I love the word “PREEMINENT”. It sounds so… important. The first time I saw it in the Bible, it caught my heart, resounding many times in my head. Today, I want to write about The Preeminent One. This month is dedicated to Him and we will do our best to express the inexpressible one. We will look at what makes Him preeminent and what it means for you and I that He is the preeminent one.

So let’s get right to it…

The word ‘preeminent’ appears in the following scripture:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the PREEMINENCE.”‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1:15-18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The above passage is a part of the Apostle Paul’s description of the person of God’s beloved son into whose kingdom we have been translated to from the kingdom of darkness. Preeminence is defined as the state of having paramount rank, dignity, or importance. It is synonymous with ‘first’, ‘supreme’ or ‘outstanding’. Thus, the Apostle Paul is describing Jesus the son of God as the first rank above God’s creation, the one with paramount authority over the universe and the one with supreme power. I think the Apostle makes some pretty bold claims about Jesus especially considering the fact that He was killed by His enemies. If He were so great, He shouldn’t have died in such a way, right? But considering the Apostle’s story and his testimony and the fact that he willingly sacrificed his life for these claims, I think it is worth our time to consider it. So one may ask, what made Jesus of such a high rank with supreme power? Well, let’s look at the Apostle’s reasons.

1. HE IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD

It is expressed even beautifully in the book of Hebrews. The writer in speaking of Jesus said, “who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,…” (‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). Telling us that the Lord Jesus is the brightness of God’s glory, kind of like how the sun’s rays express the brightness of the sunshine. He is the exact image of the one we cannot see with our eyes. Jesus is the one and only person who expresses the Father God fully and completely such that the Jesus’ character is the Father’s character, his personality is the Father’s, his power and glory are His, His works are His and His very words are the Father’s. Therefore, the Lord said, “…He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.” (‭‭John‬ ‭12:44-45‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) and also “Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” (‭‭John‬ ‭5:19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

He expresses the inexpressible. What various writers of the Bible could not see and what they could not describe fully, Jesus is. So He said whoever sees him sees the Father. Now I am not referring to Jesus in His bodily form as He was on earth but rather to His real state in the Spirit. The glory of Jesus is the glory of the Father. As you study the word and spend time in fellowship with Him, He reveals the Father even as He reveals Himself to you. ‬‬

2. IN HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST

This part of the scripture brings up fond memories of cell group meetings in school. During a period in those times, our slogan was this clause, “In Him… ALL THINGS ARE HELD TOGETHER.” Yes, everything is held together by the Word of God, Jesus Christ. He has set systems and cycles in place that run the world seemingly without Him. Therefore, foolish scholars (I do not wish to insult anyone but the Bible declares it) declare that there is no God, being deceived and deceiving others in their folly. What they fail to recognize is the systems that have been put in place to run this. Therefore, the Bible says that, ““While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8:22‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Why? Because there is a system that controls seasons. The Lord does not need to get His hands dirty to form a human every time couples mate because He has placed within us a system for procreation. He doesn’t need to channel the rains because He designed the Hydrologic Cycle which distributes water across the earth. In all these and many other systems He put in place, it is in Him that they are kept function. It is in Him that they are kept in their proper places and function. Without Him at the helm of affairs, the earth is in trouble. The very foundations of the earth will come crushing down and there would be a tumbling chaos. Imagine if one day you wake up floating in the air. The reason being that gravitational force is no longer functioning. How would you walk? All the furniture in your room would be floating with you midair. If you find a way out your window outside, you would float high to altitudes incompatible with life and, alas, you would die. Something we take for granted, if not held in check could do great harm. In Christ, the whole system of the universe is kept together.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

3. HE IS THE HEAD OF THE BODY, THE CHURCH

I think this is the most exciting part in all this. The Great and Mighty God, Jesus, is head over me. Well, that does not sound exciting. You see, your head is on your neck right? And your neck is on your chest, isn’t it? I guess I don’t need to go through human anatomy to get you to understand my point. The head and the body are one. There is no division. Where the head goes, the body, including legs, butt and all, follow. So then if the Head is one with the Body, then I am one with the Preeminent One. I am not the same as Him, He has higher ranking, but we are united, we are together and all that is His is mine because I am part of the Church. The Church refers to all who have believed in Jesus and committed their lives to Him. So, as the brain directs the functions of the body, in the same way, the head of the Church directs the functions of the Church. He gives commands and they are obeyed by different parts. He is the knowledge bearing and thinking part of the Church. That is why I believe that the Church has the answer to this Coronavirus pandemic. The Head has that knowledge and the solution and until the Church rises up and seeks it from Him, the world will be bereft of it.

The fact that the Christ is the head of the Church is important because it gives the Church her function and purpose. The function of Christ is the Church’s function and the purpose of the Church is the Purpose of Christ. The body of believers present in any area of the world is the extension of the Lord in that part of the earth with the purpose of bringing to the area the manifest presence of the Kingdom of God. He is our direction. He is our focus and He is our Worth.

4. HE IS THE BEGINNING

“Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”Isaiah‬ ‭43:19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Jesus is the beginning of a new race of creatures that have never graced the earth. Oh yeah, we look the same on the outside but what has been brewed on the inside of the Church has never ever been seen on this earth or any of the planets for that matter. Just as Adam was the beginning of the Human Race and so is referred to as the first Adam so Christ is the beginning of the God-race and so is referred to as the Second Adam. He begins the race of new creatures God has put on earth to expand His Kingdom. We take our example from Him as He exemplified how such creatures live. You and I, we are different by the blood of Christ and the Spirit of Christ.

This is our blueprint Brothers, this is what the creation is eagerly waiting for, groaning in anticipation for the full manifestation of the God-race to fully bloom and be what they have been created to be. Join us next week for part two of The Preeminent One. God bless you!