Understanding the Covenants

Understanding the covenants is of paramount importance to understanding the Bible, and it is the main key in understanding the mystery of Israel in these last days.

The confusion arises from not distinguishing between the Abrahamic and the Sinaitic covenants. Many lump these two things together into one when it ought not be done. The Abrahamic covenant is a unilateral (one-way) covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants, promising to make them a nation, bless them, and give them the land of Canaan forever. The Sinaitic covenant was a bilateral (two-way) covenant that God made with Israel after bringing them out of Egypt, guaranteeing them blessings or curses based upon obedience or disobedience to the conditions of the covenant. The Abrahamic covenant knows of no such conditions; in fact, despite Israel's ongoing disobedience, God continued to remember His unilateral covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and so continued to be faithful to the nation of Israel even though they were perpetually rebellious and broke all the terms of the Sinaitic covenant. This is the amazing drama throughout Scripture - the tension between God's one-way covenant and the two-way covenant of the law.

"And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise." (Gal. 3:17-18)

Thus we believe that the original promise God made to Abraham concerning his people and the land still stands - it is irrevocable - yet because the law was introduced as a condition for enjoying it, a tension now exists between God's promise that they would possess it and Israel's inability to possess it by law. As Paul continues on, he explains why the law was given. It was given to teach us that we must turn to Christ to be justified by faith. Israel will dwell safely in the land in the future once they turn in faith to Jesus Christ. When Christ comes the second time He will gather them and plant them in the land "with His whole heart and with His own soul" (Jer. 32:37-44) because at that time Israel shall know God - Jesus - as "the Lord our Righteousness." (Jer. 23:6). Thus the original Abrahamic promise will be fulfilled and the law will be established... both by Jesus Christ. It is when God finally fulfills His promise to Abraham by bringing in the rebellious nation to inherit the land forever that God will be publicly glorified in the eyes of all nations (read Num. 14:10-21 carefully and prayerfully). Bringing Israel into the land is God's "mission impossible"! When He does, all the earth will know that Jehovah is God, and what kind of God He is! A God of grace and righteousness - a God who keeps His promises despite our sin.

Thus we find that Jesus did not come to do away with, but to confirm, the promises made to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:

"Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." (Rom. 15:8)

"As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." (Rom. 11:28-29)

These are powerful verses to be reckoned with.

So when we read in Jeremiah 31 (and quoted in Hebrews 8) that God is going to make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, we take that to mean just that: with the nation of Israel (understanding that many Gentiles are added to it, and that in the end the natural branches that were broken off shall be grafted back in again). The new covenant is established in Christ's blood; it is the gospel. Yet what it replaces is the old covenant; and what is the old covenant? Not the Abrahamic covenant, but the Sinaitic covenant, as it explicitly says! "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant..." (Heb. 8:9) It is explicit: it is the two-way covenant made at Sinai when God brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt, not the one-way covenant that God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and which Jesus Christ came to confirm! Thus the law, the old Sinaitic covenant of works, is replaced by the gospel new covenant, to the intent that Israel inherits the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - that the promises which God spoke to the patriarchs might be fulfilled for Israel in Christ.

That is the context of Jeremiah 31:31 which so often gets overlooked. Most of the Church is made up of Gentiles now so we don't fully grasp the Jewish framework of the gospel nor appreciate the essence of the Abrahamic covenant. It seems we have lost the original "hope of Israel" (Acts 28:20). Israel in the land means God's public glory in the earth without which it can never otherwise be revealed. I suggest we do much meditation upon Numbers 14:21, for it is in this context that God declares that "as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD." When we re-read the prophets in this light, their words explode with life and the New Testament with new eschatological meaning.

Thus we must distinguish between the Abrahamic and the Sinaitic covenant, not lumping them erroneously together, if we are to see the true meaning and glory of the new covenant with "the house of Israel and the house of Judah."

Toward a Biblical Eschatology

The following is a letter written to a Christian brother concerning premillennialism and the people of God.

Hey M---, I hope all is well with you too, brother. Love hearing from you!

When it comes to eschatology, misunderstandings abound. One of the greatest misunderstanding of all is that there are essentially only two views Christians can take on Israel: Supercessionism or Dispensationalism. Dispensationalists can't stand Supercessionism, and Supercessionists can't stand Dispensationalism. It is automatically assumed that if one does not hold to Supercessionism they are Dispensational, and if one does not hold to Dispensationalism they are Supercessionist. That is an unfortunate and needless "catch 22" that shouldn't exist. Let me say that I am neither a Supercessionist nor a Dispensationalist. I believe in one people of God and only one. In this I wholeheartedly agree with you and the Supercessionists. However, I also believe that Jewish people, even the non-believing Jewish people, are still in the game and are not superseded by the Church, and I also believe in the premillennial kingdom of national Israel that is to come at the second coming of Jesus Christ. I do not believe there are two peoples of God - Israel and the Church - and I do not believe in the pretribulational rapture or the Left Behind series! But I am premillennial. Not all premillennialists are Dispensationalists.

What's interesting to me is that there is a current move in the amillennial camp away from older amillennialistic doctrine and a growing embrace of the notion that a mass conversion of Israel will occur at the end of the age. Of course there have been exceptions in the past, but it is interesting that this idea is gaining much popularity today. Even the forsaking of the term "Replacement" is a noteworthy evidence of this, whereas in times past it was a term that was used freely by amillennialists. So though it may have been used derogatorily by Dispensationalists, it certainly wasn't strictly a derogatory word (mind you, Supercessionists use the term "Dispensational" derogatorily as well!).

But the implications of this movement in the amillennial camp toward seeing a mass conversion of Israel is profound. If this be true, why? Does this mean that God's covenant with His original people still stands? Does this mean that unbelieving Israel still has a part to play in God's redemptive plan? If so, why should we stop only with the conversion of the Jews? Why not embrace the full covenantal promise of the land of Israel and the kingdom of David? It seems to me that such a movement is arbitrarily stopping short of believing in the fulfillment of all the promises of God to Israel. If you concede the one, why not concede them all? They are likewise promised. Such a concession in the amillennial camp is in my estimation a huge leap towards premillennialism, even if at this time they don't see it. Many amillennialists today are even believing in the restoration of this very earth and in the earthly kingly rule of Jesus Christ on it. But why not believe in the earthly kingly rule of Jesus on this earth in Israel? Stopping short of this seems arbitrary and unexegetical.

If the argument of Gal. 3:28 is given, then premillennialists can give a perfectly reasonable answer: there exists in Christ diversity in unity. Just like the Trinity and just like a family, there is diversity, even priority, but this diversity in no way destroys the oneness of the unity. If there is no more male and female in Christ, why do we still acknowledge maleness and femaleness in our Christian communities? Because there still exists male and female diversity! And therefore there still exists Jew and Gentile (as Paul himself owns: "I myself am a Jew"). The point of Galatians 3:28 and Ephesians 2 is that regarding our access to God through Christ there is no racial boundaries. "And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." (Eph. 2:16) Both Jew and Gentile are reconciled to God in one body: in Christ. That's the whole point. But the breakdown of diversity goes no further than this. God still sees the diversity of His creation even though when it comes to being reconciled to Himself in Christ Jesus there are no distinctions.

As you have well pointed out in Romans 11, there is only one people of God. The Church is Israel - Israel as Israel has always been with all her covenants and promises. There is not a new Israel; there is only the same old Israel that God has always known: but some of the natural branches have been cut off (Jews who haven't believed) and many wild branches have been grafted in (Gentiles who have believed). Israel is the same. It is essentially Jewish. It is still the nation that came from Abraham. All the covenants and promises are still true for her, only there has been a mysterious shifting around of her members. Though, as many amillennialists are seeing, God still has a purpose for those unbelieving Jews: He is able to graft them in again! How much more since they are natural branches! And He will indeed do so at the end of the age, when all the broken off branches will be brought back into Israel to be joined with the saved Gentiles and remnant of believing Jews that were not cut off; not two people but one. But as Gentiles are enjoying an unusual habitat in the tree, those Jews will be coming home.

You see, you don't need to be a Dispensationalist and believe in two peoples of God (banish that horrid thought!) to be a premillennialist, and you don't need to be an amillennial Supercessionist to believe in one people of God. Sadly, most people in both extreme camps don't know this. I am convinced that the view that I hold is both exegetically sound, reasonable and consistent with all the other doctrines that I believe. I am premillennial, and I believe in one people of God. On the contrary, I believe that to be Supercessionist is to be inconsistent with one's view of sovereign grace and with the tried and true method of Biblical interpretation. Why would the God who has always spoken clearly, who always finishes what He begins, who never revokes His gifts and callings, disannull His covenants and promises He made with the Jews? Because of their disobedience? No... that is not the God that we know.

Why should it be thought impossible or strange that God should raise the dead nation of Israel and fulfill His Abrahamic/Davidic covenant with them in time and space on this very earth? What amazing public glory it shall be when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in full vision to the whole earth to fulfill the promises made to the fathers. Glory! Count me in!

Love you dearly my brother,
Yours,
-Eli

How Grace and Works Fit Together

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." - Ephesians 2:8-10

Notice how works are mentioned three times in this passage. First, we are saved by grace through faith and not of works. Works have absolutely nothing to do with us being saved. If we say that we have to have works to be saved then we flatly contradict this Scripture.

Secondly, our salvation is the work of God. We are His workmanship. He is the one who worked so that we could be saved without works. He died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. We don't work but receive by faith the gift of God that He worked for.

Lastly, we are saved unto, or for, good works. We are not saved by good works, but God saved us so that we would be people who do good works. When Christians stress the fact that works have nothing to do with salvation it often comes across that we are saying that Christians have nothing to do with works at all. This of course isn't true, but we simply need to understand where works fit in and where they don't. If we place works in the wrong place we destroy the gospel and forfeit the reception of salvation (Gal. 2:21, 5:4), so that is why we take this so seriously.

Therefore whenever we hear someone say that works have something to do with being saved (notice I didn't say with salvation) we immediately recognize it is not the gospel. The gospel is all about grace: receiving something you don't work for. "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." (Rom. 4:4-5) We do not believe grace in this context has to do with God graciously working in us to do works. That is for another context. This context has do with receiving the gift of justification without the necessity of doing any works at all - not even those works which God works in us. Notice!

"Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested..." (Rom. 3:21)
"To the man that does not work..." (Rom. 4:5)
"David describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God counts righteousness without works..." (Rom. 4:6)
"Not of works..." (Eph. 2:9)

It is "not of works"! Being saved has nothing to do with works, even the works that God does through us (for that is for after we are saved: Eph. 2:10, Phil. 1:6, 2:13, Titus 2:14, 3:8). This is talking about the absolute absence of the necessity of works for being saved. This is what the gospel is all about!

And as I have said elsewhere (which is the point I must stress again), it is not faith that produces love in us (love, which is the essence of all good works), but it is the object of faith that does this, and the only object of faith that does this is the gospel as stated above. Only the belief that God justifies the ungodly without any necessity of works because God loves you and died on the cross for your sins so that you can be saved freely as a gift produces the resultant response of love in our lives. It is when we believe in the love of God toward us as demonstrated in the "unspeakable gift" of the death of His Son that we truly understand what love is and respond accordingly. So we must banish the idea that mere faith produces works and that works are required to be saved. The true Biblical principle, which I will paraphrase from Gal. 5:6, is that faith in the love revealing gospel of justification by faith without works produces in us the love which moves us to do good works. That is the true relationship between faith and works, and how salvation and works fit together.

So ironically, when we start telling people that they must have works to be saved, and when we get them stop looking at the freeness of the gift of God's love but rather at themselves and their works, we sever the root of fruit-bearing. We may be sincere in our desire to see people bear fruit, but we actually are fighting against the cause. The truth is, the grace of God is counter-intuitive. If you preach that men do not have to do works to be saved since God has provided everything necessary for them because He loves them, they will actually produce the fruit of love. If we preach that they must do works to be saved (however we explain it), we will actually see just the opposite. No one will be saved, and everyone will become miserable, not knowing the true love and grace of God, and will therefore behave accordingly.

Contrary to what the wisdom of the world may think, grace is the only answer to man's sin problem. God's grace through Christ justifies us and saves us, and that same grace also sanctifies and changes us, making us living reflectors of the love of God in Christ Jesus which we have personally believed and experienced. As John Newton said so well, it truly is "amazing grace"!

Grace to Live By

It is no difficult thing to trust in something once you have confidence in that which you are trusting. What we need is confidence in God's grace - that God's grace is powerful enough to both save us and to live our lives by - and that we don't need to be constantly kept in check by law (rules). This was (and is) the main objection to the message of God's grace: "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" (Rom. 6:1) But Paul's answer is wonderful: "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:14) Paul had confidence that grace would not - no, could not - cause sin to reign in a person's life. In fact, it was ONLY grace that would be able to free a person from the dominion of sin. Let's face it, the law hasn't done this for us, has it? We may tell ourselves 50 times a day that we are not allowed to do this or that, or vow to God a hundred times that we won't sin, and guess what? We will sin. You don't need a license to sin. We sin just fine under law. What we need is to come under the cleansing power of God's grace and of His love. This alone will free us.

The entire doctrine of sanctification in Romans 6, 7 and 8 can be summed up in two verses in Galatians:

"For I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. The life that I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Gal. 2:19-20)

This verse finally came alive to me once I realized what it meant. It wasn't a call to self-sacrifice (ie. "Crucify yourself!"). It wasn't a call to live a life of generic faith in God. It is first a teaching: "You can't live unto God until you are dead to the law." It is second a statement of fact: "You ARE crucified with Christ, and therefore it is not you who are alive anymore, but Christ who lives in you." That is a fact of identity before God, not an aspiration. By believing in Christ you have been united to Christ, and therefore His death was your death, and His life is your life. Your old identity is gone and your new identity has come. It is no longer about what you have done or do; it is only Christ and who He is and what He has done. You are perfected in Him.

And thirdly, it is an insight into the whole secret of the apostle Paul's life: "The life that I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." Paul has just told us the secret of his life. He did not live a generic "life of faith". It was the OBJECT of his faith that gave him the impetus to live. He lived everyday believing that Jesus Christ loved Him and had given Himself for him. That's how he LIVED. That was enough. It was enough to send him on his missionary journeys, to endure hardships, to love the brethren, and to love God. His entire life was a response to the wonderful news of the love of God demonstrated in the death of Jesus Christ for sinners - even for him ("who loved ME").

Try it. You will see that grace will do what law cannot. May you put your total confidence in God's grace - not only for your salvation but also for your sanctification - and experience the freedom that only Jesus Christ brings.

Christology 101

In Mark chapter 8 verse 27, Jesus asked his disciples a question that would reverberate throughout time and around the world: “Who do men say that I am?” What is incredible about this question is that it has lost none of its relevancy - that today the question is just as important as when it was first uttered from the lips of Jesus. Perhaps the only thing that has changed about it is the amount of answers that we have accumulated throughout the course of two-thousand years. In the disciple’s day the number of options for answering was comparatively small: “Some say John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. Still others say one of the prophets.” The Pharisees considered Jesus to be a demon-possessed blasphemer. At the time the question was posed, the whole Roman world outside of Israel never even knew about Jesus. Today most of the world has heard about Jesus and many conclusions have been made about him. You don’t hear too often the opinion that Jesus was John the Baptist, but we have our own set of bizarre opinions. “Jesus was a Buddha.” “Jesus was a highly morally evolved human being.” “Jesus was a prophet, like Mohammed.” “Jesus was a good teacher.” “Jesus was not the Messiah but God’s greatest test to see whether we as Jews would be faithful to the law or not.” “Jesus never existed.”

Of course, there is a profound follow up question to this first question. It is one thing to ask what others think about Jesus; answering the question can be done in a classroom. But Jesus next made the question intensely and inescapably personal: “But who do YOU say that I am?” Now it no longer matters what other people think. The question He poses He poses to you, and you must answer it. You cannot escape answering it. And if you need help answering it, there really are only three valid options: either Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord that He claimed to be. You may ask, “Why can it only be these three choices?” Because only these three choices actually take seriously the historical facts about Jesus. If we say Jesus never existed we are ignoring the historical facts that testify to the truthfulness his life and death. If we say Jesus was just a good teacher, or a prophet like Mohammed, or a Buddha, or a highly morally evolved human being, we are ignoring the historical facts about what Jesus actually said concerning Himself, and we are creating and postulating a fictional Jesus. But if we take all the facts together, of his life and his teachings, we have but three options: He was liar, or He was a lunatic, or He was the Lord that He claimed to be. Surely any man that claims to be the Son of God, that claims the worship of the entire world, and that claims power over the grave for Himself and for every one who believes in Him, is either totally out of His mind, lying, or is in truth who He is claiming to be. We can safely dismiss all other options.

The apostle Paul was a man who at one time believed that Jesus was a false and wicked blasphemer, and he had devoted all his human energy to putting a stop to the worship of Jesus as the Son of God. He thought that the crucifixion of Jesus was exactly what Jesus had deserved, and that all those who believed in Jesus should likewise be punished. He was convinced that he was doing God’s will by wreaking havoc of the Church. It is this same man that wrote the passage that we have before us, Colossians 1:15-18, extolling Jesus as his God and his Lord and his entire reason for existence. Paul’s mind had changed about Jesus. And if you do not believe in Jesus, so can yours. No matter how firm your conviction may be against Jesus Christ as Lord, your mind can yet be changed. You may be like Paul, kicking against the goads, fighting a hopeless battle against God Himself, until the day comes when you cry out in defeat, “Who are you, Lord?”, no longer with an attitude of defiance and skepticism, but of surrender and submission to His Lordship. Paul learned who Jesus really was: far from being a blasphemer who deserved the cross, Paul realized that Jesus was His God, and that He had died on the cross not because He deserved it, but because Paul deserved it - that Christ had died on that cross for Paul’s salvation, for the forgiveness of Paul’s sins. What a love! Thus Paul’s life was changed forever, and he lived the rest of his life captivated by the love Christ had for him.

In Colossians 1:15-18, we have, not three options of determining who Jesus is, but three declarations of who Jesus is as the Lord of all.

1. JESUS IS THE REVELATION OF THE FATHER
2. JESUS IS THE SOURCE, SUSTAINER AND PURPOSE OF CREATION
3. JESUS IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH, THE NEW CREATION

These three things give us a complete picture of who the man Christ Jesus really is, that by seeing we may rest complete in Him. For an incomplete understanding of Jesus leads to an incomplete Christian who looks to other things besides Christ to make up for his supposed incompleteness, but a complete understanding of Christ leads to a complete Christian who seeks for nothing outside of Christ, because he has found all that he needs met fully in Him.


1. JESUS IS THE REVELATION OF THE FATHER
“Who is the image of the invisible God.” (Col. 1:15)

Now I want to draw our attention to a few passages in the Gospel of John, which Gospel truly sets forth this truth of Jesus the Son of God revealing the true nature of God. First, John 16:2-3, “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God a service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.” From this passage we can see that to Jesus it is not enough to simply believe in God, to be a theist. In fact, it is those who believe in God, who attend religious institutions for worship, who will think that they do God a service by putting you to death. We have seen this all throughout history and even today, that many horrible things are done in the “name” of God; and unfortunately this is used as an argument against Jesus and against Christianity and against religion altogether. But to reject Christ and God because of those who do not truly know God is to be greatly mistaken. Here, to Jesus, it is never enough simply to believe in God, or even to be monotheistic. It is never enough unless you know the Father. It is never enough unless you know, not merely that there is one God, but WHO that God is: His character, His Person, His nature. It is God the Father that Jesus Christ came to reveal to man. This was His mission.

Another passage in John, 14:7-10: “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him. Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast though not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.” To see Jesus is to see the Father. To hear Jesus is to hear the Father. To believe in Jesus is to believe in the Father. Jesus is the revelation of the Father to men, “the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3), so that whatever you see Jesus doing you see that it is the Father’s doing it, and whenever you hear Jesus speaking you hear that it is the Father saying it. The work of Jesus was the Father’s. Jesus claimed to not do anything of Himself, but that everything He said and did was by the will of the Father. When we see Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, and saying, “Father, forgive them”, do we see Jesus trying to affect a change in the Father’s heart toward man, or do we see the revelation of the Father’s heart of love toward man? Do we see in the life and death of Jesus Christ the revelation of the One who loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life?

A final passage in the Gospel of John, John 1:17-18: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” Here we have a marvelous statement of the utmost importance. Without Jesus, no one has a true understanding of who God really is. It is true that the law was given through Moses, and that the law revealed to us something true about God. God is just and holy and righteous, a God of wrath and of judgment, a God who requires absolute moral perfection in order to have fellowship with man because He is perfect. These things are all true about God. But understand, that to know these things is still not to know God. Yes, you know may many true things about Him, but you do not yet know Him, for without Jesus you do not know that which defines Him and makes Him who He is! It is like knowing a person’s physical features, and where they work, and how many siblings they have, and what kind of food they like, and countless other things, yet still not knowing who that person is, because you do not know the essence of that person - the thing about them that makes them who they are. And so to only know God as a God of justice is not false, but it is not truly knowing Him. To truly know God is to know Him through Jesus Christ; the God who is full of grace; the God who is seen in the bloody face of Jesus Christ, suffering and dying on the cross for lawbreakers, and extending forgiveness and mercy to those who do not deserve it because He loves them and has overcome the impossible at the cross. This is what it is to know God as He really is! To know God in Jesus Christ is to know the Father - not merely from a distance, but to know Him in His bosom.

And so Paul tells us in Colossians 1:12 to give thanks unto the Father, who has made us meet to be partakers of the saints in light by sending His Son to redeem us from our iniquities by His blood, forgiving us of all our sins, and translating us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son whom He loves. It is Father who is to be thanked and praised when we behold in Jesus the image, the tangible manifestation, of the invisible God.


2. JESUS IS THE SOURCE, SUSTAINER AND PURPOSE OF CREATION
"For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” (1:16-17)

The second declaration about Jesus the Lord in Colossians 1:15-18 is that He is the source, sustainer and purpose of all creation. The Scripture does not say that Jesus was Himself created, as some have erroneously imagined from the expression in verse 15, that He is “the firstborn of all creation”. For this notion is immediately refuted by the following verse: “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in the earth, visible and invisible… all things were created by Him.” (1:16) That Christ created all things that were created is repeated twice for emphasis. If ALL things were created BY Him, then He Himself cannot have been created. If one argues that “all things” might refer to the material universe only, the apostle states that “all things” includes everything whatsoever that is in heaven and on earth, including powers and principalities and authorities and dominions. All things were created by Him. Moreover, if Jesus were Himself created, then He therefore would not be God, because God is not created. Therefore, because we known Jesus is God, we know that He was not created.

What then does it mean that He is the “firstborn of all creation”? “It signifies his dominion over all things, as the first-born in a family is heir and lord of all, so he is the heir of all things.” (Matthew Henry) That is, that Jesus has the predominance over all creation, just as a firstborn son has the predominance of status, position, blessings, rights and privileges. Christ is likened to a firstborn. The firstborn was the heir. Christ is said to be the heir of all things (Heb. 1:2). The expression itself is a Jewish one, as the Jews themselves used to call Jehovah their God the “firstborn of all creation”, not because they believed God was Himself created, but because He was superior to all things. It is this same sense which we find in Psalm 89:27, speaking of Christ: “I will make Him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.”

Jesus was not created, but God the Father created all things by Him. This was no mere man! He was the source of all creation. He is also the sustainer of all creation. “And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” (1:17) Literally, “By Him all things are held together.” What an amazing thought! Christ’s relation to creation is not merely something of the past, but of the very present (with also a glorious future). Everything that exists is presently held together by Jesus Christ. Herbert M. Carson writes, “Indeed Christ is not only the agent of creation, but of perseveration. The philosopher may seek for a principle of coherence, a unity amid the diversity of the world of sense; but in the Son the believer finds the true principle of coherence. It is His power alone which holds creation together.” Many philosophers have committed suicide on account of their Christless search for coherence and meaning in the universe which their Christless philosophies cannot produce. They who mock the Savior mock the very One who holds their atoms together. It is in Jesus Christ alone that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid (Col. 2:3), and happy is the man who possesses them.

Now all this is said to show two things: First, to show to those who think that we must worship angels because of the assumed notion that they are the source and sustainers of the world (Col. 2:18) that Jesus Christ is preeminent above even the angels, and that He alone is the source and sustainer of the world. What is more, He is the creator of the angels themselves, and by Him are they even being preserved! Christ is sufficient for all our worship, because He is God, and to Him all worship belongs.

Secondly, to show that God’s purpose in creating all things and in sustaining all things is Jesus Christ. “By Him were all things created, and FOR Him.” (1:16) That is, the reason why “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” was because God desired to reveal Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ through His life, death, resurrection and exaltation. The revelation of the Father in Jesus is the reason for creation’s past, creation’s present, and creation’s future. It all exists for the glory of God - the glory that is manifested through the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).


3. JESUS IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH, THE NEW CREATION
“And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.” (Col. 1:18)

The final declaration about Jesus in this passage is that He is the head of the Church, the firstborn from the dead. The emphatic point is that HE and HE ALONE is the head of the Church, and that nothing more, and no one more, is needed to provide life and meaning to the body. It is interesting to note that in the Roman Catholic tradition, it is believed that the Church would be without a head if there were no human pope (whom they also call “the head of the church”). They explain this by saying that though Christ is properly called the head of the church, yet without the pope (whom they call the “ministerial head”) Christ role would be impotent, for the pope must act and function as his substitute! This is the very notion Paul is refuting. Christ is not only the Church’s proper head, but He is its living, functioning, all-sufficient head (see Col. 2:19). Because He is the head, we need no one else besides Him for our spiritual unity, nourishment, protection, direction, resource, and strength.

There is also here the idea of the new creation. Just as Jesus Christ is the source, sustainer and purpose of all created things in heaven and earth, so is He the source, sustainer and purpose of the new creation. He is called the firstborn of all creation; He is also here called the firstborn from the dead. Because Jesus rose from the dead, all those who belong to Him will rise from the dead too! Thus the Church can be described as made up of all those who will rise from the dead unto incorruptible newness. This resurrected body makes up the new creation of which Christ is Lord. In this way God’s intention is fulfilled that Jesus Christ would be preeminent in all things: in creation, in heaven, in earth, and in the Church, the new creation. Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person. It is the revelation of the Father that shines forth in Christ, and this revelation is the crowning head of the Church. The Church is constituted by a people who know the Father, for they have Jesus as their head, and the Church exists for the sole purpose of glorifying God and making Him known. If you don’t know God the Father through Jesus Christ, but have a mere belief in God, or a mere belief in Jesus that does not hail Him as the Son of God, then you have no part in the Church; but if you have known the Father through Jesus Christ, and truly believe who Jesus is, then you are a part of the Church, the new creation, and will live forever proclaiming His glory and the wonders of His love!

Who do you say Jesus is?