Thank you for being here. We are in collagens. We've proceeded past verse 16. It took us five weeks to do that, but we're going to now review verse 16 and continue into verse 17, 18, 19, and 20. The notes are online underneath the live feed on generationword.com. I'll start just by reading the context here out of the NIV Bible. And what we're going to see tonight as we go through this, just a preliminary, is two things. Creation... where jesus has uh... preeminence jesus has authority he is the the the firstborn because he existed before creation and also made creation we're going to shift from talking about creation and jesus uh... superiority in creation to what will say the new creation or the recreation, or to be summed up, the church, which is going to be based on redemption. And in the same place, Jesus has moved on. He has also now recreated and receives the same supremacy and authority here in the new creation as we move into the new age. And so a new age in the sense of the age of redemption. So you can hear those right here as we read through these verses tonight. I'll begin in chapter 1 verse 9 of Colossians. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord, and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light." Again, that's what we're talking about. He has shared us to participate in this new creation, the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves in whom we have redemption. And this whole section here that we're talking about is leading towards the explanation of redemption. that we have redemption which is the forgiveness of sins. And now we begin the greatest set of verses about Christ and Christology that may exist in the New Testament. In these verses there's no doubt that Jesus is god that no doubt that god is living in jesus dwelling in jesus of course as christians that's orthodox teaching but a lot of times when you start getting the image of well there's god in heaven and then there's this messenger that he sent as jesus and he's better than us but he's not quite god now in these verses jesus is God. He created the universe, He created the visible and the invisible, but then He entered that creation to save all of it out of death, and so now He became part of the created world. So here it is. He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. And again, firstborn meaning He has the largest part of the inheritance. He is the one that inherits creation because He created. The firstborn over all creation, for by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, Whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. Verse 17, he is before all things and in him all things hold together. And that is the last verse that we're right now discussing. the creation order, and now we switch to the new creation in this next verse. After saying, He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Verse 18, And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all of His fullness dwell in Him. A big word, dwell. and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Verse 21, we'll pick this up next week, once you are alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior, but now He has reconciled you. And that's the idea that you are now part of, you're part of this creation that fell, but Jesus Christ now has made a new creation of which you are part of, and this is now an expanding program. Okay, with that being said, those are the verses that we're gonna look at the general context. of page one of your notes i've got written out here beginning in verse ten eleven twelve i've got the english standard written down there and the main main point about that is that the bottom of pages says the greatest new testament crystal christology passages on christology uh... page to is chapter one verse fifteen He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. The ideal of image is He's the representation and the manifestation of God. So right there, it's going to say it several times that He is God. He is the image of the invisible God. So you can't see the invisible God, but here He is in flesh, living among us. uh... and also as we go through this one thing you'll notice this whole idea of the new creation it focuses on his death on the cross by his blood there's no reference in this conversation about his resurrection his exaltation is being seated in heaven it's right here he created all this as creator but now in the new creation he's come and joined it as a man And God, dwelling as a man, went to the cross, suffered, died, and was delivered from the dead. But it ends there as far as we still have the ascension being seated. But this focuses on His work as a man. Turning to page 3 of the notes, Again, the firstborn there is a word that pops up a couple times. That just means a priority in the creation. He's the heir of it, a special place. And then, of course, our famous verse, verse 16, that we spent so much time on at the bottom of page 3. And there's three things in this verse. I'll point them out to you again. For Him they were created, by Him they were created for Him, And by Him they are created, through Him they are created, and for Him they are created. For by Him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. This is talking about everything, the natural creation and the spiritual creation, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. Again, keep those in mind. That's the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. All things were created through Him and for Him. So they're created by Him, they're created through Him, and the purpose of it is they are for Him. So everything exists for Christ. He created it in His mind, He did the work, and He did it for Himself. So everything should be. And that's going to come up in one of the last words here, the word, peace, through His blood. The word peace, as we know, it doesn't just mean no warfare. It