Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2026: Uniting Heaven & Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians

Eric Flickinger

Clinton Wahlen

It Is Written

08 The Preeminence of Christ

Welcome to Sabbath School brought to you by It Is Written.

We're glad that you are here to join us today.

We are taking a look at the Sabbath School lesson, lesson number 8 of 13.

And this week we are looking at the preeminence of Christ, beginning to focus now in the book of Colossians.

Father, we're grateful to be here today as we open your book once again and learn more about you.

You are seeking to help us understand how you want to unite heaven and earth.

And through the books of Philippians and Colossians, we get an opportunity to see Jesus in a brand new light.

We ask that your blessing would be upon us today, and we thank you in Jesus' name.

We're glad that you're here, but we are also glad that the author of this quarter's Sabbath school lesson is here, Dr.

He is an associate director of the Biblical Research Institute.

We've spent several weeks in the book of Philippians, learned more about Jesus and his plan for us to prepare us to be citizens for heaven.

This is the book of Colossians and we get some new views of Jesus as we get into the book of Colossians.

There's a lot in this week's lesson, so I want to kind of dive into it.

In verse 15, Paul says, speaking of Jesus, He is the image of the invisible God.

Now, there are those who might misunderstand or misinterpret what Paul means here.

Help us to understand what he does mean and what he doesn't mean here by describing him as the image of the invisible God.

Well, Eric, the word in Greek is eikon, we get our word eikon from it.

Here, Paul says the image of the invisible God, well Jesus is the visible manifestation of God.

We can't see God face to face, can't see the Father, but Jesus is the visible manifestation of that.

When we think of the image of God, of course, we also, our minds are kind of directed to Genesis 1, verses 26 and 27, where when God created human beings, he made them in his own image.

Male and female, he created them, it says.

And so all of us are made in God's image.

It's the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word we mentioned, of Ekon.

And it refers to physical, mental, and spiritual totality or holistic being.

He's the image of the invisible God in a higher sense because it refers to his divinity.

In Hebrews 1.3, it also has this idea that it expresses.

Hebrews 1, verse 3, who being the brightness of His, that is God's glory, speaking of Jesus, and the express image of His person, this express or exact image.

He is the exact representation of God to us.

So this is when we think of Jesus as the image of God it doesn't lessen him in any sense.

It refers to how he manifests God personally to us, visibly to us, and in exactly the way we can understand God.

It's also Jesus himself speaks of this, in fact, in Matthew chapter 11, where he's speaking of his relationship with the Father.

Matthew 11 and verse 27, all things have been delivered to me by my father and no 1 knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and the 1 to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." This is how we know God.

This is how we know the Father is through Jesus because he is the exact representation of God to us.

So if Jesus is the exact representation of God to us, then this concept that some people have that the God of the Old Testament was this vindictive, harsh, difficult, uncaring God, and the God of the New Testament is this kind, loving, forgiving God.

That kind of all falls apart, doesn't it?

Because if Jesus is the image of the Father, then that same Father that we see in Jesus, He existed back in Old Testament times.

So we've got a beautiful picture of God from Genesis to Revelation and really beyond through seeing Jesus.

And in fact, Paul says, you know, for example, about Israel's wanderings in the wilderness in 1 Corinthians 10, that it was Christ who was with them every step of the way, that he was the manifestation of God in Israel's time.

As it says in Hebrews 13, he's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

So this image of the invisible God, Jesus gives us a clear picture of who the Father is and what he is like.

That passage or that verse, verse 15, also includes another phrase in there.

It says, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Now there again we could we could find something sticky or make something sticky if we wanted to.

It doesn't have to be difficult to understand.

Unpack this phrase, the firstborn of all creation.

Well, again, this is 1 of those cases where if we take a snippet of a verse out of context, we may come to a misunderstanding.

But all we have to do is read verse 16, because it immediately follows.

He's the firstborn over all creation for, and so Paul is explaining what that means, for by him, that is by Jesus, 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." So Firstborn in scripture does not always refer to birth or the natural birth process.

David is the classic example of that because we know when Samuel was called to go to Jesse's household and anoint the next king of Israel, he went through a whole line of Jesse's sons And it was actually the eighth, the youngest son, David, that he was to anoint as king.

