(Revised notes of an address.)
Scriptures read Colossians 1:23-29; Colossians 2:1-3.
The Epistle to the Colossians brings specially before us the greatness of the Person of Christ. Ephesians is more occupied with the place and blessings into which God has brought us in the riches of His grace, but here it is the glory of the blessed Son of God. Because of the danger at Colosse, where the enemy was endeavouring to draw the hearts of the saints away from Christ and to let go the reality of His Headship, the Apostle Paul, according to the wisdom and discernment given to him by God, presented to them the Son of the Father's love in His pre-eminence. How precious it is beloved, to be thus occupied with Him who is the nursling of the Father's love, who glorified God in all His pathway through this world, and who now sits down at the Father's right hand above.
Once we were under the authority of darkness, but in the sovereign work of the Father we have been delivered from it, and we have been brought into the sphere where love is predominant. Here it is that we learn God's thoughts of love, while awaiting the moment of entering the Father's presence, where we shall have our portion with the saints in light, having already the fitness for it in the work of the Father's grace. It is very precious that the Apostle begins with the relationship of the Son to the Father when opening out the wide range of His glories before us. And it is to this great Person, the Son of the Father's love, the Head of the body, that we have been united. If the truth of this is maintained in our souls we shall be preserved from the dangers to which the Colossian saints were prone. Here we are in the place of responsibility, and there must be the maintenance of what the Gospel has brought to us.
Colossians 1:23. The hope of the Gospel is what lies before us in the place to which God has called us, and where we soon shall be in company with His Son. Israel's hopes were earthly, but the hope that has been brought to us is heavenly, as we read in verse 5. The Christian has all his blessings with Christ in another world, and the Apostle brings this before the Colossian saints so as to have them occupied with Christ in heaven. Paul was specially called to be minister of this Gospel, and it entailed great sufferings for him; but he can say, "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you." All this suffering was for the Colossians, but it was also for us, that the Gospel with all its blessings and heavenly hope might be brought to us. How wonderful it is that he can rejoice in all the great suffering he passed through, but it was because of the great privilege given to him to "fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ — for His body's sake, which is the church." We know that Christ suffered on the cross, securing the redemption that gives us the forgiveness of sins, so that we might be brought to heavenly glory. Here we learn of Paul's sufferings to bring to the saints the truth of the church as the body of Christ, and all about Christ as the Head of the body. When on the way to Damascus he was laid hold of by Christ, who said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" This was the first intimation of the saints on earth being united to Christ as Head of the body.
Colossians 1:26-27. This great mystery, of which the Apostle was minister, had been hid from ages and generations, but now God desired to make known to His saints all the riches of the glory it contained. It is indeed blessed to know Christ as the Head of the body, and to know that He now dwells in the affections of His saints down here. Every feature of this great truth is given to us in testimony from God in the present dispensation. It tells us of Him who loves to dwell in us, who engages our hearts that our praises, adoration and worship might ascend to the Father. These things could only outflow through Him who dwells in the midst of His own. In the 20th of John, when Christ came into the midst of His disciples, He showed them His hands and His side. Now He dwells among His own, and He is the hope of glory. At the present time, the Spirit of God is educating us, bringing before us the greatness of Christ in all His pre-eminence, and in all that He is for the pleasure of the Father.
Colossians 1:28-29. All the enemies of God and of His truth were set against the Apostle because of the wonderful testimony that he bore. Nothing less than presenting every man perfect in Christ Jesus was before him; it was not enough to rescue men from the judgment of God; he desired every one to be brought to maturity in the truth of God. He had no strength of his own for this; but the mighty power of God, working in him mightily, enabled him to meet and overcome all the antagonism and all the opposition, so as to fulfil the commission given to him among the Gentiles.
In Colossians 2:1 we see how the Apostle brings the sufferings through which he passed before the Colossian saints. All his conflicts were for them, for the saints of Laodicea, who were nearest to them, but also for as many as had not seen him face to face. If the truth regarding Christ as the Head of the body was to reach us, it must be through great conflict and suffering for the one who brought it, for all the power of the enemy would have prevented it coming to us, if that had been possible. How we should value the truth that cost the Apostle so much! We should not hold the truth lightly that has been brought through depths of suffering that we shall never pass through.
Colossians 2:2. What a blessed thing it is beloved, to see saints of God comforted and encouraged by the presentation of these things that relate to the glory of Christ. Here, the Apostle desires to encourage the saints to go in for the great truths he had brought before them, by telling them of what it cost him to bring the truth to them. He would have them knit together in love, in the power of the divine nature, and so together enter into the truth God had brought before them. If we are knit together in divine love, all that which is of the flesh will have no place. In the 45th Psalm, the King says, "Hearken, O daughter, and consider." As He spoke to her, He desired her beauty. There was the moral reflection in her of what He was to her, and He wanted her for Himself. Like Abraham of old, we are to get rid of all the ties that bound us to this scene, so that we might be altogether for Him.
Colossians 2:3. God desires that we should go in for the things that are abiding, for what lies outside the realm of man's knowledge, for the full-knowledge of the mystery of God. How great is this wonderful secret that lay from eternity in the heart of God! Everything was planned by God from the outset; all that He is working out now was in the divine counsel before time began. Herein are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Ephesians we have "The mystery of His will;" what God is going to do in the coming day. God is behind all that is taking place today, and all will assuredly serve His purpose. What will it be for the Father when He sees the working out of His counsels, when the One who was despised and set aside at Calvary shall come forth wearing many crowns on His brow for a thousand years! That glory is the end for which God is working. When that has served its purpose, then God will bring in new heavens and a new earth, where God shall be all in all; where He shall tabernacle with men; where He shall rest in His love for evermore.
R. Duncanson.