Then coming to verse 16 and verse
17, for in Him were all things created that are in heaven and
that are in earth, visible and invisible, for the thrones are
dominions, are principalities, are powers. All things were created
by Him and for Him. Now watch verse 17. And he is
before all things, and by him all things are. Now, we have
in these verses Christ as creator, Christ as preserver of that which
He has brought into creation. Just a minute or two, let's have
some background that we might tie our studies together last
Sunday and today. In the first study that we had
in Colossians, we sought to get an acquaintance with the state
and the condition of the church that dwelt at Colossae. We did
that in order that we might identify the certain eras that Paul would
write against as he gave them this wonderful epistle. And the
eras that were there concerning the person of Jesus Christ have
a large influence on why Paul so highly exalts the Lord Jesus
Christ. He exalts Him as He does in these
particular places because of the unworthy and the low view
that some false teachers had there at Colossae. So in order
to offset Eris, Paul wrote such things as Colossians 1 and verse
15. For they had a very deficient
view of Christ the Son of God. So what does Paul do? He sets
Christ forth as being the very image and the very likeness of
God, the express image of His person, the firstborn of every
creature, the preeminent one. He is above all. He makes a connection in verse
14 and verse 15 that the one in whom we have redemption, that
the one who has put away and forgiven our sins is the very
image of God and is the preeminent one in all of God's dealing,
the one having all power in heaven and in earth. Their salvation
is securely brought to them by a member of the Godhead. The
dying one was not a mere man. The dying one was not an ordinary
man. The dying one was not simply
a Jewish martyr who died for a cause. He was not a common
man, but God manifest in the flesh is the one that hanged
upon the cross and died. Now we had to close our first
study with verse 15, but the apostle is by no means finished
with his exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has more to
say about the wonder and the preeminence of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He has more to say as proof of
the deity of Christ our Lord, and this more to say as proof
He brings before us in verse 16 and verse 17, but even continues
it on beyond that as, God willing, we will see next Lord's Day morning. Now, in the text that we have
read today, verse 16 and 17, He attributes creation itself
to Christ. Should we say that again? Paul
declares that Christ is the Creator of all things. Verse 16, For
by him were all things created. And the thing that he refers
to, that Christ created, also he has called God's dear Son,
this One that has created. And in verse 16, it opens with
the word far, the conjunction, or it might be because. for or because Paul will further
justify what he has said of the Lord in verse 15, that he is
the image of God, the invisible one, the firstborn of every creature. For to call him Christ, the Son
of God, the very image of God, and to make him have the highest
rank because of his relationship to God is quite a claim indeed. It was a claim that the Colossians
had not grasped and had a deficient view of the Lord. But Paul, in
writing along, feels fully justified in declaring such of Christ that
He is the image of God, the firstborn of every creature. And he carries
it even further. He confirms what he mentioned
only briefly in our first study, that the firstborn was not included
in all of creation. The firstborn was not created
Himself. It does not mean that there was
a time when the Lord was not and then was brought into existence. For the Son of God is not a created
being. He had no beginning and He can
have no end. In fact, says Paul, not only
was He in the beginning, But by Him and through Him were all
things created and made. A created being cannot, in turn,
turn around and create something else. But Christ is called a
Creator. My, that gives Him eternality,
and it gives Him deity, and it gives Him preeminent. This again
puts Him in another class than created being. that very God. He, being the image of God, is
also the Creator. He cannot Himself be created
or even be a part of creation and then be creator Himself. So let's enter, if we might,
a few more texts to go with the one that we have read here that
confirm that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second member
in the Godhead, had an actual hand in the creation of all things. Which means that He existed prior
to creation. That's a given, is it not? If
He created, then He existed before the creation of all other things. There's a wonderful text regarding
this. I'm turning to John chapter 1.
