Sermon or Lesson:  Colossians 1:16 (NIV based)
[Lesson Questions included]

TITLE:  Jesus Is The Creator, Jehovah God

INTRODUCTION:  With the frequent news reports and amazing photographs about discoveries made about outer space from the Hubble Space Telescope, do you ever stop and think about the universe, how and why it came into existence, and what role you are to fulfill during your life in the universe?  Our study right now is going to give you time to ponder these questions, and supply answers from the Scriptures.
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READ:  Colossians 1:16, with vv.13-15 for context

BACKGROUND:
- - Jesus is qualified to "redeem" or buy "the forgiveness of sins" through His suffering and death on the cross because He is the visible manifestation, in physical bodily form, of the invisible God.  (vv.14-15)
- - Jesus is Jehovah God Himself, in fullness, and supreme over all creation.  (vv.15,18)
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v.16 - READ

[Lesson Questions:  What things are cited in this verse as being included in this description of what was created by the Son?  For each item, what are the corresponding implications, particularly about the nature, authority, and activities of Jesus the Son?]

SECTION POINT:  Being deity, Jesus has intrinsic authority and ability with which He created all things, in both the invisible spiritual realm and the visible physical realm.

"For by him all things were created:"
- - In Genesis 1:1 is the clear and distinct declaration, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
- - Given our knowledge of the nature of all that we humans can detect about that which exists, a logical and appropriate conclusion is that God possesses and used His supernatural powers to create all that exists in creation, wherein nothing existed prior to His creation activities.  (theologically known as 'ex nihilo' - 'out of nothing')
- - From biblical evidence and our own empirical knowledge, we know that neither angels, nor humans, nor any beings other than God Himself have the power to create something out of nothing - to create something with no pre-existing materials.
- - Yet, here in Colossians 1:16 the clear and distinct declaration now is that Jesus, the Son of God, created all things.
- - So, the only reasonable explanation is that Jesus is deity - Jesus is God and the Creator, with the intrinsic authority and ability to create all things.

"things in heaven and on earth,"
- - Next in this verse comes a brief (but inclusive) description of what Jesus the Son created - what the "all things" includes.
- - Things in the invisible spiritual realm in heaven and things in the visible physical realm on earth were created by Jesus the Son, which thereby is inclusive of all things.
- - If Jesus was merely created or procreated, then this inclusive statement in Colossians 1:16 would be false - that all things in heaven and on earth were created by the Son.
- - In the same way that the believers at Colosse were being exposed to false teachings about the true nature of Jesus, so too are we believers being exposed today from a variety of sources, predominant among them being the Jehovah's Witnesses religion, which resort to any of a number of tactics in an attempt to cover and support their false doctrines about the true nature of Jesus.  (v.2:8)
- - Despite heretical attempts to alter understanding of the true nature of Jesus, this verse 1:16 and its intent are clear: to declare and then further inclusively explain and describe that Jesus the Son is the Creator of all things, whether "in heaven", or "on earth", or (by extension) in the cosmos.

"visible and invisible,"
- - This verse further expands the inclusiveness of what Jesus created by adding to the description all "visible and invisible" things.
- - "Visible" things are everything that we can see, detect, or determine, based on empirical evidence.
- - Loosely defined, invisible things are everything that exists that is normally invisible for us humans to see or detect empirically in this life.
- - By design, God has purposed that we humans cannot see the invisible things, even though those invisible things do indeed exist.
- - As a prime example, God has disclosed that the spiritual realm exists, albeit invisible to us here in this life, and it contains such things, beings, and places such as God, heaven, hell, the burning lake of fire, outer darkness, a great chasm, holy angels, evil angels, various dynamics of warfare between God's army and Satan's army, the souls of humans whose bodies have died, and etc.
- - While our empirical knowledge of invisible things is certainly limited due to God's imposed restriction in this regard, God does allow us humans exposure to, contact with, and interaction with some of one particular type of invisible things - evil angels.
- - Beyond what we can detect and what God tells us, we just do not know what other invisible things exist in creation but it seems prudent to assume that there is very much more, although there probably are no space aliens or any life on any other planet (except maybe on the "new earth" that Jesus may be already working on creating (v.13 in 2 Peter 3:10-13)).
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SECTION POINT:  Being deity, Jesus has intrinsic supreme authority over all of the kinds and levels of authority that exist.

"whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;"
- - The wording in the phrase "whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities" appears to be rather bizarre and redundant, but a search of Scriptures reveals that angels are structured as an army, apparently with "thrones", "powers", "rulers", and "authorities" being the titles of different ranks in their army, for Satan's army and presumably for God's army.  (Ephesians 6:12; 3:10)
- - And logically, these titles may also be referring to different kinds and levels of "governing authorities ...which God has established" among humans on the earth.  (Romans 13:1)
- - Thereby, the Son is not only the creator of the angelic armies but He is also the highest and the most supreme authority over all levels of human authorities and over all levels of authorities in angelic armies - "so that in everything he might have the supremacy".  (Colossians 1:18)
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SECTION POINT:  Being deity, Jesus led the activities of the Triune Jehovah God, to create all things from the position of being 'within Him', 'by Him', 'through Him', and 'for Him'.

