Father, come by Your Spirit! Open my eyes and my heart to what You would have me learn about You today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen Colossians 1:15-20
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 and He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.
What a beautiful passage. If there were any doubts about where Jesus, the Son of God, receives His divinity, His inherited power and authority, it is explained here very eloquently. This series of verses defines who God is…..the Creator of all things. He was before all things. That means He has always been. No one was before Him. Jesus is the Son, mentioned in the passage. Jesus is the image of the God we cannot see.
In Exodus 3:14, God spoke to Moses. He told Moses “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I Am has sent you’.” The I Am identifies God as the creator, the one who has always been and will always be. As creator, God rules over everything in heaven and on earth. Therefore, as the image of the invisible God, the one who comes with authority over all things, Jesus is able to declare in Mark 14:62 “I Am”, in front of the Sanhedrin after his arrest, thereby acknowledging His divinity and relationship with God. This reference to himself is seen throughout the New Testament:
John 6:51: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.”
John 8:23: And He said to them: “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.
John 8:12: Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
John 8:58: Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
John 10:9: I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Matthew 3:17: And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”
It is so comforting and refreshing to know that the Jesus that shed His blood on the cross for us is the same man whom God granted all power and authority over heaven and on earth as well. This is what truly separated Jesus from just being a mere man. He was in fact divine. The man whom we pray to in our brokenness and pain has the power to heal us in our brokenness. No one else can. We feel weak and unable to fix ourselves. Jesus can. When doubt creeps in, in our dark hours, and we feel we are alone, we only need to remind ourselves that through Jesus, there is the power to calm the seas, heal the sick, cure the blind, help the lame to walk. Jesus performed these miracles so that we may see and understand the awesomeness of his power for those who believe. If He can perform these, can he not heal broken marriages? Can He not help us when we despair? Can he not give us the peace that eludes us in life?
In the message this past week, we heard Jesus rebuke Peter for doubting and not believing in Him. “Ye of little faith” Jesus calls Peter. We all tend to shrink from our faith at times. We treat God as though He cannot help in our circumstances. Instead of believing boldly that He can rescue us from sin and struggles, we put Him in a box and minimize His ability to help in our daily walk. Fortunately, we have the bible and His amazing word that proclaims the mightiness of Jesus to remind us that through Him, all things are possible. Proclaim loudly that Jesus is the Son of God. Believe boldly that Jesus is the great I Am. Trust that He can take any pain and worry and provide us with what He knows we need at that moment. Live life everyday as though we are being called out of the boat in rough waters, knowing and believing that as we keep our eye on Him, He will not let us sink.
Kevin