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345. The Image of the Invisible God

Colossians 1:15-24
Key Verse: He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:17

When we began our journey almost a year ago, it took us 22 days before Jesus even began to arrive on the scene.  I'm sure that many of you were becoming impatient as day followed day and the old familiar Christmas story still wasn't being introduced. I wanted to lay a foundation to explain our need for Jesus from the beginning of time.

Now, I suppose, for many of you, again you are questioning what else there could possibly be to say? We've covered Christ's birth and life, his death and resurrection. We've colored in the background with the help of writings from the prophets and the Epistles: What else needs to be said?

If Jesus were simply an historic figure then your questioning would be correct. Jesus lived, died, rose again and ascended to heaven. That's more than what a human life consists of already. As we already know, however, Jesus was not just a man. He is God. Therefore, just as we took three weeks to lay a foundation for better understanding, let us now take these last two weeks to place the capstone by exploring just what we have in Him through faith.

This is another passage that lays out a case for our need of reconciliation quite clearly. "He is the image of the invisible God." (15)  "We were alienated from God and were enemies in our minds because of our evil behavior." (21)  "He is before all things," (17A) "and in Him all things, (including us,) hold together." (17B)  We need Him for life itself. We need Him to draw us close to God because we can't do it on our own. God is love and it is His love that puts us back together with Him.

In Christ, God became visible.  Do you remember the story of the birds in the snowy day? God understood how hard it is for humans to walk by faith and not by sight. So Christ came and set the example to give us God, incarnate, to follow. All that glory that Moses dared not look upon for fear of death, Jesus made visible, approachable, touchable, for our sake. In the Old Testament, we see how God tried to walk with man, but was mostly unsuccessful. Now, because of Jesus, God is within us ready to guide us all along the way.


Hymn:  "Immortal, Invisible, GodOnly Wise"

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