Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature (Colossians 1:15).
The Greek word translated "image" in the scripture above is "eikon," which is where the English gets the word "icon." It means resemblance or profile. God is invisible, but if you want to know what He looks like, Jesus is the image, the profile of the invisible God.
This helps us further understand the words of Jesus in John 14:8 (NKJV) when Philip said to Him, “...Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus replied him, “...Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (John 14:9). This is amazing!
For their religious minds, this was too huge because Jesus had been talking so much about the Father. He talked about His oneness with the Father and that He would return to the Father. They wanted to see the Father, but He told them, "...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father..." (John 14:9). In Hebrews 1:3, we get another powerful description; it says, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person...." The Greek word translated "express image" here is "charakter," and it means exact copy, perfect imprint or facsimile.
Jesus is the exact representation of God’s essence. If you want to see the perfect imprint of God's person, it’s found in Jesus. Jesus displayed the divine nature, essence, and character of God. No wonder John 1:18 says, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." The Greek word for "declared" here is ‘exegeomai,’ meaning to display or rehearse.
Jesus didn’t merely talk about God; He rehearsed and displayed the divine nature. The great and mighty works He did are proofs of His divine essence and oneness with the Father. He said, "Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves" (John 14:11 NKJV).