Who Is Jesus

Would you rather listen than read? Listen here.

He Wooed Me

As I have mentioned before, there was never a time in my life that I did not know of Jesus. I shared last week in the post, “Dynamite” how I came to know Him as my Savior, but even before that, He wooed me. I always had a fascination for who this person was, that I could not see, but yet knew He was with me.

As a young child, I remember wandering into the formal living room of my mom’s godparents’ house. You know that room they forbid you to go into because it was to be kept really nice for guests? I would go in and sit on the plush green carpet and scan through the black hardback Bible that sat on the end table, and wish I understood what all the words meant. I am still baffled by how much God pursued me before I even knew what that meant.

On the few occasions we went to church, I would see, above the fireplace in one of the meeting rooms, a portrait of Jesus. I wondered why Jesus always looked like He was staring off into space, but I assumed He was looking up to God. I just knew this was what He looked like. If not, why would they hang such a picture in the church? Later, I came to know this portrait as the “Hollywood Jesus.” This picture is what we would want Him to look like and not necessarily what He looked like.

Who Is Jesus?

As I got older, I still yearned to know more about this Jesus who sought me out. Who is this man that holds my heart? Why does He consume my thoughts? Who is the man that I cannot see, but I can feel His arms around me when I need Him most? Who is this man that would give His life for me?

The book of Colossians gives us ten attributes of who this man, Jesus, our Savior, truly is. The depth of this first chapter, as it describes the supremacy of Christ, is boundless. I pray as you read further, this list will draw you even closer to the embrace of the Almighty.

Ten Attributes Of Jesus

1. “He is the image of the invisible God.”

Colossians 1:15

The greek word here for image is eikōn, which is where we get the word icon. As Dr. Bill Creasy says, we are to keep icons translucent and not opaque. Throughout church history, we have seen many icons and the worship of icons. God forbid us to worship anything other than Him.

When an icon is opaque, all we see is the icon. We focus on it and worship it. When an icon is translucent, we see through it to the one it points to. Did you catch that? Jesus is the image, or eikōn, that points us to God. Isn’t that beautiful? Hold on to this thought, we will come back to it.

2. “He is firstborn over all creation.”

Colossians 1:15

Jesus was around from the very beginning. John 1 reminds us that Jesus is the Word and was with us since creation.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 1:1-5 NIV

3. “All things were created in Him.”

4. “All things were created through Him.”

5. “All things were created for Him.”

Colossians 1:16

We keep reading in verse 16 that “All things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.” In Genesis 1:26, we read again of Jesus’ presence at creation, “Let us make mankind in our image.” Jesus is the method in which all of creation came into existence.

6. “He is before all things, and in Him, all things hold together.”

Colossians 1:17

Without Jesus, everything would fall apart. There would be complete chaos. This verse makes me think of the children’s song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” He holds everything together. He does this for us individually and for creation as a whole. This gives me great peace that when the world feels like it is falling apart, I know He is holding it all together.

7. “He is the head of the body, the church.”

Colossians 1:18

Jesus is the head of the church. In the post, “When Jesus Prays” about the prayer of Jesus in John 17, we see that when we come together as a body in unity, we bring glory to Jesus. The church is the culmination of all followers of Jesus. Can you even fathom what would happen if we all came together, in unison, to share the unfathomable love of Jesus?

8. “He is the beginning and the firstborn among the dead.”

Colossians 1:18

Others in the Bible were raised from the dead, like Lazarus. When they returned, they were still in their original bodies, resuscitated bodies. But when Christ was raised from the grave, He was the first to return in a resurrected body. We know He looked different. He was, at first, unrecognizable to those who were closest to Him. He is the first to rise. 1 Thessalonians shares more about how we will join Him in this in the end times.

9. “Fullness dwelt in Him.”

Colossians 1:19

Fullness here in the greek means fulfillment. All things were fulfilled in Jesus.

10. “By His blood, shed on the cross, all things were reconciled to God.”

Colossians 1:20

My absolute favorite part of the Bible is when the curtain was torn (you can read more on that here). His death gave us full access to God. Through His shed blood, God sees us as redeemed. When Jesus died, He reconciled us to God. The next couple of verses in Colossians say it beautifully.

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation — if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.”

Colossians 1:21-23 NIV

From the first attribute to the last, we read of Jesus becoming the vessel that brings us into complete restoration with God. Nothing can impede our relationship with God when He transforms us with Jesus’ blood.

God has wooed me from the beginning of my life and still to this day captures me through His Word. I pray that you too feel this tug from Him and that the beauty that is Jesus Himself ignites you.

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