Jesus, the Visible God

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 20th of July, 2025.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Test time, family.  What does it mean to be invisible?  Not visible, right?  Is glass invisible?  No, because from the some angles and when the light hits it right, or if it’s dirty, we can definitely see glass.  Glass is transparent, see-through, but not invisible.  How about our stealth fighter jets and bombers?  Are they invisible?  Trick question – yes and no.  They are clearly visible to our human eyes, but some can be invisible to radar.  We can say, then, that some things we may think of being invisible are actually quite visible to some sense under certain circumstances.

OK, last question: Is God invisible?  Yes, God is spiritual, not physical, so God is invisible.  We can see the effects of His hand, in our lives and in the world, but we can’t see Him.  No one has ever seen Him, not even Moses, who was allowed to catch a glimpse of God’s glory in passing, but not of God Himself, who warned Moses that no one could see His face and live.

God is invisible.  So it turns out that we believe in an invisible God, whose existence we cannot truly prove.  The author of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us that this defines faith.  And faith is a gift from God, that same invisible God we believe in because of the faith He gives us.  Sounds kind of circular, doesn’t it?  But fortunately, we have a little more going for us, and it comes from eye-witness reports of events a couple thousand years ago.

The Apostle Paul and his young protégé Timothy traveled together often, starting churches around the Mediterranean before Timothy began pastoring the church in Ephesus.  After one such visit to the town in Colossae, Paul wrote back to the church there to share more about Jesus with them.

I’d like to read a passage that to me, sounds a lot like how the Apostle John opened his Gospel account.  See if you agree with me.  Please listen and follow along to how the Apostle Paul describes Jesus in the 1st chapter of his Letter to the Colossians, in verses 15 through 29, and I’ll be reading from The Living Bible version of our Holy Bible this morning…

15 Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God. He existed before God made anything at all, and, in fact, 16 Christ Himself is the Creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the things we can see and the things we can’t; the spirit world with its kings and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities; all were made by Christ for His own use and glory. 17 He was before all else began and it is His power that holds everything together. 18 He is the Head of the body made up of his people — that is, His Church — which He began; and He is the Leader of all those who arise from the dead, so that He is first in everything; 19 for God wanted all of Himself to be in His Son.

20 It was through what His Son did that God cleared a path for everything to come to Him — all things in heaven and on earth — for Christ’s death on the cross has made peace with God for all by His blood. 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were His enemies and hated Him and were separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now He has brought you back as His friends. 22 He has done this through the death on the cross of His own human body, and now as a result Christ has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are standing there before Him with nothing left against you — nothing left that He could even chide you for; 23 the only condition is that you fully believe the Truth, standing in it steadfast and firm, strong in the Lord, convinced of the Good News that Jesus died for you, and never shifting from trusting Him to save you. This is the wonderful news that came to each of you and is now spreading all over the world. And I, Paul, have the joy of telling it to others.

24 But part of my work is to suffer for you; and I am glad, for I am helping to finish up the remainder of Christ’s sufferings for His body, the Church.

25 God has sent me to help His Church and to tell His secret plan to you Gentiles. 26-27 He has kept this secret for centuries and generations past, but now at last it has pleased Him to tell it to those who love Him and live for Him, and the riches and glory of His plan are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ in your hearts is your only hope of glory.

28 So everywhere we go we talk about Christ to all who will listen, warning them and teaching them as well as we know how. We want to be able to present each one to God, perfect because of what Christ has done for each of them. 29 This is my work, and I can do it only because Christ’s mighty energy is at work within me. 

--Colossians 1:15-29 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for men like Paul and Timothy who spread the Gospel of Jesus across the known world, laying the foundation of the church we have today.  You, Jesus, and Your Holy Spirit worked on the Pharisee Saul, changing the man hell-bent on destroying the church, into arguably the greatest evangelist the world has ever known.  His steadfast witness for Jesus would be a wonderful example for us to follow, but we struggle to muster up the courage and the will to provide our own witness for our Lord.  If we really loved all others as You command us, we would gladly share Jesus with them, trying to lead them to salvation so they won’t have to suffer eternally.  Please forgive us our failures, Father.  Help us more closely follow Your command so that others may also find salvation through Jesus.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Em Griffin, in her book The Mind Changers: The Art of Christian Persuasion, relates that, “There's a story about a kindergarten teacher who asked a boy what he was drawing.  Without pausing to look up, he said, ‘A picture of God.’  The teacher smiled and responded, ‘But nobody knows what God looks like.’  The boy carefully put down his crayon, looked her squarely in the eye, and declared, ‘After I'm finished here they will.’”

Do you suppose the lad was drawing a picture of Jesus?  This young boy had absolute confidence that he could capture the image of God.  This is that childlike faith that Jesus spoke of.  Now class, continuing my questions, since we were created in God’s image, could the boy have simply drawn his teacher or a classmate to draw God?