doesn't just mean there's no conflict. Peace is going to, it's similar to shalom, is the ideal of being in the right place, the right relationship. everything is as it should be. And when it talks about through His blood bringing peace, He's going to have created everything by Himself, through Himself, and for Himself, and things have fallen. Now in this new creation, He's going to establish peace. He's going to line everything back up to its right relationship where it was supposed to be in relationship not just with each other not just between nations much more than that everything's in its right relationship with the one who created it and for the purpose that he created these things and so when we get to the word peace and that's a that's a strange word we talk about peace and uh we want peace, but there's no such thing as peace on this side of history except if we can have a relationship with God. Because any kind of peace you've got is not natural on this side of creation. After the fall, the first thing that happens is death comes in and then conflict. This is not an age of peace. Everything in this age is out of sync with its right original creation purpose. That is why he's going to have the new creation. And that's what it talks about. We were created by God, our next verse next week, verse 21, we were created by God, but the first thing that happens is we become His enemies. And we are born as enemies of God, and we live as enemies of God with a sin nature. In this new creation, we've been restored, and yet it's still developing. So we're heading towards this peace. We should not think that we've got, if you have, again, we're blessed in America right now, But if we think, ah, this is the way it should be, it should be normal peace, no conflict, it's just a temporary cover of a bigger disaster coming. And sometimes it can be very deceptive in the sense that, well, everything's okay here, I've got relationships with people here, I've got finances here, I just live my life, I die and go to heaven. well understand if you didn't if you went through your whole life and just kind of maintained relationships with no like peace with god back in the right relationship you're going to have this facade of this people we call peaceful culture ripped away to enter into the chaos of a world in rebellion or a universe in rebellion towards god outside of this new creation i'm i fear thousands of people are entering that daily as they leave this peaceful world that they live in of suburb america and and they enter into the the demonic realm of what's going on out there in the spiritual without christ uh... it would have to be a a hideous thing okay uh... turning to page four please may we look in here it says okay there it is page four point four by him through him for him all things were created and then page five here we go our new material chapter one verse seventeen continuing to talk about the original creation, the natural things, and he is before all things, the key word being before, and then all things, it's the Greek word panton meaning everything, all things, and in him all things hold together. So two things, he is before all things in creation, uh... the idea there you can see i've got the first no right there it's the word pro means i can refer to place or time he is before things in place he is before things in time they both can be used here uh... in as far as in place he is in front of all things meaning there's nothing that exists that he's not in front of it is far as like first-place priority and then in reference to time there's nothing that exists if it be in the natural world or if it be in the spiritual realm that can be before him in time he is existing in time or in existence before they came in so it says and he is before all things that refer to as far as uh... you know uh... authority, place, prominence, or even in time. So he's before all things. And then a huge phrase right there in the English, hold together, comes from one Greek word, which is sunisto. It means hold together. It means to command, to establish, to stand near, to consist, It's a combination of two Greek words, sin, S-Y-N, meaning union or together, and to stand. So in him, or through him, all things stand together. A great translation, I'm just trying to add some color to it, some understanding. A great translation is hold together. And we're gonna talk more about this. We get our word from the Greek word there, we get our word system. from this. And so the world, you can see it in the beginning, it became a cosmos. It became an orderly system. And we see, we still enjoy the rising of the sun. I mean, every time, once in a while you think about it, especially this time of year, the sun rises earlier and it's like, the sun comes up, it's like, well, it was dark, but here comes the sun. even before i'm ready for it the system here comes this i mean this is not like a big revelation it's like yes the sun does come up every morning uh... but the planets are rotating the seasons come and go uh... our bodies function their systems in creation that were established by Him because He is before all things. He established just in our natural world our blood system, the solar system, the seasons, the different systems that just function. Well, He is now the system that is holding all these systems together. He created them, but you can create something, and we see it happening as things, we put things together. I built the deck a few years ago, but every once in a while I've got to go out and stain it, I've got to maintain it, I've got to now maintain the deck. Because if I just left the deck go, it would deteriorate, it would fall apart, things need to be repaired, so I have to maintain it. Well, the same thing in creation. He created the world, and this would be a deist. A deist, as we know, is someone that thinks God created the world and then just