This is Walking With Christ. Hello, I'm Jeremy. I really appreciate you being here today. This is an expository-style devotional, and what that means is we go verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter through a book of the Bible. We do it contextually, thoughtfully, and humbly. We seek not only to understand God's Word just a little bit more, but also to apply it to our lives and let it shape how we live, think, and walk with Christ each day. Today, in our study of Colossians, we'll be looking at chapter 1, verses 18-20, continuing to explore Christ's deity, His power, and how through His sacrifice on the cross, we are reconciled to God the Father. Again, we'll be reading Colossians 1, verses 18-20, and I'll be reading from the ESV. Paul writes there, And He, speaking of Christ, is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. As we continue looking at Paul's discourse on the supremacy of Jesus Christ, we find an amazingly rich passage of Scripture here. We first see that Jesus is the head of the body, the Church. Paul referred to Christ several other times as being the head of the collective Church, such as in Ephesians 1.22 and then again in 5.23. This is a very important doctrinal understanding of Christ's position of authority over His believers, because no human is in ultimate command of God's people. Pastors and elders have a defined leadership role in guiding and caring for God's flock, but they too are servants, just like you and I, and only Christ is and forever will be the final rule and power that believers must follow. What Jesus says goes, period. And knowing this will help us avoid being led astray by false teachers, or so-called prophets who claim to speak new revelations from God, or those who claim to have some special place of authority over His church, such as we see in Catholicism. Paul also affirmed that Christ is the firstborn from the dead. After Jesus died on the cross, the Father raised Him from the grave and glorified Him. Reference Mark 16 verse 19 and Ephesians 1 verse 20. Christ is the first who wore human flesh to have experienced this special resurrection and glorification, and that's why Paul said that in everything He might be preeminent, or put another way, to be in first place. Just as He is the firstborn of creation, as we see in Colossians 1 verse 15, He is the firstborn from the dead. He's the first in the resurrection. And we too will one day experience this resurrection and glorification, and that is an amazing promise and hope that we can look forward to. We then read that in Him, Christ, all the fullness of God, the Father, was pleased to dwell. This is a very profound statement, and it's really impossible to fully unpack it here, if we could ever even do that. But there is a critically important takeaway. We must never deny that Jesus is God. Remember, Christ is not God the Father, but He is God the Son, and through His perfect obedience, the Father was pleased to have His Spirit fully dwell in the Son. This demonstrates the perfect unity of the Father and the Son as we see when Jesus stated in John 10 verse 33, I and the Father are one. And then in John 14 10 when Jesus said, Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. And again, we see this affirmed by the writer of Hebrews when he wrote, He, speaking of Jesus, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. That's Hebrews 1 verse 3. So for all intents and purposes, when we see Jesus, we see the Father. And he said that in John 14 verse 9. And every word that the Son speaks and every deed that the Son does is in the will of and by the authority and power of God the Father. For references, look up Matthew 28, verse 18, John 10, verse 18, and John 17, verse 2. And by this, we are undoubtedly shown the deity of Jesus Christ. And to make him any less like just a good teacher or maybe just a good prophet is to absolutely reject scripture and ultimately to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Paul closes out this paragraph with, And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Now, because of the similar pronouns, this is a bit of a tricky verse to unpack, but here's how I read it. And through Christ to reconcile to the Father all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of Christ's cross. And I believe this makes the most sense and is very contextual, especially as we consider what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2, verse 16. And he, speaking of Christ, might reconcile us both to God in the body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. You see, when Christ died on the cross in obedience to His Father, He fulfilled the required sacrifice for sins once and for all. We see that in Hebrews 9 verse 26 and Romans 6 verse 10. And by this single act, He reconciled us, or stated another way, brought us back to a former state of harmony with the Father. You can think of the Garden of Eden. This final and eternally enduring sacrifice brings us peace by the blood of His cross. Absolutely amazing. God's law requiring a blood sacrifice for sins was completed and made whole through Jesus bearing every one of our sins in His body. And we must also remember this includes the wrath of the Father that Jesus suffered. So the cross is even more than just the torture that the Romans inflicted. When Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In Matthew 27 verse 16, he was experiencing the full wrath and separation from his father. I really don't think we can even begin to comprehend what that was like for our Lord. But we should meditate on it for a bit because I think it will give us a greater understanding and appreciation for what the cross really meant for our Lord. In closing, we might be tempted sometimes to minimize what Jesus went through to save us, but I really hope this serves as a powerful reminder that His sacrifice was heaven-shaking. Let's try never to take Christ's work for granted and instead strive to live every day with an attitude of thanksgiving, of praise, adoration, and worship of our Lord Jesus Christ for what He endured for us to be reconciled to the Father. Thanks so much for spending a few minutes with me in God's Word today. As you go about the rest of your day, I do hope you'll consider the words of Paul in Colossians 2 verse 6. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. I pray the Lord strengthen you to follow Him faithfully, step by step, as you keep walking with Christ. Have a blessed day.