Who is the Son?
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Introduction:
I remember a few years ago when Prince William and Princess Kate welcomed their first born son George into the World. And even for many Americans, they were enthralled, because as the first born so of the future King of England, George will likely one day grow up to be king of England.
To be a first born son in a royal family is a big deal. The line of succession changes and some people who were in line for the crown are bumped.
And it’s pretty much been this way throughout all of history. This is the way things have been done. Even in the days of the Hebrew Kings.
When it comes to Jesus, there are 2 things we look at.
As a baby, He was born in the line of King David and was the rightful heir to the throne of Israel.
As the Son of God, He is the rightful heir of to the Kingdom of Heaven.
And as such, he is worthy of our worship and our service.
Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your bibles to Colossians 1:13-20.
Over the last few weeks, we have been really asking the question who is God. And through answering that question within the pages of scripture you will come face to face with the idea that there is more going on here than meets the eye.
There is the Holy Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit each acting in the manner of divinity distinct in personality. Yet the Bible is clear that there is only one God.
We’ve looked at what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit, We’ve looked at what the Bible says about the Father. Now we get to know the Son and what the Bible says about Him.
Now we know the Son as Jesus. The one who came as a man, born in Bethlehem. He lived a perfect life was a great teacher and leader. And many people stop there.
But the Bible doesn’t allow us to stop at Jesus’ humanity. The Bible teaches us that Jesus was more than a man and that he was in fact God as well. And this should be good news and a comfort to us.
Because...
Introduce Big Idea: We must trust God the Son to save us and sustain us in a fallen and broken world.
Introduce Big Idea: We must trust God the Son to save us and sustain us in a fallen and broken world.
Let’s read...
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.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
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.
17 And 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, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Again,
Introduce Big Idea: We must trust God the Son to save us and sustain us in a fallen and broken world.
Introduce Big Idea: We must trust God the Son to save us and sustain us in a fallen and broken world.
Now we must get at least one thing right or else everything else will be messed up.
Main Point #1 - The Son is God in the flesh. (15a, 19)
Main Point #1 - The Son is God in the flesh. (15a, 19)
Explanation: Now there are really 2 explicit statements in this text that speak to the divine nature of the Son. The first comes in vs. 15 and the 2nd comes in verse 19.
He is the image of the invisible God. Now the Bible speaks of God as an invisible Spirit. So those who have this image of God as as an old man with a white beard. Dispel that myth. God is Spirit. But Jesus is both God and man. So in His humanity, he is the perfect image and likeness of an invisible God.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Just in case you are confused by how a human can be God. And I love this idea of “pleased to dwell.” So many religions falsely claim that the material world is evil and our goal is to escape from the body into the spirit. This is not what the Bible teaches. In fact we will spend eternity in a perfect physical body. And to prove that point, we see over and over again that Jesus had a physical body.
But then we have this statement, also in vs. 15 that we need to explain.
He is the firstborn of all creation. Does this mean that the Son was a created being? This is certainly what a few cults seem to teach.
But the rest of the test pretty much excludes that interpretation. Remember that we always interpret confusing texts through what is clear.
So what does the rest of this text teach?
Well it goes on to say that by “Him all things were created…all things were created through him and for him.” So this text seems to distance the son for all that was created by speaking to him being the agent of creation.
It also says that “he is before all things...” So before creation came into being the son existed.
So what does first born mean? Well in ancient near eastern cultures, the firstborn was an important title that went far beyond birth order. It spoke of primacy of that person over their brothers and sisters and it spoke of the future patriarch of the family. It was a title of position more than that of being born.
And there is a good comparison in vs. 18 in that He is also the first born from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent. So He is preeminent in creation as well as from death. He is preeminent.
So here we have God setting Jesus over all of creation. Which is actually what vs. 13 is saying.
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
The Son is divine which, since we know that there is only one God, points to the doctrine of the Trinity.
Application: Why is this important?
We need to understand who the Son is if we are to approach Him in a correct manner.
He is worthy of the same worship as the Father and the Holy Spirit.
He is worth of the same reverence, awe and fear.
He is the same God of the Old Testament.
I was recently reading Jude in my Bible Reading Plan and I was shocked when I read
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Jude (Jesus’ earthly brother mind you) identifies Jesus as the one who saved the Israelites out of Egypt. That’s pretty awesome.
So Jesus is worthy of our worship, praise, honor, trust. He is the eternal God.
Illustration: Have you ever been talking to someone that you didn’t know who they were. And afterwards you were mortified?
Most people admit that Jesus lived. However, sadly most people don’t acknowledge who He really is. They don’t acknowledge even who He said His is. Because Jesus was pretty clear on this.
Well many people think that Jesus is a great teacher. Or a good moral person. Some think of Him as a revolutionary. A great leader.
But as C.S. Lewis most eloquently stated, you can’t have it both ways. Jesus was either a liar a lunatic or He was in fact Lord of all Creation.
And this is the dividing line. You either believe in Jesus as Lord or you will perish with the pagans.
Now what comes next seems to give further evidence that Jesus is divine by establishing that Jesus did not begin in the womb of Mary, but goes back all the way to the beginning.
