The Highest Rank

I remember in the summer of 1977, my parents took me to see a new movie called Star Wars. All the way home from the theater, I tried to relive the movie’s special effects, which were absolutely awesome to me at the time. I’ve loved science fiction ever since, though I’m more of a Star Trek fan now. I think we have as a culture, however, lost our sense of what really counts as awesome. We have no awe of God, and we revere instead special effects and visual tricks. Nowadays, of course, the special effects of that first Star Wars film look amateurish and dated. That’s true of anything man-made; it gets old and faded, and eventually disintegrates.

Later in the same summer Star Wars made its debut, NASA launched the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft. It is a noteworthy human accomplishment that those space probes are still hurtling through space after forty-five years. But unlike the fictitious space ships in Star Wars that can travel many times the speed of light, these Voyager spacecraft have only in the last five to ten years made it to interstellar space on the edges of our solar system. After four decades of travel, they are only about 1280 light-minutes from Earth, about the same as going from here to the Sun and back 80 times.

By way of comparison, Alpha Centauri, the closest star to our own sun, is 4.2 light years away. Maybe the Voyagers aren’t hurtling after all: at this rate, it will take more than 17 thousand years to travel just one light-year. And sadly, it may be as soon as two years from now that the Voyagers won’t have power enough to “phone home” any more. The most impressive human achievements turn out to be just more bits of space junk. Paul shows us that Jesus is the only one worthy of all our admiration. Jesus made the universe so vast to remind us just how great he is.

Only One Kingdom

Our subject today is Jesus’s greatness because he is the only one who can qualify us to be a part of God’s plan. We heard last week, at the end of Daniel’s talk,

Colossians 1:12–14 ESV

12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

But notice God does not even dignify Satan’s rule with the word kingdom here. Jesus refers to Satan as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31), but not as a king. Satan’s rule is a rebellion against legitimate authority. His rulership of the world is built on lies.

But when God works the miracle of salvation in our lives, he forgives us our sin, redeems us from the bondage we were under in Satan’s world, and transfers us to a new authority. He qualifies us to be a part of his kingdom. He has brought us new life and brought us to a new way of life. No longer do we get our marching orders from the world. We must instead go to the king of God’s kingdom to have our mind and understanding renewed in every way.

Authority of the King

God’s right to have his will be done on earth is his sovereignty.

Authority vs. Power

There are two aspects to sovereignty: (1) Jesus’s right to rule, the fact he is the legitimate ruler, and (2) Jesus’s power to carry out his will. In world news, we hear of countries where the legitimate government is overrun by armed thugs or by the military. In such cases, the government has the right to rule, but not the power to carry out its wishes. On the other hand, the rebels have no right to rule, but use power and deception to enforce their demands. This deception is what Satan effectively carries out in our world. God permits Satan to operate in this world right now, but one day God will crush this rebellion once for all.

Jesus, on the other hand, has both the right and the power to rule. This passage shows us how vastly superior Jesus is to everything and everyone in the universe, and so deserves our worship. Likewise, nothing else deserves to be on the throne in our lives. So let us consider Christ’s qualifications to be the King of the Universe.

Can you imagine what Jesus’s resume would look like? Here’s a bit of what it might be:

Relevant Experience: Creator of the universe. Call into existence all elements including those below the subatomic level, manage their interactions, keep them in existence, sustain all matter, anti-matter, dark matter, and energy. Keep physicists trying to figure out how it all works.

This passage of Colossians 1:15–18 will show us that Jesus is so glorious, so marvelous, so overwhelmingly powerful that those who know him must not fear, worship, or glorify anything else in the universe.

Our message today will be structured in five points in the passage. If Jesus had a resume, these would be the headings:

Image of God

Firstborn Over All Creation

Eternally Pre-existent

Holding All Things Together

Firstborn from the Dead

We can tell that Jesus is impressively qualified to qualify us.

Image of God

If you want to see a picture of God, look at Jesus Christ.

