7 Days in Colossians: Day 2

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. ¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰ 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.

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled ²² in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

²⁴ I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. ²⁵ I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— ²⁶ the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. ²⁷ To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
²⁸ He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. ²⁹ To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

The image of the invisible God. Firstborn over all creation. Wow.

 In John chapter 1, we read that:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend^[a] it.

and also that:

 ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

I love how the Word shows the beautiful preeminence of Christ (v. 18).

Websters Dictionary defines preeminence as the act of being preeminent.  So.... here's what it says about preeminent.

pre·em·i·nent

adjective \-nənt\

: having paramount rank, dignity, or importance : outstanding, supreme 

 

We read here that Christ has paramount rank, dignity, or importance. He can be described as outstanding and supreme. 

 

All I can do is stand in awe, at the beauty of this portion. How truly amazing He is. 

The Word tells us about how great and awesome He is, and then tells us there is peace through His blood on the cross. Wow.  The redemption story has always been so aparrent to me, but I love how Paul puts it here... Here we have this beautiful, outstanding, supreme preeminence... and then this bloody, messy, showing of love that brings peace.  Sloppy wet kiss anyone?