Our Creator/Our Redeemer - A Recent Message from Bethany Bible Church

"Our Creator/Our Redeemer"

Colossians 1:15-20
Theme: Theme: Jesus is an all-sufficient Savior, because the one who created us is also the one who redeems us.

(Delivered Sunday, December 3, 2000 at Bethany Bible Church. All scripture quotes, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version.)

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. 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 (Col. 1:15-20).

INTRODUCTION.

This is among the most breathtaking of all the affirmations in Paul's letters. Many New Testament scholars believe that Paul took these words from one of the ancient hymns that first century Christians sang when they gathered together for worship; and it would certainly make for a wonderful hymn, wouldn't it? There are certain passages in the New Testament that appear to contain the words from early Christian hymns (such as Philippians 2:6, 1 Timothy 3:16, and 2 Timothy 2:11-13); and this may well be one of them. Others have suggested, however, that these words were penned for the first time by Paul as he wrote this letter. But in the end, it doesn't matter whether these specific words are original to Paul or not. God has given these words to us through Paul while under the guiding and leading of the Holy Spirit; and therefore, they come to us from God, and have authority for us today.

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There is a wonderful majesty to the words contained in these six short verses. Consider, for example, the majesty of their subject - Jesus Christ. In just a few words, these verses present us with the central theme of theology - the greatest doctrinal truth that frail human minds could ever conceive. In this passage, the Holy Spirit reveals to us that the Lord Jesus, who we love and worship, is not only our sensitive High Priest and dearest friend, but He is also the Creator of all things - including our own selves. As in the words of The Nicene Creed, He is 'Very God of Very God'. He never has nor ever will cease to be fully God; and yet, He has condescended to become our Kinsman-Redeemer, and to reconcile us to His Father; and therefore, He is the preeminent Person of all of heaven and earth. Of all the things our minds could ever think upon, isn't that the most majestic of all?

Second, these words are majestic because of how much of our wonderful Savior's story they tell. They present the Son of God to us as He existed in eternity past - before time began, or before any created thing was ever brought into existence. And then, they present Him to us as He has come to be for us in history - the eternal God who was born into this sinful human family, and who shed His own blood for our sins on the cross. And they present Him to us as He will ever be - as the glorified God/Man who possesses complete preeminence over all created things; and as the only one through whom any of God's creatures will ever experience God's favor. Isn't it remarkable how the greatest story of the ages could be revealed to us in such few words?

Third, these words are majestic because of the universal nature of their scope. This passage tells us about Jesus' preeminence, not only over every created thing on earth, but also over everything in the heavenly realms as well. These six verses reveal to us the significance of Jesus Christ with respect to everything that exists. Eight times in these few verses, we find the word "all" - He is the firstborn of "all creation" (v. 15), by whom "all things" were created (v. 16), through whom and for whom "all things" were made (v. 17), who existed before "all things" (v. 17), by whom "all things" consist (v. 17), who is preeminent over "all things" (v. 18), in whom dwells "all the fullness" (v. 19), and by whom "all things" are reconciled to God (v. 20). These verses really recognize only two categories of things: Jesus, and everything else that exists. And they present Jesus as having the preeminent relationship toward all things - things "that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers" (v. 16). What's more, these verses present Him to us as the one through whom all things are reconciled - "whether things on earth or things in heaven" (v. 20). This passage show us, then, the supreme relevance of Jesus Christ to everything - without exception. There is literally nothing of all God's creation that is left untouched by its words.

There can be no greater subject for us to talk about than the Lord Jesus Christ; and it would be hard to find another passage in the New Testament that is equal to this one in Christological grandeur. We almost should remove our shoes; because we're truly standing on holy ground.

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Consider with me the place these words have in Paul's letter to the Colossians. Paul had been writing to a group of precious brothers and sisters that he had never met. He wrote to tell them that he heard about their faith in Christ, their love for their other brothers and sisters in Christ, and the transformation the gospel of Christ had brought about in their lives. He began his letter by telling them how he thanked God for what had happened to them in Christ, and how he and his assistant Timothy had been praying for them.

Among other things, he told them that he had been praying that they would be:

"... giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:12-14)."

Paul spoke of Jesus - the Son of God's love - by whom these Colossian believers had been redeemed and forgiven; and then, very shortly thereafter, he goes on to say,

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" (Col. 1:21-22).

You can clearly see that the Lord Jesus, and His work as our Redeemer, was paramount in Paul's mind as he wrote the beginning of this letter to the Colossians. But why did the Holy Spirit lead Paul to seemingly interrupt the flow of his letter, and suddenly burst forth with this marvelous exaltation of the supreme majesty of Jesus? Was Paul simply overwhelmed with the glories of the Lord Jesus; or did he have a specific and practical purpose in writing these words?

