The Supremacy of Christ - Colossians 1:15-20

1:58Lifting up Christ as supreme, as first. So if you remember, a few weeks ago, we opened up the book of Colossians. And the way Paul starts Colossians is by giving thanks. Remember, we said he's excited about the Colossian church because they've heard the gospel, they've heard the truth, and they've responded in faith. So Paul is excited for them, but he's also concerned for them. They're in danger. They're in great danger. And they're in danger because heresies have crept their way into the Colossian church. And these wrong teachings are threatening the life of the church. So Paul is excited, but he's also concerned now that he's heard this extra report from Epaphras. And he's writing back to the Colossian church. And he said last time that he was praying for them. He's praying for them because he wants them to walk. A worthy walk. And we looked at how he gives four parts of that worthy walk. They need to bear fruit. They need to increase in knowledge. They need to stand strong. They need to give thanks. But we mentioned how increasing in knowledge was the main key that he's focusing in this letter. That they need to increase in what they know about God, what they know about Christ. If you look at the end of chapter 1, Colossians 1, verses 28 and 29, Paul says, Him we proclaim, that's Christ. Christ we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. And so Paul is struggling. He's toiling with all of the energy that he has, all of the energy that the Lord is powering him with. And what is he struggling for? He's struggling to proclaim. He's struggling to teach, to give wisdom, so that people would be mature.

4:11He's teaching them. He continues in the second chapter, Colossians 2, verse 1. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all. The riches of full assurance of understanding in the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. So, Paul is saying that there are riches, there's a treasure in knowledge, in the things we know.

4:56These treasures prevent us from being deluded, is what he says. And who is the central figure of this knowledge? In whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden? It's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And so, when we turn to our text this morning, Colossians 1, 15 through 20, we can maybe get a little picture of what he's trying to do. He's just given thanks for the church. He said he's praying for them. And now, as the first order of business, he immediately starts talking about Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And so he is trying to educate them on who Christ is by giving them this song or this creed.

5:55Follow along with me as I read. Verse 15, Colossians 1:15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. And he is before all things. And in him all things hold together. 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. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Let's pray.

6:52Father, I pray that you would help us understand this passage today. This is an amazing passage where we hear about Christ and who he is, and I pray that you would help us exalt him and lift him up in our hearts, that we would worship him as king. And like we sang this morning, that we would bow the knee before him. I pray, Lord, that as we go through all of these phrases about Christ this morning, I pray that you would help us to understand each one.

7:30And I pray that you would give us focus and diligence to work hard to understand it. In Jesus' name, amen. Before we start, I want to look at the structure with you of this passage. So make sure you have a Bible. There should be some in the baskets in front of you if you didn't bring one. But grab a Bible and look at Colossians 1:15 through 20. I think it's important for us to see the structure of this hymn or this creed that he's giving to them about Jesus because it helps us understand what he's saying. It helps us understand how he's grouping the material. And so it seems like he's grouping this material in three parts, in three stanzas, which could be debated. But the first stanza, I think, is easy. It's verse 15 and 16. So if you mark in your Bible, you could put a little mark after verse 16. That's the first stanza, verse 15 and 16. But the second one is a little trickier with our verse numbers. So I believe it starts with verse 17, the second stanza, and it goes through the first half of verse 18. So it goes through, and he is the head of the body, the church. So you can put a little mark after the church.

8:56Then I think the third stanza starts with, he is the beginning. And goes through the end of verse 20. So we have verse 15 and 16. That's the first part. The second part is verse 17 and the first half of 18. And then the third part is the rest of 18 through 20. And the reason why I'm pointing this out is: number one, that's how the outline is going to be broken down this morning. Okay, so it'll make more sense. But also, we're going to see a lot of parallels in structure. If you look at verse 15, you see, he is this and this, the firstborn of this, for in him, this, whether this. And if you look at our third stanza, you see the same exact pattern. He is this, the firstborn, this, for in him, this. And then down in verse 20, whether this or this or this. So we have two parallel stanzas. And I think why it's important is because those two parts explain the two reasons why Jesus is supreme over everything else. And we'll see that it's because he's the Lord of creation and he's the Lord of redemption. For these two reasons, Jesus is going to be first in everything. And then the middle part combines those two ideas and exalts Jesus as a summary as that he's the Lord of all. Okay?