In the next sermon, vv. 19–23, we will take up how Jesus is both God and Man at the same time. For the time being, the emphasis here is the deity of Christ.

Colossians 1:15 ESV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

This passage affirms something awesome: Jesus Christ is God’s image. We are created in God’s image, but that is not what Paul means about Christ. Jesus is the image of God in the world so that he can be seen, appreciated, received, and worshipped. The word translated image is the Greek word εἰκών, the root of our word icon. There are many images that survive from the ancient Greco-Roman world, like statues and coins. The image—εἰκών—struck on a coin showed the ruler in whose name the coin was minted, such as Caesar’s coins (Matt 22:20). The writer of Hebrews expresses the concept of Jesus being the image of God like this:

Hebrews 1:3 ESV

3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

The word Paul uses in Colossians 1.15, «image» and the one word translated «exact imprint» in Hebrews 1.3 are two different Greek terms, but they both emphasize the essence of Jesus’s character; they describe who he is. Paul’s point is that Jesus—God’s Son—the visible member of the Trinity is accessible and knowable to us. We have a privilege that people in the OT did not enjoy.

The Gospel of John says there is a way to see God:

John 1:18 ESV

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

As the image of God, Jesus is God, meaning he has all of God’s attributes, among them sovereignty. As human beings, we do not have God’s essence. Jesus, on the other hand, has the right to rule creation, and the power (omnipotence) to exercise that right.

Image of God

Firstborn Over All Creation

Notice the wording of the passage:

Colossians 1:15 ESV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Paul is saying two things about Jesus: (1) that he is «the image of the invisible God» and (2) that he is «firstborn of all creation». He does it without any intervening words. That is a signal in Greek grammar to take these two designations as interchangable. So being the «firstborn of all creation» should be understood to say that Jesus is God. Now, we have to unpack that a bit more.

In a family in Jesus’s day and in biblical times, the firstborn son held a particular responsibility in leading the family. The firstborn son would ordinarily receive the largest share of the inheritance. That idea was so important that many of the surprising twists in biblical stories revolve around this custom, like Esau selling his birthright to Jacob (Gen 25.29–34), or Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, losing his birthright by his sin (Gen 49.3–4).

So, the word firstborn refers to Jesus’s position of importance and authority. Part of the problem here, too is that the «of» in the phrase «firstborn of all creation» is ambiguous in English. It does not mean “of” in the sense “first of many creatures.” Rather, the phrase «firstborn of all creation» is like the phrase «king of Israel». King is an authority term; of Israel tells us what he is king of or which nation he rules over. So, «firstborn» is the authority term, and «all creation» is what he rules over. If your Bible is the NIV or NET you’ll see the translation reads «firstborn over all creation». Thus, Jesus holds the unique position of being in authority over all creation.

We should just take a moment to address a heresy. The phrase «firstborn of all creation» does not mean that God created Jesus. The Jehovah’s Witnesses of the present day claim this error about Jesus. The view originated in the late third and early fourth century AD with a teacher named Arius (c. 250–c. 336), who claimed that Jesus Christ was a created being. Arius claimed «firstborn» meant that Jesus was the first in a series of creatures God created. His view gained traction for almost a century, but the churches of the fourth century finally denounced Arius’s view of Jesus. In our time, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have taken up that heretical doctrine. They make the same claims that Arius did about Jesus Christ being a creation of God. To counter this claim, just look to the next verse, where it says that «everything was created by him». Jesus is the creator; he cannot create all things and be created. And, of course, other passages refute the error, too. For instance,

John 1:3 ESV

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

1 Corinthians 8:6 ESV

6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Authority Over Creation as Creator

So, let's look back at our passage. Notice, too, that v. 16 begins with for.

Colossians 1:16 ESV

16 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.

The reason Jesus holds the title of authority: firstborn over all creation is that he created all things.

Paul specifies what «all things» entails:

Colossians 1:16 ESV

16 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.

