Look What the Father has Done Through the Son – Colossians 1:12-23
Paul’s amazing prayer for the believers in Colossae is immediately followed by this incredible reality of all that God, our Father, has accomplished through Jesus, His Son.
giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. 14 We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.
It’s truly incredible! He has not only enabled us to share in the saints’ inheritance in the glorious light of His presence, but He has also dramatically rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the glorious kingdom of His beloved Son. In Him, and only in Him, we have redemption—the complete forgiveness of our sins!
So, who is this “Him”? Paul then dives deep into the very majesty of who Jesus is, articulating profound truths about His divine nature:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by Him… all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.
And to underscore this profound reality:
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.
Imagine that! Jesus, fully God in the flesh—Immanuel, the incarnate Christ Himself. It’s absolutely astounding to ponder the full scope of who Jesus is, His preeminence, His creative power, and His sustaining presence.
But because of who Jesus is, and what the Father has done through His Son, something truly transformative has happened for us:
and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. 22 But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him…
This is simply glorious! Through Him, we are reconciled and have peace through His blood shed on the cross. No longer separated from God because of our sin, but brought back into a vibrant relationship with Him. And not just brought back, but He will present us holy, faultless, and blameless before the Father!
Wow! We can’t help but exclaim with the hymn writer, “Amazing love! How can it be, that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!”
What unfathomable grace, what boundless love, what matchless power, what tender mercy, what unmerited favor! May God be eternally praised for His indescribable gift. May we fall down and worship Him in eternal gratitude for all He has done!