10:30So, back to what's happening. Paul is writing to the Colossian church. He's concerned for them because of the heresies that have crept in. He is writing to battle those heresies and to encourage the church. And he does so, first off, right away, by explaining who Jesus Christ is. That's our number one truth. That's our number one weapon against dangerous heresies, even today. And I think you'll see as we go through this that this text guards us from all kinds of heresies, from other religions, or from even pseudo-Christian cults. We are guarded against them with this one passage about Jesus and who he is. So I challenge you to work hard, to pay attention today. Work hard to understand this passage. Don't be a lazy listener this morning. Okay? Work hard and study it with me. So first we see that Jesus is the Lord of creation. He is supreme over creation because he's greater than creation. Look at verse 15. The first phrase, he is the image of the invisible God. He is the image of the invisible God. We can't see God, right? But when we look at Jesus and we look at his life, we see the image of God.

11:54The Apostle John writes in John 1.18 that no man has ever seen God. Only God who is at the Father's side, He has made him known. Or another one of my favorite passages from John 14 is a conversation. And Philip says to Jesus, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. And Jesus responds back to Philip and says, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

12:32How can you say, Show us the Father? And so Jesus is saying he gives the perfect picture of who the Father is. He is the image of the invisible God. Turn with me to Hebrews 1. We won't do a lot of flipping today, but this passage is so similar to our passage, Hebrews chapter 1. We'll hear the exact same idea. And if you want homework for today, after we study Colossians 1, I encourage you this afternoon to go and read Hebrews chapter 1, the whole thing, and you'll see so many parallel expressions. So Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also. He created the world.

13:33He is the radiance of the glory of God. And listen to this: the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purifications for sin, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. So he says there in the middle that Jesus is the exact imprint of his nature. That's Hebrews 1:3.

14:07So back in Colossians 1. What he's saying when he says he is the image of the invisible God, it's saying that he is the picture of this God. If we want to know what the nature of God is like, the place we can look is at Jesus Christ. And how do we look at Jesus Christ? How can we see him? We can't see when he actually lived on earth. And so what do we have to do? We have to read the Gospels, right? We have to read the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John. And when we do that, when we see Jesus, we see the nature of God. He is the image of the invisible God. And so when we hear the stories about Jesus being kind and compassionate, we get a picture of the kindness and compassion. Of God, right? When we see him being powerful and mighty, we get a picture of the power and might of God. When we see his hatred of sin or his forgiveness towards the sinner, we see the nature of God. He is the image of the invisible God, the imprint of the divine nature. And so, I think the most important application so far for you, if you're going to take this home and say, what does this mean for me? I think the most important application for you is to look at the image, right? To look at the way Christ is. Read the Gospels as much as you can. You know, we are blessed to be part of a church that right now is going verse by verse through the Gospel of John, usually on a Sunday morning.

15:55And we are getting to observe his life one verse at a time, and it's amazing. We get to see God in the flesh, on earth, in the way he acts. But I'd encourage you not to stop there. I'd encourage you to read him as much as you can. Just devour the gospels and soak them up and see what the divine nature is like. He's the imprint of the invisible God, the image of the invisible God. So do it as much as you can and copy him.