You don't have to if you don't want to. But John chapter 1,
and I'm reading verses 1 through 3, that confirm what Paul said,
that Christ is the Creator. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
and without Him was not anything made that was made." There is
a clear declaration of the creatorship of the Son of God known as the
Word. In Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2
and the last part, the writer said, "...of Christ by whom He
made the worlds." You will notice, at least in the King James, that
the word worlds here in this place is plural. And it is the
word aonis, or the word aeon, ages, if you will. It is the
same word in Hebrews 11 and verse 3, where the author writes, we
understand the worlds, plural again, ages, the aeons, were
formed by the Word of God Literally, they were spoken into existence. The minute one believes on Christ,
the minute there is new life in them, the minute they are
quickened and God grants them faith, they begin to believe,
Hebrews 11 and 3, that the worlds or the ages were framed by the
Word of God. This is what faith believes. It doubts not or stumbles not. We have no problem with evolution
once we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God. But there's more in Ephesians
chapter 3 and verse 9. God who created all things by
Jesus Christ. Now with these texts fresh in
our mind, we must dig in. We must now engage in hand-to-hand
combat with those who are determined to deny the deity of Christ,
the Son of God. For they cannot see if Christ
is Creator, if creation is duly ascribed to Him, that it is illogical
to deny His deity. They cannot seem to see that.
Only God can create. Thus, if Christ is creator, then
he is eternal, and he is also very, very God. Now, this they
deny, in that he is God, and this requires them to explain
away all of the texts that ascribe creation unto Christ or the Son
of God. They must put some twist upon
all of these texts that we have read and used that ascribe creation
unto the Lord. And then we must call their hand
on it, for they are old, wily coyotes when it comes to trying
to rob our Lord of His deity. And their perversions might sound
reasonable to some who are not grounded in the faith of Christ
and in the blessed Word of God. So here is what we are up against
in that, as they deny the eternal deity of Christ, they also deny
that he had a hand in original creation of all things that we
see. There are those such as the Jehovah's
Witnesses, the Sassanians, followers of Sassanias of old, for example. The JWs, the Jehovah Witnesses,
in their so-called New World Translation in the early edition
1950 and 1951, feeling the pinch of Colossians 1 and 16, that
He created all things, put in the word other. in the text. The word other, they inserted
it, making it read, by Him were all other things created. Not that He is creator, but that
by Him or for His sake, the Lord God Himself did create all other
things. In later edition, they enclosed
the word other in brackets to show that it is not in the original
manuscripts or in the original Greek. There are other ways that
this truth is wrested by the Sassanian to say that Jesus is
not the Creator, simply that all things were created for Him. The Sassanians in Hebrews 1 and
verse 3 who say, yet it is Christ that has made the worlds. That's what
we read in our scripture. Then they deny that it is original
creation that the author is talking about. They've got a fancy twist
upon this as well. In that Genesis 1-1 they say
that it's meant not creation proper. They say this is not
talking about the original creation of all things. They say it means,
by whom God did constitute the ages. And that's how they get
by Hebrews 1 and verse 3. God arranged the various dispensations
of religion. And He did it by Christ, or Christ
did it. But it only refers not to the
old original creation, but to the new creation, or to the restoration
of spiritual life. Christ, they said, made that
creation. Still others will say, God made
the world for the sake of His Son, for His Son's good and use
and enjoyment. Others, on account of the Son,
God made the world. Some by the Son as an agent or
an instrument. but denying all the while the
eternal deity of our Savior. Now, as for this silly notion
that it only refers to salvation and conversion and the unfolding
of the ages and the conversion of men in the new life, that
this is all that is meant by Christ being called a creator,
that he simply created the new creature or the new life or the
spiritual life. Then as John Brown observed,
if making souls new be creation that is ascribed unto Christ,
then more so could be ascribed to the apostle who brought forth
more into light in the kingdom of God than even Christ himself. Here's a short summation of the
Sassanian view of Christ as Creator, especially in light of their
interpretation of Hebrews 1 and verse 3. As to the worlds made
by Christ, Hebrews 1, 3, quote, these are not the things of old,
but of the new creation, not the fabric of heaven and of earth,
but the conversion of the souls of men, not the first institution
of the forming of all things, but the restoration of mankind
and the translation of them into a new condition of life." Here
is what the Sassanians say that Christ as the Creator of the
ages in Hebrews 1 and 3 has done. into a new condition of life,
made the new condition or the new age created by Christ. Thus they view Jesus as the creator
of the new life, not as creator of the material heaven and earth
and the universe so vast and expansive. So let's check the
Scripture on the question. Let's run that question by the
Scripture itself. John 1 and 1. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now please note
the Word in the beginning. Because there in verse 2, the
same was in the beginning. with God. The One who was God
was with Him in the beginning. And then He said, all things,
verse 3, were made by Him, and apart from Him was not anything
made that is made. Back in Hebrews 1 and verse 2,
it is written, By whom also He made the world. But in Colossians
1.16, our text, Paul casts a very, very wide loop in speaking of
Christ as he accepts absolutely nothing from the creatorship
of Him, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not one thing is outside
of the created power of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had just described
as being the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Verse 16, For by Him were all
things created, not just on His behalf, but by Him personally. He is the firstborn, for by Him
were all things created. All things that were created. And notice the words, all things,
in that verse of the Scripture are meant to be extensive. As extensive as creation itself. All things. They include things
in heaven, they include things in the earth, but not limited
or restrained to heavenly and earthly things. We know that
the errorless Greek here speaks in the past tense. He has, or
he did create, is the tense in which it is written by Paul.
