In verse 15 we find that Jesus is the image, or icon of God. God is spirit and invisible. Moses was told that nobody has ever seen the face of God, and nobody can and live. Have you ever wondered what God looked like? old testament prophets did. I’ve wondered that many times, and I’m sure most people have. If God had a tangible form that we could see, if God was to let people see him face to face, he would look like Jesus. The image of God that we can touch, taste, smell, see and hear.
God himself is invisible. In these few verses, between the words visible and invisible, there are three times they appear. Each one is based on a word that means to gaze at. Basically God is a being that exists. He is real, but we just can’t see him. A saying pops into my mind, “There’s gold in them thar hills!” The gold in the hills is real. You know it’s there. You can’t see it. If you dig in the dirt long enough, or stand in the river with a pan and sort through enough rocks, you’ll find it and be able to see it. It already existed, but wasn’t visible. That’s one way to think about God.It’s just that when we do get to gaze at him, we’ll have to wait until we’re dead. Until then, we have Jesus.
Jesus is the firstborn of all creation. Some people stumble over this. If Jesus is firstborn, who birthed him? Who are his parents? The more literal way this phrase might be read is “firstborn over all creation.” He is the first, tangible, touchable, person, place or thing before anything we have in our current created universe. Paul says that he existed first, because as in the verses that begin the gospel of John, Jesus is the one who created all things.