We can look at Psalm 89, verse 27, where it refers to this.

It says, also, I will make him, speaking of David, my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

And David was, in fact, the preeminent king of Israel.

Of all the kings of Israel, He was the preeminent 1.

And in fact, of his, you know, Jesse's sons, he was the preeminent son, even though he was the youngest.

And then in verse 29, it refers to his seed or descendant, also I will make to endure forever, and his throne shall be as the days of heaven." Speaking of Jesus, who was in the line of David.

So it's a messianic prophecy connecting David as the firstborn king, really preeminent king of Israel, with Jesus.

And Jesus is the 1 whose throne will be as the days of heaven, whose throne will endure forever.

So Jesus, as the firstborn, it doesn't mean that He was born in any sense.

It means He is the preeminent 1, the 1 over all creation.

Paul explains that because He created all things.

All things were created through Him and for Him.

And He is before all things, he goes on to say.

So it's important that we don't impose a 21st century interpretation of a word on a phrase that was used years and years ago in different contexts to mean different things.

Otherwise we can find ourselves in very confusing situations.

So best to let the context and similar Bible verses help us to interpret that.

Yes, in fact, I think it would be helpful if you could read on Monday, the second paragraph after the question, I think that also helps to explain this very clearly, where he says, you know, Paul has just said that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven, on earth, visible, invisible.

Read this paragraph that unpacks that a little bit.

This is Paul's statement is as comprehensive as possible.

And functionally, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers.

The latter terms normally refer to angelic beings.

As if to make sure he cannot be misunderstood, Paul also indicates that Jesus existed before all things.

The Greek expression can mean precedence in rank as well as in time, but in every other instance in Paul's writings it refers to time.

Talking Points 1st Quarter 2026: Uniting Heaven and Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians

Kameron DeVasher

Mark Howard

Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

I'm Cameron DeVasier and I'm Mark Howard and this is Talking Points.

Pastor Howard, we are still studying through this wonderful lesson called Uniting Heaven and Earth, Christ in Philippians and Colossians.

Yes, we're making a little lane change this week.

We're going from Philippians to Colossians.

We are at a transition point from the 1 book to the other and this lesson 8 is titled the preeminence of Christ.

I wasn't sure what you were about to say.

I was like well go with wherever that's going.

Obviously we're looking at Jesus as we always are this is Christ in Philippians and Colossians But it seems like we're looking at specific theological nuances and insights about Jesus this week.

Yes You know, I'm even now looking at the clock and thinking there's a lot of things to cover and yet I was telling you as we were preparing That we're really looking at 5 verses this week.

So we did an introduction of both books Okay, and then this week we you know, we went through Philippians Now we're coming to Colossians chapter 1 and we're zeroing in on 5 verses that highlight the significance of the preeminence of Christ, and yet they're 5 packed verses.

And the lesson drills down into these verses, and I think that's a good thing, but I told you that as I was going through it, I felt like sometimes you get so focused, tightly focused on something that you lose, you can lose a sense of the bigger picture.

Like a single word or phrase or something like that?

So I gave you the illustration like I could go out and take a picture of the wheel on my car, the aluminum wheel, so close that all you see is a shiny silver that fills the whole screen and then say guess what that's from?

And you're so close you can see all kinds of little detail but you're like I have no idea what it how it fits but if you zoom back you think oh it's a wheel on a car right and I feel like sometimes and this is not to detract from this week's lesson but hopefully we'll we want to find a balance I guess I'm saying this so their teachers will find a balance.

You can drill down into the Greek and the Hebrew and get into the nuances of stuff and that's like zooming in on that silver of that wheel when oftentimes the context itself will reveal the meaning more clearly.

This is why when you go back to William Miller's principles of interpretation, it was not to drill down into the original meanings.

It was to compare Scripture with Scripture and see the cut and not to take away from the lesson.

Again, that's not to say that Greek and Hebrew aren't important.

Sometimes drilling in, we got to do that, but you got to have to keep in mind that balance.

So yes, and part of the challenge with the lesson is because we're going through Colossians and we don't have time to, we're gonna just take this segment of verses.

