Ah, Halloween is behind us and Thanksgiving is just ahead. How I love thanksgiving, not just the Thanksgiving holiday, but the giving of thanks. God has taken me to the letter to the church at Colossae as we begin this season of reminder to be ever thankful. He has taken me to the Supremacy of Christ passage in Chapter 1. Yesterday I focused on the fact that we are rescued out of the dominion of darkness. All that is behind us now. We have instead been granted citizenship in the “kingdom of the Son he loves.” [1:13]
As you read through chapter 1 in this letter it’s as if Paul is sudden captured by the image of the Son that God loves. He begins to describe the Son in the most eloquent manner.
“He [the Son God loves] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” [Col 1:15 NIV]
Let us not be confused by the term firstborn. It doesn’t mean God’s Son had a beginning. Firstborn in the culture of Paul’s day meant preeminence and supremacy over brothers. It signified special blessings, rights and privileges.
In fact, the Son God loves is the exact image of the invisible God. You want to know what the Father is like? Look at the Son. He is the exact representation of the Father. It is the Father’s purpose to glorify the Son and glory upon glory – He has granted us to share in that purpose!
Father, what wonder! You have called us to share in the privileges of the firstborn, the Son You love. I can never offer enough thanks for what You have called us to! Amen.