walked away. And it's just functioning as it is. The Bible does not talk about God, a believer should think about God as a deist, that there is just a God that created the universe, but a theist, who created the world, is the creator, but is also the one sustaining it, still holding it together. He's imminent, but He's also transcendent. And this is talking about this right here. He created the system, He created the solar system, but this verse says he is standing the is still standing together it is still holding together because christ not only is the the firstborn he is also the one holding it together which means he is christ is active in our universe today if he walked away It would go into, instead of being a cosmos, which means, or that's where we get the English word, makeup, you know, cosmetics, you make up your face, you organize your face. He has organized and is maintaining organization. Without Christ, the cosmos would become a chaos. It would become chaotic. All kinds of strange things would happen. And you can see chaos in our universe. You can see chaos in our bodies. When a person gets sick, that's chaos. It's the systems not functioning right. If something strange happens in the weather pattern, that is the chaos. And that's what I was talking about earlier. We have chaos Okay, oh boy. Oh boy CH there he goes chaos. Oh something didn't look right Chaos here because we are not in the age of peace We are not in the age of of the of the cosmos now Christ is holding things together, but he's holding things together under the influence or alongside of the fact that Adam and Eve sinned and Death and decay entered the world. So in the organized system that he put together man allowed chaos to come in, and chaos is running and active. And so, to keep the whole world of everything just unraveling, Christ is still, in His grace, holding things together. And there's some more things we'll look at here. That's that point, too. point to be english gets the word system from this greek word and jesus is the system that holds the systems of our creative world together and this may be important because of coming after verse sixteen remember what they're called the uh... the angelic rulers the rulers, the dominions, the powers, the authorities. That sounds like the system leaders, those that are holding the system together. Remember, angels were placed in positions of authority for certain things that they were to do. Some left their place and rebelled, and they were judged for it. But we use a classic example of the angel that's standing at the Euphrates waiting for the very day and hour to drive the Euphrates for the way for the kings of the east to come. I mean, they were given a place of authority. So in a sense, they're part of the system that God or Christ has placed in position to organize and help supervise the system. But they themselves are not the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. want to be the system but they themselves are part of the system controlled by him and they want us to think that they control the system and so again that point to be the second point there it is not the system assembled by the thrones and powers and rulers or authorities it is christ that holds together the system of the spiritual powers along with the system of the created universe And that goes sometimes without thinking. We just think we're naturalists. We just think nature takes care of itself. Well, nature didn't create itself. It was created by Christ. Nature doesn't take care of itself. It's a system to take care of itself, but that system is overseen and controlled and held into place by Christ himself. That's what it says. chapter one verse seventeen and he is before all things and in him all things hold together or all the systems are under his system uh... point three jesus appeared to create because he is prior to creation and jesus is currently holding the universe together uh... Point five, the Son is not only the beginning and the functioning system. I think we've said all these things already. Ah, here's a nice thing, 5A. So Jesus is not only the creator of a system, he is also the means by which the system continues. And point C, is this the only place you see this information in the New Testament? Now listen to Hebrews 1. He, Jesus, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. So He is the exact imprint, He is the nature of God, is Christ. and he christ upholds the universe by the word of his power that's the same idea he upholds the universe he upholds the system by the power of his word and then point d just the classic thing to say right here is because jesus because of jesus creation is the cosmos uh... which means order and world system instead of the chaos okay page six that's that is the and Verse 17, it's still the song, the verses about Christ and how great He is continue, but chapter 1, verse 17 ends the part where we talk about Him and creation, of Him being supreme over creation because He's the firstborn, but also the fact that He's holding it together. And all of a sudden, chapter 1, verse 18, we switch. we switch to now it's going to be it's going to be said the church and this can become confusing because when you think church you think of the building on the corner and the people that gather and they got it a fellowship hall and they have their activities and and it's it's like okay church let's let's think what you want but church is uh the born will uh... born-again jesus says i will build my church and the gates of haiti's will not prevail against it they are the recreated they are the first of the recreated they are the new creation now we're heading to a new heaven and a new new heaven in a new earth uh... all things are to be made new but it begins with those who are born again which began with jesus being raised from the dead so jesus became part of the creation that went