And so I'm gonna go verses 15 to 20 and hey if I went from from verse 15 all the way through the end of the chapter for example, oh it might give a different perspective.

I've got good news for you because next week, not to give too much away, but we're gonna continue this study.

So really you could view lesson 8 and 9 at least as parts 1 and 2 complemented because they're coming from the same section of scripture and to your point that provides that expanded context.

Yeah, we actually break the argument in this week to pick up next week versus sometimes you transition so there's a chapter and there's a change, but this week we're kind of right in the middle.

Well, in your Sabbath school class, if you have visitors saying, hey, if you got this week, you can't miss next week because we got to conclude this.

We've just been talking and then I'm gonna pass the mic back to you and you're gonna lead us through this week's lesson.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this particular portion of Scripture and all of the Word of God that reveals Christ to us.

Help us to understand Jesus, His ministry, His preeminence, and His relevance in our lives today as we seek to become more like Him.

Okay, as stated, we are resuming our study of Colossians this week, considering why Christ holds such preeminence in the plan of redemption.

Paul, in our previous study way back in Lessons 1 and 2, we looked at the beginning verses of Colossians, and in verses 13 and 14 it says, "...he has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins." So we've been conveyed into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

Now Paul's about to tell us the significance of this Son.

And I'm gonna have you pick up in verses 15, but before I do that, let's...

Our talking points this week are as follows.

Talking point Number 1, Jesus is the invisible God made visible.

Talking point number 2, Jesus is the beginning of a new humanity, Tuesday and Wednesday.

That's such a big concept and it's 1 of 3 points this week, but yes, it's what we got to do.

And talking about number 3, all things are reconciled to God through Christ primarily from Thursday's lesson.

So, Jesus is the invisible God made visible.

I'm going to have you start out by reading verses 15 to 20.

The entire section, right, of our lesson.

Colossians 115 goes on to say, 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 the 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.

For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross." Okay, so that idea of reconciliation continues on, but in those few verses they are just packed.

You can take a part of the verse, a phrase, and drill down into it, which is what this week's lesson does, which is why I made the point that I did about zooming in.

So we'll try to keep the larger context while still maybe discovering more about some of these more particulars.

So Paul describes Jesus first as the image of the invisible God, and the lesson goes into the word image, what it means in the Greek, etc., which can be helpful, but to me just lying right on the surface there, Paul says that he's the image of the invisible God, and the explanation seems to be pretty straightforward that God is invisible, but Jesus is visible, and so what we don't know and can't know about God because we can't see him, What I have in our handout is that Paul's point is that in Jesus we finally see what God is like.

He was real, literal, on the earth walking.

John could say we handled him, we touched him, we heard him, we saw him.

Obviously there's perception too and we weren't there but we do have eyewitness testimony that through Jesus we have a perfect picture of what God is like that we never had prior to his incarnation.

No, I was, I, well, there's so many scriptures that back that up.

You have a few listed in the notes there, like how he's, he's seen God the Father.

No 1 else has seen him, but Jesus has seen him, right?

Well, the, the, the, that's because the lesson asks the question, where is it on Sunday, why is Jesus uniquely able to reveal the Father?

And so I rephrased it here in our bullet point, it says Jesus is uniquely able to reveal the Father because first, he has seen the Father.

Yes, it says, no 1 has seen God at any time.

The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him." Okay.

So none of you have seen him, but I have, you know.

And the idea of being in the bosom of the Father, and we'll see more of this as we go on, like he didn't just, it wasn't an acquaintance, This is a close relationship.

So he, because of it, and well, the next thing is that, so Jesus is uniquely able to reveal the Father because he has seen the Father, according to that verse.

He has pre-existed with the Father, which I think that verse touches on, but John 17 verse 5, Jesus says, and now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

So this talks about the fact that they've had a long relationship.

And then finally, Jesus is 1 with the Father, according to John chapter 10 and verse 30.

Where he simply declares, I and my Father are 1.

Eric Walsh

Eden Valley SDA Church

The Science of Surrender

If you have your bible will be coming from the gospels Our scripture reading is from matthew chapter 16 And we'll start at verse 24 Matthew chapter 16 starting at verse 24 I'll just read 24 now.

We'll get back into Matthew later The scripture says then said Jesus unto his disciples if any man will come after me Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me.

