The supremacy of Christ

1. The supremacy of Christ Series: Truth, Judgment and Eternity Colossians 1:15-20

2. Introduction • In this section of Colossians, Paul puts forward probably the most profound and clearest revelation of who Jesus Christ is in all of the Bible. • This passage expresses possibly the strongest statements about the divine nature of Christ found anywhere in Scripture. • When I read this passage it reminds me of John 1:1-5 • 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 was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (ESV)

3. Image of God • Colossians 1:15[Now] He is the exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation. (AMP) • Man was created in the image of God but Jesus is the direct copy of God, the duplicate of God, therefore this Scripture imparts truth in relation to the Deity of Christ. • Jesus said to Thomas, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” John 14:9 • “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 • “Who, being in very nature God.” Philippians 2:6 • Christ Jesus came to earth to reveal the most profound revelation of the person of God. • Jesus came from God directly, therefore He is as God as God is, just as we are as human as our earthly father is.

4. FirstBorn • Warren Wiersbe said, “The term firstborn (in Colossians 1:15) does not refer to time, but to place or status. Jesus Christ was not the first being created, since He Himself is the Creator of all things. Firstborn simply means ‘of First Importance, of First Rank.’” • The Greek Word which they translated to the english word firstborn, is the word prōtótokoswhich means: first, pre-eminent first in time – it specifically refers to Christ as the first to experience glorification, i.e. at His resurrection (see Heb 12:23; Rev 1:5). The first among others (who follow)” • [Notice that these definitions do not have the word born in them.]

5. Jesus is IN the father • John 10:38 “Even though you do not believe Me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” • John 12:45 “When he looks at Me, he sees the One who sent Me.” • John 14:10-11 “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you are not just My own. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” • John 1:18 “No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.”

6. He Is Supreme • Colossians 1:16 For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him. (AMP) • This sounds very much like John 1. • What most men fail to realize about Christ is the majesty and significance of who He is. • He wasn’t just a mild mannered, loving, good man who like Buddha, lived by a good moral code. • He was far more than that. • He is co-Creator of the entire universe and is supreme over all Creation.

7. A Revelation of Christ • Colossians 1:17 And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together). (AMP) • Everything that exists is held together by the Lord Jesus Christ. • He existed before anything was created. • Before anything was, Jesus is. • He just is, and always has been. • When you try to contemplate eternity or an endless universe which never ends, it just blows your mind.

8. Nothingness • Now try to contemplate absolute nothingness. • Nothing is nearly impossible to contemplate, as nothing means no thing what so ever. • That means of course no matter whatsoever, no space, no time, no God, no Spirit, absolute nothingness. • The more you try to imagine nothingness, the more the thought of nothing cancels out the concept,as our thoughts create something.

9. Something • You can’t imagine nothing, that’s because there has to be something, and before there was anything else, that something is God the Creator of all that is. • The Truth is that there has never been nothing. • God always existed because nothing cannot be. • God exists by His own inability to not exist. • He is the only existence that always was and always will be. • He cannot be removed or destroyed, and He is the reason for the universe being what it is.

10. He Is! • All existence is evidence of God. • Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. • In reality, you cannot theorise God away. • Evidence that He does exist is that He is always on our minds and on our hearts and our lips. • All people, atheists included will say, “Oh my God.” • Their lips will proclaim that God created them. • Whether in worship or cursing; each and everyone of us use His name daily; this is more evidence of His existence. • If God did not exist, no one would speak of Him, consider Him, or be religious or anti-religious.

11. Head of the Church • Colossians 1:18He also is the Head of [His] body, the church; seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the chief place [stand first and be preeminent]. (AMP) • He was raised to life and witnessed by up to 500 disciples at once, which is proof that He was firstborn from the dead, and He was raised imperishable, never to die again. • This is the promise: All who trust in Christ will also defeat death and rise again to live eternally with Him, just as He rose and lives eternally with the Father.

12. Made Alive in Christ • 1Corinthians 15:20-22 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. • 1Thessalonians 4:13-14 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. • Only in Christ will we find life everlasting. • A man of God once said, “Man is the only creature that knows he’s going to die and he’s trying desperately to forget the fact. And if you mention death, people get a little nervous and they will change the subject.”

13. Victory over Death • Only in Christ can we approach the subject of death and rejoice that He has gained the victory over death and has given us eternal life. • 1Co. 15:55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” [Hosea 13:14] • Philippians 2:8-11 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. • Because Christ is supreme in the universe, surely we should give Him first place in all our thoughts and activities.

14. Fullness of God in Christ • Colossians 1:19-20For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently. And God purposed that through (by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross. (AMP) • By stating this, Paul was refuting the idea that Jesus could not be both God and human at the same time. • Christ has always been God, and His life was evidence of that. • Walking in the miraculous, healing the sick, setting the demon possessed free, walking on water, changing water to wine, calming the storm. • These are no light stories of a mere man. • No other man in the history of the earth has ever made such a positive, life transforming impact on the affairs of mankind as Jesus Christ.