Christ Before All Things | Lesson 9

Have you ever started your view of God’s plan with yourself, your needs, or even with sin and redemption—rather than with Christ Himself? In this sermon from Colossians 1:15–17, we explore the “determinant counsel of God” before the foundation of the world and learn that everything God purposed began not with man, but with the exaltation of His Son. Christ is revealed as the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, the One by whom and for whom all things were created, and the One in whom all things consist. From creation to authority structures, from history to eternity, everything is designed to center in and display the glory of Jesus Christ.

Building on supporting passages in 1 Peter 1, John 17, Psalm 2, Proverbs 8, Hebrews 10, and Ephesians 1, the message shows that Christ was foreordained before the world began, set up as the Father’s wisdom and delight, and willingly accepted the Father’s eternal will. Redemption, then, is not God’s main purpose but the necessary means to reach His ultimate goal: the full exaltation of His Son and the gathering together of all things in Christ. The sermon challenges us to stop beginning with ourselves and to start thinking from Christ outward—seeing creation, history, salvation, our identity, and our future all “in Him,” where God has placed every spiritual blessing.