Beholding Glory Pt 5

One more time would the Lord’s
people open their Bibles to Colossians chapter 1. And I say one more
time, not to the book of Colossians or even to Colossians chapter
1, but to the study that we’ve been engaged in these past weeks,
a study of Paul’s really monumental passage about Christ in verses
15 through 20. We have found all of the glowing
forecasts and enthusiastic reviews about this section and not only
to be met but even surpassed. We came to this passage with
great anticipation, as it is a passage that tells us so richly
about our Savior, but words alone can’t capture the remarkable
depth and the stunning impact of these verses. Paul paints
a beautiful picture a verbal portrait, if you will, of Jesus. And we have savored these glimpses
of the Redeemer’s nature, and we come away knowing Christ better
and loving Him more deeply. We feel very much as if we have
been beholding glory, our title for this section. Paul has given
us a glimpse of our Redeemer, the Father’s beloved Son’s face. He opened this in verse 15 by
telling us that He is the image of the invisible God. And so
we come away understanding Jesus’ words in John 14, 9, he who has
seen me has seen the Father. Christ is the icon, the image,
the perfect representation of the Father. Paul showed us another
glimpse of the Redeemer in his second statement of verse 15.
He tells us that he is the firstborn of all creation. This tells us
of the beloved son’s position. As the firstborn, Jesus was first
in order of time, existing eternally before any created thing, so
that he is also first in order of privilege and position. He is preeminent over all things. The third glimpse of our Redeemer
came in verse 17, when Paul shows us the beloved son’s preeminence,
that he himself is before all things, and in Christ all things
hold together. Jesus is not only the eternally
existing creator, but he is the sustainer of all things. And
just as all things were created simply by God’s Word, so also
all things hold together in the same way. by divine declaration
of that of Christ. And then last Lord’s Day, we
considered the fourth glimpse of our Redeemer in verse 18,
that he is the head of the body, the church. Simple illustration
that Paul uses again and again throughout his epistles. And
here we saw Christ’s relationship to his church, the beloved son’s
place, if you will. And so this, our final week in
this section, we come to our final glimpse of our Redeemer
in verses 18 through 20. Here we see the beloved son’s
prominence, the beloved son’s prominence. And we’ve seen thus
far his face, his position, his preeminence, his place here this
morning. We want to look at the Beloved
Son’s prominence. And so if you would, let’s go
back to verse 15. We’ll take it in full. He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of all creation. 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 through Him and for Him. He is before all things,
and in Him all things hold together. 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. For it was the Father’s good
pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him. 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.” As I said, We’ve looked at four
points, four glimpses of our Redeemer thus far, and this fifth
glimpse is by far the longest of the five. Two of the points,
the first and the fourth, were taken from single sentences.
But this one, the fifth glimpse, the beloved son’s prominence
is presented in two and a half verses. And so we’ll take our
time with this section, and we want to go back if you would,
and we’ll begin right there again in verse 18. We’re about halfway
in. We want to look at the Beloved
Son’s prominence, and there are four features of this section. The foundation of Christ’s prominence,
the scope of Christ’s prominence, the qualification of Christ’s
prominence, and the triumph of Christ’s prominence. We’ll look
at each, but let’s begin there in the middle of verse 18. He
is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Paul begins this
fifth and final point, his last of the five glimpses of the Redeemer,
by setting forth the foundation of Christ’s prominence. Glance
again, if you would, at those middle two lines of verse 18.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. This is really
one point, not two. It’s intended to highlight Christ’s
prominence. But Paul does this with two parallel
statements. It’s problematic to separate
these two and make them to be independent of one another. If
we do so, it’s difficult to arrive at a clear meaning. And that’s
because the second statement, the firstborn from the dead,
adds clarity to the first. He is the beginning. If we were
to take that initial statement alone, we have no moorings for
what the beginning could mean. It could point to the beginning
of time. It could point to the beginning
of creation, first in order of rank, or the beginning of just
about anything. But as soon as we allow the second
statement to bring the clarity that it’s designed to provide,
it becomes very clear what Paul is trying to tell us. When Paul
tells us in that second statement that Jesus is the firstborn from
the dead, We understand that he means, by the beginning, that
it’s Jesus who is first to be raised from the dead, and in
that he is the beginning of the resurrection life for all. It
stands Christ apart as the provider and the originator of all spiritual
blessings. I have a dear pastoral friend,
we never met, but a Scottish pastor from a bygone day, John
Eady, and he says it this way. He describes this beautiful scene
in powerful words. No matter what blessing is enjoyed,
what its kind or amount, he is the author. There may be subordinate
supplies, wells of water, but his rain from heaven fills them.
