Colossians chapter one, and look
with me at verse 15, please. Look with me at verse 15. Colossians chapter one and verse
15. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
verse 14 says, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sin. And then the apostle goes on
to speak in these high flowing terms about the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says of him, who is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.
For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible. whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things,
and by 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 might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And having
made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile
all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven. When we come to passages like
these, I think in many ways they ought to humble us because they
show us the extent to which the majesty and the wonder of God
far exceeds anything that we can properly understand. Indeed, our understanding of
God will always be limited and incomplete. Even in heaven, we
shall always be marvelling at the person and the attributes
of our God. Now we see through a glass darkly,
and like Nicodemus of old, we struggle to grasp the things
on earth. that have been revealed to us.
We read these holy scriptures and we wonder at what they mean
and can they mean what they say and who is this God that speaks
so powerfully? And we confess that heavenly
things are so often completely beyond us that they demand humility
and faith. We reflected recently about what
it must be like to close our eyes in death and open them in
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And while we might have
speculated and we might have spoken, we might have studied
and searched to be able to understand something of that dimension beyond
our time and our space, What must it be like to see Christ
and to gaze around in heaven and see all of those things which
are laid up for us? We have heard how the Apostle
Paul described himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the
will of God. That's how he began this little
letter. to the Colossians. We've remarked
that he probably had not met any of them before, although
he knew Epaphras, their pastor, who seems to have been with him
in Rome at this time when the letter was penned. But as Paul
wrote to these Colossians, he was writing as one who was sent
by God, one who had been sent as a messenger of the Lord Jesus
Christ, an apostle, a bearer of the truth of the gospel of
God. And it will be the subject of
another study, perhaps, to consider how and where and the circumstances
of Paul's reception of this message. But here I want you to note with
me how towards the end of this chapter one, he calls this message
that he bears, this gospel that he carries, this epistle that
he writes to the Colossians, a mystery, a mystery long hidden. but now reveals. He calls this
message a mystery and he is showing us that to
this extent this message is not something that could be naturally
discovered. It's not something that man could
work out for himself. It's not something that theologians
or philosophers or poets or engineers could construct a formula for
in order to discern the nature of God and the world around about
us. This is mysterious. This is spiritual. And the Apostle Paul could say
to the Galatians when he wrote, I neither received it of man,
neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. So what I want to do for a little
while this evening, if you will permit me and the Lord will enable
me, is to go back and think of the context in which these verses,
15 to 20, might be best understood. and to go back, as it were, as
far as we possibly can, back to the beginning of the testimony
of the Word of God, and then, if we may be permitted, even
to go back further still, to go back before the earth and
the sun and the stars were created, before angels and heaven itself,
was created and to, if possible, conceive in some limited way
the ever-present now in which God dwelt alone in that settled,
still and silent eternity. That moment which God simply
describes as, in the beginning, God. There, God exists. There God exists, it would appear
in the absence of anything else. And God exists in perfect happiness
and contentment, desiring nothing, lacking nothing, dwelling in
the solitariness of his own presence and in his glory, requiring neither
man nor angel, nor praise, nor anything, simply being in himself, and yet willing to do good for
a people of his choice, willing to do good to his elect whom
he loves, willing to give a benefit and a joy everlastingly, and
to go forth actively in order to reveal himself in part in
this great majesty of the attributes of his person, to reveal himself
in part to men and women like you and like me. As I was thinking
about our time together and reflecting upon it, I read some words from
the preacher Robert Hawker. I've mentioned a number of Baptist
preachers this evening. Robert Hawker, of course, was
an Anglican, an Episcopalian, as you might call him, over here
from the Church of England. And Robert Hawker speaks of the
several departments of nature, providence, grace, and glory
in which God chose to reveal himself. And I think that's really
a very striking phrase because it shows us that there is a sense
in which God must always be beyond our comprehension. We only ever
will know what God chooses to reveal of himself. And when God
has revealed himself, he has revealed himself in nature in
the wonder of the world that he has created, in the wonder
of the solar system that we see around about us, in the majesty
of the galaxies that fill the space and the universe which
is the creation of our God. And God has created that and
he created it with the mere word of his mouth. He spoke it into
existence and it boggles our minds and it staggers our imaginations
to consider the vastness of what science is able to explain and
discern in its probing of the sheer scale. of this universe
in which we are located. And there in this universe, God
made the world and he made man and he placed man in a garden. And God has thereby revealed
himself in nature. And he has revealed something
of himself in providence. He has revealed himself in nature
and in providence, in the interacting of the systems that comprise
this natural world that he has constructed, in the forces that
appertain in it. in the timing of the events that
unfold in it, in the purpose that he has revealed by the timing
of those things and by the power that he has displayed in it.