Main Point #2 - The Son is the agent of Creation. (15b-18)
Main Point #2 - The Son is the agent of Creation. (15b-18)
Explanation: One of my favorite book series is the The Chronicles of Narnia. And in the very underrated “The Magicians Nephew,” we see Aslan (a type of Jesus) active in Creating Narnia. And how does he do it? By Singing. It’s a very beautiful picture of God’s creative work.
Some people want to divide the the roles of the Trinity into nice tidy categories. The Father Creates. The Holy Spirit Illuminates and the Son saves. But throughout the Bible we see that they are all involved, they work together. And Paul points us specifically to Creation to show this on full display.
In this passage we see the what, when, how and why of creation.
What: All things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
When: Obviously, creation was in the beginning.
How: Through him
Why : For Him
So do we see the son in Creation? I think so.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Jesus was the Word by which God spoke creation into existence.
And it was for Him because creation is His.
So again, we must come to Jesus acknowledging that He is the rightful heir to everything that we see. We must not take Him for granted or our relationship with Him for granted.
Sure He loves us, but He wants us to follow Him. And He wants us to enjoy with Him the coming restoration of His perfect creation.
We get to see that the Son Jesus in active in creation because it was created for Him and that one day, His kingdom will be the only kingdom. All those who come to know Him as Lord will be with Him in HIs kingdom for eternity. All those who refuse His Lordship will spend eternity under His judgement.
We see in this passage that Jesus interacts with His creation both in it in the incarnation and well as being preeminent over it.
Illustration:
Application: Throughout the New Testament we see that Jesus cares for His people. He cares for them because are His. They were created through Him and for Him. And we as followers of Jesus must always remember that Jesus takes care of His own.
And in case you had any doubt about whether or not Jesus cares for His own....we need look no further than the cross.
Main Point #3 - The Son is the savior of God’s people. (13-14, 20)
Main Point #3 - The Son is the savior of God’s people. (13-14, 20)
Explanation: Every Good Friday, we often consider the work that Jesus did on the cross. Dying and paying the penalty of sin that He didn’t commit. As Christians we acknowledge that he paid our debt. Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve and until now, we see that we are living in the consequences of that sin. Something had to happen to right the wrong. But how could any person ever hope to overcome the burden of sin. They couldn’t. That’s where Jesus stepped in to save the day…and God’s people. To redeem His people. Vs. 14 tells us that in Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.
In the same way that all things were created through Him and for Him, vs. 19 tells us that all things are reconciled through Him whether in heaven or on earth. And further Paul tells us that He made peace by the blood of His cross.
A lot of people ask, how can one person carry the sins of all people?
How can reconciliation for me occur in Jesus’ sacrifice?
Well it comes back to the fact that He was God? But more than that, he was God in the flesh.
Only a human could atone for the sins of other sinful humans. But only a perfect human could do it perfectly. That’s why Jesus came to earth to die.
And God had been setting this up for thousands of years. He established the sacrificial system to show that the blood of bulls and goats could serve to atone for the sins of sinful people. And he talked about how one day a Messiah would come and save God’s people from their sins and do away with the need for animal sacrifices. How is this possible?
The cross.
Standing as our representative as a perfect man, the Son died for those sins, reconciling us to God. But wait there’s more....
3 days later, he rose from the dead and is the firstborn from the dead showing that when we put our faith in Him, we too will one day spend eternity with Him in a new creation.
Application: So let me get this straight.
Even though the Son is God....
Even though all of creation belongs to Him...
Even though He didn’t have to, He took on the most helpless form in that of a baby....not even born in the 21st century.
Even though He was perfect and never sinned...
Willingly came to earth and died on the cross for our sins....because there was no other way.
Apart from what Jesus did on the cross, we would all of us have rightly so been condemned to an eternity in hell.
But because we have peace by the cross, we get to spend eternity in heaven.
How can that not give you chills?!?!
If you are a Christian, you can’t take that for granted. And you can’t keep it to yourself.
This is the most amazing news in all the world.
If Jesus is God, the Agent of Creation and the Redeemer of God’s people, Then that truly begs the question, How do we respond to one such as this?
How do we approach Jesus? it’s an important question for all of us. It’s the most important question ever asked because it will ultimately determine our eternal destiny.
Response: Do you know the Son and have you trusted Him to save you from your sins?
Response: Do you know the Son and have you trusted Him to save you from your sins?
Many of us think about Jesus in the New Testament.
Born in Bethlehem to a virgin named Mary. But Jesus didn’t begin His existence there. He has always existed and is all over the pages of Scripture.
He is the word that spoke creation into existence.
He walked with Adam in the cool of the garden.
He spoke with Abraham over looking Sodom.
He comforted Hagar in the Wilderness.
He comforted Manoah and his wife with the promise of a son named Sampson.
He wrestled with Jacob
He was present with Shadrach, Meshach and abendigo in the fiery furnace.
He slaughtered 180,000 Assyrians encamped against Jerusalem delivering His people without them having to lift a single sword.
He is the Son of Man and the ancient of days in Daniel’s vision of the future.
He is the Angel of the Lord.
He is the Lord’s servant of Isaiah 53.
And He came to this earth to save us from our sin. But let’s not ever mistake His meek and humble nature while in the flesh as weakness.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
There is nothing more important that