I believe that Paul was not only being worshipful in writing these words, but also being very purposeful and practical in them. It would help us to remember the reason Paul had for writing this letter in the first place. He was seeking to protect his brothers and sisters in Colosse from an insidious false doctrine that had arisen among them, and that had grown to be a threat to their stability in the faith. It was a false teaching that communicated the idea that a simple faith in Jesus wasn't sufficient to make believers perfect and complete in the eyes of God. It was a teaching that apparently took many different forms; but the basic theme of it was that we need something "more" than Jesus in order to be in God's full favor. It taught that we needed to have a kind of secret philosophical "knowledge", or that we needed to conform to certain religious rules and regulations, or that we needed to be assisted in our spirituality by the worship of angels or through the benefit of mystical visions. In whatever form this false teaching took, the idea was the same: that Jesus alone wasn't sufficient to save us, and that we needed something "more" than what we already have in Him.

In the face of all this, Paul affirmed the absolute sufficiency of Jesus Christ as our Savior. That's the great theme of this letter: that Jesus - and Jesus alone - is sufficient to make us right with God and to keep us forever in His favor. I believe Paul gave the clearest expression of his purpose for this letter when he wrote,

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power (2:6-10).

And I believe that's why Paul was lead by the Holy Spirit to break into this majestic "hymn" about the Lord Jesus Christ. He exalts in the wonder of who Jesus really is because, at the very start of his letter, he wanted to establish the absolute sufficiency of Jesus Christ as our Savior. He wanted to convince his readers that, because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus, and because He is the head of all principality and power, then it follows that every woman or man united to Jesus by faith is "complete" in the eyes of God. Paul wanted them to rest confidently in the fact He - in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily - is sufficient to cause them to stand "holy, and blameless, and above reproach" in God's sight (1:22).

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I heard some time ago about how bankers and money experts are trained to recognize counterfeit bills. You would think that they would be taught to carefully study counterfeits; but that's not the case. The bulk of their time is spent in studying the real thing. Their eye is trained to immediately spot a counterfeit because they've become so well acquainted with the genuine article. And here, Paul applies the same principle when it comes to doctrinal truth. Paul doesn't start off this letter by immediately warning the believers of the dangers of this false teaching that was floating around. Instead, he begins by marvelously affirming the truth about who Jesus is; and in affirming the truth, he's helping to fortify his readers from error.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we can be absolutely confident in Jesus. We can trust completely in the full sufficiency of Jesus Christ as our Savior. Our greatest need is not to find something that will make us more "right" with God than we already are in Jesus; but rather, our greatest need is that of getting to know Jesus better, and to come to a settled conviction of the truth about Him.

We could sum it all up this way: the one who is the Creator of all things is also the very same one who is our Redeemer! There's no need for us to look for "something more" elsewhere, because there couldn't possibly be a better and more sufficient Savior than the one we already have! That's what these six verses are meant to teach us.

Notice first, then, how Paul affirms to us that ...

1. JESUS IS THE CREATOR OF ALL (vv. 15-17).

Paul begins by affirming that "He is the image of the invisible God." The Greek word he uses to describe Jesus is eikõn - the same word from which we get the English word "icon". It refers to an image that bears a substantive relationship with the original -- that is, it communicates the essence and nature of a thing. Jesus used this same word when He held up a coin to the people around Him and asked, "Whose image and inscription is this? The crowd didn't respond by saying something vague, like, "It's a picture of some guy's face." Rather, they gave a clear and specific answer "Caesar's" (Matthew 22:20-21). And the point was that the "image" of Caesar on that coin caused it to be identified as his coin. The image of Caesar had a substantive relationship with Caesar. It "represented" Caesar to the people.

In a much more profound way, Jesus is presented as the "image" of His Father - making Him the representative to us of the real essence and nature of His Father. As it says once again in The Nicene Creed, Jesus is "of one substance with the Father"; that is, He shares the same essence and nature with the Father.

Jesus the Son is fully God; just as the Father is fully God. But the Son is not the same "Person" as the Father; rather, He is the "image" of the Father. We perceive the Father through Jesus. The disciple Philip once asked Jesus to show him and the other disciples the Father; and Jesus responded, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father ..." (John 14:9). Jesus told the Jews, "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30); and the Jews then picked up stones to stone Him, because they clearly understood those words as a claim to be God (v. 33). As it says in in the first four verses of Hebrews (in a passage very similar to our passage from Colossians);

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom he has made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when he had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they (Heb. 1:1-4).

