Thanks to everyone who has agreed to help with Vacation Bible School in 2017! Pray that God will bless our efforts as we gather together and tell kids about Jesus.
The Bible text for Lifeway’s VBS this year is Colossians 1:15-16: “He is the image of the invisible God, firstborn over all creation, for by him all things were created: in heaven and on earth, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him.”
The “he” in these verses is Jesus Christ. The one used by God to write these words was the great missionary Paul the Apostle. Originally Paul was writing to a first-century church. Apparently false teachers were trying to diminish Jesus, teaching that he was less than divine.
In our day people sometimes assert that Jesus is a great man, a great teacher, a great healer, but that he is not the Son of God. They deny that he is the only way to be right with God. We need these great words from the Book of Colossians just as surely as that church long ago needed them. We need to know the truth about Jesus.
Notice that Jesus is not an image of God but the image of God, the one and only. Jesus told his disciples that when they had seen him, they had seen God the Father. Jesus is the Word become flesh who lived for a while among us.
Jesus is firstborn over all creation. Firstborn is a reference to a custom in the ancient world. The firstborn received a double portion of inheritance. He was honored above all others. God appointed Jesus heir of all things. He has the most honored position of all, exalted above all others, the One and only Savior.
Jesus is not a created being. He is the One through whom all things were created. Through him God made the ages. Without him nothing was made that has been made. Jesus is Lord of all creation by virtue of the fact that he is the Maker and Sustainer.
Through Jesus God made all that we see. He also made the things that cannot be seen, even with telescopes or microscopes. Planets and suns, water and animals, love and truth, angels and demons, he made everything. All creation is his.
And Jesus is Lord of all Christians in a double sense. He is our Lord because he is our Maker and he is our Lord because he is our Savior. He not only made us, he also purchased us with his blood. We are no longer our own, but we belong to him.
This great Bible text tells us that all things in heaven and on earth were made not only by Jesus but for Jesus. There is no authority or ruler which is not subject to the power of Jesus. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
What great things we have to share with the kids this year!
May God’s Holy Spirit enable us to believe and to proclaim the truth about Jesus,
Brother Richard Foster
brotherrichardsblog.com 