We're continuing our study in the book of Colossians and we come to this day to 1st Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 through 20. I'd like to read that passage but I'd like to go back to verse 9 to get a little of the context as we read Paul writing from prison to the Colossian church. He's heard of their growth in grace and growth in faith and he's writing these words of encouragement to also help them with challenges facing this church. In our passage, in one of the grandest passages really in the scripture, Paul will paint for them an understanding of who Jesus Christ is. And so my prayer is that we will see Christ in his glory as we open this text. Well, I'll start in chapter one, verse nine, and I'll read through verse 20. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that in all things he may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him whether things on earth or things in heaven having made peace through the blood of his cross. Can you see how richly and powerfully and gloriously Paul is seeking to show them who Jesus is. Why? I mentioned earlier that, and we'll see as we continue on in our study of Colossians, there were false teachers coming in. We see this through the book of Acts and we see this in the epistles, that when the gospel would come and Paul would preach and many would come to Christ and the church would be established and he would move on, It was not uncommon for false teachers to come in, whether with a Jewish background trying to maybe put Christians back under the law and minimize some of the New Testament principles, or sometimes it was the Gentiles in trying to bring a pagan philosophical approach. And we see both of that really going on in Colossians. Paul's most central answer to these heresies and cults and false teachings that were coming among them was to get a clear and glorious picture of who Jesus is. If we rightly understand who Jesus is and what he's done. then we will be able to see through the errors and confusions that will come. And so wherever we are in our walk and whatever challenges we may be facing, may this text before us really help us to see Christ in his glory. And even as I say that, you have to confess, I have to confess, I am inadequate to begin to express these things. And we're inadequate. So I'll join you with me on this to fully grasp this. So I always, this is one of those examples where I'll say, I'm going to give us an introduction to an ongoing study of thought in our own hearts and minds of these texts. Well, he begins in speaking of Christ, he's spoken of the one who's accomplished our salvation in the previous context. And then he goes on, he is the image of the invisible God. One way of describing him, he is the image of the invisible. That word image can be used of a picture, a portrait. But right there, that stops us and make us wonder, well, how can you be an image of the invisible? How can you show what can't be seen? You've heard about the little child, maybe it was in a Sunday school class or on a Sunday afternoon after Sunday school and church and back home and pulled out the paper and crayons and starts drawing and dad, of course, looks over and says, so son, what are you drawing there? He says, I'm drawing a picture of God. Fathers are kind of not sure. Son, nobody knows what God looks like. Well, they will when I'm finished. Paul's tried to do a little bit of that for us here, but right from the very beginning, he always gives us a clue. I'm going to be talking about things that are bigger and grander than our minds and hearts can grasp. I want to talk about Jesus, who is the image, the picture of the invisible. an image of the invisible. And so he is the son in whom we have redemption and forgiveness. Who is he? He told us in verses 13-14, he is the son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Well, who is he? He tells us here, he is the image of the invisible God. Like I said, it almost seems like a contradiction in terms. But what this tells us is Jesus showed us who God is. So God in his essence we cannot see but Jesus showed us in his own life, in his teaching, in his miracles, Jesus showed us who he is. It might remind us back in the gospel of John chapter 1 verse 18 we read, no one has seen God at any time. the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father, he has declared him to us. He has, and that word declared has the idea of we get our word exegesis from us. He has shown out who he is. So if you want to know what God is like, study Jesus, study the gospels, look at him because he is God in the flesh. He goes on to describe him for us in our text, he's the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Now as I said there were there were heresies and cults in the days of Paul. Unfortunately, as the book of Ecclesiastes says, there's nothing new under the sun. The heresies and the cults continue. What's interesting is they keep repeating the same lines. They keep repeating the same ideas. One of the groups that comes to my mind is again the Jehovah's Witnesses. They'll maybe come to your door often on a Saturday and will talk to you about the kingdom. And when they talk about Jesus they'll say nice things about him, maybe even call him Savior. But if you get down to it they'll make it very clear they deny that Jesus is God. They say he's a created being perhaps and actually an angel or something but they say he is not God, he's