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But notice also that, in the case of Jesus, Paul affirms that He is the "image" of someone who could not otherwise be seen. He is the image of "the invisible God".

The Bible tells us that God is "the King eternal, immortal, invisible" (1 Tim. 1:17); "dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see" (6:16). And yet here, we're told that this mighty God who cannot be gazed upon by human eyes has nevertheless revealed Himself to us. The apostle John tells us that, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

The only way God the Father has ever been seen by man is through His Son, Jesus. The apostle John wrote, "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared Him" (v. 19). And Jesus Himself said that "no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27).

A false doctrine was afoot that would have tempted the Colossian believers to look for a sense of fulfillment and completeness before God elsewhere than through Christ. Many today likewise seek to draw close to God through some other means than through Christ. But this reminds us that the invisible God cannot be known in any other way than through His Son Jesus. As the reformer John Calvin wrote, "We must, therefore, beware of seeking him elsewhere, for everything that would set itself off as a representation of God, apart from Christ, will be an idol."

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Notice, next, that Paul affirms Jesus to be "the firstborn over all creation".

The title "firstborn" can be understood in a variety of ways. The most obvious is as a reference to birth-order; in other words, a "firstborn son" is the first in a series of other children. Many heretical groups throughout church history have taken this to mean that Jesus was "the firstborn of all creation" in the sense that He was first in a series of created beings. Interpreting the word "firstborn" in this way, they have erroneously taught that Jesus is a created being, and not the eternal Son of God (to the disregard of other passages of Scripture that clearly teach to the contrary).

But in applying the word "firstborn" to Jesus, Paul is in no way suggesting that He is a created being. The next few verses go on to tell us that all things were created by Him and for Him, and that He is before all things, and that all things consist by Him. These verse speak in universal terms -- "all things"; and the Son of God cannot be the Creator of all things, and one of those created things at the same time.

The word "firstborn" means much more than just first in birth-order. When applied to Jesus, the phrase "firstborn" refers not to His nature, but to His position with respect to all of creation. It's a phrase that speaks of His preeminence. In Psalm 89:27, for example, God speaks of King David (and, prophetically, of Jesus), and says, "Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth." Obviously, David wasn't first of all the kings ever born; rather, he was first in "honor" over all the other kings of the earth. His title as "firstborn" was meant to emphasize his position of honor, not his position as first of a series in birth-order. Likewise, Hebrews 1:6 calls Jesus "the firstborn"; and it says, "But when He [God] again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: 'Let all the angels of God worship Him.'" Jesus is not among the things that God has made; but rather, He has been given the position of honor over all the things God has made.

A "firstborn son" holds the family position of honor. He has the preeminent title to his father's inheritance. His title as "firstborn", then, is a parallel idea to what God the Father said of His Son in Psalm 2:7-8; "The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.'" The main point of Paul's application of the title "firstborn" to Jesus, then, is to spotlight Jesus' preeminence - that He holds the position of highest honor and privilege over all creation. And Paul affirms that this position belongs to Jesus alone. This can clearly be seen because of how Paul goes on to describe Jesus' unique relationship to the created order. He goes on to write,

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 (vv. 16-17).

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Notice how Paul presents Jesus to us as Creator in terms of the realms of creation. Paul says that "by Him all things were created that are in heaven and on earth."

Whenever we use the phrase "heaven and earth", we use it as a figure of speech to express things in universal terms. For example, we might tell someone, "I've searched heaven and earth to find a birthday gift for you." What we mean is that we've searched everywhere we could - speaking figuratively in universal terms. Likewise, when applied to Jesus, this phrase is meant to say that Jesus' Creatorship is universal; except in this case, "heaven and earth" is not a figure of speech. We're to take it literally; Jesus really has made all things in all realms - all things in the material realm, and all thing in the spiritual realm.

Paul not only speaks of Jesus' Creatorship in terms of the realms of created things, but also in terms of the nature of created things. He says that all things were made by Jesus - "visible and invisible". Paul once wrote to the Corinthian believers and expressed his own sense of encouragement in ministry to them, even though he suffered much for the cause of the gospel. And he told them,

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

The distinction between "things seen" and "things not seen" is meant to express the difference between things that are material and therefore temporal, and things that are spiritual, and therefore eternal. Jesus, then, is presented as the Creator of all things - visible and invisible, material and spiritual, temporal and eternal.

