God in all His fullness
was pleased to live in Christ.
(Colossians 1:19 NLT)
Do not
take these as just words. Do understand that in every
fragment there is this truth: In the dispensation in
which you and I are now living God has come to us in all
His fullness. There is no more to be added. In His Son we
have the absolute fullness of God, and it is out of that
fullness that He speaks to us in His Son. God has only
one Son in that sense – His only-begotten Son,
which means that there is no one to come after Him.
Therefore, God's last word is in His Son. The Son brings
both the fullness and the finality of God. It is that
which gives the solemnity to this whole Letter. It says:
"If you fail to hear the voice of the Son there will
never be another voice for you. God is never going to
speak by another voice. God hath spoken in His Son, and
He is never going to speak by any other means." Hence
this Letter contains this word of warning and of
exhortation: "Because this is the fullness and this is
the end, be sure that you give heed...." To come into touch with the Lord Jesus is more than
coming into touch with a teaching: it is coming into
touch with a living, active Person. "It is God with whom
we have to do." It is a glorious thing to come into touch
with God in Christ – but it says here that "it is
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God" (Hebrews 10:31). No, it is not a book, a
teaching, a philosophy: it is a living, positive,
powerful Person....
Perhaps this is just like a window opened into
heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great
things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has
just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing –
how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation
into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal
to all that ever was before!