not the eternal God, God made him. They believe Jesus existed but they don't believe that he is God. And so they might look at the passage like this and say, see, he's the firstborn of creation. That means he had a beginning. But that term firstborn, it can mean, you know, like when you're having children as Jesus was the firstborn of Mary. She had other children, he was the firstborn. But it also, especially in the Old Testament sense and in the biblical sense, firstborn has the idea of a position of authority and honor no matter where you are in the birth order. For example, this kind of comes out in Exodus chapter 4 verse 22. Exodus 4.22, God communicates this to Pharaoh. He says to Moses, you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn. What he's saying by that is Israel has a place of honor and he has a place of ownership. Israel is my people and when he says firstborn, the firstborn And I can say this with some resentment because I wasn't one. They're down the road in the pecking order. They're down the road in authority. The firstborn in biblical terms, for example, when it came time for inheritance, the firstborn got a double portion. So if there were three sons, they would divide up the inheritance four ways. Two portions to the firstborn, then one to the other two. And the firstborn is the one who kind of continued on. He now becomes the patriarch. If the father has passed on, like in Abraham, then up steps Isaac. He is now the patriarch over the family. And so it's more a thought of authority and honor when we speak of Jesus being the firstborn over all creation. He is the heir of creation. He's the one who holds the honor over creation. Jesus is not a part of creation. He is over it. And so we go on then in verse 16. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and on earth, visible, invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created through him and for him. Right there, if everything was created by him, then he's not created. He's the creator. He is the one who created all things. But notice this incredible description of Jesus. By him, all things were created that are in heaven and on earth." Again, that reminds me of the Gospel of John, the gospel that emphasizes the deity of Christ. Of course, the very first verse of John tells us who Jesus is, right? In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and was with God. Verse 3 of John chapter 1, all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. That's speaking of Jesus. Everything was made by him. That tells us he's not created, he's the creator. He is the God who created all things. When we might think of created all things, we look around at this beautiful creation around us, we think of the world around us, Oh, we might get a little bit more noble and think about the incredible stars and planets up above there and marvel, especially the more we learn, you know, like through our efforts in space, through satellites and through whatever. We're seeing things we had previous men and women had no idea existed out there. He made all of that. All things were created in heaven and on earth. But notice he goes on, visible and invisible. What's he talking about there? Well, I think the whole point is when he's talking about he is the image of the invisible God. The visible are the things we can see and touch. The invisible, he's talking about the spiritual realm. They too are created. And he describes different categories of angelic beings. Those visible or invisible, whether thrones or whether dominions or principalities or powers, those are the angelic beings. And we learn from scripture that when we think of angels, we have all kinds of weird views of angels, right? I mean, I often talk about come February, we learned that angels are fat little babies with wings and bows and arrows. There's a growing trend in literature. You'll see angels now as fierce beings, and especially the demonic. But what this tells us is there are different types of angels. We sang it in our song today, cherubim and seraphim. There are different ranks of angels. That shouldn't surprise us. God is a God of order. And so he created these angelic beings. And we hear of, like, for example, Michael the archangel. That's the head angel. And so when he's describing here thrones or dominions, principalities or powers, those are different categories of angelic beings. Now I'm referring to angelic beings that he created and as a clarification. So angels are spirit beings created by God. In the book of Job we're told that they're called the sons of God in a couple of places and it was God created them directly. And so that's why they're called sons of God. He directly created them. We're told that the angelic beings rejoiced at creation. So they were an early part of that first week of creation and they watched it all unfolding and they praised God as they saw it. But we also understand that not all angels continued in their obedience. And so sometimes we'll talk about fallen angels or evil spirits. or demons. Those are angelic beings that rebelled. So God created them all. He didn't create them evil. Some of them fell, just like God created Adam and Eve, sinless and righteous, but they sinned. That's a lot I'm packing into this verse here, but getting a little perspective. The Son of God created all the angelic beings as well as all humanity, as all this planet. To give you again the sense of angelic beings, you could skip over to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12. You don't need to, I'll read it for you. Ephesians 6 verse 12 we read, We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hoaxes of wickedness in the heavenly places. Again, different categories, different rankings, in this case of the fallen angelic beings, the demonic world. In Ephesians 3.10 we're told that the church is to the intent that now manifold wisdom of God might be made manifest, might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. That's one remarkable thing, we won't launch into Ephesians here, but we're told that we, God's people, are to be a display of God's glory to the angelic beings. First Corinthians tells us they watch our worship and learn from it. The key is, this is reminding us, there's more to creation than we can see and touch. There are the celestial bodies out in the heavens that we're still learning about and there are the spirit beings that we know some about from Scripture but again they're invisible. but it was all made by Jesus Christ. And so that's why Paul writes it this, all things were created through him and for him. That is such an amazing statement. All things were created for the glory of Jesus Christ. Now how would that be appropriate if he was just some angelic being like the Jehovah's Witnesses say? No, he is God himself and everything was created was for his glory. Kind of reminds me of the Westminster Catechism, the first question, right? What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Everything that was created is for the glory of the Son. He made all things and everything is for him. So partly, why is Paul saying all this? Well, it certainly adds to our understanding as we worship Jesus Christ. Please. You cannot worship him too greatly, but a lot of times we can get kind of a diminished view of who he is. That's one of the problems of making an image. You know, one of the problems of idols, you just minimize God. And literally, so you can put him on a shelf. You go to many parts of the world and many in our own country, you can go in and there's a God shelf there. Well, that's reducing. You cannot do that with Jesus Christ, you cannot do with the true God, you cannot reduce him. But false teachers were coming in to the Colossians and they were denying that Jesus is God and we'll listen to what Paul will say over in chapter 2 verses 20 to 22. Colossians 2, 20 to 22. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to the regulations, do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men. So what he's saying is they're going to be put under all kinds of rules about creation. He's saying it all belongs to Jesus. And so when they're saying, don't touch this, don't do this, he's saying, it all belongs to Jesus. And they'll also be told, you should worship angels. And he's saying, no, he made the angels. You worship the one who made the angels. You don't worship the angels. All things were created through him and for him. And verse 17, he goes on. And he is before all things, and in him all things consist. He is before all things. Again, when he's the firstborn, it's not that he is the first thing created. He is the one who has first honors over all things he created. Again, John 1.1, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God. Maybe even more clearly, in some ways, John 8, 58, Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. So John 1 begins just like Genesis. Genesis 1, 1, the Bible begins. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Well, that tells us where the heavens and the earth came from, but where'd God from? He's there, eternally. He's already there. And John 1, same thing. In the beginning was the word. From the very beginning, there he is. And that's why when Jesus speaks of Abraham, they said, you're not older than Abraham, are you? He said, before Abraham was, I am. I'm already there. He is the eternal one. And he is the creator of all things. He's not a creature. He's not created by God. He has no beginning. Jesus is the sovereign creator of all. One commentator says this, as C.S. Lewis has pointed out, he is over creation as a king and a sovereign and not subject to it or part of it but intimately related to it. So he's the creator of all things tied to it, intimately involved in it. We'll see that even more in our text. But he's not a created being. Do not reduce Jesus to just being the most powerful angel in existence. For us, that'd be a glorious transformation. For him, that would be a shameful demotion. He is the God who's over all. Let me read a little more extended quote. C.S. Lewis said this, you know C.S. Lewis, he's the writer of the Narnia Tales, but more than that, he was a professor at Oxford. He was a historian and a literary scholar. When I was looking at this quote, I did some other reading, you know how you get sometimes, well let me see some other things here, and one of the things he said is that he's a student of literature and he's a student of history. And so people that say that the Gospels are nothing but fantasy and nothing but legends, myths, this Oxford professor says, I've given my life to the study of such things and that category does not fit the Gospels. That's a different kind of work. Well, here's what C.S. Lewis is talking about, the uniqueness of Jesus. He said, if you'd gone to Buddha and asked him, are you the son of Brahma, a Hindu deity, he