[SW399] 10/12/2019 message notes by
Pastor Susan J. Wynn ©2019
“The Real Jesus Christ — Part 3”
Text: Colossians 1:18-20, etc.
After my message two weeks ago, Lord showed me that I should now break Colossians 1:13-23 into a few verses at a time, and teach “The Real Jesus Christ” as a series.
The church is flooded with many strange teachings about who Jesus is. I will not directly refute such false teachings in this message, but will use the Word of God to show today’s believers “The Real Jesus Christ.”
The Spirit-filled Paul did the same, with the believers at Colossae. Just like many of today’s believers, they had abandoned the true teaching of Paul, and were accepting false teaching about Jesus Christ.
They thus revealed that they were still infants in Christ (1Corinthians 3:1), unable to discern the true from the false. They were accepting another Jesus, and a different gospel. Paul exhorted the believers at Corinth —
2Corinthians 11:4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.
I will now show you the real Jesus Christ, from Colossians 1:18-20.
Verse 18 —
He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
I will separate this verse into two sections.
Verse 18a —
He (Jesus Christ) is also head of the body, the church. He alone is the Authority.
Why is He the head of the body, the church? Because He is King over His kingdom. And it is His kingdom to which all believers belong.
It is a scriptural truth that He appoints apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11), to bring the Body of Christ to the point of being filled with the Spirit (see Ephesians 4:12-13). But they are not the head of the church. Jesus Christ is the Head, and they are simply His servants who He has assigned to exhort His Body to be filled, and to teach and encourage them.
So, He is the Head, and you are part of the Body of Christ, which is the church. Just as a headless human body cannot remain alive, if you are not connected to Him, you cannot remain spiritually alive. God has not changed — sin will separate you from your God (Isaiah 59:1-2), disconnecting you from Him.
Beloved, in order to remain connected to Him, you must obey His command to stay (Luke 24:49) and wait (Acts 1:4-5) to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When you do, your sin nature is crucified, so you no longer disobey the Lord.
As the Head, Jesus Christ tells the His Body — the church — what to do. A human body requires a brain in order to know what to do. You must be connected to Christ in order to know what to do, and to have His power and wisdom to do it. Sadly, many believers are disconnected from Him, and do natural works in their own power and wisdom. God is not glorified by such things!
Verse 18b —
. . . And He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He will come to have first place in everything . . . First place means “preeminence,” first in rank, a superlative. Again it means that He is the Authority, the Head, of His church.
As I have taught before, in no way does “firstborn” mean there was a time when He was not God the Son, but was a mere human. As Paul and John and I have already said, Jesus Christ has eternally existed with God the Father.
He is the beginning — the first One — to be raised from the dead, defeating death. He ascended to God the Father, 40 days after He rose from the dead.
He is the first One. Therefore, others will also defeat death. Who? Obedient believers! For such ones, death has no victory, death has no sting, as Paul writes in 1Corinthians 15:54! I will take you there, after I show you a few other scriptures that explain what happens to believers when they die.
The physical bodies of obedient believers will “fall asleep” and be buried. But from the moment they die, their spirits will immediately be with the Lord! The Spirit-filled Paul writes —
2Corinthians 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
As for our resurrected bodies, Paul writes —
1Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep (that is, believers whose bodies have died). 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also (all) in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
And at the end of things, believers bodies will be raised, but their resurrected bodies will not be like the body that was buried. They will receive a spiritual body that is not at all like a physical body. Listen to Paul’s words about these things —
1Corinthians 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
1Corinthians 15:54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (See Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14.)
Verse 19 —
For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him . . .
When I preached Colossians 1:13-23 a couple of weeks ago, I believed that this verse was simply a reference to Jesus Christ being filled with the Holy Spirit, as an example to us of what believers are commanded by Him to do. But when I studied it again for today’s message, the Lord showed me something I had not seen.
Per The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, I now see that the meaning here is much more profound. It pleased the Father to have “the fullness of deity” permanently dwell in Jesus Christ, God the Son, when He walked the earth.
“The fullness of deity” means Jesus Christ was fully God when He walked the earth. He was all that God is, having absolutely every aspect of God the Father’s godhood, and doing what only God can do.
So, I have learned something new! But it must be supported by other scriptures. And my deeper understanding of the meaning of “all the fullness to dwell in Him” is confirmed by Paul later in Colossians —
Colossians 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority . . .
The Father is always pleased to fulfill His Word. But beloved, do you know what will please the Father now? Your obedience to Jesus Christ’s command to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When you obey Jesus’ command, God the Father will fulfill His Word, spoken in Isaiah 44:3, Jeremiah 31:31-33, and in this passage from Ezekiel —
Ezekiel 36:26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
When He puts His Spirit within you, that means you are filled with His Spirit. It is only then that you become a partaker (sharer) of the divine nature. You are not God, but God the Father and God the Son permanently and fully indwell you (John 14:23).
Therefore, you walk in the same manner as Jesus walked (1John 2:6) and are as He is in this world (1John 4:17). That is what Jesus means, when He says, “And you will be my witnesses,” (see Acts 1:8). You will be a living representation of Him!
Verse 20 —
. . . And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
“Reconciled” in this verse means “to fully establish peace.” Through Jesus Christ’s blood, God the Father opened the way for peace between you and Him. The condition? You must believe into Jesus Christ.
It is by His shed blood that you are fully reconciled to God the Father —
Isaiah 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being (peace with God) fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed (in our relationship with God).
Jesus Christ not only made the way for peace to fully be established between God and you, but at the end of things, He will establish a new heavens (universe) and a new earth, to replace that which has been corrupted from the moment the Lord judged Adam for His sin.
The old earth and heavens will be destroyed in this way —
2Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
And John saw the revelation of the new heavens and new earth —
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
“Reconcile all things to Himself” does not mean that all people will automatically be reconciled to God even those who have rejected God the Son. But that if they believe into God the Son, they will be reconciled, and no longer under God’s wrath, as John the Baptist says —
John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Remember, beloved, it is only through belief into Jesus Christ, God the Son, that God the Father rescues you from evil control and transfers you to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).
You were saved when you believed into Jesus Christ. Remember, though, that your salvation is conditional, per Colossians 1:23 and elsewhere. I will show it to you next week.
So, the cost of your reconciliation with God the Father was the very blood of Jesus Christ. But the Father was pleased to do it, because it fulfilled His Word that He would make a way for you to be at peace with Him —
Isaiah 53:10 But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief;
if He would render Himself as a guilt offering . . .
Jesus Christ Himself refers to the truth that His blood would signify a new covenant, a new promise, a new contract between God and all who believe into Him —
Matthew 26:26 While they (He and His disciples) were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”
Yet many denominations refuse to speak of the blood shed on the cross by Jesus Christ. They teach a bloodless salvation, which contradicts the Bible entirely. Such ones do not know the Lord at all, but only know some things about Him!
Now, what will you do with what the Lord has asked me to show you?
Do you see that the Lord asked me to show this to you because of all of the false teaching about Jesus in today’s church?
Do you see that He is the Head of His body, the church at large? Do you see that in many churches, He is not the Head, or they would not say what they say and do what they do — things completely contrary to the Word of God? Do you see that such ones do not know the Lord, but only know some things about Him?
Do you see that much of the church teaches, at best, only part of the real Jesus? Do you see that such ones do not know the Lord, but only know some things about Him?
Do you understand that some churches go so far as to say that Jesus needs our help in order to save people? Do you see that they do not know Jesus, but only know some things about Him?
I tell you the truth, He does not need our help, but the Father and the Son have chosen to use humans who are filled with His Holy Spirit, who obey Him and who are representations of Him! Do you see that when you are a living representation of Him, it will be obvious that it is God’s work, and God will thereby be glorified?
Do you see that in many churches, teachers, preachers, prophets and leaders seek to be glorified, and thus they do not glorify God in any way? Again, do you see that such ones do not know the Lord, but just know a few things about Him?
Do you see that much of the church teaches that Jesus is like us, and had fears and worries and even depression? They do it so you can “identify” better with Him, and to make Him more user-friendly and acceptable to you. Thus they reveal they do not know Him, but only know some things about Him?
I have shown you that He never was like us, but eternally was fully God, and was fully God on the earth, and is fully God now! Again, do you see that ones that teach that “Jesus is like us” do not know Him?
The Lord has set my hand to teach you the real Jesus Christ, so you would no longer follow a Jesus that is false. So, I will continue, in all my messages, to do what He has called me to do.
Lord Jesus, may believers who see and hear this message also see the truth, repent from following falsehood, and ask You to forgive them and fill them, so they are Your living representatives here. So be it. Amen.
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