John Eady, the Scotsman, wrote on this verse, creation is here
in the fullest and in the most unqualified sense ascribed to
Christ, unquote. And then Eady adds these words,
It harmonizes with John's gospel. What John said in his gospel,
Paul is saying in the Colossian epistle and other places. Notice he adds, to things in
heaven and things in earth, visible and invisible. That is, things
that are seen, things that are not seen, things that can be
seen, and things that cannot be seen." And he goes on using
the word, whether, in our verse Colossians 1.16, whether, he
writes, whether thrones, whether dominions, some say lordships
is a good translation of that, whether principalities, some
say rulers is a good translation of that word, or whether powers
or authorities, he includes all of these things. And I can agree
with Thomas Goodwin who said that these four epithets are
supplementary names that Paul has used, are references to celestial
dignities, powers, principalities, lordships, thrones, and such
like. Goodwin thought they were references
to rank. in that celestial world by a
similitude of earthly ranks, for there are ranks even in the
earth. In order for our apprehension,
therefore, of His Word, Titus chapter 3 and verse 1, and Goodwin
wondered if there were several ranks of the angels that are
in heaven, that were created by our God and by His Son. And in considering these words
that Paul uses, look at them again. There are thrones. There
are dominions, principalities, powers. Paul names four of them. We meet them again in other places
in the Scripture. in two or three other senses
as well. Other places we meet with these
names are these dignities, are these powers. First of all, our
spiritual warfare. In Ephesians 6 and verse 12,
we wrestle not against flesh and blood. That is, our warfare
is not only with flesh and with blood, It is not just with men. It is not just with the devil.
Not just with carnal flesh. Else would our weapons be of
another kind or another sort. But notice, our warfare, our
fight, our wrestling is against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness, in high places, or as the margin has it, in heavenly
places. Same words here as in Colossians
1 and verse 16. We wrestle against these, for
these are the evil things that come against us spiritually. Secondly, again, we meet this
cluster or mass of words in another sense. We see these terms used
in connection with the victorious resurrection and ascension of
the Lord Jesus Christ to heaven. In Ephesians 1 and verse 20 and
21, I would like to read, it goes like this, which He wrought
in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, set Him at His
own right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality and
power and might and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but in that which is to come, and has
put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over
all." Ephesians 1. verse 20 and verse 21. Colossians 2 and 10 calls Christ
the head of all principality and power. Ephesians 3.10 uses
it again. Also Romans 8 and verse 38. And Colossians 2 and verse 15
uses these descriptions. Thus we notice these words and
these phrases keep popping up before us in our New Testament,
in the writings of Paul especially. And they bear at least three,
and perhaps a four-fold relation to Christ and He to them. The principalities of power,
dominion, and such like. And we will come across them
again in Colossians. So let's try to bring them together
here at Colossians 1, and verse 16. First, it is said in our
text in that verse that they, whether it is meant by the words
thrones, dominions, principalities and powers, whether they be these
things that we consider, they also are part of Christ's creative
work. Not just heaven and earth, not
just the things seen and unseen, but these four things that he
mentioned. For as Paul says, by him were
all things created, and that includes things in heaven and
things in earth and far-flung creation. See the word again,
weather, which is as a conditionality, such as if, even if, making a
connection, all things in heaven, all things visible, and upon
the earth and invisible, even thrones and dominions and principalities
and power. Now, why, we ask ourselves, does
Paul so pointedly and stubbornly insist upon declaring that Christ
is the creator of such things as invisible and things in heaven
and such like? Now there have been some of old
who claim that the Gnostics, the Gnostics, some of them Paul
is dealing with in the Colossian epistle, there was their presence,
there were their footprints and fingerprints upon this epistle
and upon the church that is there. Many of old claim that these
Gnostics held the belief that the divine power did not create
the celestial beings and power. These were not the creation of
God. If that be the case, that is,
if they held to that, Paul explodes their myth. And the object of
the apostle here is to show that the Divine Son is the creator
