The Preeminence of Christ - Week Two

Welcome, everyone, to week two of my six-week series, The Preeminence of Christ. In this session, we are diving into Colossians 1:16. For those not in the know, this series is original content written by me, for the women of my church. We gather on Tuesdays at church to learn of the deity of Christ, and on the following day, Wednesday, I post this week's session online. This helps other women in my church who cannot attend the group on the appointed day, and also brings glory to Christ as He sends it out into the world.

Just a side-note, for the week of October 9th, there will be no session at church nor a new post next week on my blog, as Tuesday, October 9th is my birthday. There will be no group that day, and I do not wish to publish the study online before I run it at my church. Therefore, look for session three of this series in two weeks, on October 17th.

Lord Jesus, I ask for You to send this study to the four corners of the world and to proclaim Your deity to all those worldwide who have ears to hear. I ask for You to use my blog as a witness of Your glory, and inspire Your children, my brothers and sisters, to love and adore You for the magnificence of who You are. Advance Your Kingdom through this little study, Lord, as we may plant and water this seed, but only You can bring the increase. Amen.

In case you missed it, here is the link to: Week One of The Preeminence of Christ.

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST – Week Two – Colossians 1:16 

By: Becka Goings 

Colossians 1:15-20:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

~*~*~ 

“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
~Colossians 1:16

As we build more and more on these magnificent themes of Christ’s deity found in Colossians 1:15-20, I’d like to re-read the entire passage every week at the beginning of these studies. The more we dive deeper into these truths week to week, the more this specific passage of Scripture will shine forth like stars in the heavens. We have already studied verse 15, that Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Today, we are going to look at verse 16, which goes into more glorious depth than the verse before it.

Before we jump into the verse, I’d like to give you some background on the book of Colossians itself, and why it was written. Some of you may or may not know, but the Apostle Paul did not plant the church at Colossae. He planted the Ephesian church, which was about one hundred miles away from Colossae, and commissioned his fellow-minister in the faith, Epaphras, to plant a church there. Epaphras was a Colossian himself (Colossians 4:12), and therefore, it was natural to send him to his own people. The fact Paul did not plant the Colossian church is confirmed by his words in Colossians 1:4-7:

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.”

Paul also confirms in Colossians 2:1 that he hasn’t seen the Colossians face to face: “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face.”

Why, then, did Paul write this letter? Heresy was growing in Colossae. Epaphras had made the harrowing journey from Colossae to Rome in order to gain the Apostle’s counsel regarding the matter. Paul himself was on house arrest at the time, being allowed to stay in rented apartments, at his own expense, but forced to wear a chain and submit to a guard (Acts 28:16). The amazing thing about this time is that even though he couldn’t go to the people, the people came to him! The only barrier Paul had preaching the Gospel in Rome was that he couldn’t leave his apartments. But that didn’t stop the spreading of the Gospel among the Romans, despite his being guarded day and night! Acts 28:30-31 says of this time,

“He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”

The books of Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon were all written during this time, somewhere between 60-62AD. They’re commonly called the “prison epistles”.

As I already mentioned, Epaphras was deeply concerned about the spreading heresy within his church. He needed Paul himself, and his authority as an Apostle of Christ, to rebuke this heresy, and call the Colossians back into the faith they had received at the first. The encroaching heresy was an early form of Gnosticism, that God and things of the spirit are good, but the material world is evil, and that Christ was not God, but some lesser spiritual being that would lead the people to greater spiritual enlightenment – apart from the Scriptures. The Colossians were also plagued by Jewish law and traditions. This is the reason why the epistle to the Colossians is one of the most beautiful treatises on the deity of Christ in all of Scripture. Paul had to remind them Christ was not a mere human, nor was He some lesser spiritual being, He is God incarnate, the Mighty One robed in flesh, the King of Heaven come down to earth.

And praise the Lord for Colossians, for by this letter, Christians have been able to fight other heresies on Paul’s authority that deny Christ’s Godhead, either claiming that He is erroneously the brother of Satan or that He is the archangel Michael. This epistle also refutes those who would claim Christ as a mere godly man who was killed for teaching good things throughout Judea. Paul, who himself had met, and spoken with, the risen Christ face-to-face, leaves no wiggle-room to proclaim Christ as anyone other than the Lord of Hosts Himself.

If Paul had stopped his argument at verse 15, Christ could have been viewed as a kind of “avatar” of the Father, or perhaps His first creation. He could have been seen as God’s representative, a spokesman, speaking His words, but not with His power. Perhaps a prophet, even the greatest of prophets! But no, Paul doesn’t stop at saying Christ is the image of the invisible God, he goes much deeper than that.

“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth"

This, to put it succinctly, is a God claim. Only God can create something from nothing. Paul does not say Christ created some things, but all things. Not only things on earth, but in heaven also. He does not say Christ was given the power to create, or that the Father enabled Him in some way. It says, very clearly, “by Him”.

“By Him all things were created”

All things – and if you wanted some wiggle-room here, no, Paul shuts it down – in heaven and on earth. Every blade of grass, every rock, every bird, every fish, every mountain, every person, every star in the sky, and every angel in His Host. But perhaps the Colossians still wouldn’t get it, so he plunges even deeper.

“Visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities”

Maybe someone could still argue that Christ is On High in Heaven, and while He created the earth and all things within, what about those invisible things, like a king’s authority? What about spiritual things and spiritual authorities? Yes, even these too – including Paul’s own authority as Christ’s Apostle.

As if that wasn’t enough, Paul says it again, using the Hebrew custom of repeating things twice to emphasize and bring home the truth of it:

“All things were created through Him”

At the beginning of verse 16, he says “by Him”, now here we have “through Him”, as if to refute anyone who believes Christ doesn’t possess God’s power in His own Person. Someone could argue that God the Father created the universe by Christ as a middleman. But Paul says the universe was created through Him as well, meaning, by His power alone. “By Him” was everything made “through Him” with His power as God. In other words, “by Him” is His will to do so, “through Him” is His power to do so. Then finally we come to the breath-taking capstone of Paul’s marvelous doctrine in three tiny words:

“and for Him.”

When read altogether, it is a powerful statement: “All things were created through Him and for Him.”

Not only did Paul explain that by Christ all things were created, and through Christ all things were created, but they were created for one single purpose – for Him. Here he silences their arguments, here he drops the mic in victory, and declares Christ’s ownership of it all!

The Lord Jesus Christ is God Almighty. He is the Lord Omnipotent. He knows the end from the beginning. He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, the One who was dead, and is now alive forevermore! (Revelation 1:8, 17-18)

Paul makes a similar argument in Romans 11:36 when he writes,

“For from him and through him and to him are all things.”

Colossians 1:16 and Romans 11:36 are “sister verses”. They’re composed of the same type of structure, with similar wording, conveying the same doctrine. Paul’s words in the Romans text is a shortened, condensed version of what he conveys in Colossians, but the message is the same. Jesus Christ is the Creator of the universe.

Even these heretical Colossians could not deny that Paul’s argument was grounded in the creation account, which had already been Scripture for centuries since Moses. The very first verse of the Bible says that it was God alone who created everything in Genesis 1:1.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Look and see how similar Paul’s argument is:

“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth”

What we have to remember here, looking back at Paul’s letter two thousand years later, was the gravity of these words. I don’t think we get it nowadays, since we’ve always lived with the reality of Christ in the flesh. But Paul is quite literally teaching them that the Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate. He is the image of the invisible Yahweh from the Old Testament. The Trinity of Father/Son/Spirit was a new revelation, and they had to rethink God in a new way. Many of these people were alive when Christ walked the earth. Some had memories of Him. Imagine the disciples, or one of Christ’s brothers, when their minds were open to finally comprehend that Yeshua of Nazareth was God On High! Can you imagine the immensity of this realization? This man you had walked with for years, this man, your older brother! If I’m regularly humbled at the thought that God left Heaven to walk the earth and save my soul, I can’t even imagine what those who knew Him must have felt when they realized the same!

These Colossians had to come to grips with a God who allowed Himself to die by crucifixion upon a Roman cross. To the natural eye, this seemed a defeat, that Christ couldn’t have been God. Otherwise, Almighty God would have put His almighty power on display and conquered them for His glory! But no, God’s wisdom is high above man’s wisdom, and Christ conquered in a different way; he had to die in order to defeat death for His people. Therefore Paul had to correct this heresy in Colossae with a swift and powerful approach that left no room for argument.

The little book of Colossians flies in the face of anyone who would claim the Lord Jesus Christ isn’t God in the flesh. I want to expound upon this verse a little more for our benefit, and equip us with the full authority of a biblical argument if and when we’re ever confronted with a similar heresy in our own lives.

