe whether material or immaterial, heaven or earth.
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"that are in heaven and that are on earth visible and invisible"
This phrase refers to the material universe, visible and invisible, space
and the physical universe. He made everything that we can see and cannot
see.
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"whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers"
The words "thrones," "powers," "rulers" and
"authorities" probably refer to angelic beings and human government.
In part, this refers to the hierarchy of angels. The Colossians worshipped
angels (Col 2:18). Christ reigns sovereign over angels (cf. Eph. 1:21;
3:10; 6:12; Phil. 2:9-10; Col. 2:10, 15). All angelic organizations, whether
good or evil, are under the control and power of Jesus Christ. The angles
are a highly organized hierarchy over which Christ sovereignly reigns..
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"All things were created through Him and for Him"
The first phrase says that all things were created "by" him.
That is, Jesus is the cause of creation. He designed creation.
In this phrase all things were created "through" him. He is the
instrument of creation. Jesus Christ is the agent whereby the universe
was created. He is the creator.
Finally, creation is designed "for him." This is a term of purpose.
Creation is designed for the glory of Christ. He is the goal of creation.
Christ will be glorified in creation. In summary, Christ is the author,
the means and the end of creation. The universe finds its goal and perfection
in Christ.
PRINCIPLE: The universe holds no ultimate horror for the Christian.
APPLICATION: The hands of the sovereign Son of God spun into existence everything
that exists. He made the constellations of stars. Why should we worry
about having a job next week? He is able to deal with our problems. Why
should the Christian worry about an uncertain, uncontrolled, run away world?
Jesus Christ is sovereign over it all. He will be glorified in the end.
Colossians 1:17
"And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."
The fourth of seven distinctives of the sovereign Son of God is that he
is "before all things."
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"And He is before all things"
The Son of God existed before the world was created. He lived before the
beginning of time, from all eternity (John 1:1). Jesus Christ came from
eternity (Mic. 5:2; Isa. 9:6; John 1:1-3; 8:58; Eph. 1:4; Rev. 1:11).
This can be in the sense of prior existence (cf. Jn 8:58) or in the sense
of rank or importance (Jam. 5:12; 1 Pet 4:8) or both. Here it is both.
Jesus Christ antedated everything and anyone. Since he is prior in time
to anything and anyone, he has priority of place in the universe. Jesus
existed before Abraham, "Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly,
I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM"" (John 8:58). Jesus Christ
existed before Abraham was born. Abraham lived 2000 years before Christ.
He predates Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth." He is the unbegun beginning, "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in
the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him
nothing was made that was made" (John 1:1-3). Our Lord did not become
the Son of God at Bethlehem. He existed in preincarnate form for ever.
PRINCIPLE: We worship an eternally living Christ.
APPLICATION: Jesus Christ is no super-charged Mahatma Gandhi or eight cylinder
Buddha. He is no glorified man. He is man but he is more than man. He
is the eternal God. If he is less than God then the Bible is a fairy tale.
Do you have a high view of Jesus Christ? Do you worship him as such?
Astronomers tell us that there are billions of stars in space. These stars
are of immense size and move at great rates of speed with mathematical precision,
yet Jesus Christ personally governs them. This is the fifth description
of Jesus Christ.
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"and in Him all things consist"
Not only do all things come into being by him but he holds them together
(Heb. 3:1). The Lord Jesus Christ manages every atom of the universe.
He manages the universe in such a way that he keeps it from chaos and confusion.
The word "consist" means to hold together, stand together. The
Greek tense means that they were held together at one point in the past
and they remain held together. Since they came together, Jesus Christ holds
all of the atoms of the universe in their traffic pattern.
The universe has order because Jesus Christ is managing it out of his omnipotence
(limitless power). In one sense, scientific laws do not exist. They are
not laws of science because science has no way of enforcing them in the
global sense. A scientific law may be formulated but it cannot be controlled.
We may legislate a law, but if it cannot be enforced it is of little good.
Since science cannot guarantee that laws of so called science will continue,
they are not laws of science but laws outside of science. Science bases
laws on statistical assumptions that the universe which operates according
to fixed norms will continue to do so. Science cannot guarantee this.