of all things, even the celestial powers, the myriads in the unseen
world. That myriad of creatures, the
higher or the heavenly beings, are also the product of the creative
power of our Lord. And what a rebuke is this to
such as hold to Colossians 2 and verse 18, the worshipping of
angels. There are those who have brought
in angels as their objects of worship. the holy angel, held
in very high esteem by most, recognized as lofty beings by
almost all in Christendom, and the Jews were aware of their
activity in regard to their old dispensation. However, let me
say something and prick up your ears and turn up your hearing
aids now. The worship of angels is as much
an act of idolatry as those that build the golden cave in the
book of Exodus. For angels are not created beings. They are not divine beings. They
are not God, nor are they eternal. In fact, they are inferior to
Christ upon the same principle of Hebrews 3 and verse 3, he
that builds the house hath more honor than the house that he
has built. Even so, as the creator of the
heavenly host, Christ is higher than the angel. And it is proven
in that when God brought His firstborn into the world, He
said, let all the angels of God worship Him. Hebrews 1 and verse
6. The angels are to worship Christ
that proves His superiority over them. How and when? Some came to be worshipers of
angels. I cannot tell you. But it is
not surprising, not surprising at all, considering that the
heathen Both in and out of Christendom have worshipped all manner of
created objects over time. They have worshipped the sun,
they have worshipped the moon, the wind, the stars. Worshipping
the creature rather than the creator, Romans 1.25. They began
to worship what was created instead of the one who created, Paul
says there. And that part of Christendom
that prays to dead saints in saving them. That part of Christendom
that prays to married and dead and departed saints. Coming to
Colossians 2, 14 and 15. If we were to read that again,
Paul is telling his readers that what God has done in Christ in
saving them, in bestowing life upon them, in putting away their
sin, bringing them up out of their spiritual death. Notice
the last words of verse 13, having forgiven you all trespasses. And verse 14, having blotted
out in Colossians 2. Colossians 2.14, having blotted
out, having erased or canceled wiping away, canceling the handwriting
that stood against us in ordinances. Right here in Colossians 2, 14
and 15. Notice what he did. He nailed
it to his cross, Paul said. He took it out of the way. Now,
this word blotted here is, I counted five times in the New Testament. Here in Colossians 2 and 14,
Again, in Acts 3 and verse 19, that your sins be blotted out,
Peter says unto them, Revelation 3 and 5, of the one, I will not
blot out his name out of the book of life. Twice in Revelation
7, 17 and 21 and verse 4, It is translated, shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes. It gives us a pretty good meaning
of that word. Some take the closest meaning
of that word in Colossians 2, 14 and 15 to be expunged. He expunged our sin. He took away the ordinances that
were against us. As a bond is cancelled out And
the debt is no longer required, for it is settled and is satisfied. But in Colossians 2.15, we also
have it in the past tense again. Having spoiled. Not going to in the future, but
having spoiled. Literally, putting off or stripping
away. Disarming. And here are two of
those words again. principalities and power, stripping
them away, disarming them, putting off which some render rulers
and authorities. Our Lord doing that in His death. Thus, Paul attributes a two-fold
work to Christ in the death of the cross. Number one, He canceled
the death which consisted in decrees, which was against us
and which was hostile unto us. By the way, I know this is a
bit past the subject, but in verse 16 and verse 17, there
seems to be a definite Jewish element concerning the ceremonial
law from the exhortation that is drawn here. But I didn't want
to draw your attention away. The emphasis is He canceled the
debt which consisted in decrees which was against us and was
hostile unto us. Secondly, in the same death,
Colossians 2, 14 and 15, in the same death, he defeated the powers
of darkness and of Satan, which John Gill described, quote, the
principalities of hell, the infernal powers of spiritual of darkness
and the devil that had the power of death." Our Lord gained the
victory in His death on the cross. Hostile spiritual powers are
plainly designated in that passage of Scripture. John Eady said,
Paul uses a metaphor. Notice it. Number one, he stripped
them. That is, he spoiled them. He
defeated them. And secondly, there is a wonderful
thing. He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them openly or publicly or for all to be seen. He defeated the hostile powers
of darkness in the cross. And in Paul's metaphor that he
uses there, Christ is the triumphant victor over spiritual enemies,
the power of darkness and death and the devil and such like.
