THE PERSON OF CHRIST

THE PERSON OF CHRIST

Colossians 1: 12-22; Colossians 2: 1; Colossians 4: 16

I think that the people of God are being made to feel — perhaps more definitely now than ever before that the great point before the Spirit of God is to attach the hearts of His people to Christ. This is not a day when we hear very much about doctrine, although doctrine is important indeed, but the conflict that raged about right doctrine and truth has been fought, and the position to some extent at least has been established. The great issue of the present moment is the place the blessed Lord Jesus Christ personally has in our hearts. The public condition of the assembly at the close of its history here is marked by this solemn fact, that the assembly publicly in Laodicea is indifferent to the person of Christ; that He is outside. It is true that in infinite grace He is outside knocking. Nevertheless, He is outside, and the Lord says to the assembly of Laodicea: “Because thou art lukewarm (that is, indifferent) I will spue thee out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3: 16). It is true that that assembly says: “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” Dear brethren, we have to beware that we are not satisfied with goods. The Lord Jesus is not satisfied with goods. We might have accumulated a good deal of intelligence as to the things of God; we might have at our hand what is correct and formal; we might have correct gatherings, correct forms, and be ever so careful about them, and it might be all goods — simply that which we have accumulated — and the Lord Jesus Christ personally have no place in our hearts.

The Lord is not content with anything less than being inside the affections of His people. I am sure Scripture, and the public condition of the assembly, confirm the thought that what we each have to overcome in the present moment is a Laodicean state. One has enjoyed seeing how the Lord, in His grace and His tender solicitude for His people, provides that, from time to time, which will forestall the activities of evil. The Lord, in His great shepherd care, so safeguards His people, both collectively and individually, that He provides that which, if heeded, if taken account of, will preserve us from a danger which He sees is coming upon us. How beautifully that is illustrated in the case of Abraham. Abraham had gone with his company, and rescued his brother Lot, and the king of Sodom and all the goods that belonged to him, and it says in the book of Genesis that the king of Sodom went out to meet Abraham after he returned from the slaughter of the kings. The king of Sodom went to meet him, and, at that moment, it says Melchisedec came and “brought forth bread and wine,” and blessed Abraham, and said: “Blessed be Abram, of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” Then the king of Sodom comes and says to Abraham: “You take the goods,” and Abraham says: “I have lift up my hand to the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” You see how the Lord anticipated what Abraham would have to face. The king of Sodom offered him all the goods he had saved from the hands of the kings, but the Lord came in through Melchisedec to tell Abraham about the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth, and Abraham takes up that in faith in his soul, and says: “I will not have from a thread to a shoe latchet. I am in touch with the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” What tender consideration was in that for the danger that Abraham was in. The Lord knew what was coming, and He anticipated it with ministry that would safeguard Abraham. One is confident that the same has been true ever since. In our individual paths how often it is true. For anything that is before us God gives ministry, light, that is salvation if we heed it, in view of what He knows is coming in amongst His people.

I feel that that is just the position in this epistle to the Colossians. There is no doubt it had a direct bearing upon the assembly at Colosse. There was a condition existing there which needed this epistle to protect and help and deliver the Colossian brethren from dangers that were coming in there. Also, it is clear from the Scripture, that the Lord, and the Spirit of God, and the Apostle Paul had, even in that early day, some anxiety about Laodicea. Long before the Lord spoke or sent His epistle in the Revelation, Paul says: “I would have you know what conflict I have for them at Laodicea” (Colossians 2: 1), ‘I am in distress, in conflict, for the Laodicean brethren’. He does not tell us what led him to it. At the end of his epistle he says: “Cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans.” (Colossians 4: 16.) ‘There is something in this epistle,’ says the Apostle, ‘that the Laodicean brethren need; there is danger ahead for Laodicea, so cause that this epistle be read to the assembly of Laodicea.’ I would like to show in a few words that this epistle to the Colossians provides that for us which, if heeded, will preserve us from ever becoming Laodicean in character, and indeed, one trusts that, if we are already marked by a Laodicean spirit, the epistle, if heeded now, in conjunction with the Lord’s own word in the Revelation, will effect for us deliverance from a Laodicean state. As we have said, what marks the assembly at Laodicea (which is the closing phase of the Church’s history publicly) is indifference to Christ personally, and He is outside. If this blessed and wondrous epistle to the Colossians had been heeded when it was read (as the Apostle says it should be), a position could never have arisen in Laodicea where the Lord Jesus Christ was outside that assembly.

