…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. 

Colossians 1:20 

God is all about reconciliation. Our first parents behaved in such a way as to cause a breach in the relationship that existed between them and God. That breach affected them, all their descendants, and the whole of creation. If there was to be any reconciliation and the restoration that would accompany it, God must do the work. Humanity was incapable of affecting it. Thus God has gone about to reconcile all things to Himself. This is a broad reconciliation involving things on earth and things in heaven. He has done so through the blood of the cross of Christ. The blood of Christ is the foundation of our peace with God and also of the reconciliation of all things. Without the blood of the cross of Christ there is no reconciliation with God. Because of the blood of Christ there is reconciliation, not just for a few things, but for all things on earth or in heaven that will ever be reconciled. Christ’s blood is the indispensable currency of exchange for reconciliation. Therefore we desire to make much of Christ and of the blood of Christ. God places value upon it and Him. We follow His lead.  

Our God and Wise God, 
we rejoice at all that You have done 
to bring us into a right relationship with You. 
We praise You that Christ is the key to this great work. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. 

Colossians 1:19

God is glad for Christ to be all He is. Our text articulates it by saying, ‘It pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.’ The summary of all Christ is has brought us to this statement. God the Father has wrapped together an abundance of things in the Person of Christ. He is the King of His Kingdom. He is the Redeemer. He is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn over all creation. He is the Chief Representative of all that is. He holds all things together. He is the Head of His Body, the Church. He is the Beginning, He is the Representative of all the resurrected. He has the first place in every way. This pleases God the Father. If we understand this, we are at one with what pleases Him when we recognize, value and exalt Christ. True spirituality is to see things from God’s perspective. If it pleases the Father that all fullness should dwell in Christ, then it should please us as well. This is why it is always worthwhile to make much of Christ. God the Father sets such high value on Christ that it pleases Him that in Christ all fullness dwells. If we appreciate that fact, then Christ becomes ever so much more valuable in our eyes. We are with God as we prize Christ.  

Our Wise and Sovereign God, 
we rejoice in all You have done. 
We praise You that so much of what You have done, 
centers upon Christ. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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. 

Colossians 1:18 

Christ’s position is that He has the first place. This is, what it means for Him to ‘have the preeminence.’ All we have considered thus far in this summary has been a series of references which describe the positions Christ holds. The portion of the text we are considering today speaks of Him in the position of having first place. If we understand the implications of His having the preeminence we appreciate how integrally important He is to all else that is. He is first in the Kingdom of God. He is first as the image of the invisible God. He is first over all creation. He is first in being from eternity.  He is first in holding everything together. He is first in the Church. He is first as the chief representative of the resurrected dead. Christ deserves first place and has it. This includes the extent of His redemption. The people whom Christ redeems are, as Revelation describes them, ‘a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.’ He told Abraham that his descendants would be as the stars of the sky and as the sand upon the seashore. This means Christ redeems many. This also figures into the discussion of His having the first place. Christ has accomplished a large redemption.  

High King of heaven, 
we rejoice that You are preeminent in everything. 
We praise You that, because You are, 
everything proceeds according to Your sovereign plan.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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. 

Colossians 1:18 

Christ is our point of origin. He identifies Himself as such. If we consider some of His categorical statements we arrive at that conclusion easily. At the beginning of His revelation we read, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’  He repeats a similar phrase a few verses later. If, as the passage from which our text derives indicates, He is the Creator of all that is, then He is our Originator. If we are going to understand from whence we came, who we are, and why we exist, we must begin with Christ, ‘who is the beginning.’ Everything else makes more sense when we start with Him. Thus no one else is more important to our life and the living of it than Christ. Our understanding of Christ as the beginning provides the foundation for our understanding of ourselves, others, society, the course of the world, and the final scenario. What we know of how to live life on a daily basis arises from our understanding that Christ is the beginning. He is good and leads us to be good and to do good. Because all we  experience relates to Him in one way or another, we look to Him again and again as the One by Whom we have both begun and by Whom we continue. Therefore we do not fear the future because we know Him Who is our beginning.  

Our Great and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You are our beginning. 
We praise You that all we are and have
flows from You. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning