The other day I was reading about two people who were once enemies, who couldn’t stand each other, but then a mutual friend brought the two together, and they are now good friends. This happens occasionally in the political world, where two opposing political heads of state are brought together by a third party. This happened when President Jimmy Carter brought the two enemies, Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and Menachem Begin of Israel together, and brokered a peace agreement between the two. Sometimes this happens between fighting neighbors or even family members. In today’s Scripture passage from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we read of an even greater restoration of peace between two, formerly opposing parties.
As our Scripture opens, Paul reminds us that before we came to Christ, we were alienated from God, and were enemies of Him, unrighteous aliens (vs. 21). All mankind was since the time of the Fall of Adam. We had wrong thinking and evil behavior. Being an enemy of God is a very precarious position, and if left in that condition, will bring eternal death. However, because God loved us so much, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bring reconciliation. God, through Christ’s atonement, brought man, who was at odds with Him, back to a peaceful, proper relationship with Him.
The status as God’s enemy changes when one accepts Jesus as their Savior. He reconciles us to God. We can now be presented to Him as holy, without blemish, and free from accusation (vs. 22). When we are saved, who we once were is no longer who we are now. We are given a new status as God’s people, now made presentable by the all-sufficient work of Jesus on the cross. We are given a divine pardon for our sins.
Paul now urges us to stand firm in our faith and God’s truth. We are encouraged to not drift from the faith, and to instead, nurture our connection with Jesus (vs 22-23). As believers, we now need to live the faith and hope of the Gospel.
There was a heretical teaching that was going around, even as early as Paul’s day, that taught that Jesus was a spirit, and not really a true human. However, as we read in verse 22, Jesus had a body of flesh, which literally died upon the cross. Jesus wasn't just a spirit, but was a true human being. His physical body actually died. He suffered death fully as a human so that we could be assured that He died in our place. Jesus faced death as God so that we could be assured that His sacrifice was complete, and that He truly removed our sin.
In spite of His death on the cross, Jesus’ enemies had not gotten their fill of inflicting injury on Him. So they turned their hatred on those who preached the Gospel, and those who believed in Him (vs. 24). As believers, and now part of the Body of Christ, when we suffer, Jesus suffers as well. Suffering is unavoidable in bringing the Gospel to the world. We can endure it joyfully because it brings people to salvation.
Because of the finished work of the cross, we are now one with Christ Jesus, and co-heirs of His glorious inheritance (Romans 8:15-17). All that the Father has given to Jesus, the Holy Spirit transmits to those who are His children by faith (John 16:15).
Every true believer has the Lord Jesus Christ living inside of them (vs. 27). We were once dead - dead in our sins, dead from any relationship with God. But God takes dead things and makes them alive again when we come to Him. We may seem like we’re in a “dead” situation right now, with any type or sort of problems going on in our life. However, no matter how desperate our situation may seem, there is nothing buried deep enough to keep out the resurrection power of Jesus. He is our sustenance and daily provision, and He is in us right now.
Jesus came to annihilate the work of Satan. The One who holds the authority over all the power of the enemy lives inside of every Christian. We are His temple (I Corinthians 6:19). Jesus doesn’t just walk with us, He indwells within us (Galatians 2:20: I John 4:15). He abides in us. Since God’s presence is inside of us, so also is His power to deliver us, and set us free from every bondage. We can rejoice in this truth, for as Paul stated, Christ in us, the hope of glory!
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