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. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Preeminent In Passion
Now Paul adds to the Lordship of Christ by telling the Colossians, Jesus is preeminent in Passion. The giving of his life, his suffering and passion brought us peace by Jesus’s blood shed on the cross. That terrible price, paid by Jesus, has brought reconciliation with God.
All of creation which had been separated from God by sin now can be reconciled and brought back to God. All things in heaven and in earth find peace and be reconciled to God by the work of Jesus as the Lord of Salvation.
Then in vs 21-22 It moves from all creation being redeemed to the believers at Colosse. Just as he did earlier, Paul moves from all of creation that can’t be fully seen or understood to something very simple and easily understood, their own souls.
He says to the Colossians, you were once alienated from God and enemies of God because of your wicked works, yet Jesus reconciled you. He brought you back into a right relationship with God. Instead being rightly punished for your sin and judged because of your sin nature, you have been forgiven. Instead of being treated like strangers and aliens from God, you are now reconciled to God as holy, unreproachable and unreprovable children the God.
To the Ephesians in chapter 2:14–18, Paul wrote it this way, “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”
Because Jesus is Lord of salvation, the God you once did not know, the God you offended by your very nature and actions, is now your own Heavenly Father. Not only is God reconciled with us as individual but even people who were once strangers and even enemies are not brought to peace and made one with their God.
No one but the Lord of Lords could do this. No one else could accomplish something so utterly impossible, only Jesus the Lord of Reconciliation.
Preeminent In My Peace
I don’t know about you, but I hate being at odds with people. I hate the feeling that someone has something against me. That there is animosity between us. Especially if they are a friend or even worse a family member. Someone that you know cares for you but there is a gulf of enmity between you and them.
I think that is true of most people we don’t want to have enemies; we don’t want to carry grudges. We don’t want enmity we want peace. And if it upsets us to have family, friends or even acquaintances against us, then imagine how terrible it truly is to have God against us.
Some people don’t think they and God have a problem. They flippantly say things like, “I didn’t know God and me had a problem.” They will say with a smile or a maybe a sneer as if they are too big or too smart to believe such a thing. Yet the Bible, God’s own word says, they do have a problem with God a big problem.
James the brother of Jesus said, in James 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Paul in Romans said, Romans 8:6-8 “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
God himself doesn’t want there to be a separation and so he sent Jesus, His son to take on human flesh and to bridge that gap by shedding his blood and dying on that cross. That is the work of reconciliation.
Hebrews 2:16-17 “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”
This great work of reconciliation our Lord did, this great gift our God gave that he might bring us back to Himself to be his children, his family, to have our sins forgiven and to have heaven as our eternal home.
Can you imagine refusing it, can you imagine rejecting such a gift, such a sacrifice. Can you imagine willing staying an enemy with God. And yet so many choose exactly that.