So we see that there is a revelation, not a full revelation, but a
revelation of the triune God in nature and in providence. Hawker gave us a third, he said,
also grace. God has revealed himself in grace. And that is manifested in God's
goodness. We confess that we are an undeserving
people. We confess that we are sinners. When we look at our own hearts,
when we think about our own imaginations, when we think about the works
of our hand, when we think about our motivations and our aspirations
and our desires, when we think about how self-righteous we are
and how much we imagine we deserve and we're owed, how can it be that we can have
any concept of the majesty and the glory of God and our own
persons side by side and not call ourselves, as the word of
God calls us, worms. And yet God has revealed himself
as a God of goodness, a God of mercy, and a God of grace towards
us. And God has revealed himself
as a God of glory. Inherent glory. In a sense, incommunicable
glory. There is a glory which is God's
which we can never possess and yet he has revealed also a glory
which he gives to sinners like us and imparts to sinners like
us. So in these ways God has revealed
himself. The triune God. dwelling in His
own presence, in the majesty of His glory in eternity, has
gone forth and revealed Himself in the nature that He has created,
in the providence that He unfolds, in the grace that He exhibits,
and in the glory that He bestows. He has given us a glimpse of
His purpose, and the means to an end which he uses to achieve
that purpose. And the Apostle Paul is here
speaking to the Colossians and he is saying to them in this
little book that he is writing, he is saying, I am a messenger
to you of that message, of that revelation that God has given.
This is my calling. He's saying, as it were, in this
inconspicuous little book, this little epistle that I'm sending
you, this preached gospel that you have heard from Epaphras
and that now I'm confirming. I am made a minister, I am a
servant to you according to the dispensation of God which is
given to me on your behalf. To open up God's purpose, to
open up God's revelation in the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that is why we should never
take these things for granted. We should never come to the Word
of God as if it is some casual thing. the eternal God's revelation
to us. The God who created the heaven
and the earth, the God who created the sun, moon and stars, the
God who created the angels, the God who created man, the God
who has revealed himself in nature and providence and grace and
glory speaks to us through these written words. and thereby is
God's mystery revealed by a man to men. And that's what this
is all about. The infinite, eternal, all-powerful,
all-wise, invisible God is come. to speak to men. It's come in
the form of a man. It's come in the person of Jesus
of Nazareth. It's come as Emmanuel, God with
us. And I want to just think about
what these verses say to us about the Lord Jesus Christ who has
come as the revelation and manifestation of God amongst us. The first
thing I want to draw your attention to is that first line in verse
15, where it says that this one who came, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Through whose blood we have the forgiveness of sins. Previous
verse. Is the image of the invisible
God. The image of the invisible God. People used to learn catechisms. I don't know whether that's much
practiced nowadays. People used to learn catechisms
as children. It's a little bit like learning
scales in music or tables in maths. You probably didn't get
a lot of pleasure out of learning a catechism. But it was a remarkably
good way to learn doctrine. biblical teaching, and the things
of God. It gave a vocabulary to young
people, to children, that would fit them for years of hearing
sermons preached. One of the catechisms that sometimes
was used might ask a question like this, what is God? What is God? Now, if I were asking
that question, maybe to you, You might have to scratch your
head and think about it for a while and say to yourself, well, okay,
how am I going to go about describing that? Well, you know what? If
you had been catechised as a child, you would say to me, like that,
God is a spirit. infinite, eternal, and unchangeable
in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness,
and truth. And you would have memorised
that, and you would have given that answer to that question
to the minister or to the catechiser in your church. What is God? God is a spirit, infinite, eternal,
and unchangeable. in his being, wisdom, power,
holiness, justice, goodness and truth. And thereby a whole language,
a vocabulary, a grounding, a foundation of biblical truth was provided
and presented to young people. That tells us that God is infinite. God is invisible. Dwelling, says
Paul to Timothy, in light that no man can approach. And yet here we are told that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Paul is saying God is revealed
to us. The invisible God. The God who
is a spirit, who is infinite, eternal and unchangeable. The
God who is holy and just and good and true, all-powerful,
all-wise. This God is revealed to us in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And note that's not God covered
with flesh. It's God joined to flesh. It is a unique person. with two natures. It is the eternal
Son united with human flesh. It is God become man in a body
that was prepared for the eternal Son of God. This body was prepared
by God according to the book of Hebrews for the revelation
of God to man, for the redemption of men, and for the eternal union
of God and man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I just want us to pause and reflect on that for a moment. Paul is
writing to Gentile Colossians. He's writing to a little body
of believers there in Colossae. People who never had any real
grasp of theological understanding, didn't have a vocabulary or a
language like the Jews had, had probably been converted by Epaphras'
faithful ministry amongst them from heathendom and idolatry,
and yet were being confronted by these immense, glorious truths
as to the identity and person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is writing to the Colossians.
