Our scripture reading this evening comes from Colossians 1, verses 15 to 23, in your Pew NIV Bible that is on page 1142, Colossians 1, verses 15 to 23. Hear now the very word of God. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things were created by Him and for Him. 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 and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation. If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel, this is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, tonight we find here in Colossians 1 a very deep, a very thick, tightly packed description of our Lord's person and work. Paul's words remind us not only of our Savior's having two natures after His incarnation, but also of the reasons why our Savior had to be this God-man. We find in this passage that for us to be redeemed and reconciled to God, we could have no other Savior than the one we do in fact have. But ultimately we will see this Paul's primary intention here in Colossians 1 to remind the church of the absolute sovereignty of our Lord Jesus. his universal reign as king of this creation and of the new creation, of this world and of the world to come. The problem facing the Colossian church was a fear of various spiritual powers in the heavenly realms. There was, in that day, a hyper-spiritualized view of the world as the domain of many forces, good and bad, that controlled the lives and destiny of human beings. The church there in Colossae surely retained a measure of adoration and respect for Christ. He was surely some sort of savior to them. But it seems from this letter that they were being tempted by these fears of the spiritual powers to compromise their sole allegiance to Christ. And it's clear that there was a group of people at Colossae who had approached them with a false religion to add to their Christian faith. Paul's response to the Colossian church, which is beginning to feel the pressure of these false teachers, was to remind them here in chapter 1 of Colossians of the person and work of Christ, the only Savior and sovereign over the universe on account of both his divine and human natures. Friends, we have lost that worldview, by and large, that view of the universe that sees all things that happen as having a spiritual cause in the background. Of course, there are many Christians who still have a view similar to this, but it's not a common one in many of our churches. The temptations we have that lead us astray from Christ are not usually temptations to seek the spiritual aid of beings besides Him. However, we have to deal on a daily basis with the same fundamental problem of mixing with our Christian faith some foreign element, whether it be trusting in our wealth, relying on our own wisdom, being confident in our own strength or in that of another human being. The teaching of God's Word calls us back to examine where our submission and allegiance truly goes. It cannot be to ourselves, to any other creature, but only to the Lord Jesus, who is king over all. So if we were to ask ourselves this question, why is it Christ alone to whom we owe all our allegiance, our honor, our submission, all thanks? We find the first answer to this question to lie in the doctrine of our Lord's divine nature and in the fact that He is the creator of our world and the King who reigns over it. This is the first point that comes from our passage this evening. Our Lord Jesus is the eternal Son of God, the King of this creation. This is precisely what Paul speaks of in the first half of the poem about Christ that lies in verses 15 to 20 of our text tonight. After having just read that text, you may ask yourself, what poem? Well, I say poem because in those verses, 15 to 20, make up a very carefully arranged, self-contained passage written about our Lord. The first three lines, the first three verses in our Bibles, 15 to 17, speak of Jesus according to his divine nature and his creative work as God over all. Then in the next three verses, 18 to 20, Paul turns to consideration of Jesus according to his humanity and his work as the second Adam. That is the one who reverses the work, the failure of the first Adam, and accomplishes for his people what the first Adam failed to do for his. But in these first three verses, 15 to 17, what we find is an expression of our Lord's divinity and his work as creator. Where in this passage do we find evidence of this? Well, in every verse, actually. First, in verse 16, Paul writes, For by Him all things were created. And then in the end of verse 16, all things were created by Him and for Him. There's only one Creator, one God. But Paul tells us here that besides the Father and the Spirit, God the Son was also the Creator. The work of creation was the work of the triune God, beloved. But from this text we see that it was all done by, through, and for the Son, our Lord. Paul's primary focus, however, in this verse is to emphasize that there is nothing that exists that was not made by the Son of God. All things in heaven and earth, Paul writes, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, they all came into existence through the hand of our God, The Son. Now this list is a reference to those evil powers of the spiritual realm that had put the Colossians in fear and had led some of them into false worship. Turn please, if you would, to Ephesians 6 where we find that this is the identity of these beings listed by Paul in Colossians 1. Ephesians 6, verses 6 and 12 speak to this issue. Ephesians 6, verses 11 and 12. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities and against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. these wicked spiritual powers, friends are those powers that are aligned with Satan and we find here in Ephesians 6 those same terms, powers, authorities, rulers the same terms we find in Colossians 1 so back in Colossians 1 here there is really the same point the same identity of these powers these spiritual powers that Paul is talking about even these evil beings, Paul is teaching us of the kingdom of darkness are creatures from the divine hand of our Lord Jesus created by Him. And more than that, Paul also says that these things, along with everything else that exists, exist for God the Son. They cannot help but do His almighty divine will. They can't help but serve His purposes ultimately. Paul continues in verse 17 to underline the divinity of our Savior. As the creator and sustainer of all things, he says there in verse 17 that the Son of God is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. We ask for a clearer expression of our Lord's divinity. He's the one in whom we all live and move and have our being. All creation is not only made by our Savior, it is also upheld and governed by Him at every moment. And so because these two verses, 16 and 17, are Paul's explanation of verse 15, we should understand the terms used here in verse 15 to point also to our Savior's divine nature. In verse 15, Paul writes that our Lord is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. The point here as well, then, is that Christ, our Lord Jesus, is the eternal Son of God, co-equal with the Father as the creator and sustainer of all that is. The Son of God is the exact image and representation of the Father. The word image is not to help us distinguish the Son from the Father. They are always distinct because one is the Father and the other is the Son. The word image is used instead to point us to the identical divine nature that the Son shares with the Father. And the same is true of the other phrase that you find there in verse 17. Firstborn over all creation. Paul wants to teach the church that the Son, our Lord Jesus, is the divine King over all things with the Father. The Son is not the Father's first creature. For the two verses that follow and explain verse 15 showed the Son clearly to be the Creator Himself. Moreover, Paul says in verse 17 that this Creator is before all things. The Son with the Father and the Spirit is the great Alpha, the source of all reality in life. The word firstborn was used in this sense of supremacy and rule in the Old Testament. In Psalm 89, at verse 27, the psalmist writes, I will appoint Him my firstborn and then this term firstborn is explained with these words, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. That is exactly how Paul is using this term, firstborn in Colossians 1, 15. The Son of God is no creature before His incarnation, but rather the King over all. Over all of the rulers, all of their powers on earth or in heaven. But of course, these two phrases in verse 15 appear to point to Christ's creatureliness, his humanity, don't they? And this for good reason, since both could very easily be used to speak of Adam, the first man, who was created as the image of God to exercise rule over all creation, which God had put under his feet, as we learn from Genesis 1. In his unfallen state, Adam was holy and righteous in the image of God. He should have accomplished that great work, that worldwide task that the Father had given him. But he failed. He ate from the tree of knowledge and fell into sin and death. God's plan, though, was that by the obedience of this representative head, the first Adam, all humanity would attain to the glory of God and be exalted in the Spirit to the heavenly level of existence. God was not willing that Adam be obedient just so things could go along as they were in the garden. Not at all. For we know that the other tree, the tree of life, symbolized a higher and better life with God, an everlasting glorified life in the Spirit. We see this order built into God's creation of mankind in 1 Corinthians 15. Turn there briefly, if you would. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 42 and following. We read these words. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable. It is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised as spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. The last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural. And after that, the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth. The second man, from heaven. You see, there in this order built into creation, that was made earthly, all would be glorified if Adam had been obedient, to be spiritual and heavenly. That is the order built into God's created order. Sin and the fall are not mentioned in this order, as you read there in 1 Corinthians 15, because though the fall introduced an apparent obstacle, it didn't change the intended order. Adam and all creation in him was to graduate from the earthly level to the heavenly level. Children and young people, you will, or some of you already have, graduated from high school. At one point, you're an undergraduate. But then after that graduation day, you become a graduate. Well, God's plan for all creation in Adam was that it would graduate from being earthly and attain to that heavenly spiritual level of reality. All things, however, Instead of rising with Adam into glory, instead of graduating, they fell into depravity. He was that first head of creation whose life and action would determine what was to come of all other things represented by Him. He failed as God's human king of creation. But because God's plan was not to be overturned, this first Adam had to be followed by a second Adam, a second representative head, Over-creation. God is not a man that His purposes should be frustrated or overturned. Love it, they never do, really, or ultimately. That is what it means for Him to be God. But a very important thing we learn in