Let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

Our message this Sabbath is entitled, the science of surrender.

Let's pray, Father God, We thank you for this opportunity to study your word and your truths And once again lord, I ask that you just make me a nail on the wall Upon that nail lord.

I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

What we need is to hear a word from the throne room of grace.

As I pray in Jesus' precious and holy name, let the church say, amen.

We're going to jump to the book of Luke, the 22nd chapter.

And this story is 1 of the most important stories in scripture.

For us to understand our own suffering, it's critical we understand the suffering that Christ went through.

The reason so many people find challenges in life and trials in life so difficult is because they have not studied the challenges and trials Christ had to bear.

I want you to think about the fact that just a few days before what we're about to read, Jesus entered into Jerusalem like a king.

People laid down palm branches and shouted, Hosanna in the highest.

They treated Jesus as a returning monarch.

The stories of his miracles rang through the crowds And it would seem as if Satan was vanquished, as if he had already lost.

But in just a few short days, Jesus leads his disciples to the place where they would have their last supper.

And there it is revealed by Jesus that not only are things going to be difficult and that he is going to go to his death but that he would be denied by 1 of his disciples and betrayed by another 1.

The disciples couldn't believe their ears and all thought they would stand but this was in the room of the Last Supper.

They were shocked that he would wash their feet.

They were shocked at his words and they began to watch as his countenance began to change.

There were prophecies in place that had to be fulfilled at very specific times.

1 of the reasons that we as a church study the book of Daniel and Revelation, and specifically Daniel as I'm referring to here, is that when we read and study like the 490 year prophecy, it speaks to the exactness and the precision to which prophecy is fulfilled and God's will is carried out.

In the middle of the last week of that prophecy, it says that the Messiah would be cut off.

I can only imagine that as Jesus is going towards the day when the Messiah, he himself would be cut off, I would imagine a weight begins to grow on Christ.

What is inevitable, what is about to take place is unavoidable.

There is a conflict, seemingly even, a striking challenge that Jesus is going to face.

And this challenge would be like nothing anyone else has ever faced in all of earth's history, nor will ever face again.

You see when we are tempted we might be able to write a check if you're lucky.

You might be able to call a relative or a friend.

Jesus was tempted and he could bring up from in himself divinity.

That means there was never a problem Jesus had that he could not in his divine nature solve.

That means he had an extra layer of temptation.

He had the ability to fix everything yet allowed everything.

The scripture says that when he came out, as they were coming out of this last meeting together, and went as he was want to the Mount of Olives.

Verse 40 of Luke 22 says, "'And when he was at the place, he said unto them, pray that you enter not into temptation.

He gives them only 1 instruction, not just a few minutes, hours before, they were clamoring over who would be the highest in the kingdom, But here now all he asks is that they just pray.

Because as his attention is diverted to surviving this great crisis, he cannot watch the disciples like he normally does.

He now is being barraged by all the forces of Satan.

The spirit of prophecy tells us that over the 3 years of his life, Satan has worked tirelessly planning for this day.

Because watch this, while we may not know prophecy, Satan does.

And now legions of demons surround Christ, separating him from everyone else.

The sin of the world now, he is the Passover lamb.

And don't forget, He is crucified right as the Passover lamb would have been killed.

But instead of the Passover lamb dying, the veil in the temple rips, the lamb escapes and Christ dies on the cross because he is the lamb, slain from the foundation of the world but the sin of the people was always placed on that innocent lamb now the sins of the world present past and future are laid on Christ I want you to think how heavy that weight must have been.

He says, pray that you enter not into temptation.

Matthew says it like this, to jump out of Luke for a second.

This is what he would have said to his disciples.

He says, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here and watch with me.

He doesn't just tell them to wait, pray, so that you don't enter temptation.

Jesus even has to divulge his own weakness.

This statement means that he will not exercise divinity to get out of this pickle.

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All Teachings

08 The Preeminence of Christ

28m

08 The Preeminence of Christ

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The Science of Surrender

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Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah and the Prophets

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Hope and Perseverance Between Egypt and Eternity

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Turning Darkness to Light

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05 The Gospel and Difficult Bible Stories

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Jacob, Joseph, and Moses

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