Remember in our last study I spoke of one of the main principles of hermeneutics, the science of biblical interpretation? It is the principle that Scripture interprets Scripture. In Colossians 1:16, Paul further unpacks his statement that Christ is the image of the invisible God in verse 15. He literally jumps into the deep end and doesn’t mince words. This cannot be overlooked or cast aside; the Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator and Owner of the universe. Armed with that knowledge, we can interpret other verses of Scripture in the light of Jesus Christ.

Have you ever noticed in the Old Testament, sometimes the entire word “Lord” is capitalized? In the original Hebrew, those instances were of the tetragrammaton, a huge fancy word to say it was God’s name, YHWH, or “Yahweh”. The Jews were terrified of breaking the third commandment and saying God’s name in vain, so they changed the tetragrammaton with punctuation marks here and there to read “Adonai” instead, which means “Lord”. The translators of the King James version knew of this, and decided to keep the tradition of not printing God’s actual name; they placed the word LORD in all caps into the text, to denote that this wasn’t an earthly lord, but the LORD of Hosts.

However, in so doing, we who are armchair expositors sometimes downgrade the capitalized “LORD” to be something lesser than God. Christ is “Lord” or “Adonai”, but not equal to God, as if He’s a mere general or an appointed king. There was no such distinction in the ancient world. To say Christ is “Adonai” was to say that He is God.

If we replace those capitalized words with God’s name, Yahweh, we come away with a richer understanding of the text, as in Isaiah 44:24:

Thus says the LORD (Yahweh), your Redeemer,
who formed you from the womb:
“I am the LORD (Yahweh), who made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself”

Here, we see when God’s name is replaced, the text is stronger, wider, and deeper. Who is our Redeemer? By whom, according to the Apostle Paul, were all things created, in heaven and on earth? Yes, Christ! And yet, we clearly see this text says, “Yahweh”, the very name of God. There is no ambiguity about who this “LORD” is – no room to wiggle. This is not an appointed king, nor a general, nor some other lesser god. This is a very specific God, the one who named Himself “I Am That I Am” – Yahweh, the God of Heaven.

For your own personal Bible study, I would highly recommend that you keep Yahweh’s name in mind. Mentally remember that the capitalized LORD is the name of Yahweh, and you’ll come away with a fuller understanding of God. Yahweh isn’t the name of God the Father alone, but of the entire Godhead. Even Christ’s given name in the original Hebrew is “Yeshua”, which means “Yah Saves” or “Yah is Salvation”. “Yah” is the shortened, more intimate version of the name “Yahweh”. All three Persons, Father, Son and Spirit, are fully God, not pieces of God or manifestations of God. The union of the singular Godhead – while remaining three distinct Persons – is a mystery to these puny brains of dust. But one day we shall know Him as we are known (1 Corinthians 13:12). Praise the Lord!

There are more witnesses in the New Testament that claim Christ as the Creator. Take the Apostle John’s account, for instance, in John’s Gospel.

“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” ~~John 1:3

“He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.” ~~John 1:10

Or the account of the writer of Hebrews:

“but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” ~~Hebrews 1:2

We can also look to Scripture that speaks about God’s creation to know more about Christ. Scriptures such as Psalm 72:19 and Isaiah 6:2 state the whole earth is full of His glory. You want to know something about the glory of Christ? Look to His creation. Think about this statement for a moment. As of now, we have yet to discover a planet as full of glory as our own. Personally, I don’t believe there is another planet like ours out there. We might have discovered planets similar in size and similar placement from their star, and maybe they even have an atmosphere similar in composition. But the Bible only speaks of the earth as being full of His glory. Only humanity is made in God’s image, and Christ Himself is a glorified man upon the Throne of Heaven.

Have you ever stopped to think about how much glory this world has to offer? This tiny planet has an exceeding abundance of glory if you think long on it. I want you to take a few minutes to think about this glory of our Lord Christ. Think of flowers, of their variety and color, their scent and beauty. Differing trees, from evergreen to deciduous, and differing trees even within those two classifications, conifers, maples, oaks, aspens, and noble firs. Think about all the different species of the world, from the black bear, to the wolf, to the horse, to the whale, to the squid, to the flamingo, to the eagle – not to mention the diversity of humanity all over the globe. All the different kinds of fruits and foods, the water cycle which is the engine of our planet’s weather, and the way nature is perfectly balanced with the climate, working the seasons into their life cycles.

Now think about the glory of the stars. We live in a single, enormous galaxy, but there are tens of thousands, if not millions of galaxies that we know of in our universe. And within each galaxy there are billions of stars. Scripture says in Psalm 147:4:

“He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.”

How many stars are there? We don’t even know, there are too many to count, and yet the Lord Jesus Christ has both determined their number and given each of them a name. Think about that the next time you look up at the night sky. He holds every single one of them in their courses.

What an incredible mind our Lord has! Have you ever stopped to ponder everything He knows in His omniscience? He has the knowledge and the power to create this vast and glorious universe, He likewise has the knowledge and the power to keep it spinning. Not only that, He intimately knows everything about it, every galaxy, every star, and every name of that star. He also knows everything about this little planet full of His glory, every sparrow that falls, and every hair on our heads (Luke 12:6-7).

In Colossians 1:16, Paul continues on about Christ creating those things which are visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. I’d like to dive into that a bit as well. This statement is amazing. By a casual look, Paul seems to be talking about earthly authority, kings and laws and such, but upon a closer examination at cross-referencing Scripture, we come to know these “thrones, dominions, and rulers” are in the spirit realm, more specifically, the demonic. Consider Ephesians 6:11-12:

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

We are told by this passage that our warfare is spiritual, no matter what we’re facing. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the demonic realm. In short, this fallen world is overrun by demons. Praise God we cannot see them, but they’re here. Paul tells us in Ephesians to put on the whole armor of God, to go to battle, and to be well-prepared for this warfare. But lest we lose heart on the battlefield in facing this evil foe, the Holy Spirit has soothed us with these inspired words from Paul’s pen:

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” ~~Colossians 2:13-15

Our battle, therefore, is fought from the hill of victory, not the valley of defeat! Christ has put our enemies to open shame. He has created them, and then triumphed over them by His cross. He is not a God who is defeated by death, He put His glory on full display in dying for His people, in being willing to humble Himself unto death. By doing so, He proved that nothing is impossible for our great God. Not even demons nor the grave can hold Him down. His love is as strong as death, and His jealousy is as fierce as the grave (Songs 8:6). And yes, believer, make no mistake, Christ is jealous for His people, and would have that they view Him as nothing less than God Almighty, seated high and lifted up, our Savior and Redeemer, who is able to save His people from their sin.

I’d like to close this session by exploring one more thing from Colossians 1:16. Paul says all things were made by Him, through Him, and for Him. Don’t gloss over this and think big picture, I want you to dig into this verse and see yourself. Christ made all things…for Him. All things.

This includes you.

Your health or your sickness, your wealth or your poverty, your gain or your loss, your person, your mind, your soul, your heart. All things were created for Him. You were created for Him. Have you ever thought of your own existence in that way? When I was a child, I remember I used to stare at the palm of my hand and think to myself, “Why am I me?” I had deep, philosophical conversations with myself as a child. Why was I born into my family? Why did I look this way? Why was I born in this country? Why, why, why?

But the answer is simply this: for Him.

I want you to really focus on this short and sweet answer. We don’t know why God has us travel the roads we’re on. We can’t see His ultimate plan, but we do know from our previous study that we’re being conformed into His image from glory to glory. We can lose ourselves in the “why me” questions. We can feel sorry for ourselves, become bitter, or fall away from Christ in times of trial. But I want you to rethink these issues of your life under the “for Him” banner.

What do I mean? Answer all of life’s unanswerable questions with this magnificent response: “For Him.” Live your life…for Him. Why do you endure? For Him. Why do you press on? For Him. Christian, this is your battle cry! This is your reason for living; your reason for everything. Here it is again stated another way:

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” ~~1 Corinthians 10:31

For Him. These two words will give you freedom and peace to live out whatever He has placed on you to go through. I don’t talk about it much, but I have rheumatoid arthritis. Every day is painful, and often I am exhausted and cannot stand for long periods of time. I have a stool in my kitchen that I sit on while making dinner, because standing at the stove is often too taxing. I take various meds, I’ve changed my eating habits, but still RA remains one of the sharpest tools Christ uses in my sanctification. How do I tolerate this? How do I live without bitterness and anger at God for saddling me with a potentially crippling chronic illness? Simple. It’s for Him. It’s for His glory. This is the path He has chosen for me to walk that will glorify Him to the full in my life. So I stoop in this illness for Him.

