Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: Colossians 1
To Reconcile All Things

To Reconcile All Things

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He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 

I John 3:8 

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.  

Colossians 1:19-20 

How successful will Christ be in fulfilling His purpose to destroy the works of the devil? He will be extremely successful. If we look at some of the verses that precede the portion of our text from Colossians, we see indications of this success. Paul remarks that God the Father has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He goes on to say, ‘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.’ After a glorious description of Christ, He prefaces our text with, ‘that in all things He may have the preeminence.’ Christ must have first place. The ramifications of this are massive in relation to His overall purpose to destroy the works of the devil. Satan sought to destroy humanity, God’s highest creation. Christ came to redeem that humanity. He will succeed to the extent that at the Throne there will be, ‘a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues.’ There is a strong case for there being more saved than lost. In addition, there is a description of the redemption of the whole of creation, sorely affected by the curse of the devil’s work. Christ will be wildly successful in accomplishing His purpose. We are the beneficiaries of His success.  

Our Victorious, Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You will succeed in every way. 
We praise You that we have the privilege  
of seeing Your plan unfold.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
To Reconcile All Things

To Reconcile All Things

By |

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 

I John 3:8 

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.  

Colossians 1:19-20 

How successful will Christ be in fulfilling His purpose to destroy the works of the devil? He will be extremely successful. If we look at some of the verses that precede the portion of our text from Colossians, we see indications of this success. Paul remarks that God the Father has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He goes on to say, ‘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.’ After a glorious description of Christ, He prefaces our text with, ‘that in all things He may have the preeminence.’ Christ must have first place. The ramifications of this are massive in relation to His overall purpose to destroy the works of the devil. Satan sought to destroy humanity, God’s highest creation. Christ came to redeem that humanity. He will succeed to the extent that at the Throne there will be, ‘a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues.’ There is a strong case for there being more saved than lost. In addition, there is a description of the redemption of the whole of creation, sorely affected by the curse of the devil’s work. Christ will be wildly successful in accomplishing His purpose. We are the beneficiaries of His success.  

Our Victorious, Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You will succeed in every way. 
We praise You that we have the privilege  
of seeing Your plan unfold.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
‘The Hope’

‘The Hope’

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To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:27

‘Hope’ is a glorious word.  We value hope.  We never want to be hopeless.  We see a definite difference between those who have hope and those who do not.  If a person has hope, there is a light in the eye, a spring in the step, and even the body language shows it.  Conversely, if a person is hopeless, there is that overwhelming dejected air which surrounds them.  Hope that is born of that which is strictly human is different than hope which is of God.  When we say we ‘hope’ for a particular thing, we express that we desire it, and have some reasonable expectation that it will come to pass.  That is because hope which arises from human expectation must always leave room for things not to turn out, ‘as we had hoped.’  By contrast, hope which arises from God, His Character, His Word and His Promises, is ‘hope’ in the sense that it will come to fruition, but has not done so yet.  This is the kind of hope we find in our text.  ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory,’ is simply that hope which arises from God, through the Person and Work of Christ, as the Holy Spirit applies it.  It will inevitably come to fruition. Because salvation is from start to finish the work of God, His ultimate plan for His people cannot fail.  This includes, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’  This is hope which does not fail.

Our Glorious God of Hope,
we rejoice that You never fail to bring to pass
all that You have promised.
We praise You that our hope of the future,
and all that it entails, lies in You and not in ourselves.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
‘Christ In You….’

‘Christ In You….’

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‘To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.’

Colossians 1:27

The Scripture abounds in summary statements. Christ made such statements, which He used to communicate great truth in simple language.  The Apostle Paul also uses such statements.  In our text for today, the Apostle speaks of the mystery which is, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’  In order for us to attempt to understand this statement, we should look to the verse that precede it.  Paul speaks of this in Colossians 1:26, ‘even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints….’  He speaks of the times past when ‘this mystery’ was ‘hidden.’  He goes on to say that now it ‘has been revealed to His saints.’  If we cast an eye over the Old Testament, using the light of the New Testament to interpret it, we can easily see how people could have missed the evangelical elements of the truths which exist there in the types and shadows.  Having said that, many of His prophets had great evangelical knowledge, which is apparent in their utterances which are unmistakably Christocentric.  Paul does link the old days with the new, and proceeds to narrow down the revelation to this summary statement regarding the work of God in us, which is, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’  Over the next few days, we want to explore this statement to derive from it the understanding of the work which God is doing in us.

Our Wise and Sovereign God,
we rejoice that You have revealed Your truth
in the ways that we can understand it.
We praise You that Christ is in us,
by the power of Your Holy Spirit,
and that is the hope of glory.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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