THE NEXT PASSAGE is a passage indeed: “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:15–16). Jesus is “the image of the invisible God”—He takes the place of idols for us. Idols misrepresent God; Jesus represents God. Jesus is the express image of God’s person; God is a Christlike God.
He is “the first-born of all creation”—we not only see the person of God in Jesus, we see the purpose of creation in Him. In Him we see the purpose and meaning of creation—creation reveals Him, or creation perishes.
“For in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible . . . all things were created through him and for him.” The Christian world has not taken this passage seriously—has treated it as a rhetorical flourish. Nothing in Scripture, or outside, is more important. What does this strange passage mean? That God created all things through Him and for Him? Does it mean that the touch of Christ is upon all creation, and deeper, that all things are intrinsically made to work in His way and that if they do, they work well, harmoniously? Do they find the purpose of their being when they work in His way? Do they work their own ruin automatically if they try to work in some other way? I can give a wholehearted and categorical yes to those questions.
The way of Christ is written in the Bible and in our blood, our nerves, our tissues. The discovery of that fact is going to be the greatest adventure of the future. If we are created by Him and for Him, then He is inescapable. You cannot jump out of your own skin. If you revolt against Christ, you revolt against yourself. God has us hooked. We may run away in short excursions of freedom, but He reels us in. The facts are against us.
O Jesus, Lord, we stand in awe before the wonder of Thy redemption. It is not imposed on us, but exposed out of it. Thy laws are our freedom. When we do Thy will, we do the thing for which we are made. We bless Thee, bless Thee. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Like the watermark in paper, Christ is written into the very texture of my being.