"all things were created by him and for him."
- - This last phrase in verse 16 contains a repeat of the first phrase in this verse but there is a different Greek word used for the prepositions in each of these phrases.
- - The Greek word for the first "by" him carries the general meaning of "in" or "within", suggesting this meaning is: 'within His essence He created all things'.  (Strong's #1722)
- - The Greek word for the second "by" him carries the general meaning of "through", suggesting this meaning is: 'through Himself He created all things into existence'.  (Strong's #1223)
- - The Greek word in the last phrase, "for" him, carries the general meaning of "for" or "for the purpose of", suggesting this meaning is: 'for His purposes He created all things'.  (Strong's #1519)
- - Connecting all of these descriptions together, 'within Him', 'by Him', 'through Him', and 'for Him', an obvious reality is that during the creation of all things, the Son manifested as thoroughly functioning as the Triune Jehovah God - creating entirely by His own will, and entirely by His own power, and entirely from His own essence, and entirely for His own purposes.
- - So this further clearly indicates that there is no validity in concluding that the Son performed the creation activities on behalf of, or under the guidance of, or as an authorized agent of, or with the help of some other or outside entity being, like Moses did with the parting of the Red Sea.  (see v.14:21 in Exodus 13:21-14:31)

QUESTION:  If the Son created all things "for Him", and the rankings of authorities are cited here, then what does that imply about the nature of the Son and His intentions for His creation after He created it?

- - These "by Him", 'within Him', 'through Him', and "for Him" suggest that during His creation activities, the Son intended to subsequently supremely and actively rule over all that He created, as its God.
- - But it is interesting to note here that the archangel (called) Lucifer was expelled from heaven and condemned by God because he wanted and tried to be like God, to rule like God and be worshipped as God.  (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-17)
- - Therefore, the Son, Jesus, cannot be anything less than Jehovah God, otherwise He would have been expelled by God for the sins of wanting and trying to rule as God over all that He created, and for being worshipped as God by humans, which Jesus allowed to occur as recorded in Matthew 14:33, Matthew 28:9, and John 9:38.  (Exodus 20:1-6)

QUESTION:  How do the assertions in this verse compare to and presumably correlate with the declarations in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 that specifically and repeatedly state, describe, and detail that "God created the heavens and the earth"?  (Genesis 1:1)

- - An interesting note here is that in the creation account in Genesis chapter 1, the Hebrew word for God is "Elohim", which is "a plural noun in form but is singular in meaning when it refers to the true God", suggesting the three-in-one tri-unity nature of God - the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  (Scofield, p.1)
- - The "Spirit of God" is specifically mentioned in Genesis 1:2 as "hovering over the waters."
- - And the Father was involved as well, as indicated by the proclamation and movement into action by God in Genesis 1:26,27 "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness... So God created man in his own image...".
- - So a conclusion merited by Scripture evidence suggests that God the Son led the creation activities, with God the Father and God the Spirit also actively involved.
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BIG IDEA:  Being deity, Jesus led the activities of the Triune Jehovah God in creating all that exists, creating from a position of supremacy.

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IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS:

- - Do you acknowledge your Creator, whom the Scriptures say created you?
- - Does the Creator have authority over you?  Personally?
- - Do you submit to the Creator's authority?  In every area of your life?  Or only in a select few areas of your life?  In your finances?  In your time?  In your devotion?  In your service to Him?
- - Is the Creator worthy of your worship?  Your faith in Him?
- - Is the Creator also your redeemer, as declared in verse 14?  Have you established your faith in Him for the forgiveness of your sins, which He provided a way to attain through His torturous death on the cross, followed by His resurrection from the dead on the third day?
- - Do you not think that the day will come when you will be forced to stand before your Creator and give an account of your life - how you lived it?  (Romans 14:10-12)
- - Do you think the Creator is happy with how you have been living your life so far?  If not, do you think it would be wise for you to immediately correct every deficiency in how you are now living your life?
- - The Creator loves you and He demonstrated His love for you through His redemptive work on the cross (Romans 5:8).  He died for you.  Can you live for Him?  Will you live for Him?  Starting now and henceforth, consistently?
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[Additional Lesson Questions to ponder (optional, if time allows):
- - There are many people in the world who conclude that God must be dead, or does not exist, or is deficient of power, because evil reigns supreme and essentially unhindered.  If Jesus the Son has supremacy of authority over all of the kinds and levels of authority that exist, then why does He not exert that authority to force compliance to righteousness?  How would you reply to those people?]
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Additional Information:
- - It should prove useful to note here that the Jehovah's Witnesses religion utilizes their own translation of the Bible, the "New World Translation" (NWT), to support their doctrines that Jesus is the firstborn created and highest ranking holy angel, and that He acted merely as an agent of Jehovah God in the accomplishing of the creation activities.  However, a close examination of their "New World Translation" reveals that their translators strategically added words and distorted the meanings of words that are not in any way warranted or supported in the original Greek text, thereupon drastically and grossly adulterating the meaning of particular verses in order to align with their divergent theology, especially regarding the nature, the authority, the creation activities, and the redemption activities of Jesus the Son.  And to make matters worse, the adherents of the Jehovah's Witnesses religion are extensively trained and substantially motivated to prolifically promote and adamant-ly defend these false doctrines, which they do through regularly canvassing local neighborhoods going door-to-door seeking converts.
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Works Cited:
Bible. New Scofield Study Bible. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1967.

Bible. “The Holy Bible: New International Version.” The Bible Library CD-ROM. Oklahoma City, OK: Ellis Enterprises, 1988.

“Strong's Greek Dictionary.” The Bible Library CD-ROM. Oklahoma City, OK: Ellis Enterprises, 1988.
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Copyrights:
Scriptures taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®
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Copyright © 2017, 2018 Mel W. Coddington, and permission is hereby granted that this document may be used, copied, and distributed non-commercially to non-profit organizations, individuals, churches, ministries, and schools worldwide, provided the copies are distributed at no charge and retain this sources documentation as supplied herein. This document is not for sale, resale, or for use as a gift or premium to be offered in connection with solicitations or contributions.
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File name:  Colossians1_16-SermonOrLesson.___ (.htm, .rtf, .doc, .pdf)
Translation used:  NIV, quoted or referred to in various places within this document
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