And Paul also speaks of Jesus' Creatorship in terms of its divisions of authority. He is said to be the Creator of all "thrones, dominions, principalities or powers". This isn't meant to speak of a "top-to-bottom" hierarchy of authority; but rather, it's meant to speak simply of the totality of all authority - of whatever rank.

When teaching about earthly governments, the Bible teaches us that "there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God" (Rom. 13:1). Even during His arrest, Jesus told Pilate, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above" (John 19:11). Jesus holds supremacy over all earthly authorities. But this is also true of authorities in the spiritual realms as well. The Bible tells us that "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against, powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). And yet, even though the devil and his angelic hosts are in rebellion against their Creator, we're also told that Jesus is victorious over them. "For I am persuaded," Paul wrote, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:38-39).

Jesus holds supremacy over all things, because He is the Creator of all things - all things in heaven and on earth; all things visible and invisible; all thrones, dominions, principalities or powers. "All things"!

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Notice further that Paul explains how Jesus is to be understood as the Creator of these things. First, we're told that it is "by" Him that all these things were created; that is, He is their ultimate source. He is the divine "author" of all things.

Second, we're told that all things were created "through" Him; that is, He is the means of the creation of all things. As the apostle John wrote at the beginning of his gospel,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:1-2).

Third, we're told that all things were created "for" Him. This isn't a random universe. It has purpose. All things point to Jesus, because they were made "for" Him; that is, they were made for His pleasure, and they all find their ultimate purpose in Him. The "chief end" of all things - including you and me - is to glorify Him.

Fourth, we're told that He is "before" all things. As Thomas Aquinas argued, nothing can come from "nothing"; and since the universe "is", then "something" necessarily existed before it. That "something" is Jesus - by whom, through whom, and for whom, all things were created. He proceeded all things in that He was eternally pre-existent. He is the Ruler spoken of by the prophet Micah, "whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting" [or "from the days of eternity"] (Micah 5:2). He's the one who, before going to the cross, prayed that He would be restored to the glory that He enjoyed with the Father, "which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:5).

And finally, we're told that "in Him all things consist" or "hold together"; that is, He is not only the maker of all things, but also the continual sustainer of all things.

Physicists have expressed wonder over what unknown, invisible principle keeps the nucleus of atoms together, and prevents the positively charged protons and the negatively charged neutrons from flying apart from one another. One physicist said that we live in a universe in which practically every object around us is a potential nuclear explosion. And indeed, the Bible tells us that there will come a time when "the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up" (2 Pet. 3:10).

One day, that invisible force will be removed; and then, the material universe will explode in a great, single cosmic conflagration. But until then, something unseen to human eyes holds it all together. And here, we're told that this "something" is a Someone - the Son of God; by whom all things "consist". He "upholds all things by the word of His power" (Heb. 1:3).

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What majestic words these are!! Paul is setting Jesus before us as the preeminent Creator of all things. He is the image of the invisible God, and the firstborn of all creation. He created all things; He sustains all things; He proceeds all things; and all things are made by Him and for Him. As Paul said elsewhere, "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen" (Rom. 5:36).

And Paul's intention in setting forth these truths about Jesus is to show that this same preeminent Creator is also the Redeemer of sinners. Sinners like us who have been redeemed have no one less than our Creator as our Redeemer! Who could be more sufficient to redeem us than the one who created us? What more sufficient Savior can we have than Him? Paul wants us to understand that, because He is the mighty Creator ...

2. THEREFORE, JESUS IS THE ALL-SUFFICIENT REDEEMER (vv. 18-20).

Notice first that He is called "the head of the body, the church". A "head" directs the body. It gives life, leadership and direction to it. And here, we're told that Jesus, the Creator God, is related to the church - His body - as its "head". Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers and said that God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted Jesus to His right hand in heavenly places;

... far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Eph. 1:21-23).

And because He is the head, Paul wrote that we are made complete before God as a result of our union with Him. Paul wrote that we're to grow up together "into Him who is the head - Christ - from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which very part does its share, causes the growth of the body for the edifying of itself" (Eph. 4:15-16).

If the church has, as its head, the majestic, preeminent Creator of all things, then it can find life, leadership and direction in nothing else. In fact, nothing could be more self-destructive than to sever one's self from one's head. The great need for us as believers is not to try and find a better and more sufficient "head" - because we cannot. Rather, our great need is to remain vitally connected to Jesus Christ alone as the singular, all-sufficient "head" of His church. Paul warned,

Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God (Col. 2:18-19).

Second, notice that Jesus is is called "the beginning" or "the first". And given the context, we can take this to mean that Jesus is the "beginning" of His church. He is its founder and originator. It finds its starting point in Him. As the writer of Hebrews put it, Jesus is "the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:1-2).