Conviction of sin and repentance unto life are produced by a glimpse
of Christ. The pardon of guilt comes directly
from him. His death provides for the sanctification
of our hearts. His spirit is the agent. His
word is the instrument. Every grace may be traced to
him. He has originated salvation and
he gives it. He is, in the most unlimited
sense, the beginning. In this same sense, the Apostle
John in the book of Revelation calls Jesus the beginning of
the creation, the beginning of the end, the beginning and the
end. These characterizations also
echo Paul’s point here in Colossians. The beginning and the firstborn
speak about Christ’s supremacy, his preeminence. By his resurrection,
all things are reconciled and restored to God the Father. And by his resurrection, Jesus
is the beginning and the firstborn of this new creation. But someone
might contend that Jesus wasn’t actually the one raised from
the dead, the only one raised from the dead. How can he be
the beginning, the firstborn? Similar terms, 1 Corinthians
15, the great chapter on the resurrection, Paul refers to
Christ as the first fruits of those who are asleep. How can
that be true if there were others who were raised from the dead?
It’s true that Jesus did raise several people from the dead
during his earthly ministry. The first of which was the son
of the widow from Nain. The second, recorded, was the
daughter of the synagogue official. And the third was the most well-known
of all, the raising of Lazarus. And there may have been others.
But the bottom line is that all of those miraculously raised
people eventually died again, but not Jesus. Jesus was raised
to everlasting life, never to die again. In his resurrection,
Christ conquered death. And so as Christ’s resurrection
is the beginning of resurrected life, it is this that Paul speaks
of in 2nd Corinthians 517. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold,
new things have come. Christ, as the firstborn from
the dead, opens the door to new things, to those who are new
creatures in Christ. Christ’s resurrection enables
those who believe in him to follow him into that resurrection to
new life. And so Jesus occupies this notable
position. He is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, and this is the foundation of Christ’s prominence. By God’s sovereign design, he
has a divine purpose in it. And this is the second point
of our outline, the scope of Christ’s prominence. We find
that point at the end of verse 18. Not only the foundation of
Christ’s prominence, but the scope of Christ’s prominence. Take it in full, he is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come
to have first place in everything. Here is God’s purpose in this
high position that Jesus occupies. It’s that so that, as Paul says,
he has first place over all, that he is preeminent. This is
the reason that Paul provides for Christ’s primacy and supremacy. He is to be foremost. He shares
his position with none. And we’ve seen a recurring sentence
structure again and again in this passage, and we have it
here again. It’s that emphatic sense that
Paul employs, he himself, he and no other. We saw this first
in verse 17, that he himself is before all things. We have
it again in verse 18, he himself is the head of the body. And
we have it again here, that he himself, he and no other, will
occupy the first place, the place of prominence and preeminence. Now, I’ll tell you, we have to
exercise great caution with the verb of this clause. It’s perhaps
fitting that this particular verb is used here only in all
of the New Testament. But how is it that Jesus will
come to have first place? As if it’s earned or bestowed
in time. Jesus Christ is God eternally,
forever occupying a place of absolute supremacy, but not in
everyone’s estimation. To this moment, there are myriads
of individuals who do not properly esteem the Lord Jesus. They will in time. And that is
the allowance of which Paul speaks here. In every episode of Christ’s
mission, his incarnation, his crucifixion, his resurrection,
his ascension to glory, Jesus came to enjoy, at each step of
the way, an even greater recognition among believers of his preeminence,
more so than he previously had. It’s God’s desire and design
that Jesus would come to be recognized by people everywhere, that he
alone is supreme over all. When Paul says here that God’s
intention is that his son would come to have first place in everything,
he uses a word that he has used again and again throughout this
very special section. He used the word twice in verse
16, that by him all things were created. He uses it again twice
more in verse 17, that he is before all things. And that in
him, at the end of verse 17, all things hold together. And
so here, the same one who created everything, who existed before
everything, who sustains everything, who will also be preeminent over
everything. So, when someone poses the question,
does this mean in all respects, among all creatures, in all points,
the answer is yes. Christ will come to have first
place in everything. He will be supreme over all things,
all people, all lands, all nations. But as of this moment, Christ’s
supremacy and sovereignty aren’t fully recognized, even by the
professing church on earth, let alone among the heathen. But
one day, One day, Paul declares in Philippians chapter 2, at
the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue
will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. But how is it that even Jesus
should be afforded this first place? The first place in everything. And Paul goes on to explain that
the Father has fully equipped him for such a role. And we see
it in point three, the qualification of Christ’s prominence in verse
19. Not only the foundation of Christ’s
prominence and the scope, but the qualification of Christ’s
prominence. Glance at verse 19, if you will.