into chaos he joined with it paid the price for again don't let me read too much into this but he paid the price for our sins he paid the price for my sins but he also paid the price for the restoration of the entire system that has gone into rebellion the entire universe he has paid the price now some of it Through is going to be we can go through individuals like we'll just say man Man is going to have a choice now depending if you're calvinistic or if you're not calvinistic But let's say some men can respond. They're not automatically part of the new creation. They've got to enter the new creation through christ now the angels that sinned they have no choice. They are going to be destroyed. They are going to be sent off. Man has a choice, but the earth The created world, we can see in Romans chapter 8, we'll look at some verses, the creation is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed so it can be restored. So the earth is not going to be like, well, it's got to make a choice, which tree wants to accept Christ and which tree is going to reject Christ. No, when the sons of God, when this new creation is implemented, the whole creation is brought into the glory of God. Which it also is going to say here everything in heaven and on earth So that's a again a confusing thing or it's bigger than we think Uh, I mean many times again. We just think jesus christ died on the cross for the sins of man, which is true But this death and resurrection him joining in creation and going to the cross pouring out his blood is going to give us salvation. It's going to pay for our sins, but it's going to do, well, let's read these verses, it's going to do much more. So when we read church, you know, think more of just what we think of the, the body of Christ, those believers think more of this, the born again, the recreated, even the new creation that he is going to begin. Let's see, see how this reads. But we switch from the natural creation and him being the head of the natural creation, holding it together, to now we come to his work, the recreation, which begins with us. chapter 1 verse 18, and he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning. We already said that. He is the beginning. We already said he is the firstborn. He is the beginning. We are talking about creation. He has preeminence in creation. Why are we saying it again? Because we have switched subjects from creation to the new creation he is the head of the body the church he is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent now we know he's preeminent because before all things were created he was already in existence okay that's established and we know that he's holding everything together but also or in chapter one verse eighteen and Now, in the new creation, it's the same thing. He is going to be the creator of the new creation, and he's going to be the head or the ruler of the new creation. So here we go, chapter point one. I've got circled there these words, and you should pick this first circled word up in the Greek, and it's translated beginning. Now you may notice that because rulers and authorities, the rulers and authorities, principalities and powers or dominions, the word ruler, chapter 1 verse 16, we spent five weeks talking about that, that is the word arche translated ruler. but here the word rk is translated beginning you can go over to chapter uh... which versus it looking here yet uh... chapter two verse fifteen once again we'll get in a minute where it says he disarmed the rulers and authorities that word rulers in chapter two verse fifteen is rk which is translated rulers here it is RK translated beginning so this could be right here and he is the head of the body the church. He is the ruler It could be he is the ruler, the firstborn from the dead. So you could say he is the ruler of the church, but this translation, following the flow of this entire thing, is not saying he's the ruler. This whole Christology writing, starting in verse 15, is not saying Jesus is the ruler. It definitely says he's God, but the whole idea is He's the beginning. He's the originator. It all began with Him. And if you read the rest of the verse, He is the beginning, or He is the ruler, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent, meaning He's going to be the one that establishes and everything's going to follow Him. So translations, they're not going to use the word a ruler there they're going to use the word beginning and so you just so you see that so that's one important word the other is firstborn uh... in the first one is going to have to do with you know being the the one that gets the greatest share of the inheritance or the one that gets the inheritance and then uh... the word act ek in the in the english uh... is uh... is the word out from out from the dead so he is the beginning the firstborn out of the dead he was with the dead in other words he joined in the chaos of the creation to the place that he joined death and then from that position he is resurrected out of the dead and says okay now we're gonna do it the second time we're going to do it again and that is where we get our redemption and everything is going to follow him out of out of the death so here it is and he is the head of the body the church he is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent um and i got that first point is the switch is made here uh the son jesus is not only the creator and sustainer of the universe he is now also quote the head of the body Now again I've got it coming up here we need to be careful with the idea of the body or the head of the body because again you don't have to you don't have to agree with me but I do want you to to think about this because the natural idea the head of of the body. I've even got the verses written down there. In 1 Corinthians, he talks about the body. The church is the body of Christ. He's the head, and