Imagine a family of mice who lived all their lives in a large piano. To them in their piano-world came the music of the instrument, filling all the dark spaces with sound and harmony. At first the mice were impressed by it. They drew comfort and wonder from the thought that there was Someone who made the music - though invisible to them - above, yet close to them. They loved to think of the "Great Player" whom they could not see. Then one day a daring mouse climbed up part of the piano and returned very thoughtful. He had found out how the music was made. Wires were the secret; tightly stretched wires of graduated lengths which trembled and vibrated. They must now revise all their old beliefs; none but the most conservative could any longer believe in the "Unseen Player." Later, another explorer carried the explanation further. Hammers were now the secret; numbers of hammers dancing and leaping on the wires. This was a more complicated theory, but it all went to show that they lived in a purely mechanical and mathematical world. The "Unseen Player" came to be thought of as a myth…But the pianist continued to play.

It's not hard to see that this is how the world has regarded God throughout history. The "smarter" we become, the more we think we know, the less we attribute to the Creator, the less we believe that God is behind everything. We think we have the world figured out because we now have scientific explanations for everything that we can see, but won't even consider the possibility anymore that there is an "Unseen Player" behind it all. When we simply believed that He was there, life was good. But now when the world rejects that truth and only accepts the explanations that it can see, that comfort and enjoyment of life vanishes with faith. And really, we live in a worse kind of darkness.

1. He Existed Before Time

But the Pianist continues to play! He always has been playing, filling our lives with his beautiful harmony. Our text talks about Him, that Great Player, that Unseen Player, that invisible God. To be specific, our text talks about the "Son" of that invisible God. "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." The second person of the Triune God, whom we know as Jesus Christ, is the image of God and the firstborn over all creation. This tells us a few things about Him. First, Jesus is the image of God. An image shares in reality what it represents. In today's talk, Jesus is a photocopy of God, the perfect likeness! He is not just a representation, but is God in reality. Jesus is God, in no way inferior to the Father. John 1 tells us about Jesus, whom he calls "the Word." "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."

Second, this assures us that Jesus has always been around. Long before the written Word that tells us about Him, long before anyone in the world had other theories about how this world was created and is running, long before creation, and long before time began, Jesus always was. He is the "firstborn of all." That doesn't mean he was born like us, or that He was created like us. It means that He has always been around, long before us. Third, it means that He has the first, highest, most exalted place. He is preeminent over all. He is superior over all creation. He is the top, the highest, the ultimate. He is our King.

Verse 16 tells us something more about Him. "For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him." That's right, He is not only playing the piano, He made the piano! Jesus was not only present at creation, He did the creating. He was the instrument through whom the world was created. We read in Genesis that God created the world with his Word. In John's gospel, Jesus is called the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made." So yes, Jesus was present and active in the creation of our world. Not only was the world created by Him, it was also created for Him. He created a world over which He would reside. A world over which He would be King!

Without anyone playing that piano, those mice would never have heard the first note. They would have existed in darkness and nothingness. Without Jesus, our universe would not exist. He didn't just create it and walk away. Everything in the universe is held together through Him. He is the mortar and gravity that holds everything together. Imagine what would happen to a brick house if you took away all the mortar, and the law of gravity. It would come apart - bricks floating everywhere! How silly of us to try to take God out of the realm of our universe! How silly of us to try to explain our world only by the evidence we have discovered from things we can see. If you take away God, you take away the laws of gravity, forces, how elements react with each other, the seasons, the weather, the careful orbit around the sun, life for plants, life for animals, and the life that is given to all of us. Just as the music would stop if the pianist got up from the piano, the beautiful harmony of our world would stop dead. How silly - how wrong - of us not to get down on our knees and honor our King for what He brings to our lives!

2. He Redeemed Us In Time

Like those mice, we lived in darkness a long time. But here is where the two stories begin to differ greatly. God wanted to reveal Himself to us. He wanted to show us what He really was like! He also wanted to rescue us from the darkness we were trapped in. He didn't stay invisible. In time, 2000 years ago, He made himself visible! He sent his Son, the one who has always been around, who helped Him in creation, the one who is just as superior as He is. But He had Him come here and take on human flesh and human clothing so that we could see Him. He had his Son become a man. Now, we would be able to see what God is really like! Most importantly, we would see how much He loves us!