Do I love Him enough to walk this road for Him? 

May it never be said that my answer was no.

When you are able to say with unwavering resolve that everything, absolutely everything, in your life is for Him, then you have opened the door to loving the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. There’s nothing you wouldn’t do for Him, nothing you wouldn’t go through for Him. If He asked you to walk in the wilderness, alone, beaten down, and brokenhearted, if the reason was “for Him”, the adoring Christian will cry, “Yes, and amen!”

If all of life’s hardship was “for Him”, how many of us would willingly suffer to obtain that weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17)? How many of us would desire with our whole hearts to one day stand before the Lord of Heaven and Earth and say, “I did it all … for Him”? How high would Heaven rejoice? How richly would He bless us? How magnificently would He exalt us? How great a crown would He bestow?

Let us free ourselves from ever complaining, “Why me?”, and sing love in our hearts with this glorious praise: “For Him.”

Amen, Lord Jesus.

STUDY QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 

1.) What was the heresy creeping into the Colossian church?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________



2.) What are the three main points Paul made about Christ’s power as God, to prove He is God, over all creation?

Creation was made _______ Him, _______ Him, and _______ Him.



3.) What word does the all-caps “LORD” replace in the Old Testament?

_____________________________________________________________________



4.) When Scripture talks about the rulers, authorities, and dominions, ultimately, what is it talking about?

_____________________________________________________________________




5.) A Christian can face any fiery trial of life with the peace of God in their heart if they remember this one simple phrase:

_____________________________________________________________________

Questions for Personal Reflection 

Have you ever truly taken into consideration the weightiness of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is God Almighty?


Have you ever thought of the Lord Christ as being an appointed king, general, or avatar of God, rather than God Himself in flesh?


Like King David in Psalm 8:3-4, have you ever considered your insignificance when compared with the immensity of the glory of God?

Have you ever considered glorifying Christ amid your pain and struggles to such a degree that in living “for Him”, your suffering becomes worship?


Do you love Christ enough that if He required you to walk a suffering road, submission to Him would be, “Yes, and amen”?

Colossians 1:16 – Session Two – Song Playlist: 

• Behold Our God – Sovereign Grace Music – Risen Album

• You Never Change (Live) – Austin Stone Worship – This Glorious Grace Album 

• Great I Am – Paul Wilbur – Your Great Name Album 

• All Creatures of our God and King – Sovereign Grace Music – Prayers of the Saints Album 

• Crown Him (Majesty) – Chris Tomlin – Burning Lights Album 

• Doxology/Amen – Phil Wickham – Children of God Album 

• Maker of the Moon – Bright City – Hello Maker Album 

Scripture References for Further Study: 

1. Colossians 1:16
2. Colossians 4:12
3. Colossians 1:4-7
4. Colossians 2:1
5. Acts 28:16
6. Acts 28:30-31
7. Revelation 1:8
8. Revelation 1:17-18
9. Romans 11:36
10. Genesis 1:1
11. Colossians 1:15
12. Isaiah 44:24
13. 1 Corinthians 13:12
14. John 1:3
15. John 1:10
16. Hebrews 1:2
17. Psalm 72:19
18. Isaiah 6:2
19. Psalm 147:4
20. Luke 12:6-7
21. Ephesians 6:11-12
22. Colossians 2:13-15
23. Songs 8:6
24. 1 Corinthians 10:31
25. 2 Corinthians 4:17
26. Psalm 8:3-4

The Preeminence of Christ - Week One

For the next six weeks, I'll be posting my Bible study to this blog every Wednesday on The Preeminence of Christ from Colossians 1:15-20. This study is my own original content, and I am running this series for the women at my church, as well as offering it here online. It is my prayer that our Lord Jesus Christ will use this study for His glory in the hearts of all who read it. When this series wraps up, I will offer the entire study on Google Drive, where it will be available for download and printing for any who wish to have it in its entirety.

O, Lord Jesus, how good You are to me. Thank You for equipping me to write this study, and for allowing me to present it to Your church, not only in my hometown, but all over the world. I ask that You will open the hearts and minds of those who love You, and bring all of us into a deeper knowledge of Your glory and majesty. Tear off the veil and let us see You in Your beauty! Yes, Lord! This is my prayer to the King of Creation. Praise Your name forever. Amen.

The Preeminence of Christ - Week Two
The Preeminence of Christ - Week Three
The Preeminence of Christ - Week Four

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST – Week One – Colossians 1:15

By: Becka Goings

Colossians 1:15-20:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 

~*~*~

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
~Colossians 1:15

I want to take a moment and meditate on this verse. Meditation on Scripture is a good thing. It prevents us from reading things too quickly, and allows time for the Holy Spirit to expound on truths He wishes to teach us. Think of it as savoring the verse rather than scarfing it. Roll it around in your head. Say it to yourself a few times and stop to consider the weight of every word. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

One thing that stands out to me in this passage is the phrase, “He is the image”. What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the word “image” in relation to God? Most of us would think of idolatry, right? “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image…” (Ex. 20:4, Deut. 5:8). The Apostle Paul gives us some insight into why creating an image for God is an abomination to Him in Romans 8:20-22 – “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

For one thing, an idol puts the image of a created being in the place of our uncreated God, yet God is Spirit; He has no physical form. Furthermore, creation itself has been corrupted. Since the Fall in the Garden, every created creature has paid the wage of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). We are told in Romans 8:22 that creation itself is groaning for its future redemption. Not only does idolatry falsely give a tangible image to an invisible Spirit (which is not an accurate representation of truth) it does so with a perishing image, one that is corrupted and temporal, thus woefully diluting the magnificent glory of the all-holy, all-righteous, ever-eternal God.

However, of Christ, Scripture gives this witness: “HE is the image of the invisible God.”

In this little 8-word phrase, we are told a marvelous truth about Jesus of Nazareth. He is not merely a good teacher. He is not simply a holy man. He is not just a rabbi, teaching in the synagogues. No, He is the image of the invisible God. God the Father, the Lord of Hosts, the Father of Glory, has given Himself an image in the flesh, and that very image is the Lord Jesus Christ. He embodies everything about God, every attribute, every truth, every promise God ever made. The entire essence of God is present in Christ. In Him, we can now both see and know God. He has become the means by which we can comprehend and understand God’s glory.

The Apostle Paul expounds on this concept a little more in 2 Corinthians 4:6 when he writes, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” What is fascinating here is that he goes all the way back to Genesis 1:3 and ties the two theological points together. The same God who said, “Let there be light” at the dawn of creation also says “Let there be light” in the hearts of those who love Him with a new kind of light – the light of the knowledge of the glory of God! Amazingly, both of these accounts are creation accounts. The first, the creation of the universe, and the second, our rebirth as new creations in Christ.

If the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ, then whenever we seek God’s face or ask for His face to shine upon us, as in the famous benediction of Numbers 6:24-26, it is the face of Christ that we shall see. To know God, we must know Jesus. When we seek God’s face, we must seek Christ’s face.

The writer of Hebrews gives us an even higher view of Christ in Hebrews 1:3: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” If I may, I’d like to interject here to share something from the Psalms. Hebrews 1:3 says of Christ, “He is the radiance of the glory of God.” In Psalm 34:5, we are told, “Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” I love that. In looking to Christ, we are given something of His substance, and thus our faces likewise radiate His glory to a degree, to the point people will be able to tell we’ve been with Jesus. Remember Moses? When he saw the backside of the glory of God, his face shone – literally! However the people were frightened of his shining face, and Moses had to wear a veil (Exodus 34:29-33).

But Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” Let’s pause once more and meditate on this verse for a moment.

Christ is the image of the invisible God, and we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. The veil is off. We can look Him full in the face! And His radiance is our radiance, from glory to glory. That simply means from one varying degree to another. Not every Christian is at the same level of maturity. One Christian might reflect Christ more than another, simply due to the fact they’ve had a few more years of walking with Him, a few more years of gazing at His face. But Christ is faithful, and He shall complete His work in each and every one of us.