These words express the scope of Jesus’s sovereign authority. The phrase «in heaven and on earth» means, obviously, everywhere. When we look at what God has created we are amazed. Heaven and earth testify to God’s greatness, as Psalm 19 says:

Psalm 19:1 ESV

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Of course, «visible and invisible» includes everything, too. But there’s something very striking about his creation as «visible and invisible». The writer of Hebrews tells us

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

In Hebrews 11 the «things not seen» are God’s promises that believers like Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham and others were waiting for, and even died while waiting faithfully for these promises. Why were these «things not seen»? These promises were not seen because they had not yet been made manifest in history. Doubts are overcome by faith in Jesus as creator. The invisible things that Jesus created and creates are not just stuff, they are events as well. Jesus created the universe, and he goes on creating events; his faithfulness keeps everything working as it does. The promises are real, but they haven’t happened yet. Jesus is still creating events that happen now and events that are promised.

God wants us to trust him so that this future reality is more real to us than the present we can see with our eyes. That trust is the essence of hope.

Jesus is in control of the present and the actual future. How often have you or I worried about something we were afraid might happen, but never did? And we will probably never know how many times Jesus has rescued us from some unseen danger. Our worries are overcome by faith in Jesus as creator.

Here is a thought God wants us to think when we worry: think about how great our God is, and how good God is. Jesus is the one who chooses what really happens. That is what absolute sovereignty entails. And that includes his rulership over the rebel forces that are constantly at work to influence events on earth. We will certainly face evil and calamity in this world, but we know that he has redeemed us from this world’s control and that a good and faithful God is working all things together to rescue us and in so doing, qualify us to glorify his Son.

Rulers of the Rebel Forces

Colossians 1:16 ESV

16 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.

There is a special focus in Paul’s detailed specification of «all things» that deserves attention. The mention of «thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities» tells us there is more to the universe than we can imagine. There are several other places in Paul’s writings where «rulers and authorities» appear together, and in their contexts it is clear they refer to angelic beings, and specifically to fallen angels—demons. Let me just take one of those as an example:

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Because Jesus created these «thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities», we do not need to be afraid of these forces. Faith in Jesus as creator rescues us from fear. We have a special relationship with the creator of all angels, both good and fallen; we must not fear them. In fact, in this letter, we find that at the Cross

Colossians 2:15 ESV

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

The OT and the NT consistently tell us that human history is being steered by fallen angels through their influence on the human authorities that govern the human world: the movers and shakers, the powerful people and the news-makers. In the book of Daniel, the angel Gabriel speaks of opposition from angelic powers called the «Prince of Persia» (Daniel 10:13) or the «Prince of Greece» (Daniel 10:20). So the «rulers and authorities» in Colossians are supernatural powers that influence human rulers. God allows these powers to shape history in exactly the way he wants: the demons mean what they do for evil, God means it for good (cf. Genesis 50:20).

Our focus in Colossians 1 is the greatness of Jesus: «all things were created through him and for him». He created you and me «for himself», to worship him. He not only created these demonic forces; he triumphed over them, too. The Apostle John writes,

1 John 4:4 ESV

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

If you know Jesus Christ by faith, you have a relationship with the very creator of the universe. He is the absolute ruler of the largest and the smallest objects; he is the sovereign over things and events that don’t even exist yet. Worship him; don’t worship anything else. See Jesus’s ultimate worthiness; no one and nothing else is worthy of your worship.

Jesus as King Over All

Colossians 1:16 ESV

16 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.

The truth here is: all of creation, including us believers, and including those powers running the world’s governments, were created and continue to exist «for him», i.e., to glorify and praise him. Paul’s extended doxology that concludes Romans 11 reminds us of this awesome truth:

Romans 11:33–36 ESV

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

In Jesus, the creator of all things, we find the purpose of creation as well our purpose: to praise him. We’ve now seen that «firstborn over all creation» means that Jesus is the absolute authority because he created everything, and that he did so for his own glory. Now we can see another aspect of his rulership over creation is he pre-existence.