Here is how He did that. Even though He had his Son become a human being just like us, there was one difference. "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him." He was still God! Not only that, "He is the image of the invisible God." He was a perfect photocopy. In other words, Jesus came here to live a perfect life to show us what that would be like. Since we had no idea, since our lives are far from perfect, Jesus had to show us what God's perfection is like. And Jesus also had to live that perfect life in our place. That's right, He did it so that we could get credit for it. So not only did Jesus show us that God is a perfect God, but also a very loving God! He was perfect for us! That is the first thing He had to do to rescue us from darkness and save us.

The second thing blows our mind. His blood was shed on a cross. That's what verse 20 tells us. Even though He was perfect and He was God and He had created this world for Himself, He allowed this world to take his life. Why? Because we had become his enemies. We stopped believing in God. So we stopped making him very important in our life. We started living life how we wanted to instead. And we started worshiping other gods. We didn't want to have to answer to the Unseen Player. We didn't want to think about Him anymore. We wanted to live our lives for ourselves instead. Our relationship with God was now hostile.

But Jesus came to reconcile all things to Himself. That means He came to exchange that hostility for friendship. He came to make true peace between God and us. This was Jesus' ultimate role as our King! He conquered the evil that has ruined our relationship with God. How? By dying on the cross - by suffering our punishment. This brought about true peace and reconciliation. Reconciliation isn't something that just changed the state of the universe, something that changed everything from looking dingy to be beautiful and colorful all of a sudden. Reconciliation restores relationships! Reconciliation is real. It is action! Every person in the world has a relationship with the Creator. And when Jesus came to redeem and save us, every one of those relationships was restored. Your relationship with God was restored. It was returned to its original state of perfection. Like your brother Jesus, you now have that perfect image of God. In God's sight, you are a photocopy of His Son.

There is peace between you and Him. Peace is more than an end to hostilities. If you have two boys who are fighting, and you break up the fight, there isn't necessarily peace between the two just because they aren't fighting. Peace is more than that - it has a positive side to it. It means that not only aren't you at odds with each other, you are working in harmony. Our relationship with God has been restored to peace through Jesus. Not only is the hostility gone, but God also is actively working in our lives, blessing them, and using the hardships that come our way to serve our spiritual good. And we are also actively working to thank Him by honoring Him with lives He is proud of and pleased with. That is the peace Jesus made with us on the cross. That is reconciliation! All past sins are forgiven and forgotten!

3. He Rules Over Us for Eternity

Remember that verse 17 said "and in Him all things hold together." Our King, the pianist, keeps on playing and making the universe run in perfect harmony. We hear his notes and melodies as we observe his magnificent creation daily. But He not only holds the large things together. Not only the laws of the universe and all creation. He also holds together the little things. Your life. Your relationship with Him. Your happiness. Your family. Your good during hard times. Your faith. Your hope. Your soul for eternity. He is the cement that keeps all those things together. Without Him they fall apart. But with Him as the key ingredient in your life, those things are held together forever.

Yes, He is our King. He proved that He earned that title after He gave his life for us on the cross. Because He didn't stay dead. He was the "firstborn from the dead." He came back to life! His resurrection proved that He is the only one fit to be our King. Remember the story about King Arthur? He pulled the sword out of the stone, which showed he was the one to be king? Well, coming out of that tomb was like pulling the sword out of the stone. Jesus is King! He was victorious over the enemy! He conquered our enemy! He is now the head of his church - everyone who believes in Him. He has earned that right. He has earned our praise. Hail to the King! He has existed before time began. He redeemed us in the course of time. And He rules over us for all of eternity. Hail to the King!

For all those times we have acted more like the mice in the piano and tried to explain away the things that happen in our lives to mechanical causes, this King has forgiven us. For the times we have dismissed the beautiful harmony of his creation as chance, this King who loves us dearly wants us to know that He has taken those sins away and is ruling everything for our good. He also wants us to know that since He is our King, we will live with Him forever in heaven. Amen.

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