“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 nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:1-5.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14.
According to William Kelley, “Grace is the activity of divine love in the midst of evil…Truth is the revelation of all things as they really are, from God Himself.”
“God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high….” Hebrews 1:1-3.
“But to the Son [Jesus] He [God the Father] says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.’ And: ‘You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not fail.’” Hebrews 1:8-12.
The hand of Christ in creation is also seen in this passage.
“…that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ…” Ephesians 3:8b-9.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist [are held together].” Colossians 1:15-17.
By this last phrase above, Scripture is maintaining that all things are held together by Jesus Christ.
It is possible for someone to believe, that the statement, all things are held together by Christ, is just some form of an overstatement of facts, or an allegory of sorts, so it is easy to overlook these words.
The truth is every word in Colossians 1:15-17 should be taken literally.
Science tells us that the atom is made up of a nucleus of protons and neutrons and this center has various numbers of electrons circling them at enormous speed.
The electrons have a negative charge, and the protons have a positive charge, these opposite charges attract each other thus keeping the electrons circling the nucleus in a fashion like how our solar system is pictured with planets orbiting the sun.
Here is the rub, the nucleus, as said before is made up of protons, positive charge, and neutrons which have no charge; since like charges repel each other, why does the nucleus not explode? Answer, no one knows.
The apostle Paul knew, he wrote about it in 61 A.D.
“All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16b-17.
Let us take this line of thought a little further.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?” 2 Peter 3:10-12.
One might describe the detonation of an atomic device in the same manner, but this description was penned by the Apostle Peter in 66 A.D. And the detonation of this massive fireball will not be done by man but by Jesus Christ when He releases these atoms that He holds together.
Bear with me a little longer if you will and let us examine the book of Job.
“He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the water in His thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it.” Job 26:7-8.
Keep in mind that these words were uttered approximately 4000 years ago when the earth was thought to be carried on the back of a turtle or some other such fanciful explanation.
God had revealed to these men that the world is hung on nothing, which science describes as gravity. Yet science cannot explain gravity, so what holds it all together?
“And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist [are held together].” Colossians 1:17.
It is also important to understand the statement in Colossians 1:15 earlier and again below.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Colossians 1:15.
The first phrase telling us that Jesus is the image of God reinforces the statements by Jesus Himself.
“Then Jesus cried out and said, ‘He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.’” John 12:44-45.
“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father?”’” John 14:9.
The last phrase in Colossians 1:15 states that Christ is, “the firstborn over all creation”. Do not let this confuse you; the only time Jesus was born was to the virgin Mary when He came to earth in the form of a man, His incarnation.
This is not what this is referring to, Christ was never born He has always existed; Jesus Christ is not a created being.
The phrase, “In the beginning God”, in Genesis 1:1 indicates that God was there before the beginning, before anything was created, and Christ and the Holy Spirit were there too.
The triune God is an uncreated being, He is infinite and eternal. Can this be explained? No.
Nor can the atheist explain how something as intricate as an atom can form out of nothing. Some things must be taken on faith.
Whom will you believe?
The Jehovah’s Witnesses grasp onto this verse and say that it means that Christ is a god (yes little g) who was created. In this they are willfully ignorant.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress [marginal, hold down] the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” Romans 1:18-19.
People will come to your door and tell you outrageous things, you must know your Scriptures or they will confuse you!
Enough of rabbit trails, what does it mean? The simplest explanation is that “the firstborn over all creation”, means that Jesus is heir to all of creation due to His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, making Him the “the firstborn over all creation”.
“And He [Jesus] is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” Colossians 1:18.
Look at this phrase again in Colossians 1:15 and note that it says, “firstborn over all creation”, this is the title of someone over all creation not in it, from it, or out of it.
The four gospels record 35 miracles performed by Jesus Christ. This is by no means all His miracles, merely all those God chose to record there. In fact, the Apostle John says this about the Lord’s life.
“And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” John 21:25.
Of the 35 miracles recorded, the gospel of John contains only seven. In John these miracles are referred to as signs or attesting miracles.
Since the gospel of John portrays Christ as God these signs would confirm this portrayal.
After the incident with the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8 Jesus contended with the Jews and made the following statement.
“You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He [the Christ/Messiah], you will die in your sins.” John 8:23b-24.
“And this is the will of Him [God the Father] who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son [with your hearts] and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:40.
Christ Omnipotent, Part 1 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 9-2-15, updated on 1-6-24 ck.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.