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universe to find the problem solved by the recognition of a Person? In the material as
well as in the spiritual realm, He must have the pre-eminence.
We have seen that the title of "The Firstborn of every creature" has its spiritual
counterpart in "The Firstborn from the dead". The reason in both cases is the same--that
He might have the pre-eminence:--
"For to this end Christ both died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord both
of the dead and living" (Rom. 14: 9).
The title, "The Image of the invisible God" corresponds to the title, "The Head of the
Body, the church: Who is the beginning". The word for "beginning" is arche, the plural
of which occurs in verse 16, translated "principalities". The word "prince" is here seen
with its twofold meaning of a "ruler", and one who stands "first". The title appears in
Rev. 21: 6: "I am the first and the last." Its fitness is clearly seen in this passage, for
here the new heaven and the new earth have come into being, and He Who was the
Beginning is now seen as the End. If only we could grasp this thought! It seems a
tremendous thing for us to see our election "before the overthrow of the world", but let us
remember that Christ, our Head, is Himself the Beginning, "the Beginning of the creation
of God" (Rev. 3: 14), without Whom creation would never have been. We think of the
various destinies of the redeemed, and particularly of the surpassing glory of our own
destiny "far above all", yet He, our Saviour, is the End, without Whom this creation
would be without purpose and without goal. If we would be "in tune with the Infinite"
this is the only way. Only when Christ is our Beginning and our End shall we echo the
sacred chord of heaven.
As an expression of this title, Rev. 22: 13 adds the words: "The First and the Last",
a title used by Isaiah with no ambiguity:--
"I am He; I am the first, I am also the last, Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of
the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heaven; when I call unto them, they stand
up together" (Isa. 48: 12, 13).
Here we have undoubtedly the basis of Heb. 1: 10; and the expression "stand
together" is very similar to the verb "consist" in Col. 1: Both of these passages speak of
Christ. The title is used again in Isa. 44: 6: "I am the first, and I am the last; and
beside Me there is no God." Isaiah declares this title to belong to God alone. Revelation
and Hebrews declare that it belongs to Christ, a doctrine that is much associated with the
creation.
As related to the church, Christ is the Beginning by virtue of resurrection, being the
Firstborn from the dead. None but those who are associated with that resurrection can
form part of the new creation. He Who in resurrection glory became Head of the church,
became also, and at the same time, "the Head of all principality and power" (Col. 2: 10),
and one day will head up all things in heaven and in earth--that is, all those things that
are allied to His resurrection, for apart from this they must pass and "vanish away".
There is a wonderful mystery in this relationship of the invisible God with the church