Onomaticon: Emmanuel, The Word, and Image of the Invisible God
Emmanuel
“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Mathhew 1:22-23). By understanding that name, we learn that God is with us. He is one of us. All powerful God put on human flesh and walked among us. He is completely divine, and still completely human. He is the image of the invisible, and that image is in a human body.
The Word
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1
He is the Word. God had no beginning; he will never have an end. Neither will his Word. He was there before the beginning of time; he spoke the entire universe into existence. He is everywhere, at all times, all knowing, all powerful. He is the Word, He is the ruler of all Creation, and yet He still wrapped himself in a human body and walked among us. He showed us an image of the invisible.
Image of the Invisible God
“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:” Colossians 1:15
“The image of the invisible God.” How is that even possible? How can anyone, or anything, be a visual representation of an invisible object? How can the Word be God? How can Jesus be human and still be God? Jesus was not created in the image of God as we were, as it says in Genesis 1:27. He is God’s image. He is the precise reproduction. He is, quite simply, God in a human body. Divine in every way, and yet still human. The walking representation of the imperceptible.
Jesus being the image of the invisible God is a baffling concept. That is what makes it such a God thing – mankind wouldn’t have concocted this kind of theology. We’re left in awe!