Image of God

Firstborn Over All Creation

Eternally Pre-existent

Colossians 1:17 ESV

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

The Gospel of John says something quite similar:

John 1:1–3 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

If everything was made through him, he had to exist before everything else. But that also means that Jesus is God. Jesus himself affirmed this truth. To come before someone or something else also signals superiority.

John 8:58 ESV

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

«I Am» is the name of the God of Israel as revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14. Jesus is the God of Israel who entered history as a human being to take personal command of God’s plan and purpose for humanity. So when Jesus says he is before Abraham, he means he is more important than Abraham, too. That has special meaning for Jewish people, since folks like Abraham and Moses were held up as special heroes. Jesus is more important than any hero of the Bible that they or we could imagine.

Image of God

Firstborn Over All Creation

Eternally Pre-existent

Holding All Things Together

Not only does Jesus have the right to rule, he has the power to carry out his will. He has the right to use his power in ruling.

Colossians 1:17 ESV

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Jesus holds all things together. The author of Hebrews affirms this very idea when he says:

Hebrews 1:3 ESV

Much of what we take for granted, the laws of gravity, thermodynamics, planets, stars, our bodies—all of this and more is being kept in existence by Jesus. He spoke, and it existed. He speaks and all of it continues to work in harmony. One of the things we take for granted is how the Earth keeps spinning just the way Jesus wants. I searched the internet for “What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning?”, and got some interesting answers. An article on Astronomy.com says:

[QUOTE] If [the] Earth stopped spinning all at once, it would be enormously catastrophic for much of the planet’s surface. Though we don’t feel it, we’re all moving along with the planet as it rotates; at the equator, this works out to around 1,000 miles per hour. Stop the planet suddenly, and everything sitting on top of it would go flying eastward. Imagine people, houses, trees, boulders and more being launched sideways at hundreds of miles an hour. In the aftermath, high speed winds, still rotating nearly as fast as the planet, would scour the surface clean. [END QUOTE]

Wow. What an action movie that would make. The special effects would get our attention, I’m sure. The article goes on to say that the magnetic field that shields the earth from harmful radiation would disappear. Day would last half the year, as would the night, but, as the author notes quite strangely, there would be some very long sunsets; I could add even though we wouldn’t be around to appreciate them.

Curiously, this article concludes:

[QUOTE] though our planet’s rotation is slowing down ever so slightly (a day gets about 1.7 milliseconds longer every century), our planet should never stop spinning completely. That’s something to be thankful for. [END QUOTE]

It is odd that the author should end with this note of thanksgiving. He does not indicate to whom he is thankful. He also seems to assume—without any basis for doing so—that things will continue just as they are now and always have. But if he were to pause and reflect deeply, he would realize the extent of thanksgiving that is due to Jesus Christ. Jesus not only keeps the Earth spinning, but he also holds everything else in existence. Jesus is constantly choosing to maintain the existence of all the little subatomic particles that make up all the matter and energy of the universe.

We humans have come to put a lot of confidence in science. And we enjoy some marvelous things that have been accomplished by the patient application of scientific method to problems we face. Have you ever noticed something interesting about movies: that science fiction and fantasy have similarities? But one difference between them is the source of the magic: in science fiction, the magic is technology. In fantasy, the magic is, well, just magic.

But we’re amazed by the “magic” of science in our everyday lives. Electricity, for instance, harnessed in the right way, has made possible all sorts of conveniences and life-saving breakthroughs. We can scarcely do anything now without electricity. But for all our advances, we are still really—pardon the pun—powerless. Scientific discoveries can prolong our lives, but they cannot keep us from dying. And in reality, science has not created one thing. Science cannot even enforce any of the so-called laws it observes. Science, whose method consists of observation, experimentation, the formulation of hypotheses, and interpretation of data, really amounts to the observation of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ in sustaining the universe.

Jesus’s sovereign power over everything means that he is not bound by any of the natural laws that science observes. He created those laws. Even death has no power over him.