Elsewhere in Scripture, Romans 8:29, this “glory to glory” is called being conformed into the image of Christ. We are conformed into His image through our life-long sanctification. Those whom He justifies, He also sanctifies (1 Thessalonians 4:3a, 1 Thessalonians 5:23). We grow in holiness and Christlikeness throughout the course of our Christian lives. In this way, every believer is a work of the Holy Spirit in order to have the imprint of His nature upon them. Christ is sanctifying for Himself an entire people who not only love and honor Him, but resemble Him as well (Titus 2:14). We are created in His image in our body, and conformed to His image in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Speaking of His imprint upon us, I’m reminded of the short teaching our Lord gave in Matthew 22:15-22. The Pharisees were trying to think of ways to trip Him up, to stump Him, and make Him trapped by His own words. Let’s read it:

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

Notice the subtlety of His words. The coin had the imprint of Caesar on its face. Clearly, the coin belonged to Caesar, and therefore should be given back to him. But Christ didn’t stop there. He then went on to say, give to God the things that are God’s. He’s speaking in the same context as the imprinted coin. Whose image do we have imprinted on us? God’s image. Therefore, He is saying give Caesar his taxes, and give God yourselves. Give to the world those things that belong to the world, but because you are made in the image of God, give Him yourselves, your hearts, your souls, your minds, your strength. We are in the world and should obey the laws of the world, but we are to live for God, because we are God’s.

Again, we can see the two creation accounts of being made in His image. We have been made in His image physically. All of humanity has the imprint of God upon them simply by the fact He has created them to be so. Yet it is in the new birth, whereby we become a new creation, that the Christian is conformed into Christ’s image in our heart. As 2 Corinthians 4:16 puts it, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

Eventually, Christ will finish this work He began in us (Philippians 1:6), and we shall one day perfectly reflect Him in Glory (1 John 3:2). There is coming a day when Christ returns, when He shall raise the dead, and those who are alive and remain shall all be glorified in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:17). This is the completion of our salvation, where we shall not only perfectly resemble Christ in our hearts, but also outwardly in our body. We shall be given a body like His (Philippians 3:21), and we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

These are precious, astonishing truths. Not only is Christ the image of the invisible God, He is at work in us as well so that one day, we too shall be images of the invisible God to the glory of God the Father. Praise the Lord!

Now that we know the truth of God’s perfect image in Christ, we can better understand why idolatry is so heinous to God. Nothing can compare to the perfect image of Christ. Nothing created can ever come close to His majesty, His glory, His beauty, or His magnificence. He is very God of very God, the Most High, the Lord of Hosts, the King of kings. In Christ, we see God’s mercy. In Christ, we know God’s wisdom. In Christ, we comprehend God’s omnipotence. Everything in God is in Christ. There is no greater joy than the joy of the Lord. There is no greater honor than to be exalted by Him. There is no greater purpose to one’s life than living to glorify Him. God forbade images of Himself in the Ten Commandments and fought idolatry all throughout the Old Testament because the invisible God already had an image, veiled in the past, yet revealed to us now, in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:15 goes on to say that Christ is the firstborn of all creation. If we’re not careful with the translation here, some might be led to believe that Jesus is a created Being. But the testimony of Scripture is that Jesus Christ is God in John 1:1, Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 1:1, and Jude 1:25 to name a few verses. Only God can perform miracles, only God can live a sinless life, only God can be the propitiation for our sin, and only God can raise Himself from the grave. Only God can accept prayer, only God can accept worship, and only God can send His Holy Spirit. According to Scripture, Christ is the Creator of the universe in John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 1:2; only God Almighty has the power to breathe stars and planets into existence.

Then what is the Apostle Paul trying to convey by saying Christ is the firstborn of all creation? The word for “firstborn” in the Greek is prōtotokos (pro-TAHT-oh-koss). It is Strong’s number G4416, and we see the same word in Matthew 1:25 and Luke 2:7 with regards to Christ as the firstborn son of Mary, as well as being the firstborn of all creation in Colossians 1:15, and the first begotten of the dead in Revelation 1:5. This word, then, must have two shades of meaning. The first being a literal first born child of a woman, the second being simply “the first”, or “preeminent”. Context of the verse gives us the key. We cannot interpret “prōtotokos” as the first born of a woman in this magnificent portion of Scripture that outlines the Godhead of Christ. The witness of the entire canon of Scripture is that Jesus Christ is God. Therefore, this word must mean the second interpretation, that Jesus is first and preeminent of all creation.

Always remember in your Bible study that context is key to interpretation. Even in English, we have words with different shades of meaning depending on how we use them. Take the word “run”, for example. We can enjoy a vigorous run, although, I don’t know anyone who actually enjoys running. We can run for political office. We can run a business. We can leave our car running. Our car can run over the curb. We can run to the store. So you see, context is the key as to what type of “running” we mean when we say the word. In the same way, prōtotokos must be taken in context within the verse and also in light of the rest of Scripture.

Christ is not a created “firstborn” Being, He is firstborn of all creation. In other words, He preceded creation. He existed beforehand. He is the eternal God. Christ’s own words confirm this in John 17:5 when He says, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” In the same chapter, He says in John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

Not only does Christ confirm that He existed with God the Father well before the world existed, He even claims that He wishes His people to see His glory that the Father had given Him before the foundation of the world. And yet Isaiah 48:11 says that God does not give His glory to another. Therefore Christ is not another heavenly Being or a created Being, He is God in the flesh. Only God possesses God’s glory.

Another way of thinking about the firstborn of all creation is that creation is Christ’s inheritance. As the Preeminent One, the Son of God, the Creator of the universe, He owns it by right. It’s all His. The Father has given Him authority over all things in Matthew 28:18 and He owns it, not only by creation, but also by redemption. Christ both created and purchased His universe. It is doubly His by the testimony of these two witnesses.

Now, let’s think about this for a moment. Colossians 1:15 on the surface seems like an unassuming little verse. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” But there’s a key principle we must understand in hermeneutics. Have you heard of hermeneutics or knows what it means? Hermeneutics is the science of interpretation of texts, and more specifically, of biblical interpretation. This key principle is that Scripture interprets Scripture. Remember this for your own Bible study. Write it down and think about this when you are reading the Word. Scripture interprets Scripture. What does that mean? Well, your Bible isn’t one single book. It is a library of sixty-six books written by about forty authors over the course of fifteen hundred years. We know that all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), therefore, all these books have the same Author, namely the Holy Spirit.

Within the pages of these books are references and rabbit trails that interpret and bring illumination to other passages. This is how we know the Bible is an inspired book, because it references and proves itself. This is also why I don’t personally favor the loosely translated paraphrases of today, because in watering down Scripture into easy-to-understand verbiage, this glory of the Word of God is, for all intents and purposes, erased. For that reason, I do not believe paraphrases of Scripture can be called inspired, because by choosing different words and different turns of phrase, they erase that inspiration, that principle of hermeneutics that Scripture interprets Scripture.

Now, to get back to my point of Scripture interpreting Scripture, in Colossians 1:15, when it says Christ is the image of the invisible God, we can take the truth of this text and go back to the Old Testament and know that whenever God showed up in any display of His Person, it was the pre-incarnate Christ. The Father has no form, and no one has ever seen Him. John 1:18 confirms Colossians 1:15 when the Apostle writes, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side (that’s Jesus), he has made him known.”

Christ, therefore, has His fingerprints all over the Bible, in both Testaments, since before the foundation of the world. Christ is the One who walked in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:8, He is the man who sat with Abraham in Genesis 18, His was the voice from the burning bush in Exodus 3:1-6, the voice that thundered on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19:18-20, His was the glory of the Lord which Moses witnessed in Exodus 33:18-23, He is the Captain of the Host that appeared in Joshua 5:13-15, the Angel of the Lord that appeared to Manoah and his wife, Samson’s parents, in Judges 13:9-23, His was the voice in the whirlwind that spoke in Job 38-42, His was glory that filled the temple in Isaiah 6:1, and He is the Word of God that came to various prophets throughout the Old Testament. All of these witnesses of God are of the pre-incarnate Christ. Many of these texts claim it’s the Lord outright, but some of them say He is the “Captain of the Host” or the “Angel of the Lord”. We know these appearances are of Christ because He accepts worship in both the Joshua and Judges account. No angel of God ever accepts worship unless He is God Himself. And since the Lord Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, we know these ancient appearances were of Him.

Christ even spoke of Abraham as if He had first hand knowledge in John 8:56-58 when He said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Many Christians assume the Old Testament was about God the Father and the New Testament is about Christ the Son. This is simply not true. The entire Bible is about Christ, who represents the Father, for He is the image of the invisible God! No one has ever seen the Father, nor do they know Him except the Son, according to Christ in Matthew 11:27. Jesus also said in John 14:6 that no one comes to the Father except through Him. What is true in the New Testament is true in the Old. The only way to get to the Father is through Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; He always has been, He always will be. Only those who have the Son have the Father according to the Apostle in 1 John 2:23. This is not a new way to God, this is the only way to God.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

It is Christ seated on the Throne of God and it is Christ we shall worship forever and ever. Even in Glory, the way to the Father is through the Son. If we have seen the Son, we have seen the Father by the witness of John 14:8-9. To know Christ is to know God. To have Christ is to have God. To understand the God of the Bible, we must understand Christ and see His majesty throughout the entirety of the Scriptures.