The Bible declares that the universe will not always exist (II Peter 3:10-12;
Rev. 20:11). Known scientific laws depend entirely upon the omnipotence
and immutability of God the Son. Every scientific text book (objective
science) is a testimony to the trustworthiness of Jesus Christ to care for
the universe.
PRINCIPLE: Jesus Christ personally sustains the universe, therefore, he
can govern any problem we face. He maintains everything he manufactures.
If Jesus Christ can manage the whirling constellations he can take care
of us and our little family.
APPLICATION: The Holy Spirit takes the confused Colossian believers and
shows them the magnitude and glory of the person of Christ. He is far more
than the carpenter of Nazareth! We need to take our eyes off ourselves
and take a good look at the greatness of Jesus Christ. Christians today
are confused by many aberrant teachings. When we go to the true person
of Christ our ears will not itch for strange doctrines (II Tim. 4:2-4).
Why does Jesus Christ hold the universe together? He does so to bring man
sons to glory, "For it was fitting for Him for whom are all things
and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the
captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings" (Heb. 2:10).
Jesus sustains the universe for as long as it is necessary to allow his
grace to run its full course. Scientific laws simply define the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ in time. He will only sustain this universe so long as
his purpose is not fulfilled.
The philosopher can find the principle of coherence in Jesus Christ if he
would allow God to show him. He can find a unity which will bring all diversity
into one unified purpose. The scientific age breaks us down into a conglomeration
of parts. The world does not believe in a unified purpose to creation.
People live in disintegration; their lives are falling apart. We divide
by nations but by persons and in our persons. We need wholeness and cohesiveness.
A painting is made up of little strokes but when they are organized into
harmony, the symmetry makes a beautiful painting. Jesus Christ can give
person wholeness because he not only sustains the universe but he can put
the parts together of individuals.
Do you worry about whether your job will be there next year? Do you worry
about your health? Are you exercised about some relationship? Nothing
can happen to us without Jesus Christ initialing it. He OKs everything
that happens to us. Our Lord has not taken his hand off the steering wheel
of the universe.
Colossians 1:18
"And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."
The sixth distinctive of Jesus Christ is that he is the head of the body,
the church. Not only is Jesus Christ the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe
but he is also the Lord of the church. That is news to a great segment
of Christians!
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"And He is the head of the body, the church"
The church here is the universal church. This is the church into which
Christ places everyone who has come to trust Christ as their personal Savior
(I Cor. 12:13). This church began on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1:5; 2:102;
11:15-16). When a person places their trust in the death of Christ to forgive
their sins, Jesus puts them into the body of Christ (I Cor. 12:13). The
Holy Spirit of God fastens them to Christ eternally.
Jesus Christ is the sovereign head of the universal church. Anyone who
has ever come to trust the cross of Christ whatever the church may be has
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Master.
The church is often described as "the body." The body has action
and function. It also produces results. The body is designed to respond
to the head. The body of Christ is designed to respond to Jesus Christ,
the head. The church can make an impact for Jesus Christ. This is the issue
at Colosse -- his supremacy over the church.
Jesus is described as the "head" of the body. The brain ("head")
produces motion, co-ordination and function of the body in physical terms.
Jesus Christ sets up the policy and power for the body to function. When
the body functions healthfully, then God is glorified.
PRINCIPLE: Jesus Christ should hold the supreme rank in our lives because
he is the head of the body, the church.
APPLICATION: Because Jesus Christ fastened us to his body (the church)
at salvation, we should glorify his eternal work for us. If we are not
aware of our position in the body of Christ, we will have a low view of
Christ and what he has done for us. We belong to Jesus Christ and we are
a part of him. We can live without our gall bladder, legs and eyes but
we cannot live without our head. Jesus Christ is the head (Eph. 1:22,23;
4:15) of the church. As the head, Jesus Christ calls the plays for our
lives.
The seventh depiction of Christ in this list shows he is the originator
of the church and the first to rise from the dead.
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"who is the beginning "
"Beginning" indicates origin. Christ is the originator of the
church through his death, burial and resurrection. He was the first to
rise from physical death to immortality. Others were raised from the dead
to die again. That kind of resurrection is resuscitation or revivification.