would have said, my son, you are still in the veil of illusion. That's a good answer some of you parents sometimes to the questions you get from your kids. If you'd gone to Socrates and asked, are you Zeus, he would have laughed at you. If you'd gone to Mohammed and asked, are you Allah, he first would have rent his clothes and then he'd cut your head off. If he had asked Confucius, are you heaven? I think he would have probably replied, remarks which are not in accordance with nature are in bad taste. The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. In my opinion, the only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic. And you know elsewhere he gives that Lord lunatic liar discussion. Now you can't say, well, I don't believe Jesus is God, but he's a wonderful philosopher, a great moral teacher, he's a stunning rabbi. That doesn't work because he claimed to be God. And if a person claims to be God, as he says, either if he thinks he's God, but he's not, then his mind isn't right. If he claims to be God and knows he's not, he's a liar. So that was the idea that he claimed to be God and he's a great moral teacher. That doesn't work unless he is God. And so Jesus is truly fully God. He's not a part of creation. He is over creation. He's the firstborn. It's his. He's the heir of all creation. He goes on to say, and in him, and reading on in Colossians, and in him, he is before all things and in him all things consist. He's not only creator, he's the one who holds it all together. And I don't understand enough about how creation works to fully grasp that. But think of what happens when you split an atom. You can destroy a city. An atomic bomb is the splitting of an atom. Think of the power that holds the atoms together, the universe together. And what this tells us is he is the one who's holding it all together. Now, some of us went to bed on Tuesday night wondering how the election would turn out. Who was going to be our president? No one wondered if in the morning the sun would still be there. How does that work? And isn't it amazing? You know, they can tell us exactly, you know, I don't often follow through on this, but they tell if you go out at this time and look in this direction, you'll see this comet. And we just had one recently come by and they said, you better see it now or you'll have to wait 80,000 years. So probably this was your last chance to see it. Well, how do they know that? Because everything is in order. God is a God of order. How does that happen? Because he's the one who holds it all together. In him, all things consist. Hebrews 1, Hebrews chapter 1 verses 2 to 3 come to mind. In these last days, he's spoken to us. God has spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things. That's that firstborn. And through him also, he made the world who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power. Jesus keeps this whole incredible system running by his word. By his word. You know you might go out on a moonlit night and see the moon and just try telling the moon to move. Doesn't work does it? But this gives us kind of a sense. of his power and his wisdom. That's who Jesus is. Now part of what was going on too was these Greek philosophers had an idea, spirit is good, matter is bad. Well wait a minute, if Jesus is God and he made everything and everything belongs to him, controlled by him and for him, then is matter bad? No, there's sin that's infected and cursed creation things, but matter in itself is not bad because God made it. Going on he goes in verse 18, and he of sweet Christ is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. He's the head of the body, the church. Christ is not only over all creation, he's also the head of the church. That's the church universal. But it also applies ultimately to the local church. I like the sign I've seen sometimes out church, you know, they'll put out churches under the same management for 2,000 years. Sometimes we don't listen to our manager very well, but the concept is right. He's the head of the church. He's over the church universal. And that's not just this local church. That's not even all believers across the planet. That's the believers yet to come, the believers already in heaven. He's over it all. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. He is the beginning. Everything comes from him. He is the source of everything. And he is the source of the church. What did he say to Peter? I will build my church. The body of believers across this world. Jesus made that. Jesus did that. He's also the firstborn from the dead. They're speaking of his resurrection. He is the first one resurrected. We also read in the scriptures he's like the first fruits of the resurrection, the beginning of resurrection. Now you might be thinking, wait a minute, there was that guy who walked with God and was not and there's some others, but he is the first one who was dead and resurrected with a transformed body. And here's the point, like the first fruits, how do I know that as a follower of Christ that I'll be resurrected? Because he's already out of the grave. And again, that's my joy and my great comfort when I'm there in the graveyard and bringing another believer to be buried. This is temporary. Because as Jesus rose from the dead, so will I and so every other follower of Christ. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the bed, that in all things He may have the preeminence. That's the whole point. He created it. He orders it. He's the head of the church. He's the first of the resurrection. Why? So that He gets all the glory. We gather here today for His glory. The church is not for our glory. It's for His. We gather for Him. On the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, in particular, we gather and we exalt Him, we worship Him, we honor Him, we pray to Him, we pray in His name. It's for His glory. In verses 19 to 20, we're reminded He's the Savior. Verse 19, it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. all the fullness of saving grace, power and majesty is in him and glory. He came and that's one of the things that we're going to be soon celebrating Christmas and to think about that child in him all the fullness of deity dwelt. Now we're told he emptied himself as well. Not of his deity, you can't You can't stop being God. If you can stop being God, you're not God. But he could stop the manifestation of his deity, which he did. He cloaked it. But in him dwelt the fullness of God's glory. I have to wonder about Peter, James, and John and others. You know, they got little glimpses. Remember when at one point Peter falls before Jesus and says, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinner. Little glimpses. But when they fully tried, and I don't know that we fully can grasp, but when they fully grasped, I walked this earth for three years with the God of glory. I shared matzo crackers with him, I ate fish with him, sometimes I took the larger piece and knew it. But the God of glory, that's who we worship. And so again, when these cults and false teachers will come along, watch that, they always are going to try and take away from his glory. He's the God of glory. Romans, and then he goes on and says, and him, by him he's going to reconcile all things. He's going to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Like I said, God made all things. And when he finished making all things, he said, it's good. But then we messed it up. You know, we look at this world around us and we think, where's all the suffering come from? We did that. There was no sin. There was no sickness. There was no death. There was no curse until man sinned. Now we might get to heaven and bump into Adam and Eve and say, you really messed up. And they could honestly say, you probably would have messed up quicker. But the point is, we brought, humanity brought a curse into this world. And it's not just among us. Oh, by the way, you know, they weren't the first. Lucifer, a glorious angel, and others with him joined in rebellion. But we're told because Adam was to be God's image on earth. Adam was to be God's ruler over earth. When he sinned creation over which man was appointed leadership, then became cursed as well. Romans 8 20 to 21 tells us that, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope, because creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. In the kingdom, much of sin's curse is lifted. And that's why we say, if you were told in Isaiah, if you die at the age of a hundred, you'll be considered to have died as a child. Illness gone, peace back, the lamb laying down with the wolf. But this is still just not the full release. But the point is we live in a creation cursed with the effects of sin. But we're told here in Colossians, by him he will reconcile all things to himself. There is coming a time. when the curse will be lifted. That's what Romans 8, 21 said, because the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption. Jesus is going to do that. Jesus has already paid for our sin. Jesus is going to reconcile all this cursed creation. He's going to put everything in order. He is the firstborn of creation. He deserves the highest honor and glory because he made everything. It was made by him. and for him that he as God might have the glory so we can trust in him. I read the account some years ago. I'll read it to you. A South American company purchased a fine printing press from a firm in the United States. After it had been shipped and completely assembled, the workman could not get it to operate properly. I know what that's like. And I've tried to read the directions and put something together. Anyway, the most knowledgeable personnel tried to remedy the difficulty and bring it into proper adjustment to no avail. Finally, the company wired a message to the manufacturer here in America asking the company send a representative immediately to fix it. Sensing the urgency of the request, the U.S. firm chose the person who had designed the press. When he arrived on the scene, the South American officials were skeptical. He was a young man, as they thought, obviously wet behind the ears. After some discussion, they sent the cable to the manufacturer. Your man is too young. Send a more experienced person. The rear Clyde came back. He made the machine. He can fix it. God made this. Jesus Christ, God's son, made this creation. and he's going to bring it all into order. We live in a fallen world because of sin but Jesus Christ came to solve the sin problem. sin problem of my own heart. I'm a sinner. How can I ever stand before a holy God? Jesus Christ came to fix that. He paid the penalty for my sin. He took the penalty of my sin on himself that I might bear the righteousness of Christ and in that come before the holy God. And that is something that is true. He offers that to each and every one of you. That