This is His Word, and the entire canon testifies of Him. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for revealing Yourself to us today. Amen.

STUDY QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Why is God so adamantly against idolatry and graven images that depict Him?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________



When we seek God’s face, we must seek _________________________.

To know God, we must know ____________________________________.



According to Romans 8:29, we are conformed into the 

________________________________________________________________.


Christ Himself is the image of ___________________________________.



What does it mean that Christ is the “firstborn of all creation”?

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________



The way to the Father is through ________________________________.

This is not a new way to God, this is the _________________________.

Questions for Personal Reflection

In what way does my life bring honor to Christ?


Am I willing to ask God to open my eyes to the majesty of Christ?


Christ is on the Throne of Heaven, but is He on the throne of my heart?


If I’m honest, do I love Christ with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?


Am I willing to do the hard work of seeking Him in both prayer and study of His Word?

Colossians 1:15 – Session One – Song Playlist:

• When We See Your Face – Sovereign Grace Music – Prayers of the Saints Live Album
• Psalm 34 (Taste and See) – Shane & Shane – Psalms Live Album
• Scandal of Grace – Shane & Shane – The Worship Initiative Album
• Be Thou My Vision – Selah – Greatest Hymns Album
• Christ in Us – Twila Paris – House of Worship Album
• Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery – Matt Boswell – Single Release
• Oh Lord, You’re Beautiful – Keith Green – The Greatest Hits Album

Scripture References for Further Study:

1. Colossians 1:15
2. Exodus 20:4
3. Deuteronomy 5:8
4. Romans 8:20-22
5. Romans 6:23
6. Romans 8:22
7. 2 Corinthians 4:6
8. Genesis 1:3
9. Numbers 6:24-26
10. Hebrews 1:3
11. Psalm 34:5
12. Exodus 34:29-33
13. 2 Corinthians 3:18
14. Romans 8:29
15. 1 Thessalonians 4:3a
16. 1 Thessalonians 5:23
17. Titus 2:14
18. Matthew 22:15-22
19. 2 Corinthians 4:16
20. Philippians 1:6
21. 1 Corinthians 15:52
22. 1 Thessalonians 4:17
23. Philippians 3:21
24. 1 John 3:2
25. John 1:1
26. Titus 2:13
27. 2 Peter 1:1
28. Jude 1:25
29. John 1:3
30. Colossians 1:16
31. Hebrews 1:2
32. Matthew 1:25
33. Luke 2:7
34. Colossians 1:15
35. Revelation 1:5
36. John 17:5
37. John 17:24
38. Isaiah 48:11
39. Matthew 28:18
40. 2 Timothy 3:16
41. John 1:18
42. Genesis 3:8
43. Genesis 18
44. Exodus 3:1-6
45. Exodus 19:18-20
46. Exodus 33:18-23
47. Joshua 5:13-15
48. Judges 13:9-23
49. Job 38-42
50. Isaiah 6:1
51. John 8:56-58
52. Matthew 11:27
53. John 14:6

54. 1 John 2:23

55. John 14:8-9

Our Lord Jesus Christ Was Not Tormented in Hell

If you've been a Christian for any length of time, I'm sure you've heard it taught - that after Christ's death, He descended and was tormented in Hell and rose again on the third day. Many pastors teach it. Unfortunately, it is not true. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not descend into Hell to be tormented for three days. I pray the Lord helps me to speak the truth in love and that He will open eyes and hearts through this post. My goal is not to attack this position, but rather, to correct the theology of some who might not know this, or some who might have felt the position was wrong but didn't quite know why.

Charles Spurgeon once said:

"If a crooked stick is before you, you need not explain how crooked it is. Lay a straight one down by the side of it, and the work is well done. Preach the truth, and error will stand abashed in its presence."

One of my dearest friends approached me recently to help her study this subject and to help her lay out an argument for why this position of Christ descending into Hell is wrong. So many points were brought up, I decided to blog it, and maybe help many in the church understand the truth. So let's jump in, and Lord Jesus, please be with us in this.

First, let's dive into the reason why God created Hell and what it was originally meant for. Originally, God created Hell for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). Since Satan and his fallen minions are angelic, spiritual beings who can never die, they needed a place to go that separated them from God's mercy to live solely in God's wrath. They had rebelled against the full knowledge of the glory of God, and as a result, were cast out of Heaven to await judgment. They had sinned directly before the face of God Himself. We know the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Demons cannot die, nor can they stand in Glory. Therefore, they "die" eternally in Hell. Even for humanity, Hell is called the "second death" (Revelation 20:14). Just as those who come to know Christ are born a second time (John 3:3), those who never know Christ die a second time. Once in flesh, and once for all eternity.

We know the wages of sin is death, but an eternal being cannot "die", therefore, there is no atonement to God after one passes away into eternity. There is no second chance once you breathe your last breath. Nor can you pay your own wage of sin, because you are not righteous; you will die in your sins and be lost in Hell. Therefore, only a Righteous One can die for your sins and not be lost Himself - that would be our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here's where imputation of our sin and His righteousness comes into play. Remember 2 Corinthians 5:21 - Christ became my sin so that I could become the righteousness of God in Him. While He hung on that cross, it's as if I hung there, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God (Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:3). In other words, our lives were swapped on the cross, and when Christ died, I died. Now, I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, the old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). Through my union with Christ, He now lives His life through me, and my old life has died in Him.

Beloved, we have lost the doctrine of a believer's union with Christ if we believe He descended into Hell to be tormented in flames for three days. Nowhere in Scripture are we told that we descended with Him in torment. When we are in Christ, we died with Him and are raised with Him. That is it. Nowhere are we told we went to Hell with Him. Nowhere. I challenge you to find the chapter and verse that says it. All true Christians are united with Christ on the cross, never again to be separated from Him. We must be united on the cross, as it is our lives that have died in Him. That is our point of union with the Son of God. It follows then that if Christ went to the flames of Hell, then so too did we in Him. But no, that is not what God demands as payment for sin. It is not hellfire that pays for sin, rather, it's being able to endure the wrath of God in full measure and die, which is what Jesus did - ON THE CROSS.

Now, there is a verse in 1 Peter 3:19, which says Christ, when He was in the grave, preached to the spirits in prison, those bound in chains since the days of Noah. But remember the parable He preached about the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). There was a place that was not in torment, Abraham's Bosom, sheol, or hades. This is not the same place as where the rich man was, burning in hellfire across the wide chasm. Abraham's Bosom is where the righteous dead came to rest before the Atonement. This is where Christ went. In Hell, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. But clearly, Christ is said to be preaching His victory to those in chains. This cannot be. If Christ is being tormented Himself in hellfire for three days, He cannot be preaching His victory at the same time, as He would not yet be victorious. Notice the verse right before that one, 1 Peter 3:18 - "being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit." The Apostle is speaking of Christ. If He is tormented in Hell, He CANNOT BE alive in the spirit, as Hell is literally the death of the spirit - the second death. Also, notice 1 Peter 2:24 - "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." 

Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree, not in Hell. It is by His wounds we have been healed, not by any torment in Hell. Remember Leviticus 17:11 - the life of the flesh is in the blood, for it is the blood that makes atonement. There is no blood in Hell. Christ poured out all His blood on the cross. That is where the Atonement was made.

Let us consider the cross. Christ endured the Father's wrath upon Him for our sins when Christ was forsaken at Calvary (Matt. 27:45-47). It was also the will of the Father to both crush Him (Isaiah 53:10) and smite Him (Isaiah 53:4). God's wrath was experienced by Christ before His death so that when He died, the Atonement would be finished once and for all. Christ is the only man who could ever do this because He is also God in flesh. The wages of sin is death, then the consequence is God's wrath in Hell. Humanity cannot atone for themselves, being unholy and unrighteous, therefore, they die IN their sins and must be eternally separated from God by His wrath as a consequence. In other words, man pays the wage, then suffers the consequences in Hell. But Christ, being our righteous God, COULD atone for sin in His body. He suffered the consequence first, then paid the wage, namely death. Therefore all punishment for sin was meted out upon Christ as He hung on the cross. Is there anything in Scripture that tells us the Atonement was finished there? Yes. From Christ's own lips. John 19:30 - "It is finished."

