Our Supreme Savior
Scripture:
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation.
For through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body.
He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body.
As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
—Colossians 1:15–22 (NLT)
There is no passage in all of Scripture that gives us a more complete picture of who Jesus is than this one. Paul holds nothing back. Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. In Him the fullness of God took on human form and walked among us. He existed before anything else was created. He created everything in heaven and on earth, things we can see and things we cannot, thrones and kingdoms, rulers and authorities in the physical and spiritual realms. All of it was made through Him and for Him. And it is Jesus who holds all of creation together. Without Him, everything would unravel.
“We may talk about Alexander the Great, Charles the Great and Napoleon the Great, but not Jesus the Great. He is not the Great — he is the Only. There is nobody like Him. He has no rival and no successor.”¹ — John Stott, The Radical Disciple
Stott understood what Paul is declaring. This is not a passage about one impressive figure among many impressive figures. It is a declaration that Jesus occupies a category entirely His own. He is supreme over all creation, head of the church, first in everything. And yet the most staggering part of this passage is not what it says about His power. It is what it says about what He did with it. The One who holds all creation together stepped into the brokenness of that creation, knowing He would be rejected and crucified by the very people He made. Still, He came. And through His blood on the cross, He made peace between God and all things.
This includes you. At one time you were far from God, separated from Him by sin and rebellion. But through Christ, you have been brought near. You have been reconciled. And now, because of what Jesus has done, you stand in the very presence of God, holy and blameless, without a single fault. Not because of anything you have achieved, but because of everything He has accomplished. The One who is supreme over all creation made Himself nothing so that you could be made whole. That is not a small thing. That is the whole of the gospel, and it deserves to be the ground you stand on every single day.
Reflection:
- What stands out to you most about Paul’s description of Jesus in this passage?
- How does the truth that Jesus holds all creation together impact the way you view your life and daily challenges?
- In what ways can you live in response to the reality that you are now holy and blameless before God because of Christ?
Prayer:
Take a moment to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, supreme over all creation. Thank Him for reconciling you to the Father and making you holy and blameless. Ask God to help you fully grasp this reality and live out of your new identity in Him.
Footnote:
¹ John Stott, The Radical Disciple: Some Neglected Aspects of Our Calling (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010).