That is not a sufficient resurrection. That kind of resurrection is not
for me. I want the kind that when I rise from the dead I will never die
again! The death, burial and resurrection describe the gospel. The gospel
is the foundation of the church.
In the last chapter of the Bible Jesus Christ is said to be the "beginning,"
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First
and the Last" (Rev. 22: 13).
PRINCIPLE: Since Jesus Christ is our originator, he has the right to the
focus of our thoughts.
APPLICATION: We need to fix our eyes on Jesus Christ. If our eyes are
on other people, we are miserable. We are almost as miserable as when we
put our eyes on ourselves. These two focuses often run together. If we
have our eyes on ourselves we will have our eyes on people. We walk around,
not leading our with chin, but leading with our sleeve! Our feelings get
in the way. Our sensitivity level is so high people find it intolerable
being around us. We are so very, very sensitive about what other people
think or say about us. Sometimes we are sensitive about how they say it.
Consequently, we are miserable, utterly miserable.
We should not confuse Pollyanna love with biblical love. There is a place
for romantic love but it is not the love the Bible expects of us when we
love God. Bible love is not emotionalism. Emotionalism may result from
biblical love, but it is not biblical love per se. We cannot love Jesus
Christ until we know Jesus Christ.
To know Jesus Christ we have to think about him. "We love him because
he first loved us" (I John 4:19). He first loved us by his death on
the cross. That is a substantive reason to love someone. That love does
not need to be manufactured in the emotions. The emotions will come from
that love. It is amazing how many people talk about loving Jesus Christ
and do not know anything about true biblical love.
It is impossible to both love Jesus Christ and to feel sorry for yourself.
Ask yourself a very important question -- "Do I feel sorry about myself?"
"Tonight the young people are going to a party and I cannot go. They
didn't invite me." "Another year has passed and I am still not
married." "I am getting nowhere in my job." "The ladies
Rose society didn't even vote for me." If we feel sorry for ourselves,
we know that we are not focused on the person of Christ, the one who gives
perspective and the basis for orientation to life.
It is amazing how easy it is to feel sorry for ourselves. "Jane Doe
at church did not speak to me. Everywhere I go, people are unfriendly."
We need to take a good look at this. It is simply self pity.
Why should we feel sorry for ourselves when we are a child of God and an
ambassador for Christ? God has a purpose for us. He has kept us alive
to fulfill that purpose.
People who feel sorry for themselves think that no one else is going through
the problems they face in life. Yet people they know have gone through
it or worse except they focus on Christ. They do not complain or broadcast
their problems about how terrible life is to them.
The second part of the seventh description of Christ is that he is the first
to rise from the dead.
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"the firstborn from the dead"
"Firstborn" indicates that he rose never to die again. All those
who trust his cross to pay for their sin will rise never to die again (I
Cor. 15:20).
"Firstborn" may allude to the double portion of the Old Testament.
The firstborn male received a double portion because he fell heir to the
leadership of his family. By the resurrection Jesus Christ became the first
to rise from the dead. Leadership of the church fell to him. He has the
sovereign right to rule the church. He will guarantee that the rule will
continue to exist (Matt. 16:18).
Jesus' resurrection marks a new order of immortality (I Cor. 15:20). His
resurrection also signals the triumph over death (Heb 2:14; I John 3:8).
PRINCIPLE: Since Jesus rose from the dead he deserves our worship and focus.
APPLICATION: The principle we miss in life is focus on Jesus Christ rather
than ourselves. God has a purpose for us. This purpose includes the above
principle. Some people are very subjective and cannot look at life objectively
at all. Consequently, they feel sorry for themselves.
Then there are people who are always upset with people. Do people upset
you? Here is an acid test. How do you handle traffic? Are you a wonderful
person except when you get into an automobile? Do you have a dual personality
when you drive? Why are we this way? Because we have our eyes on people,
not Jesus Christ. The world is filled with terrible drivers. Why should
we revolve our orientation to live around them?
Some of us get our eyes on people at work. At times we can handle people
in our social life but we cannot at the business. With some, they can handle
business but not social life. Others cannot get along with people at church.
It depends on the circumstances we face.