But of course he says that he is writing to the saints and
faithful. He's writing to the elect of
God. He is writing to a people who are quickened. And he is
writing to you and me. And what he wrote to the Colossians,
he writes to us. And what he prayed for the Colossians,
he prays for us. Look at what he says in verse
nine of this opening chapter of Colossians. He says, There,
for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease
to pray for you and to desire, listen, that ye might be filled
with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Oh, to be filled with a knowledge
of the will of God in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
How slow we are. Oh, how much education we've
had, how capable we think we are as far as the wisdom of this
world is concerned, but how we struggle. These Gentile Colossians
were given these words and we read them today and we wonder
at them and we think, how could anybody come to terms with such
majestic language, such profound revelation, such glorious truths? And yet this is prayed for us
that that's exactly what we do. We come to terms with this understanding. He goes on in verse 10, that
we might increase in the knowledge of God. Oh, that we might increase
in the knowledge of God. How can we increase in the knowledge
of that one who is spirit, infinite, eternal, holy, just, and good? How are we to know that revelation? How? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is the revealed image of the invisible God. Now what else
are we told about him? Look at verse 16. We're told
that he is the firstborn of every creature. Now there would be
some churches who would like to make hay from and make trouble
from a verse like this. There they would say is the evidence
in the word of God that the Lord Jesus Christ is a creature. These
might be what we would call Unitarians. These would be those that would
think that the Lord Jesus Christ was just a created being. Great being, great witness, great
example, but a created being nonetheless. But that's not what
the Apostle Paul is saying. The Apostle Paul knows very well
who and what he is talking about. And this brings us into something
again of the depth and the profundity of this revelation which he is
giving to the Colossians with respect to the person who is
Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. Because this is a reference
to the setting up of that covenantal purpose of the Triune God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
God-Man. He is God, the Eternal God, one
of those three persons of the Godhead. But he is also a man. and he had a body provided and
prepared for him. And in that covenant, he was
the first in view. He was the first and he is the
last. He was the beginning and he is
the ending. He is the alpha and he is the
omega. He is right from the very beginning
of the covenant of purpose to the end of the covenant of purpose,
the fulfillment and accomplisher and achiever of that. And since
everything that is in that covenant of purpose, because remember
God existed in his solitariness, in his happy, contented solitariness
before the covenant purpose was revealed, Christ is the first
of every creation, of every creature that is in that covenant purpose. And so it is lifting up the Lord
Jesus Christ in his divine and in his human nature to consider
him as this firstborn of every creature. It is He who has primacy. It is He who has prominence.
The Almighty God, the Triune God is saying to us here through
the Apostle Paul at the direction of the inspiration of God, the
Holy Spirit, that He is first, He is the most prominent, He
has the priority in all of the covenant purpose. The covenant
is not about the people. The covenant is about Christ.