For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness
to dwell in Him.” We come to the third aspect, this third
aspect of Christ’s prominence, that of the justification for
Him holding so high a place. Here in verse 19, Paul inserts
this explanation. How is it that Jesus should be
the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he should
have first place in everything? Paul entertains such a question
with a very direct answer. It was the Father’s good pleasure
that all the fullness should dwell in him. Now, careful students
of Scripture will notice something here. In our text, that is in
our Bibles, If it’s a good sound translation, we will notice that
the words, the fathers, possessive, they’re in italics. And that
means here, as it always does, that these words have been supplied
by our translators. They aren’t there in the Greek.
They have been provided for clarity by the process of interpretation
by our respective translators. The question is, is this justified? Is it justified to say that it
was the Father’s good pleasure? There are only a few options
open to us when we read here that it was blank’s good pleasure. There are only a few options
to fit into that blank. We could possibly say that it
was Jesus’ good pleasure that all the fullness dwelt in him,
or we could say Really strangely, the only other option is the
fullness, it was the fullness’s good pleasure to dwell in Him.
Or we could land, as our translators
have, that it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness
to dwell in Him. And you would not believe the
amount of argumentation that commentators have engaged in
here over the centuries. I believe that we can immediately
eliminate the second option, that the fullness could somehow
be personified in such a way as to enjoy taking up residence
in Christ. Grammatically, it’s possible,
but it makes no sense. And while Jesus himself does
certainly enjoy the benefits of God’s fullness in his life,
it makes far more sense here that it’s the Father whose good
pleasure is being recognized. The verb, to be well pleased,
is used relatively often in the New Testament. Paul himself uses
the word six times, almost always of God, Listen briefly to a few
of these examples. 1 Corinthians 1 21. Paul says that God was well pleased
through the foolishness of the message preached to save those
who believed. It pleased God to issue forth
a message about a crucified Savior. 1 Corinthians 10.5, pardon me,
speaking of the children of Israel, with most of them, God was not
well-pleased. Galatians 1.15, Paul uses it
again with regard to himself. Paul says there, when God, who
had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me
through his grace, he was well-pleased to reveal his Son in me. Paul
went away, as you know, to the desert following his immediate
conversion, kind of a seminary in the desert all alone, where
it was God teaching him, and that pleased God. Paul echoes
this word twice in that grand first chapter of Ephesians to
speak of the Father’s sovereign plans, remember? In Ephesians
1.5, he predusted us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ
to himself according to the kind intention of his will. It pleased
God. And then again in verse 9, he
made known to us the mystery of his will according to his
kind intention. It pleased God to let us in on
his revelation. And so here in Colossians, our
translators have made a good interpretive choice here to insert
the words, the father’s possessive. It was the father’s good pleasure
about which Paul speaks. This is in harmony with the rest
of scripture. Remember at Christ’s baptism,
God echoed from the heavens, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well-pleased. On the fearful Mount of Transfiguration
again, three of Christ’s closest apostles heard Almighty God utter
nearly the same words. This is my beloved son with whom
I am well-pleased, listen to him. According to God’s good
pleasure, in other words, it pleased God that all the attributes
and glory of the deity should reside in His Son as well. And so it is the Father’s good
pleasure, but what is the fullness of which Paul speaks? I alluded
to it there necessarily a moment ago. The word fullness is simple
enough to understand. It’s used in the New Testament
to speak of completeness. Paul uses it this way to speak
of the timing of God sending his son into the world, Galatians
4.4, that it was in the fullness of time In Romans 11, Paul speaks
of the fullness of the Gentiles, that once the Gentiles are all
saved, God has other plans. And so also here, Paul speaks
of the complete, the full measure of God residing in Christ. This word fullness is a word
that Paul uses frequently. And in Paul’s use, it typically
refers to that which fills up God himself. In other words,
God’s attributes. This is what God is comprised
of. He’s comprised of goodness and sovereignty and faithfulness
and joy. It’s the fullness of the Godhead
of which he speaks. All of the attributes that God
possesses in perfection are fully dwelling. They are inherent in
Christ. The attempted explanations of
this truth are so rich. May I share a few with you? One
commentator called the fullness of the deity, the complete fullness
and exhaustless perfection of the divine essence. Everything
that God is, is in Christ. Another scholar said that the
fullness is the whole treasure of divine grace. What a beautiful
image. One of the most common descriptions
occurred again and again, the fullness of the Godhead or the
fullness of the deity. Everything that God is was in