part from our text tonight is that the Creator God could not willy-nilly overturn Adam's rebellion and by a simple divine command, exalt all the creation into glory as the new creation, as the new world. Why not, you ask? Can't God do anything? He is God, isn't He? Well, He cannot do that which denies or contradicts His nature. And because He is just, because He is holy, He cannot, according to His justice and His holy nature, sweep sin under the carpet, as it were. By the power of His divinity alone, it may surprise you, by that power of divinity, Our Lord, the Son of God, could not exalt the earth and the human race according to his plan into the heavenlies to the everlasting fellowship with him. This would be to deny his justice and to cancel his plan for creation. His plan that it all happened through the obedience of one man. So there was a second Adam. But that second Adam could not simply be man. He had to be at the same time true God. Therefore, the only way of salvation, you see, was through the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Heidelberg Catechism teaches these very same two doctrines in Lord's Day 6. You can turn there in the back of your Psalter hymnal to page 24. Page 24 in the back of the Psalter hymnal where our catechism lies. Lord's Day 6. Question 16 asks. I'm sorry. Not page 24. 13. Question 16 of page 13 asks. Why must he be truly human and truly righteous? The answer, God's justice demands it. Man has sinned. Man must pay for his sin. But a sinner cannot pay for others. So you see, it was a matter of justice that God accomplished His plan for creation by the obedience of man, of a certain man. And then in question 17, we're asked, why must he also be true God? The answer, so that by the power of his divinity he might bear the weight of God's anger in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life. So the Savior, brothers and sisters, the one who would reverse Adam's failure and accomplish what Adam failed to do, had to be the God-man, according to both the justice and purpose of God. Now, the fall is not spelled out for us in our text, but as Paul moves from verses 17 to 18, this is all assumed. For why else would the almighty king of creation become incarnate as a man? The answer, beloved, is that the creator's original plan for his creation could only be achieved by one who is at the same time true man, true and sinless man, and true God. Our Savior, the one who would accomplish God's own plan for creation, had to be the second Adam, a representative head over creation. And he had to be true God as well. This is all lying in between the two halves of this poem about the Son of God in verses 15 to 20. And we have to acknowledge this doctrine, friends, the doctrine of the Incarnation, because it is one of the most remarkable things that ever did happen in all history. the true eternal Son of God, creator and sustainer of all things, the King of the universe. He became man for you. Don't let that become a truism for you, something you speak with your lips and never really deeply consider. People who say that doctrine is cold, heartless, or boring are just not paying attention. Our attention to doctrine, friends, is not cold, dead orthodoxy. It is the drama of our faith in salvation. But we see this transition to the incarnation of our Lord in the various titles that Paul writes of Him in the second half of this poem, verses 18 to 20. And the second major point we should take from our passage this evening is that our Lord Jesus, as the victorious second Adam, is also the King of the new creation. In verse 18, Paul says he's the head of the body, the church. We see here that Christ's representative headship is in view because what follows pertains to Christ's legal union with us, not his vital or organic union, as we often say. That's true that usually when Paul speaks of this head-body relationship, he has the vital or organic union in mind. That is that Christ, as our head, is the source of all strength, love, giftedness, and life in His body, the church. This is even in chapter 2, at verse 19, where we read that the false teachers have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. But here in verse 18 of chapter 1, Paul has a legal union in mind with that word head. That legal relationship between Christ and His chosen people wherein He determines their forgiveness and justification by His obedience in His life, death, and resurrection. For just after Paul says that Christ is the head, he continues by saying that He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. You may ask, how does that say that Christ's legal representative headship is in mind here? Well, it does because the significance of these two phrases, the beginning and the firstborn from the dead, is precisely this. We must ask, what is Christ the beginning of? Paul just says beginning. Beginning of what? Christ's divinity is not the point here. Paul is not again having us to consider Christ as the one who is before all things, as the creator, as God. He did that in the verses past. Here, on the other hand, Paul is teaching that Christ has the great second Adam, is the beginning of the new humanity. That's what he begins. In his resurrection, which is the point of that other phrase, first born from among the dead, Christ rose as the victorious man, the true and sinless man, who had won everlasting blessedness for himself and for all people he represented. So we find then that Christ is the head of the church in the first place for this reason, that in His resurrection, He was exalted to the right hand of the Father over everything for the sake of the church, which He has guaranteed to be His new humanity by His resurrection from the dead. Christ's victory under the law, His obedience as the last