Further, upon the moment of Christ's death, the temple veil tore from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). What was the temple veil? About a 3-foot thick curtain that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies, where the shekinah glory of God dwelt over the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest was allowed in the Holy of Holies one day a year - the Day of Atonement. But upon the MOMENT of Christ's death, the veil was torn; the way was open and clear. This didn't happen the morning of His resurrection after getting out of a supposed "three day torment" to pay for sins in Hell. No. This is further confirmed in Hebrews 10:19-20 - "we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh." The rending of the temple veil symbolized the rending of our Lord's body, as He is the Door, and thus the Way to God was open upon His death.

All of Christ's atoning work was FINISHED in His flesh on His cross. Where was He for three days? In sheol, in hades, in Abraham's Bosom, preaching His victory to those in chains, and leading the righteous dead into their heavenly rest. Please do not believe the lie that Christ suffered hellfire for three days before rising again. Scripture only teaches we died with Him and are raised with Him. Even baptism symbolizes this, as there's no third step for suffering in Hell with Him. Simply dying and rising. If you listen to preachers who teach this false doctrine, please place them on the shelf and ask the Lord to lead you to more sound men of God.

To say Christ suffered in Hell is to say our sins somehow survived His death, even though the wages of sin is DEATH itself. If they survived His death, then how can we be assured of His victory? How can we know they're truly dead if they did not die on the cross? Our sins and our old life DIED WITH CHRIST on the cross. If He was tormented for three days, then our sins are stronger than death (wrong) and our old lives did not die with Christ (wrong). If He went to Hell, then so too did we through our union with Him (wrong).

Pray for wisdom in this and search the Scriptures, Church. We died with Christ, and we are raised with Him. There is no doctrine in Scripture of being with Him in hellfire. Our Lord Jesus Christ was not tormented in Hell. Christ drank the full cup of God's wrath upon the cross of Calvary.

Amen.

The Truth of Being Unequally Yoked

With respect to my fellow bloggers and sisters in Christ, I have noticed a severe lack of truth when it comes to being unequally yoked in marriage. In searching for comfort, I have found time and again, feel-good blogs about how to “thrive” in a marriage where the woman is the believer and her husband is not. While this is certainly a noble topic, I have to wonder why these bloggers don’t go the extra mile and peel back the curtain to tell of what it’s truly like being married to an unbeliever? 

Are they merely giving advice? Are they not unequally yoked themselves? Is this out of fear of airing dirty laundry? Is this due to the unspoken rule with our brothers and sisters not to dig in, and be real and gritty with each other? I have debated with myself on writing this piece for a long time. But I know there are a great many women who are in the same position I am, and if I can comfort them with the same comfort I have been given of God, then praise the Lord and let’s get this written.

My husband and I both confessed Christ when we married. Eighteen years later, he confessed agnosticism. Even though I had claimed Christ as well, I wasn’t truly saved by our Lord until 2011. Therefore both of us had been false professors upon our marriage, yet neither of us knew it. We have now been married for twenty three years, by the grace of God.

Since my true conversion, the only “thriving” I have come to know is an unspoken truce in my household. The only way to truly “thrive” as other bloggers have counseled is to ignore the elephant in the room. No amount of pleading or preaching will convert our husbands, as that power belongs to God alone. And so we pray fervently for Christ to save them as we try to live according to 1 Peter 3:1-2. This is walking in full trust and faith in Christ, which means the believing wife must have an abiding heart and an abundant life with the Lord Jesus on her own.

Without a spiritual head to lead her, it is absolutely vital for the believing wife to seek Christ with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength. He must be for her the godly Husband, washing her with the water of His Word. She must lean upon Him; she must dig in and seek Him with every breath, every heartbeat. He must be her strength in her weakness, or she will be ill-prepared to give an account should an argument arise with her spouse about her Christianity and why she believes what she does.

The believing wife needs to come to the point where she seeks Christ apart from her husband, and she must be willing to go to church alone. She cannot lean on her husband to find a church, she must step out and do it herself. She must obey Christ when it comes to raising her children, and this also requires a great deal of faith and trust in Him to do what is right. An unequally yoked wife who does not live and breathe prayer will be a defeated woman. An unequally yoked wife who does not rest in her union with Christ shall live a life of agony.

There is no greater heartache I know than the realization that your spouse is on the road to Hell. There is no greater hungering and thirsting for righteousness than in an unequal household. There is no greater loneliness than being unable to share the deepest intimacies of your heart with the one you love.

The separation of eternity is already present in an unequally yoked marriage. The believing wife will not find joy where her husband finds joy. The unbelieving husband doesn’t want to hear of what brings his wife ultimate joy, namely Christ. For each of these there is oppression in the household, which is why I mentioned the only way to “thrive” is by truce and quietly trusting the Lord to work, should it be His will.

Even so, the believing wife will have her eyes wet with tears day in and day out. Her relationship with Christ must grow deeper, stronger, and more substantial if she is to survive. And yet, this drives the wedge of separation deeper into her marriage. To avoid acidic barbs against her faith, she learns to talk in generalizations in order to keep the peace. She can attend church, go to small groups, and find contentment in studying Scripture, yet she can share none of these with her spouse.

This brings her more and more upon the shoulder of Christ, where she trusts in Him to be for her the tenderness she needs, the holiness she needs, the man she needs. It is possible the unequally yoked woman has no familiarity with sanctified masculinity. What does Christ look like in the heart of a truly regenerate man? Sometimes upon the sadness she already experiences, she longs for what other women have – a godly marriage. But she must learn to lay down that desire for the greater purpose of Christ in her life.

Sometimes her marriage simply survives by surviving one more day, day-by-day. More often than not, it is prayer that upholds it, telling the Lord her marriage stands by His grace or falls by His will. As long as Christ extends His grace, she is willing to obey 1 Corinthians 7:13.

Because the wife and her husband don’t have much in common, they often spend leisure time apart from each other. If there are children who believe, the unbelieving spouse can become jealous or bitter toward the close relationship the kids enjoy with their mom, as she is able to share her love for Christ with them. If there are unbelieving children in the family, the believing wife will cry and lament all the harder for faith that Christ will step in where her husband has not, and lead her children into all truth.

The unbelieving husband will see the blossoming relationship his wife has with Christ, and perhaps will grow jealous of it, or perhaps become depressed, as he realizes he cannot give his wife all that she needs and therefore she seeks it in another. Of course, all godly wives, despite the spiritual health of their husbands, should seek Christ above and beyond anyone in their lives, including their spouses. Christ has made this a command for all of His disciples (Luke 14:26). But the unbelieving husband will think this is a shortcoming in himself, and perhaps seek less intimacy with his wife. Or perhaps he will try harder to connect with her in the only way he knows how, by worldly means, which ultimately falls short because his wife walks by the Spirit and thinks on heavenly things.

The believing wife will enjoy spending time with her husband and connecting with him, but he will not fulfill her, as she longs for the fragrance of Christ in her life. She will realize her husband doesn’t truly know her, he only knows the surface of her, not the depths of her. The closer she gets to Christ, the more she comes to know her life is hidden with Christ in God, that to live is Christ, and that the life she now lives is Christ in her. Due to her unbreakable union with the Lord Jesus, her unbelieving husband will never know her true identity in Christ unless he comes to know Christ for himself.

In all these things, I do not see “thriving”, I see a truce. I see broken hearts, pain, agony, lamenting, and unspeakable loneliness, not just for the believer, but for both parties involved. There is great wisdom in Scripture about avoiding this unequal yoke at all costs. If anyone is considering marriage to an unbeliever, know your life will be marked by suffering and loneliness, and the odds will be stacked against your marriage to survive. Marriage is not a way to evangelize. You will either become more carnal and worldly yourself and thus turn away from Christ to accommodate your spouse, or you will turn more fully to Christ, bringing more tension and separation into your marriage.

In light of the reality of what it’s truly like to be unequally yoked, here is my advice to my fellow sisters with unbelieving husbands.

Obey Scripture. Don’t always try to evangelize your husband. Your efforts might have the opposite effect and repel him if his heart isn’t good soil. God will draw him if it is His will. Live by 1 Corinthians 7:13 and 1 Peter 3:1-2 and continue to glorify Christ in your life. Perhaps your patient witness for God will be used by Him one day.

Read Scripture. You cannot hear from Christ if you are not constantly in His Word. As women alone on our spiritual journey, it is essential we hide God’s Word in our hearts to comfort and sustain us. His Word is a lamp unto our feet. If we do not shine that lamp into our lives, we will be walking in darkness.

