Behold this amazing Jesus

Over the next few weeks we will look more expansively on Paul’s letter to the Colossians. This week is the beginning of 3 weeks which build upon each other, so they are aimed to be read together, but also stand on their own.

The letter to the Colossians is the high-water mark of divine revelation in the New Testament.

Paul presents one of the most sublime, unparalleled revelations of the Lord Jesus in all of Scripture. He gives believers a stunningly elegant vision of Jesus Christ – exalted, glorious, high and lifted up.

Paul begins his letter by pointing out that if the church would lay hold of Christ and become absorbed with Him, they would bear fruit. They would:

• be filled with the knowledge of God’s will
• receive spiritual understanding and wisdom
• walk worthy of the Lord and live pleasing in God’s sight
• receive God’s infinite power, endurance, patience and joy
• be provoked to thankfulness.

Paul then began to unveil Jesus.

Behold this amazing Jesus…

who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

for through him God created everything

in the heavenly realms and on earth.

He made the things we can see

and the things we can’t see—

such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.

Everything was created through him and for him.

He existed before anything else,

and he holds all creation together.

Christ is also the head of the church,

which is his body.

He is the beginning,

supreme over all who rise from the dead.

So he is first in everything. (Col 1:14-18)

“God the Father qualified you”, Paul is telling the church,

“to share in the inheritance that He has had in store for all His holy ones from before time. And that inheritance is Christ, Jesus, in all His inexhaustible riches. You, are His holy ones – chosen, holy, and beloved of God.”

The same is true of you today.

The Father

pierced the kingdom of darkness;

found you

picked you up, and

carried you out of that dark kingdom, through the womb of death.

Consider this much-loved Son.

Set your eyes beyond the stratosphere and see a Jesus who confounds the mind.

This Jesus (Christ / Messiah) is – present tense –

the visible image of the invisible God.

Jesus Christ displays God’s image visibly in the invisible realm,

where He is seated in heavenly places at the Fathers right hand.

To look upon the carpenter of Nazareth is to discover God in totality.

To know the suffering Nazarene is to know the Almighty, the one True Creator – He who was, is and is to come.

BUT that’s not all...

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 next week and part 3 the following week.

Based on "Jesus Manifesto" by Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet

This weeks YouTube link with songs for worship is available here

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHnJn7EgQjAxFyalrlAa5nSRkApCsH0d1

Have a blessed week

Jacquey