If Jesus, our Creator, is the founder of the church; then how believers ever hope to be complete if we seek to stand before God on the basis of something less than Him? "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11).

Third, notice that Jesus is called "The firstborn from the dead". Jesus is certainly the "firstborn" in the sense that we spoke of before - that is, in the sense that He holds the position of preeminence over all those who belong to Him. But in Paul's use of the word here, Jesus is being presented to us as "firstborn" in the sense that He is 'first in a series'.

In 1 Corinthians 15:20, Paul refers to Jesus through an agricultural metaphor: "firstfruits." The "firstfruits" of a harvest refers to the earliest produce gathered from that harvest. It's a symbolic representation of more produce yet to come. And he calls Jesus "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" - that is, the firstfruits of those who will be resurrected from their graves. And so, when Paul speaks of Jesus as the "firstfruits" of those who are resurrected, he is speaking of Jesus as the first from the human family to be resurrected to glory - the prototype of many more to follow. Paul writes,

But now, Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also comes the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterwards those who are Christ's at His coming (1 Cor. 15:20-23).

He is the predecessor of all those who will be raised from the dead in glory. His resurrection from the dead is our great pattern. "Because I live", Jesus told His disciples, "you will live also" (John 14:19).

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Jesus was presented to us as the glorious Creator. Now, He is being presented to us in terms of His preeminent relationship to His Church. Why? It's "that in all things, He may have the preeminence". It's not enough that Jesus have the preeminence over all things as they were created. He must even have preeminence over those of His creatures that have sinned against Him. In no way will He be denied His preeminence. He undertook the work of reconciling all His Creation to Himself, so that in all things He would have preeminence. As Paul wrote to the Philippian church, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God,

"... being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

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Now once again, remember Paul's purpose in all this. He wanted to drive home to the hearts of his readers the fact that, because Jesus is the preeminent Creator of all things, He is also the preeminent Redeemer of sinners. And because He is all-sufficient as our Redeemer, we can trust Him completely. We don't need to look anywhere else than to Jesus in order to be made complete in the eyes of God. He alone is sufficient to make us "perfect" before His Father. And so, Paul sums all this up for us, when he writes,

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 (vv. 19-20).

Jesus once said of Himself that "the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him" (John 5:22-23). And so, as Paul says, "it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell" (v. 19). All the fullness of the Godhead is to be found in Jesus Christ (2:9); and so nothing of the fullness of God can be found in any way except through Him.

But this same preeminent Creator is also our all-sufficient Redeemer. It's by Jesus, Paul goes on to say, that God reconciles "all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven".

When God "reconciles" something to Himself, it means that He has brought about a condition of peace between Himself and someone that was in enmity against Him. He has removed whatever it was that stood between them, thus establishing peace. The cause of the enmity between ourselves and God is our own sin; and God has reconciled us to Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross - removing the cause of enmity, and making peace between us. As Paul goes on to write;

This isn't meant to say that all things that have ever been in rebellion against Him are now reconciled into a peaceful relationship to God; because the Scriptures plainly tells us otherwise. The Bible tells us that every knee will one day bow to Jesus and confess Him as Lord (Phil. 2:11); but it also tells us that some things will be made to do this unwillingly. Colossians 2:15 says of Jesus; "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them" by His cross.

And so, this is not meant to suggest that all things in the universe - even the devil and His angels, and including unrepentant sinners - will one day be brought into a state of peace with God through Christ. Rather it's meant to stress the fact that, if any of God's fallen creatures are ever to be reconciled to God in such a way as to be in His favor, it will be by no other means than by Christ. The Father has made no other provision for peace with Him than through the cross of Christ. He accomplished this reconciliation as our all-sufficient Creator and Redeemer; "... having made peace through the blood of His cross."

CONCLUSION.

Can you see from this glorious, majestic "hymn" of Christ what a great benefit we have in being united to Him by faith? If our Redeemer is also our Creator, then it's impossible for Him to be anything but all-sufficient for us. It's impossible that we could find anything more to make us right before God than what can be found in Him alone. Why then should we even think to look to anything else?

We should respond to this, first, by worshiping Jesus as our glorious Creator and as the preeminent figure in all the universe. Second, we should give Him our trust as our Redeemer; because the same glorious Creator of all things is the one who reconciles us to His Father. Finally, we should rest confidently in Him -- and look to nothing else for favor before God than what we already have in Him -- because as our majestic Creator, He is wonderfully sufficient to be our Redeemer forever.

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