And Christ the God-man is begotten of the Father, not created, begotten
of the Father in this covenantal role and purpose. And that is
why throughout Scripture, We encounter occasions when the
Lord Jesus Christ acknowledges that there are some things hidden
from him, that there are some things that the Father knows
that have not been revealed. He's not denying that he is God. He is not taking a subjective
place as a created being, but he is rather recognizing that
he exists in this covenant purpose. with a specific role as the mediator
of the covenant. Indeed we find that there is
a reference in Proverbs to the way in which the Lord Jesus Christ
fulfilled this covenant purpose. It's in chapter 8 of Proverbs
in verse 22 and verse 23 and we read there, It's like putting
these words into the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says,
the Lord possessed me. That is the God-man. The Lord
possessed me, the God-man, in the beginning of his way, before
his works of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, or ever the earth was made. Now Adam, the
first man, is created in the image of God. That is the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man, is the image of the invisible God. And from that
image, all men were created from Adam onwards. And the Lord God
is the Word. That's why John could say, in
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. By him, says Paul here, by him
in verse 16, were all things created. that
are in heaven and that are in the earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers, all
things were created by him. And it's that great work, John
says at the beginning of his gospel, chapter one, verse three,
all things were made by him, and without him was not anything
made that was made. This is the firstborn of that
creation, which is the covenant of purpose, or as it's called
in Proverbs there, the beginning of his way. So the beginning
of his way is the covenant of purpose, the covenant of peace,
and the Lord Jesus Christ is that firstborn of that covenant
purpose. We also see here at the end of
verse 16, says that all things were created by him. Well, that's
just been established in what we've said. And we're told all
things were created for him. And I think that's interesting
too, because here's a tiny little addition by the Apostle Paul
in this letter to the Colossians. And he says that everything was
created by him, but everything was also created for him. That's
the point of the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last, that not only was everything created
by the firstborn, but also it is for the firstborn. Christ is the one for whom all
things were created. And that's what Paul is telling
the Colossians. First and last, it was for his
glory. It was for his happiness. It
was for his joy. It's not for the church's joy,
though the church will rejoice in the Lord, their saviour. It's
not for the individual's joy, although they will experience
the joy of the Lord and the knowledge of him. but we are for Christ's
joy, for Christ's happiness. The triune God has set up this
covenant of purpose for the happiness of his son and to do good for
his people. These few words express the unique
honour and glory that is vested in the God-man by the triune
God. And we are so often prone to
become preoccupied by ourselves and our circumstances and this
world in which we live. We see ourselves as being important in some way. When in fact we are nothing more
than a negligible speck in a universe created for the Lord Jesus Christ. We are but dust. We are made
from dust and we turn to dust. And yet, for the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man, God the Father has chosen us
to have union with Him, and He has gathered us in, in the election
of His grace, and He has brought us into union with the Creator,
to His everlasting honour. John chapter 3, verse 35, the
Lord Jesus Christ says, the father loveth the son. and hath given all things into
his hand. Ephesians 1.22, and hath put
all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church. This is our saviour. This is our God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the image of the invisible God. Who else would we turn to? Who else is worthy of our trust
and our faith? In verse 17, the apostle develops
his thinking and his message. Not only has the Lord Jesus Christ
been given all things, but they consist by him. They consist by him. who is before
all things, and by him all things consist. What does that word
mean, consist? Well, it means this, that all
things stand by him. He was the creator of all things,
and all things stand by him. It's as if the Apostle Paul is
saying here, the Lord Jesus Christ holds everything together. Now,
science looks to the laws of physics and it is studying and
it is looking for the deep, secret laws of physics that will explain
the make-up of the universe. But Paul says very simply, that
it is Christ by whom all things are held together. It is Christ
by whom all things consist. And that's more than just the
physical. It's life. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the creator and upholder of all things. He is upholding all
things by the word of his power, says the apostle in Hebrews chapter
1 verse 3. He upholds all things by the
word of his power. All things consist by the word
of God's power, of the Lord Jesus Christ's power. In Acts chapter
17 verse 28 we read, for in him we live and move and have our
being. The apostle Paul there was preaching
to the Athenians. Life consists in Christ. The force of life, the power
of life, life and all the atoms and the particles that comprise
this universe are joined together by the word of the power of Christ. And there's something more here
too, because we stand in Christ. If the universe consists in Christ,
then we within that exist in him. We stand because of Christ. He mediates our existence. I'm sure, You all know what it's
like, you walk into a dark room and you switch on the light and
darkness flees before that light. That's what it would be like
if our flesh was in the presence of God. If there was a revelation
of that light in which God dwells, everything would just be consumed
in an instant, in a moment. All flesh, all of the physical
world, all of the solar system, all of the universe. If God would
just reveal His glory in a moment, it would just all disappear,
consumed by the majesty and the might of His glory. But remember
what happened to Moses in the desert. He watched and the bush
was not consumed. That bush was a figure of Christ. There was the glory of God in
that bush, and yet the bush was not consumed. Why? Because Christ
held it together. It consisted in Christ. And that's the picture we see
also in the three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that were
put into the fiery furnace for the worship of God. What happened
there? Their flesh wasn't consumed.
