#2 Who Is Jesus
 

Firstborn, Not Created
 

He is . . . the firstborn over all creation.
(Colossians 1:15)
 

    This expression has been embraced with great delight by many cultists who deny the deity of the Lord Jesus. Many of you have been visited by Jehovah's Witnesses. Probably you have listened for a long time while they deliver their spiel. I have no doubt they have quoted this verse to you, and in quoting it have said, "There you are! That proves that he is created, which shows quite conclusively he could not possibly be equal with God.@
  The remarkable thing about these people is the size of their blinders. For verse 16 immediately goes on to say, "By him all things were created.@ And verse 17 adds, "He is before all things,@ And the next verse concludes everything by saying, "In everything he might have the supremacy.@
  This verse does not mean that Jesus Christ was the first thing created. That would be to misunderstand what "firstborn@ meant in Jewish culture.
    The firstborn in a Jewish family was heir in a very special way, with special privileges and responsibilities.
    When Paul says Christ is God's firstborn, he means that Jesus rightfully inherits from the Father absolutely everything that was created. Everything. Nothing is excluded; nothing is left out. Jesus is "His Majesty@ in the ultimate, true, and full sense!
    I once heard Jack Hayford tell how a tour of Britain prompted him to write the popular song "Majesty.@ He saw the crown jewels, Buckingham Palace, the guards. He witnessed all the panoply, the majesty, the glory, the magnificence of royalty, and was moved to sit down while still in Britain and write his song.
    Sometimes the culture we live in undermines our sense of majesty - even the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ. How unfortunate that is! For Christ is the very epitome, the zenith, of what "majesty@ is about. Majesty, exalted, lofty, regal, stately, grand - he is all that and more!
    Most of us will never meet a ruling monarch. But we will meet the King one day - and every day should be lived in the consciousness of that event.
    What events in the life of Christ, or what aspects of his character, give you a sense of his majesty?

Father, please give me a new realization of the majesty of your Son, Amen.
 

~Stuart Briscoe~