he's the leader. He's the one that is the ruler. He's the one making the decisions. He is the head, and we're all part of the body. That's indeed Paul. but in this he's writing that same way but in this case right here the head of the body is going to be the ideal of being the first he's going to be the prototype he's going to be the one that everything is going to follow he is going to be there First he's the head. I would he was the one that he would say I was the first out of the dead and I'm going to set the standard and so head can have the ideal of the ruler the authority where all the Decisions are made or it can mean as we've been this whole thing is about he's setting the standard for where this is heading So keep that in mind that we'll look at that again And church, this makes sense, is the word, as you know, ecclesia. That's the word for church, ecclesia. It means the called out ones. And we go back to the way it was used in the Greek culture, the Roman world. where you had the the leadership of the city would be citizens that were called out to meet together and have the city council meeting. They were the called out one. They were the assembly, the one that were gathered together to make decisions. They were the ones that came out of the community into this assembly. Now, stay with me on that ecclesia. We are in the created world that has fallen And God said, Jesus says, I will build my ecclesia. I will build my church. And we think right away, because we know 2,000 years later, what the church is. The church is a building with a pulpit. It's got pews, or it's got chairs, or it's got a worship band. It's got a staff. It's got a bookstore. And it's got, you know, somewhere it's going to have potato salad. I mean, it's just, this is a church. Which church do you go to? It's church. But that's, in our church, I mean, church, if you says, where's the church, which church? And I would say, it's on this corner or it's down two blocks and over this way. I'm gonna send you to a building. Or which church you go to? Well, I'm gonna think of this, this is the pastor and these are the people right here. And so you see the word church, We use it in the Bible. We use it in our language. Today it refers to a building, a group of people. It refers to, well, I'm going to say church. And what did you see? That's what you see. The word church is ecclesia. It means the called out ones. They were in this group and they're called out to meet here uh... it could be citizens that are called out of the general citizenship to meet here and be the leaders of the city they were where they would gather together okay In the created world, he now is the head of the church. And the created world, everyone has fallen, everyone is sinful. He says, I will build my ecclesia, I will build my called out ones, and he's gonna take from here, and he's gonna call them out into the new, or the recreation. And now, this is the called out ones. you were here but you've been called out to join the new creation the rebirth you've been called out to be born again like who well like jesus he was dead and he's the first born from the dead think this is the dead the the fallen world is the dead jesus joined this entered death, and then was the first one out of death. There it is. Now you've got Christ is now the fullness of God in bodily form, joined the world, died, and then left the dead. And He is the firstborn. And now he is the head of the church. Who's the church? The church means Ecclesia, the called out ones. Now he's calling us out. Join him in the recreation. And so now you've got to find a building to go to and sit in a pew or join the ministry. It's like, no, no, no, no. You've been called out of the dead fallen world into the recreation. Now, this is hard to understand because We're still living in this right here, the now, but not yet. We're still living in this age, having been seated with Christ in heavenly places, but yet there's not a new world because it's developing, it's coming, we're waiting for the fullness. And so, well here, let's read it again. And he is the head of the body, which is what? The called out ones. He is the beginning. of the called out ones, or the church. He is the first born from the dead, which means there's going to be a second, third, and fourth born. There's going to be a whole group born from the dead. that in everything he might be preeminent. Meaning here he was preeminent because he was before creation. He created by himself, through himself, for himself. It went into death. Okay, I'll now save it for myself. He enters it, becomes a man, the very image of God, the very essence of God, becomes a man, then dies, but is brought out of death into the new creation, the born again, and now he's going to build his church. And Hades can't do anything about it. He's going to now take people out of here and bring them into the new creation. And that's kind of where this verse is heading, because it's the glory of the whole thing. So point four, Uh, yeah point three just the church's ecclesia come come from the first creation into the new creation Uh point four jesus has supremacy in creation chapter 1 verses 6 through 17 Has supremacy in redemption, so don't be right here. This is what i'm talking about right here is redemption. It's Reconciliation it's god restoring peace or peace, not just stopping war, but restoring peace, putting things back in their right order. It's all in rebellion here. Death is reigning, but here he's putting things back in order. Point five, Jesus is the head here, is more about being the beginning, the source, the prototype, than it's about being in control and the ruler. So understand, head here is maybe different than Paul's using head in the body with hands and feet in 1 Corinthians. This is the head, he is the first, the beginning, the source. chapter in chapter one verse fifteen through seventeen crisis