We know that Jesus in his glory has the right to rule, but that he also has the power to carry out his will. We take great confidence that Jesus is using all his power to fulfill God’s promises, especially that he will raise us believers from the dead.

Image of God

Firstborn Over All Creation

Eternally Pre-existent

Holding All Things Together

Firstborn from the Dead

Colossians 1:18 “18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”

Remember that Paul is writing to safeguard the Colossians from falling prey to false teaching. Paul wants the Colossians to know Jesus and his greatness. He wants them to avoid seeking their own greatness through religious experiences that dishonor God and lead people astray. So far, Paul has shown Jesus’s greatness by exploring his relationship to creation as a whole. When he comes to v. 18, he focuses on the special relationship between Christ and the church. This is exactly where that sense of amazement should explode. He is saying, “Believer, you need to impress neither angels nor people; you already have a relationship with the creator of the universe, and the head of the church.”

Jesus’s sovereignty over the church is expressed by the word «head.» The metaphor of head and body make clear the closeness of this relationship. It is a personal and tender relationship. Paul puts it like this in Ephesians:

Ephesians 5:29 ESV

29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

Jesus’s sovereignty is not mechanical; it is an expression of his love for the church. This relationship protects us from outside attacks: we belong only to the head of this body, Jesus Christ. It would be treason against Jesus the King to follow anyone or anything else than him.

So continuing in v. 18:

… He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead…

The word beginning is the same word as in the expression in the beginning like in Genesis 1. Paul has already said a lot about Jesus being the creator and present at the beginning. But here, Paul is talking about the beginning of the church. In v. 15, we saw that Paul was using «firstborn of all creation» interchangeably with «image of the invisible God.» In our verse, he’s doing the same thing: «firstborn from the dead» is an equivalent to «the beginning of the church.»

Jesus rose from the dead as the victor over it. God began his plan for the church in Jesus by raising him from the dead, vindicating Jesus and his ministry in every way.

God had a purpose in raising Jesus from the dead and in making him the head of the church:

Colossians 1:18 ESV

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

When God resurrected Jesus, he did so to make him the most important person in the universe, to receive the highest rank.

Paul put it like this in another of the Prison Epistles:

Philippians 2:9–11 ESV

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In raising Jesus from the dead, God vindicated his life, ministry, and sacrificial death so that all the world would understand how great Jesus is. Jesus had spoken nothing but the truth about God, and his resurrection was God’s proof that it was so. But the key thing about Jesus’s greatness for us is that he is the greatest and most important person in the church. His special relationship to us as our head becomes our focus. We look to him rather than to what he has created. And we live our lives to show the world how he has created new life in us.

God made us with a built-in sense of awe. Our problem as human beings is that sometimes we are awestruck by creation without appreciating the creator. We are impressed by things or people we regard as powerful in the world. Paul is telling us to look at the creator of all things, to hold him in awe, to be impressed by him. Paul is pointing beyond the creation to the creator and asking us to see Jesus, its sovereign ruler.

The final scenes of the history of the universe as we know it are coming soon. And no movie special effects would ever be able to do them justice. Jesus, the only qualified emperor, will return to this planet to be enthroned as ruler of a world-wide empire—the kingdom of God. He will fully and finally redeem those he has qualified to share an inheritance in his kingdom. He will then be recognized by all creation as foremost in everything. Our destiny at that time will depend on what we have done in this life, and whether we recognized Jesus’s superiority now, and whether we lived in a way that honored him.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for revealing your self through your son Jesus, without whom we would know nothing about you, nor would we see light, nor the light of your revelation. Thank you that Jesus is the ruler over the universe. We trust him to do all your purpose for him as creation's ultimate authority. Open our eyes to see the beautiful glory in your Son. Fill us with such a love for you that we will not be led astray to find satisfaction in anything else or anyone else but you. Give us the discernment that will guard our hearts from lies. Please show us how to bring every part of our lives under your Son’s loving sovereign care.

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