Pray. A woman who isn’t in constant prayer and communion with her Savior will not have the strength and the peace she needs to get through the rough days. But don’t merely pray for your husband’s conversion, pray for your own strength, for God’s grace over you, for His peace, for perseverance, for endurance, and for wisdom in His name. You will need all of Christ’s spiritual blessings in order to equip yourself for this spiritual battle. And make no mistake, this is a spiritual battle. It is absolutely imperative we meet this battle by putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20) day after day after day after day.

Seek the Lord. This might seem redundant with reading Scripture and prayer, but seeking the Lord is, in my opinion, a deeper pursuit than casual Bible reading and tossing up prayer. Seeking Christ is digging into Him, studying His Word, agonizing with Him, pouring out your heart, spending time with Him, praying without ceasing, bathing your prayers with tears, and wrestling with Him while refusing to ever let Him go. An unequally yoked wife needs to abide in the Vine, because without Him, sisters, we can do nothing.

Cling to Christ. Along with seeking Him, we must cling to Him. We must constantly edify ourselves with singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our hearts to God. We must never be ashamed to praise Him in front of our unbelieving spouse. We must freely speak His name, for the name of Christ Jesus is polarizing and divisive, while talking about ‘God’ can often be generic and unspecific. We must stand for His truth and His doctrine, even if the cards seem stacked against us. The believing wife must be so familiar with Jesus that her first instinct in times of trouble is to pray for help, for peace, for grace, for strength. In the heat of the moment, she stands in silent prayer, knowing the Lord Himself shall fight for her. She must realize that Christ is her Savior, not only against sin and death, but in her time of need as well, and we have many examples in Scripture of our Lord defending and rescuing weakened women from angry or bitter men.

Go to church. Ladies, I cannot stress this enough. GO TO CHURCH. Find a sound church in your area, and go become a part of a church body. Get involved. Make relationships. Get to know your pastor. As Christians, we are Christ to the world, and also Christ to each other. If you are living in a “drought” of faith in your home, you must go to the oasis and drink. Christ never intended for His sheep to live alone in the pasture, but to sharpen each other, as iron sharpens iron, to do life together, to praise His name together, and to pray for each other. If you have no spiritual headship in your home, seek headship at your church and ask for the elders and pastors to pray over you often. What your husband cannot do, your brothers in Christ will do. Our brothers and sisters will help disciple us and edify us and encourage us when all hope seems lost. We are the Body of Christ, and one member of that Body cannot live by itself on a lonely hilltop, we must be connected with the others, as we are one just as Jesus and the Father are one (John 17:22-23). Regularly meeting with those who love Christ week after week is a healing balm to a weary soul and a beautiful foretaste of Heaven. Do not forsake meeting together with fellow saints of Christ.

Obey Christ above your husband. If you have a husband who does not “let” you worship Christ either at home or at church, you must obey Christ over him and let the chips fall where they may. Submission to one’s husband does not come before submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. If this costs you your marriage, so be it. Christ is greater than your marriage. Listen to me, sisters. These are hard words, I know. But are you ready and willing to give up absolutely everything to follow Christ? This is what He commands of His disciples (Luke 14:26). The believing wife must come to the point in her Christianity where she is willing to follow Christ no matter the sacrifice to her personally. This is costly; this looks like foolishness to the world. But greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. Jesus Christ is Almighty God, and choosing to follow Him is never batting for the losing team. What you lose on earth you gain in heavenly riches. We stand in victory when we stand with Christ. But this calls for tremendous faith, of which we must pray the Lord provides us. It is much easier to speak these words than to live them. But in my own experience, I have yet to be let down by my faithful God. It could be that God rewards my faithfulness to Him by holding up my marriage. If the Lord Himself fuels my devotion to Him, then He shall bless me in it; He shall be with me in it. He shall never forsake me, and He will likewise never forsake you.

Dear sisters in Christ, if you are unequally yoked, seek the things that are above and live your life of faith openly. Never be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ in your home. He even warned us, that a man’s enemies will be those of his own household, and that a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household (Matt. 13:57). He came not to bring peace, but a sword, and this will bring a son against a father, and a daughter against a mother (Matt. 10:34-39), even spouses against each other. But He has not left us orphans. He has given us a Comforter in His Holy Spirit. Therefore seek the comfort of God and fervently ask Him again and again to supply you with all you need. Christ must be the strength that carries you through, or you will lead a life of defeat rather than a life of victory in Christ.

Remember the words of the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4:12-14:

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”

As hard as it is to do, we must surrender our loved ones to the will of God, and like Abraham, lay them on the altar and let God do with them as He pleases. I often remember Christ’s words to Peter when he asked our Lord about the fate of the Apostle John in John 21:21-22 – “What is that to you? You follow Me!”

Amen. What is that to me? In all things God shall be glorified, whether by His mercy or by His wrath. We should continue to pray for those we love, and beg and plead and cry out to God for His mercy. And yet, if He chooses instead to glorify His wrath, we must, sisters, we MUST be able to have faith, praise His holy name, and cry out through our tears, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven!”

O, Lord Jesus, please comfort all Your unequally yoked daughters in the tenderness of Your glorious love, and be for us our Balm of Gilead, our Precious God, and our Beloved Bridegroom.

In Your name we pray,
Amen.

Women Teaching Women - A Glorious Gift of God

I am of the belief that when Scripture asserts a woman should not teach or have authority over a man (1 Timothy 2:12), it means exactly what it says. That is not to say she can never teach anyone, but she cannot teach men. That does not mean she has no authority, rather she has no authority over men. Of course, this is in a church setting, meaning women are not to be preachers, pastors, deacons, or elders of a local church. However, I do believe there is grace in the workforce concerning schools, boardrooms, and offices, and that the Apostle Paul only referenced a woman's authority in the order of the church and not life in general.

If a woman cannot teach or have authority at all, then we need to rip Titus 2:3-5 out of our Bibles. Older women are to teach younger women what is good, and how to love their husbands and children according to the Word, so that the Word be not reviled.

There are some in certain circles who rail against this mandate, claiming God has given them, a woman, a gifting to teach. Why would God do so if He didn't intend for them to pastor a church? They seem to believe that women teaching women is some lesser good, an oppression of sorts, or a second-rate job. God is holding something good back from them, and thus they often grow bitter toward Him.

They embrace the "cultural" defense, that Paul was speaking to the women of the day, not women of the church at large. But if Paul's words weren't for the entire church, he wouldn't hearken back to the Genesis account to ground his argument for why this is to be. And it is in the Genesis account where we see a very similar sin spring from the hearts of Adam and Eve, that in forbidding the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they believed God was holding something good back from them.

A woman with a gift of teaching has been given by our Lord to the women of His church, and this is a glorious gift, not something lesser. A woman who thinks less of the privilege to teach her sisters is the one oppressing these women, not Scripture. If she truly has the gift of teaching with a unique way of digging into the Word and an understanding of Christ not many others have, then grumbling against teaching her sisters is doing them harm, not good. It is not progress for women to refuse to teach only women. It is not honoring our sisters in Christ to complain about teaching them.

Often, theology circles are for the men. Men read dusty theology tomes, men read old, dead preachers, men study and dig in to Scripture, men go to Christian conferences, and men lead the church. Often this is because much is expected by Christ of His sons, not only to lead His church, but also to lead their wives and children as well. But imagine a woman who loves learning of God just as much, who reads dusty theology tomes, who adores old, dead preachers, who studies and digs in to Scripture, and who goes to Christian conferences because it is her passion, not because she's tagging along with her husband.

These are the women who are the gifts of Christ to His daughters.

Women often flourish under the spiritual headship of their pastors and husbands, but not all women have diligent husbands who wash them with the water of the Word. Not all women will understand their pastor's message. Not all women are scholars, not all have the same gifting to fall in love with theology. These are the women who are "stuck", for lack of a better word, doing arts and crafts for ministry, or who are stagnant in their faith, not sure how to grow closer to Jesus.

Who else but a woman can speak into their lives, who understands their same hardships? Who can make these specific hardships into illustrations for teaching? Can a man comfortably speak of breastfeeding, menstruating, or the minutia of childrearing from the pulpit? Can a man soothe her feminine heart if she has been rejected, hurt, or is terrified of men? Even our pastors know when it's time to step aside for a woman to minister to another woman, and this is the glory Christ has given His daughters to teach each other.

At the risk of sounding overly critical, it is often the women's ministry that gets the backseat in churches when it comes to learning about and loving Christ. Women, as mentioned above, do art projects, or bake casseroles, or are on a prayer chain, or volunteer as greeters, or have a book club, or go on playdates, the list goes on. These are not bad in and of themselves and are often the very things a church thrives on, especially prayer. But what is missing from these off-shoots of women's ministry? Where is the fragrance of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia out of the ivory palaces?

