Who is Jesus? That’s the question I posed in yesterday’s devotion. Jesus asked it of His disciples; He asks it of His disciples today. Colossians 1:15-20 gives a pretty succinct description of Jesus. I’d like to take a real quick and cursory look at that passage. Notice the words “quick” and “cursory.” That means without a whole lot of detail. 🙂

First, Jesus is preeminent. What does that mean? That means He is first in everything. First in importance, first in honor, first in exaltation. 

There are those who view Jesus as one of many lesser spirits descending in inferiority from God. Paul refutes that notion by saying He is “the visible image of the invisible God” (v,.15a). He is the perfect, absolutely accurate image of God. He was that from the beginning.

• “He existed before anything was created.” Jesus is NOT a created being.
• “He is supreme over all creation.” He is the authority over all. Contrary to one of the cult’s idea that Jesus was a created being-Michael the Archangel to be exact-the Apostle Paul refutes that idea vehemently.
• “Through Him God created everything.” He is the agent of creation. The Greek words “through Him” is also “by Him.”  (See John 1:1,3)
• “Everything was created through Him and for Him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.” He is the aim of creation. Revelation describes Him as “the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the Beginning and the End.”
• “He holds all creation together.” See Psalm 95:3-7 for more on that.

The rest of Colossians 1 (verses 18-20) are hard to get around:

• He is the Head of the church. Note: no man is and that includes the pastor or (you fill in the blank).
• He is the first in everything and that includes all who rise from the dead.
• God reconciled (made us friends) us to Himself through Jesus’ death on the cross.

There you have it. A quick review of who Jesus is. It is my belief that there are many warped ideas out there of who Jesus is, even those which sound good.  Pray for discernment. Study diligently. Stick to the Word.