full in Christ. And so in simple terms, the fullness
of which Paul speaks here is all that God is in his essence
and in his glorious being is found in completeness in Christ. And this fullness of the deity
doesn’t merely take up temporary residence in Christ, as if he
had the fullness of God while he was here on earth. It’s the
same word that Stephen used of Abraham in Acts chapter 7. Stephen
begins his sermon by telling his Jewish listeners about Abraham,
and they were only too happy to hear him, remember, and it
says that he settled in a certain land. That’s our word. In Ephesians
chapter 3, when Paul prays that those believers would be strengthened,
it was in order that Christ may dwell, settle into their hearts
through faith. Not in a passing temporary fashion,
but permanently. And so Paul tells us here that
in Christ, the fullness of the deity had made a permanent lodging. Many of the other world religions,
or even in heretical factions of Christianity, sadly, they
put forth this blasphemous idea that we can become little gods. that little bits of deity are
portioned out to every follower, to each person. That’s not Christianity. In Christ, all the fullness of
deity dwells in Christ. Now, the manner in which this
sentence is written elicits a question that is important to answer.
It was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell
in Him. The question is, when exactly
did that happen? Were the divine attributes so
completely lavished on Christ that it’s nothing short of shocking
to read that there were numerous suggestions to this idea. One
suggested that it was at Christ’s incarnation, when he took on
flesh, that only then was he fully invested with the divine attributes.
Another said that these divine attributes were bestowed at Christ’s
baptism. Still another pointed to the
resurrection. But Jesus Christ is God from
all eternity. And as God, he has always fully
possessed the fullness of the deity. John the Baptist knew
this. As the Apostle John records,
John 114, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We saw his
glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace
and truth. John testified about him and
cried out saying, this is he of whom I said, he who comes
after me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me.
For of his fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
Jesus wasn’t bestowed this fullness in time. He is God eternally. That brings us to our fourth
consideration this morning. Not only the foundation of Christ’s
prominence, the scope of Christ’s prominence, the qualifications
of Christ’s prominence, but number four, the triumph of Christ’s
prominence. Let’s take it in full from verse
19, for it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness
to dwell in him 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. We come finally to this fourth
element of Paul’s exposition of Christ’s prominence, not only
the foundation, the scope, the qualification, but look at the
triumph of Christ’s prominence. Verse 20, the point that Paul
is making here is actually a continuation of the point that he makes in
verse 19. There, Paul has just told us of the Father’s good
pleasure, but here in verse 20, he tells us of God’s intentions. Simply put, it was to reconcile
all things to himself through Christ. Reconciliation. It’s one of the most beautiful
words in the Bible, because it speaks of mortal enemies who
have become dear and favored friends. We, in our sinful condition,
Scripture says, we’re at enmity with the Holy God. We are his
sworn and hated enemies in our natural state. And so when Paul
says here, or really anywhere in Scripture, that he presents
this idea of reconciliation, our hearts must be warmed at
how personalized this thought is to us. that God reconciled
us to himself, though we were at war with him. Reconciliation
touches every believer. And here in Colossians 1.20,
Paul uses the strongest form of this verb to highlight the
completeness of this reconciliation. It reminds us of Romans 8.1,
there is therefore now no not even the slightest bit of condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. We are fully reconciled. We’re
not on a probation period with God. One of the most lively articulations
of this concept is found in 2 Corinthians 5. Would you take a minute and
turn there? 2 Corinthians 5. Reconciliation. What a beautiful
word. Second Corinthians five. And
when you get there, scroll down to verse 18. Now, all these things
are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ. He’s the great means and gave
us the ministry of reconciliation. When we tell others about Christ
that they too can be reconciled to God through faith in Christ,
we are engaged in the ministry of reconciliation. Namely, verse
19, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting
their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the
word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God were making an
appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled
to God. What a beautiful passage. Back,
if you would, to Colossians. Now, we need to clarify a few
things here about our passage. Twice in this verse, Paul uses
the pronoun him. And very safely, we can conclude
that the first reference, the first time that he uses this
pronoun, Paul is referring to Christ. To be explicit here,
let me just read it. Through Christ to reconcile all
things. That part is reasonable. We understand
that he’s speaking of Christ initially, but it’s the second