if you will turn from your sin, receive the gift of salvation, your sin is forgiven, not simply but because he paid an infinite price. He died on the cross to pay for sin and he offers you forgiveness and eternal life. If you have yet to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ catch a glimpse of his glory and recognize he is the one who offers reconciliation between you and God. But even more as we look around this world and we grieve hurricanes that leave devastation. Epidemics that wipe out thousands and thousands, suffering across this world, wars and rumors of wars. He made it. And he can fix it. And it's already in his plan that he will put all in order. He will restore God's creation for his glory. So Paul, why is he telling us all this? First of all, I think he wants us to know who Jesus is. Who is Jesus that we worship? Sometimes we want to leave him the cute little baby in the cradle. Sometimes we want to leave him on a cross. He's so much more, isn't he? He is the firstborn of all creation. He is the God himself. He made all things and all things exist for his glory. And so as false teachers were coming in and confusing the Colossians, what Paul said to them is, let me point you to true north. It's Jesus. If you grasp, if you begin to grasp the fullness of who Jesus is, all this other stuff falls into place. He's God in the fullness of his glory. He is God. He came and dwelt among us so we can know who God is. He's the image of the invisible. He's the creator of all things and he is the restore of all things. It's been said that cults are famous for their mathematics. They tend to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Cults add by adding to the scripture. When they come to your door, a lot of times, they've got their own little books. I've had different ones over my lifetime come to my door. I've got some of those books I can now use for my world religions. I remember when an orange-draped monk came to my door and wanted to know if I'd like to give him any food. I could help my karma, and he would give me books. Now, I was a lost person at the time, but I still have the books. I didn't give him any food. But they want to add to the scripture. The Mormons have all kinds of books they add to the scripture, the Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and more. Cults and false teachers want to add to the scriptures. They want to subtract from the deity and person of Christ. They either want to make him less man or less God. He is truly God and truly man in one person. But watch out for the false teachers, they're going to try and diminish the deity of Christ. They want to add, they want to subtract, they want to multiply. They want to multiply the requirements of salvation. Oh yes, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me tell you some other things you need to do. You need to do this, you need to do that, you need to do this, so that you might gain salvation and keep salvation. They want to multiply the requirements of salvation. And they want to divide. They want to divide God's people away from him. They want to take people away. I remember reading years ago about a notice that was in one of the Mormon publications and they said every week another Baptist church becomes Mormon. What's that all about? Well, what they meant by that is they did the math and found out how many people were in the average Baptist church. And they found that that's how many Baptists every week left the Baptist church and became Mormons because someone came to the door and said, Oh, you love Jesus. So we do. We can help you better know him. And they divided away from God's flock and led into error. What is our protection? knowing Christ as Savior and knowing who he is. The question of the ages is who is Jesus? If we fully grasp he's God in the flesh, God in all his glory, he is the creator. And again, that always fills my mind with wonder as I think about that babe in the cradle. You know how babies are. They literally cannot turn over unless you do it for them. The creator God had to wait for his mother to turn him in the crib because he had a plan. He had to become man to die for man's sin. He had to be God for his offering to be sufficient. When I start having my doubts, If I wrestle with any of these issues, I think about who is Jesus? How do I know I can trust the Bible? Jesus did, and Jesus is God. To me, case closed. If Jesus says this is God's truth, I don't care what some professor somewhere says. The God who wrote this, the God of glory, the one who is truth says it's true. I can trust it. If you want clarity in your conviction, if you want answers to your concerns, and I don't want to oversimplify, but I will tell you this, the answer is Jesus. Look to him. Who is Jesus? And that's why Paul mentions he is the God of all creation. He's also the one who rose from the dead. You can go to Asia and they'll take you to places where parts of Buddha are buried. They don't claim that he rose from the dead. Same with Muhammad. They'll take you to a grave. Jesus. Well, they'll take you to several graves, possibly. Any day one they take you to, it's empty. He is the risen Savior. He's God in the flesh. We can trust him. Father, thank you for reminding us of this truth, grounding us in this truth. May we grow in our understanding, our adoration, and our trust and our obedience to him. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.