I would like to touch a little upon the detail that the Apostle by the Spirit gives as to Who it is that is outside. In the epistle to Laodicea, the Lord says: “Behold, I stand at the door.” This epistle develops before our hearts and minds who that “I” is. ‘Behold, I am outside.’ They had already read this epistle, and we are to take account of this epistle in order that we should be saved from ever being in the condition that leaves the Lord Jesus Christ personally outside.

The first remark we read, which the Apostle has to make about the Lord personally, is this, that He is “the Son of the Father’s love.” “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and bath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son,” or “the Son of His love.” (Colossians 1: 12-13.) That is the first word as to the Lord personally. He is the Son of the Father’s love. He is the One that the Father loves. It is said in the Gospels: “This is My beloved Son.” Think of the One whom the Father loves, and into Whose hands He has given everything and we, indifferent to Him, having no room for Him, keeping Him outside, knocking! He is the One whom the Father loves, and if the Father loves Him, surely the corollary must be that everyone should love Him. The Father loves the Son, and that blessed One whom the Father loves says to Laodicea: “Behold! I stand at the door and knock.”

Then the Apostle moves on, and says: “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even, the forgiveness of sins.” (verse 14.) This is another development of the word “I.” (”Behold! I stand...”) “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (verse 14.) The Redeemer, the blessed Redeemer, is brought before us — the One who, through His blood, has picked us up in Egypt, with all its slavery, with all its darkness, with its rivers that stank, with its frogs, and lice, and hail, and with its death; the One who came into that scene, and by His precious death redeemed us from Egypt, and brought us out of it, and in doing that cleared away our sins from before God. And we are indifferent to Him! He is outside! If we read that Scripture with our hearts, how utterly impossible that our Redeemer should be outside, knocking.

Then we read: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (verse 15.) It is still the unfolding by the Spirit of the One whom Laodicea needed. “Cause it to be read in the church of the Laodiceans.” “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” The One we were speaking of together last night, the One who is God’s perfect representative in the universe, as having become Man, He is the image of the invisible God. He represents God. Therefore He is the firstborn of all creation. He takes the place of the Head of the whole creation as God’s representative, and we are lukewarm with regard to Him! Can it be, that we do not care what place God’s representative has in our hearts? Think of the profound grace of Christ, God’s representative, knocking at our hearts. “Behold, I stand at the door, and am knocking; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” What He knocks at, dear brethren, is our hearts. It says of Lydia, “Whose heart the Lord opened.” That is what He is knocking at. He would open all our hearts, so that if the church publicly leaves Him out, you and I will not leave Him out — whether locally, as privileged to come together in the light of what is true of the whole assembly, or individually, for “If any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him.” He is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

So it goes on, “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him, all things consist.” (verses 16 and 17.) The Apostle moves on another step in the unfolding of that which Colosse, on the one hand, and Laodicea, on the other, needed. He now brings before us this glory. Just think of that! How utterly we are unable to take it in, that the Lord Jesus Christ, personally, is the Creator of the universe. There are the things in heavens, the visible things. Think of the glory of the sun as it rises and makes its heat felt in every part. The Lord Jesus Christ personally made that. And the moon and the stars of light He made. They were made by Him and for Him. And then there are the invisible things in heaven, the thrones, and principalities, and powers, and mights, and dominions. There are Gabriel, and Michael, and the innumerable company of angels, excelling in strength, all made by Him, and for Him, for His service. He could have asked, and He would have had, immediately, more than twelve legions of angels. There were more than twelve legions waiting to immediately answer His word, if He asked, because they were made by Him and for Him.