The men who put them into the furnace died at the door, but
they stood in the midst of the flames and they were not, there
wasn't even the smell of smoke on their clothes. Why? Because
they were possessed in Christ. and all flesh, all physical creation,
will be consumed in that day of judgment, except it be shielded
by the Lord Jesus Christ, except it continue to consist in Him
and be held together by the word of His power. There is a day
coming when the heaven will depart as a scroll when it is rolled
together. The great day of his wrath has
come, says John in the Revelation, and who shall be able to stand? And now the apostle goes on to
particularise that concept, that point, with respect to Christ's
body, the church. And he says there that Christ
is the head of the body. Verse 18, verse 17, he is before
all things and by him all things consist, and he is the head of
the body, the church. This should give us great confidence.
I always like to point out that the word confidence contains
the word fides. in it and Fides is faith. This should give us great faith,
great confidence to know that this one in whom all things consist,
who is before all things and in whom all things consist, is
the head of the body, his church. And how can the body, the church,
perish? How can the elect, how can his
people, how can that people whom he has chosen and called and
drawn and saved and bled and died for, how can that people
perish if the head lives? And the Lord Jesus Christ lives
forevermore. So the body has great confidence
in the knowledge that Christ is the head of the body and we
consist in him. Do you see that? Our existence,
our standing, our well-being is intimately and personally
bound up in the person of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. As He is the beginning and the
end, so we are bound together with Him. And as God has committed
everything, all things to Him, So we receive and gain and participate
and enjoy all God's goodness in Him as God delights through
the love that he has in his dearly beloved Son, the only begotten
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my Son in whom I am well
pleased. As God delights in him, as the
Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, so we who
are in the Son receive the benefits of the inheritance of the goodness
that God bestows upon his Son. The pictures, like Noah's Ark,
Noah's Ark, when the judgment comes, when the rain falls, when
the flood rises, where is the place of security and safety? But in the Ark, in Christ. It is a fearsome thing to fall
into the hands of the living God, but it is a wonderful thing
to be safe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who, continuing again,
we're told, who So he is the head of the church, verse 18,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he might have the preeminence. And this is, again, us going
back to think about this place that the God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has been given by the Father. He will share his glory
with none but his bride. He shall have the preeminence
and those whom he is pleased to join himself to and unite
himself with. Christ begins and ends the covenant
plan of salvation. He has the eminence, the preeminence
in this great covenant. As I was thinking about this,
I was thinking about the proclivity that man has to steal the glory
of God. We steal the glory of God everywhere
we can, at every opportunity. We think of ourselves more highly
than we ought. And one of the most Obvious ways, blatant ways that
we steal Christ's glory is to steal His name. I wonder if you've ever thought
about the way in which important people, grand people, great people
take the names that are only really due to God and to the
Lord Jesus Christ. We call our Queen, Your Highness,
or Your Majesty, or an important person, Your Eminence. We take the name Sovereign and
we give it to kings. We take the name Monarch and
we give it to men. or women and we take the name
Supreme Governor and we imagine and we suppose that an individual
can govern and have rule over something else and we are all
but mere upstarts and we are all but mere human flesh. These names are properly the
one who has the preeminence. He is the firstborn of creation. We learned that in verse 15. Now we're told that he is the
firstborn from the dead. For every creature must die and
all creation must cease. But in Christ there is a new
creation. It rises from the dead. It rises from destruction. It rises from divine judgment
against sin. And in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the church sees the firstborn from the dead and it lays hold
upon him who has the preeminence. We understand by the grace of
God that the wages of sin is death. We understand that we
are culpable and we are guilty creatures. We understand that
we are rebels in our nature and we are iniquitous, transgressors
in our works and our actions and our thoughts and our words.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. The apostle has said that he
is a messenger. bearing a message, carrying a
gospel. And he has been extolling the
glory and the excellence of the Lord Jesus Christ here in these
few verses. And he says, for it pleased the
Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Across the page in the next chapter,
he's going to say there, in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, verse nine of chapter two. All the fullness
of the covenant purpose, all the gains of that covenant of
peace, all the accomplishments that the Lord Jesus Christ would
fulfil, all success, all honour is his. And no flesh shall glory
in his presence. I hope you see that there is
no room here for man's input. There's no need for man's input. There's no human contribution
called for here. None required. None is able. Nothing God needs from fallen
corrupt flesh can be given as an offering to him. He has everything
he needs from his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, within the covenant
purpose of grace. Men talk about their free will.
