The Image of the Invisible God

Jesus is called “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). What does this mean? Today, R.C. Sproul reflects on one of Scripture’s clearest and most stunning declarations about the divinity of Christ.

“Jesus is the image of the invisible God.” What does that mean? That if you want to see the invisible God, if you want to have an empirical experience of who God is, where do you go? To Jesus. Hebrews calls Him, “The expressed image of his person, the brightness of his glory.” This is an expression of deity. Keep in mind that icons, or idolatry, is the fundamental sin of Israel. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images.” To look at an image and to worship an image of God is the fundamental evil of Israel. And yet the message of the New Testament is that Jesus is an icon. He is the image of God. That’s why all other images are prohibited. Because if you want to see God, you’ll look at Jesus.

Jesus deals with His disciples, and they say to Him at the last days, “Jesus, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. That’s what we want to see. We’ve seen all kinds of fantastic things, watched You walk on the water, feed five thousand people, raise people from the dead, saw the transfiguration, which was incredible. Now do the biggie for us. Yeah. Show us the Father!” And what does He say? Anytime that you can detect sarcasm in Jesus’ voice, it’s there. If there’s any time where He really seems to be annoyed with His disciples. “Philip, have I been with you so long and you don’t know Me? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Why do you say to me, ‘Show us the Father?’” Jesus is saying as clearly as He could say, in so many categories, “I am God.”