Then if we come down to the things on earth, everything here is His handiwork. The seas, and mountains, and rivers, and trees, and man, (think of the wonderful wisdom that is, expressed in man!) were all made by Him and for Him. Then think of the epistle to Laodicea — that such an one as the blessed Creator, the Creator Who is blessed for ever, should be outside the affections of the assembly — that we are indifferent and lukewarm in regard to the blessed Creator! And that He, on the other hand, in infinite grace, should stand at our hearts knocking! What a wondrous thing!

And it goes on, “He is the Head of the body, the assembly.” (verse 18.) Another glory! “The Head of the body, the assembly.” What a wonderful vessel the body is. The body, dear brethren, is here composed of all believers in Christ, who have the Spirit of God. “By one Spirit baptized into one body.” And that body is here on earth to express the character of Christ. That is the thought of the body. It is in our bodies that we are expressed. The personality lies behind everyone, but the body is the vehicle by which what we are is expressed. There is a wonderful vessel on earth for the expression of Christ. How we can see it if our minds go back to the early days? We look at a man like Stephen. We see his face shine with the light of heaven. We see him kneel down, as the stones batter his body, and we hear his prayer, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” We say, “What a marvellous, wonderful sight.” And we think of a man like Peter, there in prison with two soldiers at his side, and the immediate prospect of death, and we go in and see Peter there, asleep between the two soldiers. We say, “What a wonderful thing.” But, dear brethren, Christ is the Head of the body, and that which we so marvel at in Stephen, was derived from the Head. Stephen was one member of the body, and He is the Head of the body. That which the delight in in Peter sleeping there between two soldiers, condemned, was derived from the Head of the body. The Lord Jesus, when He was here, expressed that blessed prayer, “Father, forgive them,” and Stephen derived the thoughts of his heart from Christ. And the Lord Jesus, as the storms and the waves and the tempest rolled about Him, was asleep in the hinder part of the ship, undisturbed by the hatred and malice of Satan, asleep in confidence in God. Peter learnt how to do that, from Christ. It was not instinct in Peter and Stephen. It was derived from the Head of the body. What a wonderful person the Head of the body must be, when every single expression of Christ that has ever been given in this scene, from Pentecost until now, was derived from the Lord Jesus Christ. So it says, “He is the Head of the body, the assembly.” That is another thought, the assembly. What a wondrous thought that is! What honour and dignity men give to man’s assemblies. You take an assembly in any country, what dignity is associated with the thought that men are members of that assembly. But what of God’s assembly? God’s assembly, in which, it says, may be seen now that “unto the principalities and powers in the heavenlies might be made known in the assembly, the all-various wisdom of God.” In man’s assemblies there is the all-various wisdom that man has, but in God’s assembly, there is the “all-various wisdom of God.” Every bit of true wisdom that ever was expressed here since Pentecost is found in God’s assembly, and He is the Head of the body, the assembly, and all the wisdom, divine wisdom, that was ever in the church, came from its Head, which is Christ. Think how the Apostle longed, in his conflict, that the brethren in Laodicea should read this, and be preserved from ever being indifferent to Christ — be preserved from ever having that wondrous blessed Person outside their hearts, knocking. “Cause it to be read to the church of the Laodiceans.”

And we read further, “Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence.” (verse 18.) We cannot touch all these details; but think of that word, “the firstborn from the dead.” Mr. Raven said that, “One man out of death, was greater than a world of dead men.” One man out of death; and He is that blessed Man Who has the keys of death and of Hades — the first to rise from the dead, and to rise because of what was inherent in His own person. He said to Martha, “I am the Resurrection.” It is not a question of the last day; the Resurrection is here, in Him. He says, “I am It.” Think of a man out of death. How everybody else fades away in oblivion, as we think of the one Man out of death, with the keys of death in His hand. The Apostle says, “Cause it to be read to the Laodiceans.” And our hearts are cold, lukewarm, towards the first begotten from the dead. Think of such an One as He, knocking at our hearts, and finding no response! Oh, dear brethren, this epistle would save us from such a state. “The firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence.” How the One Who controls death, must inevitably be first in everything!