Another category of self pity is things. Some people want things, oh, how
they want things. Someone has something they do not have. They violate
the principle of focus on Christ. They get their eyes off the Lord and
put them on things. There is an experience that stops Satan in his tracks
-- the experience of putting Jesus Christ in the place of preeminence in
our lives. Unless Jesus Christ is preeminent, we will never, never orient
to life.
Some people think that having a great deal of money, or even a moderate
amount of money will give them happiness. This is a standard of the world.
As a Christian we can never be happy with money. As a matter of fact,
we cannot be happy without money. Money simply is not an issue in the orientation
of a Christian! Can you be happy with or without money? Business success
can never make us happy. Whether we are successful or not has no bearing
on our orientation to life. We can never achieve happiness through human
standards. Orientation to life comes through focus on Jesus Christ and
how it relates to us. It never depends on any human factor in life.
There is always something "just around the corner." "Something
will make me happy." Many people will say, "If the republicans
are elected, I will be happy." Sure, you will be happy, for about
five hours! It makes no difference who runs the country; our orientation
to life depends on our focus upon Christ. Our orientation to life depends
entirely on our relationship to the Lord.
Some look to marriage as a panacea. Marriage brings a whole new set of
problems and does not solve anything. Most people who believe this will
not release this idea until they get married! Marriage cannot solve everything.
Do not misunderstand me, marriage can be a blissful experience but it
is not based on marriage itself.
Some look to retirement. Once they get to retirement they become bitter
about life. They begin to doubt whether there is a God in heaven yet it
is simply self pity carried to the place of being mentally ill by disorientation
to life.
Others wish for the day they can get out of their marriage. They might
as well stop looking because happiness is not right around the corner.
We need to look to the wonder of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit draws a line under the seven descriptions of Christ and
adds them up. Here is the total -- "that in all things He may have
the preeminence."
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"that in all things He may have the preeminence"
Jesus Christ is exalted over all creation because of this list of five superiorities
(Phil. 2:9).
The seventh statement climaxes the list of the superiority of Jesus Christ.
Since he is the first six statements, he should "have the preeminence."
"Preeminence" means to have first place. The word means to be
first, hold the first place or highest dignity. Because of his uniqueness
(the first six distinctives) he should hold the highest dignity to our minds.
Jesus Christ should hold the supreme rank, the supreme authority in our
lives.
This word is used twice in the Bible, here and III John 9, "Diotrephes,
who loves to have the preeminence." Big shot Diotrephes loved to be
first. He wanted to be number one in the local church. It is either Christ
or Diotrephes, Christ or any other leader in the local church. It cannot
be both. Christ must be first.
Jesus Christ will not play second fiddle to anyone. He will not be second
in any church or family. He will remove any rival.
This term was used of athletes who won their events at the Olympic and Pythian
games. The athlete who won first place held the preeminence.
PRINCIPLE: Jesus Christ should hold the predominate place in our hearts.
APPLICATION: Jesus Christ's preeminence does not depend upon whether we
hold him as such in our hearts. He is preeminent whether we honor him or
not. Do you give him first place in your hearts (I Pet. 3:15)? Does he
come before our business, husband, wife or children? The Bible holds him
as preeminent. Whether we hold him as such in our hearts depends on how
much we occupy him in our hearts. The Christian who does not hold him in
first place is a miserable person. We are miserable when we hold ourselves
as first. There is no way to break that misery until we place Jesus Christ
as preeminent in our hearts.
Jesus Christ wants absolute capitulation; we must get off the throne of
our lives. Jesus must be King of the hill. He will not share that position
with anyone. He must be number one on our list of priorities. This may
explain why some of us have difficulty in our Christian lives. He must
be the absolute authority in our lives. He did not die merely to get us
to heaven. He wants to take us to heaven first class. Most people go to
heaven second class. This is the key to the abundant life.
We will never have a moment's peace until we get our eyes off self and people
and put them upon the preeminence of Jesus Christ. We cannot love and appreciate
Jesus Christ until we know something about the six areas that precede the
statement about his preeminence. First, we know who he is then we love
him. Unless we understand his greatness we cannot give him the dignity
and honor he deserves. Loving him is the result of knowing him. Otherwise
it is sheer emotional pap without substance. Emotional love is up one minute
and down the next. Love based on truth is solid and lasting.
Copyright © 1995, Dr. Grant Richison. All rights reserved.
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