And it is likened, the metaphor is, to a victorious king or a
victorious general having gone out to meet the enemy and soundly
defeated and triumphed them and having taken some of them captive
and coming back to the city. displaying them as a sign of
their defeat. J. B. Lightfoot described it
this way, quote, as a victor displays his captives and his
trophies in a triumphal procession, unquote. And that's what Paul
is using the metaphor of. Our Lord triumphed over the enemy,
and he made a triumphant public consistence of that. after Jesus
had defeated the evil power. He was, in Hebrews correction,
He was in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 20 and 21, raised, exalted, far
above, listen now, far above all principality and the might
and dominion and power and being given a name that is above any
name that has ever been named, and that in the world to come. That in the world that we wait
upon. But back in Colossians 1 and
17, a final point here about the glory of Christ and the power
and the excellence of Him, particularly with regard to creation. Notice
verse 16. Not only has He created all things,
but now verse 17, He is said to be the cause why all things
remain. He is said to be the cause why
all things are upheld. There are two things in verse
17. A. He is before all things, and
it definitely intends Christ, the Son of God, that one, this
one, The one who made all things, there is likely a double meaning
here. Number one, he is before all
things in relationship unto time. And number two, he is before
all things in relation to dignity, to power, and to honor. The first best suits the context
for being creator, establishes his pre-existence. He must have
existed before the things that He created existed. But then
the second half of verse 17, Colossians 1, by Him all things
consist. Note the word all things again,
which is the same word in the Greek as the all things created
back in verse 16. Also, all things consist in Him."
Now, the word is about, or at least dozens of times in the
New Testament Scripture, it is the word, sukastenik, and is
the only time it is translated, consist, is right here in Colossians
1 and verse 17. The word has compound meanings
as we search it out. It has the meaning that stood
in Luke 9 and verse 32, standing, 2 Peter 3 and 5, the world standing
in and out of the water. But the meaning here in Colossians
1.17 is to cohere. If you get that word, to hold
together. to remain, to cause the standing
of all things, to maintain it in existence, to preserve what
is created or has been created by the Lord. What the Lord has
created, He is preserving, which is a continuance of His creative
power as He upholds all things. He has not created all things. only to let them free-wheel. Some people think God has created
all things and then gone His way to take no notice or hand
in the affairs of the men or of the world. And for that reason,
there are a lot of people in our generation today, a lot of
people among us in our society who are scared to death that
the very earth on which we live is going to fall right out from
under our feet and come to absolutely nothing. I wonder if they'd ever
go look down on the bottom and see that it sits on nothing.
Not on Hercules, not on a giant turtle. It sits on nothing. The Lord hanged the earth upon
nothing. 2 Peter 3, 5 and 7. The heavens
and the earth which are now by the same Word of God kept in
store Preserved under fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men, the Lord is preserving what He has created. Hebrews
1.3, the Son upholding all things by the word of His power. As one said, He is the cohesion
of the universe, for He sustains it. He causes it to be a cosmos
rather than a chaos. His power maintains all things,
else would it revert again into nothingness. He sustains the
order which He has created. All things kept their motions. All things stay in their path. All things follow their appointed
order by the power of Christ our Lord. Job 26 and 7, He stretched
out the north over the empty spaces and hanged the world or
the earth upon nothing. I think people don't want to
look on the bottom and see there's nothing there that's holding
us up. What an exaltation of Christ,
Creator, Preserver of the earth, to keep our high estimation of
the Savior, Paul makes him the creator and the preserver of
all things that we see and all things that we know to exist. This is the one that has redeemed
us. This is the one by whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin. He that saved us, he that made
the world, and he that keeps it and preserves it. Shall he
not also preserve those that are given, or what is given unto
him by the Father? Yes, our Lord is not only the
image of God, the firstborn of every creature, the preeminent
one, but he is also the creator and the sustainer of all things
that he has made. This is a scribe to Christ. And
it is robbery to take that away from him and say, oh, God only
made it for the sake of Christ. He is described as Creator Himself. Thank God for that wonderful
view of our Christ. All right, let's stand to our
feet, please, for a word of prayer.