16:30So, not only this, verse 15, Colossians 1:15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. The firstborn of all creation. What does that mean? The firstborn of all creation. Well, we have to be careful here, right? And many of you, if you've been a Christian a long time, you've heard this verse a lot, maybe used for bad purposes or used for things that aren't true. So, what does it mean for him to be the firstborn of all creation? Well, in this case, it does not mean that he is the firstborn of all creation, as if to imply that he was just the first created being by the Father, and that's all he is, is another created being just like us. That's not true, right? And he'll make that abundantly clear in the next verse. He'll tell us in verse 16 that that's not true. He is before creation. So, what does it mean here? Well, the word can mean that he was the first to be born, but firstborn can also just mean that he has the right of the inheritor, or he has the right of the preeminent one, the foremost one, the rights of the firstborn. And it's used like this a lot in the New Testament. Actually, most of the time, it's used like this in the New Testament, and it's even used like this in the Old Testament. One case we see is you can write down Psalm. Psalm 89, 27. Psalm 89, 27, God is speaking about David, or maybe metaphorically as a future David. But David is the youngest of six children. And he says, and I will make him the firstborn the highest of the kings of the earth. I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. So there he's using the word, not saying that I'm going to make him the one who is born first. right? The one who is created first. He's using it by saying he's going to be the highest out of all the kings. He's going to be my firstborn. That's how he's using the word. In another Old Testament example, we actually see it used both ways side by side. This is kind of interesting. So this is Exodus 4, 22. Listen close, okay, see if you can catch it. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son. And I say to you, let my son go, that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son. And so there he calls Israel his firstborn son. And we know Israel is not the first nation, right?

19:17It's not the first nation to be born, but it is God's chosen nation. It's God's preeminent nation. And so God is saying, they're my firstborn. And so if you don't let them go, I'm going to take your firstborn, your actual firstborn son. So, the word can be used even side by side in both ways. And so, what does that mean for us? If Christ is a firstborn, back in Colossians 1:15, the firstborn of all creation, he's saying that he is greater than all of creation. He is the one that's preeminent over creation. He's the inheritor of all of creation. And we know that because he follows it with the word because. Look at verse 16. It's probably for in your Bible. It's the same word. For in 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. So Jesus is preeminent. He's the firstborn over creation because everything was made in him.

20:26Everything that was created was created through Jesus Christ. That's why he's the firstborn over creation. And so you see, it doesn't make sense because it doesn't make sense to say that he's just the first part of creation because everything in creation was made through him. All things were made through him. This is John 1:3. And without him was not anything made that was made. It's pretty clear, right? All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

21:00So, if anything in all of creation was ever made, it was made through him. He says, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. I think what he's doing there is trying to say that there's no exception. Whether it's the things in heaven, you know, what are some of the things in heaven? They're the angels. If he's talking about the heaven as in the sky, it's the stars, the birds, and the clouds, and things like that. In heaven and on earth, everything you can think of, everything was made through him. Not only that, the visible and the invisible. So, everything we can see, but also all of the spiritual forces that we can't see, the invisible, everything was made through Jesus Christ.

21:55He even pauses to detail, look at the middle of verse 16. Visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. Now, those could mean actual earthly thrones or earthly authorities or something like that, but usually when they're strung together like this, they're talking about angelic, some sort of ranks or some sort of grouping of angels. And I think that's what he's doing here because. The Colossian church, we find out, look over at chapter 2. It's just a page over for me, chapter 2, verse 18 and 19.

22:41Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in details about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. And so it seems like the Colossian church has been told, has been told, that they need to do some kind of special worship with angels, or they need to regard angels and visions and things like that. And I think back in our text in Colossians 1, he's mentioning this to even say, look, Jesus is better than the angels. We saw the same thing in the Hebrews passage. He is even over them. He is the firstborn over all creation, including the angels, as part of creation. He is superior even to them. So don't worship the angels, right? Jesus should be first, Jesus should be preeminent and supreme.

23:51One last thing. Verse 16. All things were created through him and through him. For him. Do you guys see that? All things were created through him and for him. That's an entire other detail that we find out, right? So Jesus is the Lord of creation. Number one, because he is the image of the invisible God. He's the perfect representation of God. But also because he's created everything, but also because everything was created for him. Everything was created for him.

