THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD
Provisions of the Incarnation No. 2 • Sermon • Submitted
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Recently I overheard a conversation about secret super-powers. The question was asked: “What you like to have as your secret super-power?” To which someone commented that they would like to be invisible. Of course that sparked a debate as whether invisibility is really a super-power.
Admit it, I think that all of us at one time or another wished they we could be invisible. I mean, have you ever wanted to be the proverbial fly on the wall? Of course, on the opposite end of the spectrum, there are those who think they must be invisible because it seems like nobody ever notices them.
Well, I’m not one to believe in super-powers as such. But I do believe in the all-powerful God who is supernatural, and who is all-powerful. He is often described in the Bible as being invisible.
Please take your Bible and turn with me to . Today we continue in our series titled: PROVISIONS OF THE INCARNATION. And the provision that we are looking at today is the image of the invisible God. As we go through this passage we will consider the image of God as perceived by man, the image of God as perceived in Christ, and the image of God as will one day be perceived in His people.
THE IMAGE OF GOD AS PERCEIVED BY MAN
THE IMAGE OF GOD AS PERCEIVED BY MAN
God’s Image is Imperceptible to Man
God’s Image is Imperceptible to Man
Why do I say that God’s image is imperceptible to man? First of all, it is because
God is Spirit
Systematic Theology A. The Meaning of the Word “Spirit.”
πνεῦμα
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs Transcendence: God’s Nature Is Spiritual
Though fully personal, God does not live in and through a body as we do, and so is not anchored in a spatio-temporal frame.
pneuma -- the moving air or breath
God is not limited by space or by time
God is immutable — unchanging
God’s feelings are not beyond His control, as our often are
God’s thoughts and actions involve the whole of Him
Since God is Spirit, He is invisible — no man can see God
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
There were some men who were privileged to see the reflection of the glory of God, but they dis not see His essence. However, in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ God provided certain people with the image of the invisible God.
THE IMAGE OF GOD AS PERCEIVED IN CHRIST
THE IMAGE OF GOD AS PERCEIVED IN CHRIST
Our text for this morning focuses on Jesus Christ. It is an interesting exercise to mark all the pronouns in this paragraph that refer to Jesus (His name is not actually mentioned, but it was in the verses immediately preceding this paragraph).
Christ is the image of the invisible God (vs. 15)
The Firstborn of Creation
This does not mean that Christ was created
Christ was not created in the image of God — that would be man
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Christ is God’s image, the exact replica or reproduction
Part of the error of the false teachers in Colossae was an early form of Gnosticism which taught that material things were evil, but spirit or immaterial things were good
They probably viewed Jesus as being a sketch or summary of deity. But that falls far short of what He is
Firstborn — Christ is preeminent —
“I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
Christ is before all creation in time
Christ is over all creation in rank and dignity
Christ is His Father’s representative and heir and has the management of the divine household — He is Lord over all creation
Christ is the creator (vs. 16)
All things were created through Him and for Him
Christ is the Agent through whom all creation came into being including angelic hierarchy
All things were created through Him and for Him
Christ is the sustainer of all things (vs. 17)
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 11: Ephesians through Philemon A. The Scope of Christ’s Supremacy (1:15–18)
He is, to use the words of Lightfoot, “the principle of cohesion” who makes the universe “a cosmos instead of a chaos”
Christ is the head of the church (vs. 18a)
The church is a living organism
The church is the mans by which Christ carries out His purposes and performs His work
The Union that exists between Christ and His people is most intimate and real
Christ is the Firstborn from the Dead (vs. 18b)
Christ is the origin and source of the life of the church
Christ was the first to come from the dead in true resurrection life (never again to die)
Christ, being the Creator, was already preeminent over the first creation; by His resurrection from the dead He extended His preeminence to the new creation
Christ possessed all the fulness (vs. 19)
I’d like to pause on this point for a while. First I want to note that the English term Father does not appear in the Greek text. The Greek text is actually kind of vague as to the subject of the good pleasure. Young’s Literal translation provides us with a better idea of what the Greek text states:
because in him it did please all the fulness to tabernacle,
Most English translation assume that God the Father is the subject who was pleased to have all of His fulness dwell in Christ.
Another question is what is meant by fullness? It seems best to understand this as the full nature, or complete being of God, since Paul specifies that very thing in .
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 11: Ephesians through Philemon 1. The Fullness of God in Christ (1:19)
“Dwell” translates katoikēsai, a verb that suggests permanent residence as opposed to temporary sojourn.
In speaking on this passage Spurgeon noted the following:
The What — it was all the fullness dwelling in Christ that pleased the Father
Spurgeon stated:
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XVII All Fulness in Christ (No. 978)
I will ring the silver bell again, “all fulness,” and another note charms us; it tells us that Christ is substance, and not shadow, fulness, and not foretaste.
Christ was not merely a picture or reflection of God. He was and is God — God become man.
Fullness dwells in our Lord not only intrinsically from His nature, but as the result of His mediatorial work
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XVII All Fulness in Christ (No. 978)
Not only as the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, is he the possessor of heaven and earth, and therefore filled with all fulness, but seeing that as the Mediator he has finished our redemption, “he is made of God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Glory be to his name for this double fulness.
The reason Jesus’ death on the cross is able to save the repentant sinner is that all the fullness of God dwelt in Him. Which brings us to our next point.
It is through Christ that God reconciled all things (vs. 20)
Reconciled repentant sinners
Reconciled creation ()
For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
THE IMAGE OF GOD THAT WILL BE PERCEIVED IN HIS PEOPLE
THE IMAGE OF GOD THAT WILL BE PERCEIVED IN HIS PEOPLE
There is a sense in which the image of God is reflected in man, since we were created in the image and likeness of God. For Christians this is even a stronger reflection, because we are the light of the world. There is a big distinction between our reflection of the glory of God, and Christ’s inherent glory.
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Our light is more like moon light in that it shines bright in the darkness of this world. But Christ’s light outshines the sun in the middle of the day.
While I do not believe that we will ever fully display the glory of God as Christ does, I know there will be a time in the future when we will be glorified. As John wrote:
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
Today, we have only scratched the surface of this very deep passage. I think we could look at it every week for the rest of our lives and still only scratch the surface. But the point I am trying to make is that if it had not been for the incarnation of Christ, man would not have received the image of the invisible God. There would be no church, let alone the head of the church. There would be no victory over sin and death. There would be no reconciliation to God.
But thanks to the incarnation God has provided us with the image of the invisible God. God has provided for us victory over sin and death. God has provided for our reconciliation to Him.
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
Let’s pray.
Closing Song — No. 33 — Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise