As God, Jesus Christ has a unique relationship to God the Father. Through his incarnation this unique relationship is shown in his making visible the invisible God.
This is what Paul means when he says in Colossians 1:15: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation..
Obviously the key term here is Image. The word translated image is Eikon which means image or likeness. We get our similarly sounding English word icon from it, meaning statue. Eikon is used this way in the NT, specifically depicting the portrait or image of Caesar on a coin (Matt. 22.20) as well as in Rev. 13.14 in depicting the statue of the Anti-Christ.
Jesus, being the image of God has revealed and demonstrated the very nature and character of God. That which is invisible, has now been made visible. God’s character has been disclosed.
God has intentionally disclosed himself in and through Christ. He has revealed himself in clear, authoritative, final terms. As a result, you can imagine I was a bit exercised when I saw this sign on a church in Omaha, just a day after preaching on Colossians 1:15.
This is surely a sign of the times. God is whoever we want him to be. He is marginalized and relativized into utter obscurity. Sadly, the church today has become the spiritual equivalent of the plastic surgeon’s office. There have been attempts to recast, redefine, remold and remix God at every turn.
There is a grave difference between receiving and rejoicing in the image of the invisible God as manifested by Christ, and updating and recasting him in our image.
It is a deadly perversion to chisel a God in our image and call him Jesus. And this is the great idolatry of our day. The Colossian heretics denied Jesus’ humanity, today many, in practicality, deny Jesus’ divinity.
Sadly too many think of a Jesus as designed by artists and painted in murals; rather than seeing him as he is as articulated in Scripture.
See, God sent a man, in his image, and called him Jesus. In light of this, we ought to be thinking clearly and biblically when we aim to represent Jesus, his will and work, because he is the image of God.
By virtue of Christ’s position as God, his work as the image of God is valuable. He has graciously, clearly, authoritatively and with finality made the invisible God known. We cannot trump what he has done.
No amount of imagination, contemplation, education, or inebriation can cast any more light upon the invisible God than our Lord Jesus Christ. ‘Good intentions’ springing from a heart that aims to be ‘more tolerant’ is nothing more than idolatry. It’s time for confessing believers to put down the chisel and get on our face before the living God who changes not.
What image of God works for you? How about the one that works for God? His name is Jesus.
Here is the entire audio from this weekend’s sermon on Colossians 1.15 entitled The Resume of Jesus Part 1