24:35He is the goal of creation. He is the one that the Father creates for. He creates through Jesus and He creates for Jesus. It reminds me of the passage we studied even last week, right? You remember in John 6, last Sunday, we talked about the bride being given to the Son by the Father. And just this idea that those works that he has done are because he's redeeming a gift for the Son. And I think you get the same idea. Creation itself is for the Son, it's for Jesus Christ. Okay, so first, we see in that first stanza that Jesus is Lord of creation. Jesus is Lord of creation. In our second stanza, now, remember, this is kind of the summary climax stanza, and that's that Jesus is Lord of all.

25:30Jesus is Lord of everything. So part one, he's Lord of creation. Part two, he's Lord of all. So this is verse 17 in the first part of verse 18. And he makes this summary statement by mentioning three quick things about Jesus that are amazing. I say quick because he says them quickly, not because they're not important, right? These are amazing truths about Jesus. The first one, look at verse 17. And he is before all things. He is before all things.

26:07So he created all things, but he's also before them. And that word can be used of time or rank, just like our word before. You can say, I was before you, like I got here before you and time. Or you can say, me before you, like as in, you honor me before you, or something like that. You can mean it in rank. And the same thing can be, it's the same kind of distinction for the language here. But I think he's talking about time. That's how Paul usually uses it. That Jesus is before all things. So he's greater than creation because he's before it in time. He came first. Before anything that you can see existed, Jesus existed. He's before all things. Another reason. Reason for us to give him glory and honor and preeminence. So, Jesus is before everything in the next verse, the next phrase, and in him all things hold together.

27:17In him, all things hold together. It's amazing, right? In him, all things hold together. In the Hebrews passage we looked at earlier, the way that it puts it there is that he upholds the universe by the word of his power. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. So, in Jesus Christ, all things hold together. Everything that he has made, all of creation, continues to be held together by him. So, he's not only powerful enough to create things and set them into motion, he is also powerful enough to constantly keep them in check, to constantly sustain them by the word of his power. That's how powerful Jesus is. Everything in our universe that hangs together in a delicate balance, everything is upheld by him.

28:18And this is the power that holds us as well. You remember? Think again about last Sunday. We studied last Sunday in John 6 about, and this is the will of Him. Who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. And you get a sense of that power again. He's not going to let us fall through the cracks. He's holding everything together. He's perfectly keeping the universe together. He's perfectly keeping spiritual things together.

28:55He won't fail. Another reason to give him preeminence, to give him the highest place in our hearts. The third statement in this section, verse 18: and he is the head of the body, the church. He is the head of the body, the church. So not only is he before all things, not only is he holding everything together, he's also building his church. Another reason to give him glory. I know I sound repetitive, but it's just another reason to lift him up as the first. He's the head. He's the leader. He's the Lord of the church.

29:42As Paul says in the next chapter, that when the church, when we hold fast to the head, it's the head that gives us growth, supernatural growth, as we cling to Jesus Christ. And that's what we can do as we read this passage, even today. The hymn, one of my favorite hymns, says, The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by Spirit and the Word. From heaven, he came and sought her to be his holy bride with his own blood. He bought her, and for her life he died.

30:21With his own blood, he bought her, and for her life he died. So he has done everything to create this church, this new creation. And he's constantly sustaining it. And even now, we are his body, but he is the head. And so, yes, ordinary people, we get to live in a way as the church, as the exalted bride, right? And that's an exciting thing. But even more exalted than the body is the head of the body, the leader, right? Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and we should give him the most exalted place in our hearts.

31:05So, we've seen that Jesus is Lord of creation, and the summary is that he's Lord of all, creation, and what we're about to study, that he's the Lord of redemption. Or if you're being tricky, you could say that he is the Lord of the first creation and the Lord of the new creation, right? And the Lord of all. Okay, so Jesus, this third part, Jesus is Lord over redemption. The first thing that he says, verse 18, in the middle, he is the beginning. You guys see that? He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. He is the beginning.

