Living in the Invisibles (Part 1): How to See the Unseen in Christ

Oh, I’m just talking about the invisible part. Okay. What this says is you can see the invisible God. Let’s write it down. We here in St. Cloud can see our invisible God. We can see the eternalness of His power. We can see the Divine. Alright, Colossians 1:15-16. I am so used to reading my Scripture in chronological order that sometimes I can’t remember where it is.

Audience: And He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created by Him and for Him.

Isn’t that beautiful? If anybody has any other version, I’d like to hear it, too. I’m going to read this one here.

Audience: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him.

I want you to close your New Testament for a minute. Please look this way. There’s something in this verse you may have never noticed. I didn’t even tell the brothers and sisters in Chicago this, and we spent forever in this book. I don’t think I had ever noticed it then. Where was Jesus Christ when Paul of Tarsus wrote this passage of Scripture? It’s as simple as a nose on your face; just say it. No, He’s not everywhere. We’re not pantheists. Where was Jesus Christ when Paul wrote this passage?

Audience: Inside of Him.

Inside of who? Paul. Yes. And where else? He was enthroned in the heavens. Now, you think, well, okay, Gene, what’s the big deal? But wait a minute. Please read the opening words to that first verse again. Colossians 15. Audience: And He is the image of the invisible God.

Alright, now, stop right there. When you read that, every time you’ve ever read it, you thought about the fact that God had become incarnate and lived in Judea and Galilee. Is that not true? Is that where Jesus Christ was when Paul wrote this passage? Audience: No.

Then why didn’t he say Jesus Christ “was”? He said He is the visible expression of an invisible God. I don’t know why He wrote it that way except that Paul of Tarsus was used to seeing the Lord Jesus Christ so much that when he wrote, Jesus Christ was the visible expression of an invisible God, that Christ was so much with him and so visible to him, that he didn’t realize that he slipped a verb tense here. In other words, Jesus Christ is the visible image of an invisible God, and Jesus Christ is seeable…right now.

Alright, we’re going to write something down. Now, have you got that verse? I want that verse to come to mean a lot to you. We, in St. Cloud as a body of believers, can see Jesus Christ, who is the visible expression of the invisible Father. I want you all to know that I’m doing the best job I know how to launch you folks. I can’t do any better than this. Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God, the firstborn Son, superior to all creation. For through Jesus Christ, God created everything in the heavens and on earth. So, Jesus Christ was pretty awesome somewhere along the line…back there. But let us lay hold of that which cannot be laid hold of. Let us hold to that which cannot be held, that we see Jesus Christ. He is God incarnate, and we see Him even though we cannot see Him.

We now have to look at an invisible Jesus Christ to see an invisible Father. And we can do that. That’s what Paul invited the Colossians to do, and that’s what you and I are going to do. We’re going to see Him, and in seeing Him, we will see the Father. He is the visible expression. Christ Jesus will be visible to us. First Timothy 1:17. I don’t even know what this is, quite frankly.

Audience: Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.