“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

The Lord Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. He is the image of God revealed to us in human flesh. He came to rescue us from a dying world and set us free from the tyranny of sin. He shows us God because He is in all His being God, but also revealed in the mortal flesh that He forever bears on our behalf. He shows us the character of God and the being of God in His majesty, power and revealed dignity in the God/man. We see God in the flesh and we see the thoughts and deeds and speech of God as Jesus walked this world and interacted with us. He is Emmanuel “God with us.”

He is the uncreated one and so is the firstborn of the creation, His existence is before time and has always been. He is the eternal Son of the Father. He was there at the creation of the world, indeed is called the Creator who is to be forever praised. Everything that exists is His and has been made by Him, and all things have their being to serve and worship Him. 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.”

John 1:1-3

Jesus is the eternal word and is exalted high above all the creation as its Lord and God. We worship Him as such and love Him with all our minds and hearts and souls. There is no other response that we can give to such a one as He, who has shown us the way to God and how to walk worthy of the Lord. 

Jesus is also the firstborn of the dead. He has been raised for our justification and the proof that He is who He says He is. One day we also will rise, because He is risen for us. He lives forever as the Lord of life and the conqueror of all death. 

“And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;”

Revelation 1:5

The Lord Jesus comes first in all things, for He has humbled Himself and become obedient to God the Father, even to the death He suffered on the cross. He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end.