Where is Christ?

Church, hear me now:

We cannot do ministry for Christ apart from Christ. We cannot reach the lost for Christ at the expense of Christ.

This is the reason why a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. This is the reason why she is more precious than rubies. A woman who knows her God and His Word is a priceless treasure for any church, because she will be the one who can train up the women in the way they should go. She is the one who can speak into their lives in a true and living way, who can capture their imagination from a woman's perspective. She is the one who can relate our Lord Jesus to her sisters in such a way that men cannot. She will know the heart of Mary of Bethany as she wept at Christ's feet and wiped them with her hair. She will know the stabbing pain of a woman who's lost her child who nursed at her breast. She will know the intense loneliness of widowhood, the burden of being unequally yoked, the pain of having no husband. Only women who've walked these paths can minister to women with these precious things.

This is one of those special graces I spoke about in another blog post, Does Christ Give Women a Special Grace? We are to comfort others with the same comfort we have received from God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). There are some paths in life only women can walk down. Women need to know Christ just as fervently and urgently as men do. Yes, Christ gives women certain gifts with regards to teaching about Him and His Word, but these gifts are for His daughters, our sisters in Christ.

What do I have in common with a man that I can speak wisdom into his life as a leader of his church, his wife, or his family? What do I have in my heart if I wish to teach him outside of my knowledge other than rebellion and pride? And if I harbor this bitterness in my heart, have I just disqualified myself as a teacher of women by bringing reproach upon the Word of Christ? Shouldn't humility in our hearts and submission to God's Word be the fruit of our lives?

Women teaching women is a beautiful, wondrous gift from our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not something lesser, as if God were keeping something good from us, no, this is a very specific glory, one that holds high our God and King in the hearts of His daughters. This is a privilege only women can do for other women. Imagine a woman, so in love with the King of Glory, her eyes so full of His light, her heart so on fire for His Word, her soul so passionate for His glory, that when she comes before other women in her church and reveals to them the splendor of Christ's majesty, how will our Lord move among His beloved daughters? She will be the match that lights the dry kindling of these women's hearts afire! Praise the Lord!

O, precious Yeshua, I ask for You to raise up mighty women of God who adore You high above all other loves, to find their courage and their voice to love You before their sisters, and to teach and inspire others to do the same. Give Your church women who will disciple other women in Your Word and the knowledge of who You are, that we, as daughters of Christ, might be filled with all the fullness of God!

Amen.

A High View of Christ

Demand more from yourself with regards to knowing, loving, and obeying Christ. More often than not, we become too comfortable or too busy to personally nurture our relationship with our Lord. What we don't realize, however, is that we're starving ourselves. Christ called Himself the True Bread from Heaven (John 6:32). Yet how often can you honestly say you've feasted on Him? How often have you felt at spiritual peace, filled with all the fullness of God?

We are told in John 15 to abide in Christ. We are also told to have His Word abiding in us (John 15:7). These are the keys to answered prayer. But a great many of us are content merely to go to church, do Christian things, or pray stiff, wooden prayers rather than pursue Yeshua with all our heart and soul. The reality of the knowledge of Christ is missing in today's Christianity.

The Apostle Paul knew the Lord Jesus in such a way that he counted everything as loss in order to win Christ. Why? Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord (Philippians 3:7-11). Paul's great pursuit, the goal of his life, the magnificent glory set before him was knowing Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Everything else paled in comparison. You might say Paul's life is the antithesis to ours. All too often, it is Christ who pales in comparison to our jobs, our families, our vacations, our possessions...even our church. O, dear brethren, what a backwards people we are! This should not be! The longing within the Apostle Paul is the very same longing that should be alive in the heart of every true believer.

One's life should revolve around this consuming passion:

I must know Christ!

No matter the cost, no matter the labor, I must know Christ lest I die! There are many who confuse doing for Christ as abiding in Christ. Yet being active in ministry, while beneficial for the church, will not feed the people of God beyond what you feed yourself.

"They made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept!"

~~Songs 1:6b

This message is not only for the Christian in the pew, but also for the one behind the pulpit, and perhaps even more so for the shepherds of Christ. In our salvation, we have been found by Jesus, and yet the mystery is this - we must pursue Him in order to grow in grace and Christlikeness! Christ unfolds His wisdom to the seeking Christian, to the one who asks, seeks, and knocks (Matthew 7:7).

However, more than merely being curious or inquisitive about our Lord, we must get a glimpse of His beauty in order to fuel this lifelong pursuit. Once a believer catches a glimpse of the unfathomable glory of Almighty God, everything else in life pales in comparison. I believe this is the point where Paul was at in his walk, so dazzled by the beauty of Christ that he couldn't bear to tear his eyes away. How do we get this longing deep in our hearts? How do we inspire ourselves to do this and bring revival to our lives?

We can do nothing. This is a work of the Holy Spirit of God. Only the Holy Spirit can fill our hearts to overflowing with the living water of love to Christ. But do not despair, Christian. You have but to ask Him to flare your love for Christ into a consuming fire, and He will not hesitate to open the door to deeper intimacies with Him. It is the Father's will that Christ's church know Him to the full. If we pray God's will, we know we have what we've asked of Him (1 John 5:14-15). 

I am of the belief that the abiding Christian, the one who is truly alive with love for Christ, who has seen His beauty, who adores His Word and saturates their entire lives in Him, who is not satisfied with the joys of the world, but who thinks on heavenly things, who pants after God like the deer pants for the water brooks, this is the very Christian to whom prayer is supremely precious. It is this believer whose faith has been tried, who knows they are rooted and grounded in faith, who is ferocious in prayer. This is the one who despairs at the shallowness in our churches, at the superficial love to our Lord, who cries out like Jeremiah in tears for others to look up and catch a glorious glimpse of our Lord Jesus Christ! If these gazed heavenward for just a moment, if they but asked Christ's Holy Spirit to open their eyes to see Him in His glory, they would drop their worthless trinkets and pursue that eternal Treasure with the greatest of joys.

Brethren, if we want revival in our lives, we must pray for it, and pray earnestly. We must be willing to be used by God to bring about any spiritual change in ourselves, our churches, our communities, and beyond. We must pray fervently for these. Pray steadfast for your church, for your pastor, for his doctrine, for the Spirit to move in the hearts of those who hear him. Be ready for God to call you specifically to jump in the fray if you happen to pray for these miracles. He does not expect you to be passive. But I implore you to demand more of yourself than a passive faith. I believe that while Christ works in His church at large, His work begins in the hearts of those He loves, His sheep, those who know His voice. Ask Him for this grace!

Set your heart on Him. Ask Him to help you with this. Pursue Him with all your strength. If you have no strength, ask Him to supply it. Ask Him to bring you to books and to fellow Christians who might help you and disciple you. Saturate your entire life with Him. Always be thinking on heavenly things. Every moment of every day. Always keep your eyes on His face. Pray without ceasing. Study your Bible, don't simply read it. Study it while bathed in prayer. Ask God questions as you read. Write down things you learn. Dig in and know Him. Inspire others to do the same as you have. Be the Christian who speaks up, who makes waves, who questions the status quo, who compares sermon notes to Scripture, and who will not let the truth of Christ's Word be maligned for as long as you draw breath. Ask, seek, and knock for these graces! Determine to make it the goal of your life to know Him as the Apostle Paul wished to know Him. 

Christ is God. He is our Almighty God. Nothing is above Him. No one is more important than Him, no knowledge is more worthy of knowing, no pursuit should ever be greater than your pursuit of the Son of God. Strive to give yourself a high view of Christ. Does He captivate you? Do not rest until He does. This is the heart and soul of Christianity - not merely saved from Hell, and not merely saved from the power of sin, but knowing our magnificent God and making Him known to others.

Christ has given us the right to become children of God - to know Him - to truly know Him! (John 1:12) Take a moment and think on that, beloved! We shall one day stand before Him and see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). Do you see Him, seated high and lifted up at the right hand of God, and smiling down upon you? O, Christian, do not look away! Never look away from those eyes which search your heart and mind. Focus your entire life on Him and Him alone! May His eternal worth and bountiful grace turn your eyes upon Him and captivate you until you march on to Glory! Yes, Lord, this is my prayer for all who read these words, wherever they are in the world. I pray for their sanctification, and I ask that You inspire them to move more purposefully in their faith, to bring glory to Your name, and to be so in love with You, so focused upon You, so filled with the Spirit of God, they don't even notice when the world falls away.

In this, Lord, may Your church make herself ready for Your Second Coming (Revelation 19:7). Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Amen.