Colossians 1: 13-20
As we saw yesterday, we are to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, because He qualified us to share in the inheritance of Light.
(13) For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son,
He took us out of the darkness, and transferred us into Light, the Kingdom of His Son. We were caught in the snares of sin and deception, with no way out; until He rescued us and broke the chains of our darkness, freeing us from the power of sin right now. Today I don't need to give in to that familiar weakness, I can say, "No!" and turn my back on it. This is His salvation. It's His cleansing and placing His Holy Spirit in my spirit to give me new choices, the ability to say, "Yes!" to what is good, instead.
(14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
In addition to being saved from the power of sin, He also redeemed us out of the whole slave-market of sin and set us free, in His forgiveness of all of our sins, and cleansing us of all unrighteousness.
How can He do this? because:
(15) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
(16) For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created though Him and for Him.
(17) He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Being firstborn is not an accident of birth as much as it is a position of primacy. If you want to see the Father, just look at the Son; He is the exact physical image of God's spiritual being. Christ Jesus holds primacy over all creation because He is the Word that the Father spoke creation into being: all created things, whether on Earth or in the heavenlies, whether material or spiritual, and all the beings who hold the hierarchy of authority under Almighty God the Father are after, or under, the Son. Everything was made for Him, and He is the one who holds everything together. (Have you heard of the "God molecule"? It's shaped like a cross! https://www.livescience.com/47737-stephen-hawking-higgs-boson-universe-doomsday.html)
(18) He is also the Head of the body, the church, and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
He is the Head of the body, that we saw a few days ago (if you've been following my blog), and is the first Person who was Resurrected from the dead. Now, with His new, Resurrection life and body, He can also resurrect us, giving us also a spiritual body like His. We looked at this spiritual body back on September 12 last year.
Everything is in order with God, and Jesus has first place in everything that exists. He has primacy.
(19) For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
God does everything that He wants to do, everything for His pleasure. And it was His good pleasure to have all the Father's "Godness" to live permanently in His Son. So Christ is just as much God as God the Father is.
(20) and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on Earth or things in heaven.
All creation was put under the curse that God put on the ground when Adam sinned. It's our fault, as humans, that this whole universe winds down and wears out. And God the Father has given the Son the responsibility to set everything back to rights again. He's the only one who could do it, because He is God.
And when He poured out God's own blood on the foot of the cross, He purchased the whole creation; which gives Him the authority, as the Owner, to renovate and update, and even to tear down and rebuild, everything in both heaven and on the Earth.
When I reconcile my checkbook register to my bank statement, if they don't agree, I don't ask my bank to change the statement; I find where I made the mistake and change my record to agree with the bank. That's what Christ will do with the creation: we messed it up, and He will straighten it all out according to the Father God's Truth.
O my Father, You have reconciled us to Yourself in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through His blood. You have changed us to be in accordance with how You originally designed us, to be redeemed from this mortal existence into Your domain of righteousness and light.
Strengthen us, Father, to be strong in You against the onslaughts of evil that will grow stronger and more pervasive as we approach the end of the end times. Help us and use us to spread Your gospel to the world, to draw all Your as-yet unborn children to the new birth, and to grow Your children to maturity in Your royal family.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
