“GIVING THANKS TO THE FATHER, WHO HAS QUALIFIED US TO SHARE IN THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT. 13 FOR HE DELIVERED US FROM THE DOMAIN OF DARKNESS, AND TRANSFERRED US TO THE KINGDOM OF HIS BELOVED SON, 14 IN WHOM WE HAVE REDEMPTION, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. 15 AND HE IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, THE FIRST-BORN OF ALL CREATION. 16 FOR BY HIM ALL THINGS WERE CREATED, BOTH IN THE HEAVENS AND ON EARTH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE, WHETHER THRONES OR DOMINIONS OR RULERS OR AUTHORITIES - ALL THINGS HAVE BEEN CREATED BY HIM AND FOR HIM. 17 AND HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS, AND IN HIM ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER. 18 HE IS ALSO HEAD OF THE BODY, THE CHURCH; AND HE IS THE BEGINNING, THE FIRST-BORN FROM THE DEAD; SO THAT HE HIMSELF MIGHT COME TO HAVE FIRST PLACE IN EVERYTHING. 19 FOR IT WAS THE FATHER’S GOOD PLEASURE FOR ALL THE FULLNESS TO DWELL IN HIM, 20 AND THROUGH HIM TO RECONCILE ALL THINGS TO HIMSELF, HAVING MADE PEACE THROUGH THE BLOOD OF HIS CROSS; THROUGH HIM, I SAY, WHETHER THINGS ON EARTH OR THINGS IN HEAVEN.”
These verses are rich with encouraging information for the believer in Christ. As in many places in his letters to the churches, Paul has broken into a virtual anthem of praise to God for all He has done through His Son. Paul was so full of Jesus that he could not help pouring out his joy and adoration whenever he thought about all that he and all believers have inherited through the work of the cross of Christ.
I just want you to read this carefully, and as you go over each verse, thank God that you have been given a chance to stand clean before a holy God, through faith in the King of Glory.
Look specifically though, at verse 17. There is a volume of sermons in that one sentence.
“He is before all things, and in Him all things consist”.
John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has been made.”
The writer of Hebrews says, “He (Jesus) is the radiance of His (the Father’s) glory and the exact representation of His (the Father’s) nature; AND UPHOLDS ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER”
At the end of Revelation, Jesus says, “BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW”.
Now, in that verse, He’s talking about the end of all things in this world, when He will destroy it and create a new world and a new heavens. But that same One who is being talked about in these verses; the same One who in the beginning spoke all things into existence, is the same One who makes all things new in the individual believer’s life when he first believes. “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature (creation); old things are passed away, behold, all things are made new.”
If God sees you as brand new when you come to believe in Jesus, then what is the point in grieving over your own past? Old things are passed away. Your sins are paid for and buried in the deepest sea of God’s forgetfulness; and with Him you are created brand new. You may see that ugly, decaying old body each morning when you look in the mirror. When you study those eyes, memories of past failures and sins and troubles may be swimming in there, looking back at you. But God sees none of that. He looks at you through the pure blood of His sinless Son, and sees you as already glorified and standing before Him clean.
He is the King and owner of the universe; indeed, all of eternity. Nothing that exists, including you, exists apart from His power or His will. What better hands could you possibly rest in? What better future could you possibly have? See verse 20? If you are His, then you are one of those ‘things’ being referred to there. Find peace WITH God through believing in Jesus; have the peace OF God by His Spirit dwelling in you.
And rejoice!