And that leads us into our scripture reading this morning.  Paul tells us that Jesus is the exact likeness of our invisible God.  So when we see Jesus, we see God, right?  Jesus is the spittin’ image of His Father God.

Well, again, yes and no.  I think Jesus, in the flesh, physically looks as much like God as we do.  When Jesus walked among us, He was fully human even while still fully God.  He was just like us, physically.

But neither I nor Paul are talking about God’s physical image, because He doesn’t have one.  Paul says Jesus is the exact likeness of God, not in appearance but in manner.  Other versions of this passage say that Jesus is like God, or is the image of God, or that Jesus shows us what God is like or who God is.  To net it out, we cannot know what God physically looks like because God is spiritual, not physical.  But through Jesus, we can “see” God, we can know what God is like.

Paul goes on to note, like John, that Jesus existed before creation and participated in the creation of all there is, both seen and unseen, visible and invisible.  And I love what Paul said in verse 19, that God wanted all of Himself to be in His Son.  God in Jesus, and Jesus in God.

Jesus cleared a path for all things, in heaven and on earth, to come to God, through the death on the cross of His human body.  Jesus did not die on the cross.  Only His human body died.  Jesus lives on, just like some day our human bodies will die, but we will live on because of the sacrifice Jesus made for us.  And all we had to do was accept Jesus as our Lord and follow Him.

A little earlier I mentioned the author of the Letter to the Hebrews.  For the longest time, we attributed this letter to Paul, a very prolific letter writer himself.  But in latter years, in careful examination and comparisons to the letters we know Paul wrote, most scholars now believe Paul did not write this letter.  It just doesn’t match his style of writing.  So we don’t know for sure who wrote it.

No matter, whoever it was pretty much concurred with Paul and John when it comes to Jesus.  Please listen to what he wrote to the early Hebrew converts to Christianity, in the first three verses of the opening chapter of his letter…

1 Long ago God spoke in many different ways to our fathers through the prophets, in visions, dreams, and even face to face, telling them little by little about His plans.

2 But now in these days He has spoken to us through His Son to whom He has given everything and through whom He made the world and everything there is.

3 God’s Son shines out with God’s glory, and all that God’s Son is and does marks Him as God. He regulates the universe by the mighty power of His command. He is the one who died to cleanse us and clear our record of all sin, and then sat down in highest honor beside the great God of heaven.

--Hebrews 1:1-3 (TLB)

God spoke to us through His Son Jesus, and we have the faithful and trustworthy witness of those people who heard those words and recorded them for us to read today.  God still speaks to us through Jesus, by His sacrifice for our salvation, by His love.  Jesus shines out with God’s glory, and all that He did and does even today shows that He is God.

Through Jesus, through His love and sacrifice, we can see God, for Jesus is the visible likeness of God.  Jesus is God.  Look upon Him and be saved.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for sending Your Son into this world to clear a path for us to come back to You.  We turned away by our disobedience and sin, but Jesus washed us clean of our sin by His own blood.  Now, by the faith You gave us and our belief in Jesus as the visible God, we are assured of everlasting life with You.  It saddens us, Father, when we think of all the people who will never recognize Jesus as Your Son or follow Him as their Lord.  There are many who have never even heard of Jesus, have not been told of all He did and taught.  And there are even those who deny Your existence, and the existence of Your Holy Spirit.  We admit that we have not done as good a job as we could reaching out to these people.  Too often we find excuses not to carry out our mission of making more disciples.  Sometimes we’re too busy, too distracted.  Sometimes we’re just too hesitant, too afraid of getting it all wrong and doing more harm than good.  Please forgive us those times, dear Father.  Please help us reach out to the lost, to anyone who does not know Jesus as their personal Savior.  Help us be more like Your Son in our love and our ways.  Help us show Your love to others by giving of ourselves, giving of our love freely, unconditionally, sacrificially, just as Jesus gave of Himself for us.  And please help us share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, thank You for taking human form when You came into this world.  In this way, we can not only relate to You better, but we can see our Father God in You, through You.  You are the visible God.  Thank You for coming to rescue us when we were lost in sin.  Thank You for washing us clean so we can stand before God.  Lord, we know it disappoints You when we don’t go out into the world sharing the Good News and making more disciples.  But, Lord, it's so hard for us to gather up the courage and the motivation to go face-to-face with other people, telling them all about You.  We want to serve You, and it hurts to admit it, but we often let little things get in the way of witnessing to You and the Gospel.  Please help us in our struggles to show You to the world.  Help us be more like You, loving all others, even those who hate us and wish us harm, without any concern for reward or recognition or even being loved in return.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the 

Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.