15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Col. 1:15-20 ESV)
When Paul mentioned the beloved Son in his prayer for the Colossians, he cannot help but jumping over to this topic. He may be carried away in form, but in content he is right on the target, for in everything the beloved Son should be preeminent. In the original Greek, this paragraph is nicely divided into two parallel parts with repeating key phrases and words. To help perceive this beautiful balanced structure, we can reduce this paragraph in a stiff way, and mark out exact repeating key words in red and echoing words in blue: He is the image, the firstborn of all creation. For in him all things were created. All things in heaven or on earth were created through him and for him. (Transition phrase: He is before all things, and he is the head of the body.) He is the beginnings, the firstborn from the dead. For in him all the fullness of God dwell. All things on earth or in heaven were reconciled through him and for him. In Greek, the word image and beginnings also sound very similar. Therefore, to the ear of the Colossians, this song of the beloved Son really sounded like a melody from heaven.
The beauty of this song resides not only in its form, but even more so in its ground shattering content. The repeating key words of the firstborn, which almost become obsolete in our modern times, was once upon a time a weighty word from average household all the way to the royal courts. A king may have dozens and even hundreds of sons, but only his firstborn son would inherit the whole kingdom. Therefore, this scripture passage emphasizes a single point: that the beloved Son of God is His firstborn Son, who will inherit everything that belongs to God. What is the most treasured inheritance that God would pass on to His firstborn Son? There are two precious inheritances for Him: One is the vast universe, and the other is the Church. Even for these two, the beloved Son Himself helped create from the scratch. He designed them (in him), He built them (through him), and He brought them to perfection (for him). He is well deserved to take these as His inheritance.
The Lord God is a God who hides Himself (Isa. 45:15), He dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16), no one has ever seen God, neither would anyone be able to, only in the beloved Son can we see God (Jn. 1:18). It is in this sense that He is the image of the invisible God. In this universe, all visible beings, all invisible yet conceivable beings, including our very self, came from Him. All the forces of this world that shape our destiny, forces of the physical world or of spiritual realm or from human authorities, that make us dwarfed, helpless, and hopeless, are all under His control and serve Him at His bidding. Whether these are celestial bodies that spin and pause and explode and contract in dazzling fashions above, or human dynasties that rise and fall and thrive and wane beneath, they all move along the precise orbit predestined by the beloved Son for His good pleasure. He thus moves heavens and earth for one purpose, which is why He created them in the first place, is for a new creation, a resurrection from the dead, that is His church, His bride, (Rev. 21:9) the bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh. (Gen. 2:23) Therefore He is making peace by the blood of His cross.
Therefore, the two inheritances from God are not symmetrical in nature, but with one on top of the other. The beloved Son created the heavens and the earth with His finger (Psa. 8:3), but He bled and died for the Church. The first creation is indeed wonderful in nature but is incomplete by itself. Only through the Church, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and bring peace to the previous creation by the blood of His cross. The beloved Son first created a world, like that of a clam. Then He became flesh (Jn. 1:14) and came into the world He created, like a tiny object was inserted into the clam and injured itself. Without such painful tears from the wound, no precious pearl would be formed. The pearl forms in a clam much like the Church forms in the world, for the Church is like one pearl of great value. (Mat. 45-46) Without a world, there would be no Church. In order to create the Church, a world must be created first. Both belong to the beloved Son; they are both His rightful inheritances and His sweat and blood. This is the wonderful song of the beloved Son.
Prayer: O Father! Thank you for electing us in the beloved Son that we may be fellow heirs with Christ and share in the inheritance of the saints in light!
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