31:49This word, again, can mean beginning, like in time, like we talked about earlier. Or this word could also mean beginning, first in rank. It's arche, like you could have the arch priest, the high priest. So it could mean rank. But I think this one, again, is time. I think he's saying he's the beginning. He's the first. Talking about the church. Jesus is first. And we actually, you know, we already heard that Jesus was first earlier. We heard that he was before all things. But I think he's repeating it in conjunction now with this new creation. So he has said that he's before all things, and he created all things. But now I think he's saying he is the first in regards to the church. He is the first in regards to the new creation.

32:37Why? Because look at what comes right after. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. The firstborn from the dead. That's a repeated word. The firstborn. Remember when we talked about that just a few minutes ago? We saw, even in close context, that word can mean either the predominant. Preeminent one, the one receiving all glory, but it also can mean the one that's born first, the first one to come. And I think that that's what he does in this text. He uses it as the preeminent one, but now he uses different words around it. If you look, it says that he is the firstborn from the dead, not of the dead. He is the firstborn from the dead. And so he is first, he is the beginning of the church because he is the first to receive true resurrection. He is the firstborn from the dead.

33:38He is the firstborn from the dead. So, yes, other people were raised from the dead, right? Maybe that's what you're thinking. You know, we hear of Lazarus, right? We hear of other people in the Old Testament and New Testament that were raised from the dead. But it's a little different, right? Because Lazarus died again. He was resurrected and then he died again. And he's with the Lord today. But Jesus, when he was resurrected, was the first to be resurrected with this eternal bodily resurrection that'll never fade.

34:16Still alive today. Jesus is first. So if it seems like Paul has been repeating over and over and over that Jesus is first, Jesus is first, it's because he is. The highest in all of these areas. And he summarizes: look at our text. He says, he's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Why? So that in everything he might be first. Right? In everything. So I think he's hammering home the point that, yes, Jesus was first in creation, but he's also the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything Jesus is first. Or my Bible says preeminent, the first, highest ranking.

35:05Why does he deserve to be first in everything? Why was he given this honor to be the first in the new resurrection? Look at the next phrase. Because, or for verse 19, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Because in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. The fullness, the whole fullness. It says in the next chapter, it makes this even more clear. You can look down at Colossians 2, verse 9.

35:44Colossians 2, verse 9, it says, For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. And I think that's the exact same thing. In our text this morning, Jesus deserves to be first placed in everything because he is the one whom the whole deity was pleased to dwell bodily. In him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. And this is what we celebrate at Christmas, right? This is why we remember this day and why we get so excited about this time of year. To remember that God came to earth to dwell bodily and not just part of him, right? He didn't just send part of his character. No, the whole fullness of deity dwelt bodily. And so this is just another reason why Jesus is one of a kind, another reason why he is supreme.

36:50Not only was he pleased to dwell in him bodily, verse 20, he was pleased to, through him, reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. So he was pleased also to reconcile everything to himself through Jesus Christ. Another honor given to Jesus Christ. That it was through him everything was reconciled. Reconcile means bring back in the right relationship with God, make peace, make friendship. He'll go on to say, In the next verses, 21 through 23, that this happens for men and women who put their faith in Jesus Christ. They are reconciled to God. It says that in those verses that men and women were alienated from God, and yet he takes them because of the blood of the cross, and he makes them holy and blameless and restores that peace, restores that friendship with God.

37:58But he also says that he reconciles all things. All things. And I don't think he's saying that he brings every single person into that peace with God, but I think he's using all things in the same way he's been using it throughout this passage to refer to all of creation. So when Jesus died on the cross, it's not only that he is reconciling those who put their faith in him to God, but he's also setting everything right. The new creation. Right now, the earth is under a curse, right? Right now, we know creation groans. And we hear these kind of phrases throughout scripture. We can see it in our own experience, with experience, with disasters and things like that. But even all of creation is going to be reconciled to God. It's going to be made right again because of what Jesus has done.