pronoun that has caused trouble for some exegetes and commentators. It could be read in either of
two ways. Either through Christ to reconcile
all things to himself, that is Christ, Christ reconciling all
things to himself, or through Christ to reconcile all things
to the Father. And it does seem somewhat abrupt
in a passage that is all about Christ to suddenly interject
the Father into this discussion. But it’s not as if the Father
has been absent throughout this entire passage. After all, at
the outset of our consideration, we had to first determine who
He was. Remember in verse 15? And we
quickly determined that without any doubt it referred to God’s
beloved Son, as he’s identified in verse 13. And so reference
to the Father occurs again at the end of verse 15, that Jesus
is the image of the invisible God who is the Father. And we
only just now acknowledge that in verse 19, the obvious reference
there is to the father’s good pleasure. And so here in verse
20, we must consider the idea of reconciliation. Romans 5.10
declares that we were reconciled to God through the death of his
son. Likewise, in Ephesians 2.16,
Paul presents Christ as reconciling fallen humanity to God. And in that passage we just read,
2 Corinthians 5.18 and 19, Paul presents that God reconciled
us to himself through Christ. And so here, there is no doubt
that Christ is the focus of the entire section. We agree that
Christ is reconciling all things to the Father. Would you glance
again at the passage, verse 20, to acknowledge this incredible
means of reconciliation? How did this happen? Paul has
already said that this reconciliation is through him, that is, through
Christ, but he closes out this section that Christ has done
so, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through
him I say whether things on earth or things in heaven. There are
no questions or doubts. Here it is Christ’s blood atonement
on the cross for sinners that accomplished this reconciliation. That is the only means of being
reconciled to a holy God. And so Paul brings the entire
thing home in a most practical way. There’s one final question
raised by these last two clauses, that he has reconciled all things
to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven. The things on earth seems more
broad than just sinful humanity. But Paul broadens the promise
even further when he adds things in heaven. What can Paul possibly
mean by that? We know that sinners are reconciled
to the Father, but what else? The answer lies in the fact that
all creation was tainted by the fall of Adam and Eve, not just
people. The effects of sin touched everything. It didn’t just bring the pain
of childbirth and a power struggle between husband and wife and
strife with it, thorns and thistles for the man and the sweat of
the brow. Sin impacted everything. And
Paul speaks of this reality in Romans 8. Yes, would you please turn to
Romans 8? This is such a rich passage.
And I really am near the end. Romans 8, when you get there,
slide down to verse 18. The entire universe was impacted
by the sin, the fall of Adam and Eve, and we see it here over
and over again, beginning in verse 18. For I consider that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Paul says there,
absolutely, that whatever we’re going through on this life pales
in comparison to the glory and grace that we will enjoy in eternity. Look at verse 19. For the anxious
longing of creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons
of God. That means the stars, the trees, the rocks, the entire
world, the entire universe is longing for people to come to
Christ. They can’t wait for the world
to be reconciled to God. Look at verse 20. For the creation
was subjected to futility, pain of childbirth, weeds, a sweat
of the brow, The creation was subjected to futility, not of
its own will, but because of him who subjected it in hope
that the creation itself will be set free from its slavery
to corruption. What a fascinating way to look
at the world in which we live. It is enslaved to corruption. It cannot escape. in hope that the creation will
be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom
of the glory of the children of God, that just as we have
been reconciled to God, creation itself is to be reconciled to
God. Look at verse 22 to close. For
we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains
of childbirth together until now. The entire world was tainted
by the sin of Adam and Eve. Think of it. Can you even imagine,
in the pre-fall Garden of Eden, chaotic weather events such as
tornadoes, hurricanes, lightnings, flood, extreme cold, extreme
heat in the Garden of Eden? Not to mention, for those of
you who live north of Mulberry, wind, And add that to life’s less severe
annoyances, wasps, fire ants, mosquitoes, together with all
manner of unpleasant sights and smells. These are all the result
of the fall. Sin brought chaos, disunity,
and strife into the world. And so when Paul declares here
that all things and all things in heaven are to be reconciled
to God, this is marvelous news to the believer. This idea is set forth in scripture.
Think of Isaiah 11, 6. The wolf will dwell with the
lamb. The leopard will lie down with the young goat. The calf
and the young lion and the fatling together. And the little boy
will lead them. All creation, Paul says here,
will be reconciled and restored to harmony with the Creator.
And we are the more thankful still through Christ that all
things are reconciled to his Father. Would you humble yourself
before him?