Further, it says, “For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” (verse 19.) One feels that our tiny appreciation of. Christ cannot take in such a word. It was pleasing, that in Him should all fulness dwell, that all fulness should have its permanent abode in Christ. That was what was pleasing. In respect of every other man, God is the God of measure. He measures out to each one of us, just as much as we can contain of Himself, and, so as we look back over the past of the people of God, we see how one and another had a measure of things expressed and contained in them. The Scripture speaks of “righteous” Abel. Evidently that was the great feature of Abel. He was “righteous” Abel. In his vessel, there was measured something of righteousness. He contained something of it. And Abraham is spoken of, as “faithful” Abraham. He was a man of faith. God put into that vessel, faith in measure. He measured it. It says in Romans, that God has given to every one a measure of faith. He has measured out as much light, as to Himself, as we can hold. We think of Moses; the distinctive feature of that vessel was meekness. He was the meekest man in all the earth. He contained in his vessel, a measure of meekness. We think of Solomon. We hear of the wisdom of Solomon. The Queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. In respect of Job, it says, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job.”

God is pleased to put into each one of our vessels, as much as we can contain, but, when we come to Christ, He was pleased that in Him should all fulness dwell. The whole totality of everything that was of God, abides for ever in Christ. There is nothing measured. How often, in our prayers, we speak in measure. I say “in measure” because we are conscious that everything we have is in measure. But it was pleasing, that in Him, should all fulness dwell. Righteousness, the totality of righteousness, was in Christ. Faithfulness is there in its completeness. Meekness, everything that can be expressed as to meekness, dwells in Him. Wisdom, it is all there; He is the wisdom of God. Patience, the patience of Christ, is there completely. And so everything that you can think of, that is true in God, every one of those excellencies, finds its full, complete, and entire expression in Christ. All the excellencies of the Godhead, dwell in that blessed Person completely. And do we not care what place He has got in our hearts? Are we content for Him to knock in vain? God forbid that that wonderful Person, in Whom it was pleasing that all fulness should dwell, should stand at our hearts and say “I am knocking,” and we not to open. That is the condition of Laodicea. But the Apostle, with a spiritual eye, seeing what was coming, says, “Cause this to be read to the church of the Laodiceans,” heeding which, they would have been saved from what the Lord has to say about them in His letter. “And having made peace through the blood of the cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind, by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreproveable in His sight.” (verses 20-22.) We have now, before us, another glory of Christ. The Apostle would bring before the Colossians and Laodiceans, that He is the One Who brings in reconciliation of everything in heaven and on earth; the One Who has come in, to take out of heaven and earth, every trace of alienation towards God. He is going to put out of the moral universe everything that is irreconcilable, and is going to bring in a heaven and earth completely in accord with the heart of God. In the meantime he says, “And you, that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind, by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death.” You and I, individually in the meantime, anticipating the day when everything in heaven and on earth will be in accord with God, through the work of Christ, have had taken out of our hearts, the alienation and the enmity, and we have been brought to God. The distance, and the fear and hatred that were once in our hearts towards God, have been taken away by Him. How our hearts should draw to Him in that connection. How sad that One Who has brought in reconciliation should have to say “Behold, I stand at the door, and am knocking.” One feels, in the light of these things, that if the Laodicean assembly had really read them with their hearts, they could never have reached the condition that the Lord has to speak of as true of them, in the Revelation.

God grant that everyone of us may be preserved in devoted allegiance and affection to Christ. It is as we lay hold, in our hearts, upon the unfolding of His infinite glory, so that He is more to us than anything the enemy can ever present, that we shall be preserved.