Adam, resulted in His beginning the new creation. He's the first man of that new world. And His rising didn't stand only for Him, friends, because He was our representative, our head. His rising is the guarantee of our rising, for we are His body. Paul tells us then in the end of verse 18 that the result of this work of Christ the Lord of the new creation is that He became supreme in everything. Now here we begin to see this most awesome doctrine, that it is Christ the man, our man, who attains to this exalted place for our good. It was in that first half that Paul was speaking of the Son of God according to His divinity. But now in the second half, it is Christ the man that is in view. For the Son of God never ceased to be supreme over all things. Even when He was in the womb of His mother, According to his deity, he was still that great creator God. But he took human nature on to himself and when he finally accomplished what the first Adam failed to do, as our head, as our man, Jesus was raised up to that position over everything else. We see this taught also in verse 19 where Paul says that God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, in Christ. Paul is not going back again to the divinity. Remember that. The focus of verses 15 to 17 was the divine nature of our Lord. But in verses 18 to 20, Christ worked distinctively as the man, as the second Adam is in focus. Paul cites this as evidence that Christ the man had attained supremacy in everything. As the obedient, perfect man, He had merited in His humanity The very authority, power, and honor that He had always possessed according to His divine nature. You remember what He prayed to the Father? As recorded in John 17, the high priestly prayer. He prayed, Father, the time has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people, that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him. I've brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. Our Lord Jesus was successful as our representative man and He could therefore justly lay claim to the reward that was due to Him, His exaltation over all things. This is what Paul's talking about when he says that the Father was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Christ, our head. Jesus, our man, was glorified in the Spirit with the glory and honor and power that always belonged to him as the Son of God. That is why he can say those words of Matthew 28, 18, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. But his supremacy is not only evidenced by this exaltation of his humanity. It's also evidence, as Paul says in verse 20, by the fact that the Father was also pleased to reconcile all things to himself through the cross of Christ. Now, this sounds a bit like a problem, doesn't it? It seems that Paul is teaching that Christ has actually accomplished an actual universal reconciliation. That every single being, all things in heaven and earth, have been brought back into peace and friendship with God. Well, clearly the New Testament doesn't teach this anywhere else. Matthew 25 teaches that at the judgment, there will be sheep on his right hand for life and goats on his left hand for eternal death. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1 that God will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel. They'll be punished with everlasting destruction. So why does Paul say here in Colossians 1.20 that all things in heaven and earth have been reconciled? To Him, by Christ's cross. Or to God, by Christ's cross. We have to look back to verse 16 to see this fuller use of this phrase. Things in heaven and things on earth. Back in verse 16, Paul says, Our Lord created all things in heaven and earth. There's that phrase again. Visible and invisible. And then he lists those evil spiritual powers. Thrones, powers, rulers, authorities. In verse 20, Paul simply abbreviates this list by saying things on earth and things in heaven. His point, that the same universality that applies to the Son's creative work also applies to the Son's work as the second Adam. Our Lord is the creator of everything that is, but He is also the reconciler, in a sense, of all that is. It's not as though He creates all things, Plans to have all things glorified in the Spirit, but then through Adam's fall, he loses this and has to settle to save merely a few human beings. The peace brought by the cross was not a peace that only affected Christ's church, their relationship to God. It actually affected every realm of creation, both the physical and the spiritual, both the earthly and the heavenly. Indeed, brothers and sisters, Christ didn't save every creature, but His cross affected and changed every aspect of this whole universe. It was the cross, as Paul says in 2.15 of Colossians, that represented Christ's victory over His enemies and ours. Look at 2.15 with me, please. Here Paul writes of Christ, that having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Those powers and authorities are those same evil spiritual powers we read about in Ephesians 6 earlier. Paul's point in Colossians 1 verse 20 is to say that even these were affected by the cross. They once held the world in bondage, but Christ defeated them and delivered His people from their power. Reconcile then in this passage of Colossians 1. has to be interpreted by other, clearer teachings, such as that of 2.15. So with verse 20 then, we come to the end of Paul's poem about the kingship of Christ. Our Lord is the one in whom we first trusted for our salvation, but He is worthy of our trust and allegiance, our honor and submission, because He is the almighty God-man, ruler over all that is, not only because of His eternal divinity, but also because of his victory as the second Adam. This is indeed an incredibly rich passage, friends. Title piled upon title for our Lord's great person and work. However, the question may have been lingering in the minds of some at the Colossian church. Maybe some of you are having that question linger. How are we to know that we benefit from the reign, the kingship of this God-man, Jesus Christ? To say that He is King of the world and of the world to come really doesn't tell us that He rules for us. So lastly, Paul reminds the church of this third and last point, that our Lord does not only rule us, but He was also the sacrifice for our sins, so that through faith we can know that we are His people. Look again at verses 21 and 22. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you wholly in His sight without blemish and free from accusation. People can't take any comfort in the kingship, the ruling majesty of the Lord Jesus unless He had graciously taken care of their sin. And so Paul reminds the Colossians that though they were in themselves just as deserving of Christ's judgment as the wicked powers of the heavens, Christ had indeed taken care of their sin in a wonderfully gracious way. The Colossians and all Christ's church would benefit from Christ's kingship over all things because He had poured out His own blood as a sacrifice for their sin. Now notice when and where this gracious work of reconciliation for the church took place. It was not when you and I were reborn from above, not when we were converted and given faith. In other words, it was not fundamentally when we laid aside our hostility against God. Instead, Paul teaches that our reconciliation with God happened ultimately when our Lord was crucified on the cross. God's wrath against our sin was removed at that time. Christ's blood finished that work. And we must be careful to note it's not spoken of as a possible reconciliation. As a reconciliation that's not really completed or validated until we believe in Christ. Not at all, friends. Paul says we were indeed reconciled on the cross. Christ's death alone accomplished this great work for us. And so we necessarily come to trust in Him as our Savior and Lord. This conversion we undergo, this rebirth, is the Holy Spirit's application of Christ's work, not the accomplishment of it. This is why we confess Christ alone to be Savior. He's not the one who makes salvation possible, who makes us savable. or who helps us to save ourselves. No, He is alone, the actual Savior. Our reconciliation was finished with His death and resurrection. This isn't to say that faith plays no part. Faith is always necessary, as we read Paul teaching in verse 23. He says that all of this is for you. It is yours, the reign of Christ, His blood, forgiveness. if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the Gospel. Paul's not saying that this faith completes anything or actualizes anything. That is entirely an unscriptural teaching. Paul's instead saying that faith is the way, the instrument, by which you know this is for you. All this is true for you in the church. And you know this if you have faith that it is true and that it is accomplished for you. What glorious good news this is, friends. We can't help Christ in any way to save us. He did it alone. And even our faith was purchased for us by His blood. We need not complete our salvation by being holy and blameless, without blemish, free from accusation. Someone might say, well, Paul says that that is what happens to those who are reconciled. They become holy and without blemish. But beloved, that is never what we are in ourselves. In fact, any obedience we may have is still mixed with sin. Our holiness and being without blemish is all owing to our being in the head, Christ. As Paul teaches in Romans 8.33, Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is He that condemns? Christ Jesus who died, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. So we see that the result of Christ's work of reconciliation for us is that we are forever holy and blameless in Him, Covered by Him. Hidden in Him. Indeed, beloved, if you want to know this evening, and be sure that Christ, the King of all creation, of this world and of the world to come, is your Christ, your Savior, the King who rules for you. Simply believe and know that all is already yours in Christ. Amen. Please pray with me. Our dear Heavenly Father, tonight we read in Your Word of the Savior You have given to us for full, perfect, and free salvation. It was free as far as we are concerned, Lord. We recognize that. We know this great salvation You have given us could not be deserved or merited by any one of us. But Father, we know that it was not free entirely. For we hear again in the Gospel this evening that it was made ours at a most costly price. The very life and blood of Jesus was needed to pay for this salvation. Thank you, Lord, for giving Christ Jesus to us. Thank you for giving us to Him. We are now and forever His people that we can never be lost. Lord, left to ourselves, certainly we would deny our Savior. We are prone to wander every day, and we so often do. But the King you have given us is more mighty than every other power, every authority which you have put under His feet. And so, Lord, we know tonight that our Lord Jesus, our almighty King, is so much more powerful than we are. So we confess to you our lack of submission unto our King Jesus this evening. We confess to you our failure to adore and revere him as our maker, our sustainer, and our head. Father in heaven, for his sake, forgive us these faults and give us an increase of your grace now that we may be more faithful subjects to our Lord Jesus, our King. And we ask also that your spirit would enable us to cherish our Lord and serve him in gratitude for the great work he's accomplished for us. We pray this all in his name and for his sake. Amen.