That whole concept, that whole notion, it's not found in Paul's
writings, it's not found in Paul's epistles, it's not found in Paul's
message, his apostolic submissions to the churches to whom he wrote.
to the elect of God, to the faithful, to the saints. Paul doesn't write
about free will. He writes about free grace. He
writes about the accomplishments of Jesus Christ in the purpose
of God. It's men and their sinful fallen
theorizing that have brought this dimension of man's free
will into religion. It's not present in his ministry,
Paul's ministry, his message, his explanation, or indeed the
revelation that God gave him to carry to the Gentiles. Rather,
the faithful apostle urges us to focus, as he does the Colossians,
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He would turn us to see Christ,
his preeminence, his glory, his accomplishments. so that Paul
says of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one through whom all
things are reconciled to God by the blood of the cross. For it please, verse 19, the
Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made
peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all
things unto himself. Would you imagine that you might
be included in that all things? Well then it's the Lord Jesus
Christ who has reconciled us. It's not up to me to reconcile
myself to God. It's not up to me to follow after
a course of action which will end in me finding peace with
God. It is not up to me to be called to do something and add
to, to make it a duty incumbent upon the individual or the sinner.
It is by Christ. By him, it pleased God, by him
to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ
has reconciled the church. This was the good pleasure of
the Father. The triune God, in conceiving
of this covenant purpose of grace, in the solitariness of eternity,
setting up this purpose of grace, it pleased the Father to lay
all these obligations upon His Son. who stood in the eternal
council and declared, here am I, send me, voluntarily entering
into this union with flesh, coming in as that God-man and receiving
all of the good pleasure of the Father and the eternal love of
God, and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him
to reconcile all things unto himself. It's the blood of the
cross that we look to. The blood of the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the ground of our reconciliation with God.
and the sense being here that Christ's blood has paid the price. Christ's blood has satisfied
the demand, the penalty of the offended law and justice, divine
justice is satisfied. The way of peace, the way of
access has been opened by the sacrifice of the saviour and
by the efficacy of his shed blood. Things on earth and things in
heaven the whole body of the elect of God from first to last,
the church from all time. Those who are dead and those
who are alive and those who are yet to be born are all fitted
upon the same ground. They all stand upon the same
ground. They are all provided for in
the same sacrifice, washed in the same blood, acceptable. in the same saviour, whether
that is in the Garden of Eden or whether it is the last individual
to be saved before the end of time. What an amazing revelation
the Apostle Paul has conveyed to these Colossians in this letter. This is what he was talking about
when he says it was a mystery unsealed, an eternal plan unfolded. Here is the sovereign God securing
his people through a unique saviour, to whom shall be all glory given,
shared with none, but Christ will receive all the glory. If
ever there was a message designed to draw our eyes away from ourselves
and to draw them to look in admiration and thanksgiving to the Lord
Jesus Christ, this is it. What a lovely way to begin his
letter to the Colossians. Our Saviour shall have all the
preeminence and he shall have all the glory. Amen. Thank you for your attention
and for giving me your ear.