Norman Geisler explains, "No comparable listing of so many characteristics of Christ and His deity are found in any other Scripture passage." Jesus is the greatest of all time. In Colossians 1:15-22 we discover a string of superlatives describing Him. Superlatives "are adjectives or adverbs used to describe the highest degree of a quality." Here are three superlatives in our text.

Jesus is the supreme Maker of all things. Supreme means "the highest in rank or authority." Colossians 1:15-17 reads, "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 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." To paraphrase H.C.G. Moule, "He keeps the cosmos from becoming a chaos."

Jesus is the superior Minister over all things. Superior means "higher in quality or status." Colossians 1:18-20 reads, "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." Just because Jesus performs sacrificial ministry this in no way detracts from the fact, He is the leader of the church, and He is the Lord over the church. To many people Jesus Christ has prominence, but He alone deserves the preeminence.

Jesus is the superb Mediator in all things. Superb means "excellent or outstanding." Colossians 1:21-22 reads, "And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight." 1 Timothy 2:5 reads, "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." Do you know Jesus Christ as "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6)?

Curtis Vaughn notes, "The affirmations of the passage are all the more remarkable when we remember that they were written of One who only 30 years earlier had died on a Roman cross." John writes, "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:10-13). Jesus is the greatest of all time.

Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, of Robertsdale, is the author of "Don't Miss the Revival! Messages for Revival and Spiritual Awakening from Isaiah"