38:58Everything. On earth or in heaven, he says, whether on earth or in heaven. All things are made right. So follow this back, what he's saying there. He's saying that since Jesus, since the fullness was pleased to dwell in Jesus and make that reconciliation, that's the reason why he has the honor of being first in everything. He already was first in creation. Everything that was made was made through him and for him. But since this reconciliation has happened, he deserves the honor to be first in everything, and that's why he was given the honor of being first to rise from the dead. Does that make sense?

39:49So we have seen, I hope clearly, that Jesus deserves to be first place in our hearts. Jesus deserves in our thoughts and in our thinking to be supreme over all. And we've seen the two areas over creation that he's supreme and over the new creation, over redemption. And as we stare at who Jesus is, as we learn about him in this text and we read the Gospels like we talked about earlier, Paul says in another place that we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being Transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. So Jesus is the image of the invisible God. But as we study Him and we look at Him, we are transformed. We get to grow more into that image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. And so I just want to list out some of the things we learned about Jesus Christ today. There's a lot. Okay? Jesus is the invisible, the image of the invisible God. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He's the one that we can look at and clearly see the nature of God lived out before our very eyes. In Hebrews, it said that God spoke in many ways, right? God spoke to the prophets long ago and in many ways. But now he spoke through his Son, the image of the invisible God. We also see that he's the firstborn of all creation. He's the highest. He's supreme over all creation. Why? Because everything was created through him, spiritual and physical. Nothing is an exception. Everything was created through Jesus. Everything was created for Jesus. Even the angels created for Jesus. We saw that Jesus is before all things.

41:55We saw that Jesus is even today holding everything together by the word of His Power. He's the head of the body, the church, our leader, our guide, the one who's giving us growth, the one who's taking care of us. He's the beginning of this new creation, the firstborn from the dead. He's the one who started this hope that we have of being resurrected ourselves. He is first in everything, preeminent everything. The fullness of God was pleased to dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things through the blood of his cross. It's at least 10 things, right? So many things we learn about Christ. And Paul is saying over and over and over, he is first. He's supreme. He's the one that deserves all of our honor and glory.

42:50And so I just want to encourage you to one main application today, and that's to bow the knee before your Maker. Bow the knee before your Maker, Jesus Christ, who everything was created through Him and for Him. If you're a believer and you've been living a distracted life, maybe for a week, but maybe for years, you've been distracted. You haven't been honoring Jesus Christ as first in your heart and giving Him grace. And working hard to study passages like this and look at the Gospels. You've just been distracted.

43:38Well, look at Christ. Bow the knee before your Maker. Exalt Him in your hearts and work hard at it. Consider Him and contemplate Him, who He is. Look at His life and His death and His resurrection. Turn back, even this week, as you get ready for Christmas. Turn back to Colossians 1. Turn back to Philippians 2 that Matt read this morning. Turn to Hebrews 1 and read the Gospels. Just look at Jesus Christ. Lift Him up in your hearts. Exalt Him as the highest. And if you're an unbeliever, I think the same application goes to you. Bow the knee before your Maker.

44:20Scripture says that a day is coming when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So turn to Him. And if you don't know what that looks like, talk to somebody here, even today. Turn to Christ. He will be first in everything. One day, all of creation, all of the universe will bow before Him. And even now, He is preeminent over all things, He is supreme over everything and deserves the highest honor for all of the reasons that we saw today. So even today, Bow before him and hold him high in your hearts. He's the image of the invisible God, and in him everything holds together. Let's pray.

45:14Father, we are so grateful for this passage. We're so grateful that you have equipped us to not be taken captive by false teaching about Jesus Christ. I pray that we would understand who Jesus is. And I pray, Lord, that we would, each of us, kids, adults, I pray that you would help us to exalt him in our hearts, to lift him to the highest place. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.