the creator and sustainer of creation in chapter one verse eighteen looking at right now crisis the creator and sustainer of with the new creation which is what the called out ones that's all we see of the new right now all you see of the new creation is think about it do you see jesus who's called out you know the first one from the dead well though he ascended into heaven Do you see the new heaven and the new earth? No. I mean, maybe you could say, well, we see the works of the Spirit, you know, maybe a healing here, some miracle there or something, but they had that in the Old Testament. What do you see of the new creation today? The only thing you see of the new creation is But we'd say Christians, believers, it's us. And that's why it's such a tragedy. You're part of the new creation, but you still look like you're still dead. You're still living like here. It's like the only thing the world can see of Christ's resurrection is the called out ones. We're that. Do we look different? But the thing is, this is not it. Now again, we don't just die and go to heaven. I mean, we are the beginning of the restoration of the entire universe. Well, we'll keep reading here. It's happening. And we are in the midst. That's why all the New Testament is written with the lens of now, but not yet. Christ has died and been resurrected. We are born again, but where are all these things? Well, it's now, but we're not there yet. point six i'd just write body the church and i've got a whole list of things they're talking about the church and some verses and a lot of that is you know paul writing about the church in other places uh... because we now have to function as the body of christ is the called out ones we have to function and have some kind of orders have some kind of gifts we're all function because we are the called out ones today and we have to assemble and function in some form or fashion. And that's where we start talking about the church, the body, the called out ones functioning in this age. Point seven just talks about the third, like in the chapter one, verse 18, it says there's three words you want to look at, beginning, archaic, firstborn, and then out of. And here's the description on firstborn. It is the word Prototokos. It's already used in verse 15 in reference to the creation. Now see, that should be interesting to you. We've already said Christ is the firstborn in verse 15, but he's the firstborn in the creation. Now we're saying he's the firstborn in concept of the church or the body or the new creation. So both, you can see the section, he's the firstborn of creation, he's the firstborn of the new creation. That's what you see right there, which means both present in time and supremacy in rank. uh... first corinthians fifteen is a great verse point b seventy because his people share in him the called out ones the church they also they have also died resurrected and been born from the dead with him first corinthians fifteen twenty three twenty two i've got this written down and you know the verse in fact paul writes christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep For as by man came death, that's Adam, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. Now again, that's not a universal statement that all mankind, but it's those that are the called out ones. Beginning, again, point eight, there's your word beginning, and you can see the Greek RK. I've said this already. It means origin, the initial starting point, and refers to what comes first and has priority. So he has priority even in, he has priority in the old creation, but he has priority in this new creation. Why? Well, he's the firstborn out of the, he's the one that blazed the trail. Hebrews calls him, he's the pioneer. He's the one that blazed the trail. He went into death and says, I'm gonna show you how to get out. and came back and says now we're going to do it again but we're going to do it in a recreated form and so that is the ideal of the the pioneer um but again keep in mind i point 8a in a different context i've already said this rk could be translated ruler now you can go back and translate this he is the ruler but that's really not the point that he's the ruler the idea here is he's the first one out of the grave not the one that came out of the grave says, now I'm in charge. Of course, that's true. He is the ruler. But the idea here is he's the first one. And so in Colossians 2 15, it says he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. And that's talking about the rulers and authorities in rebellion. They were disarmed. But there's that word right there. It could be translated. He disarmed the beginning and the authorities. But that's that the idea is they're they're rulers. They've got authority and he disarmed them with his resurrection So that word could be translated either way and so this clearly refers to the beginning of the church the beginning of the new creation the beginning of the Recreation and then out of is just a great word that word ek Jesus and his people were taken out from the dead or out from among the dead and this is said again in Philippians 3 11 I could go back and read the whole section that Paul's writing there And but Paul writes that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection From the dead or that I may attain the resurrection out from the dead And so Paul is looking to he he knows he's born again, but he also knows he's going to die But he's gonna have to be brought out of the dead to join this new creation We are not we are part of the new creation But we don't fit in it's not here yet We're gonna have to die and then be brought out of the dead into the new creation And so Paul is talking he's excited about the fact and he's saying nothing can compare nothing in this fallen age can compare with knowing Christ and joining him in his death and Because if you can join Christ in his death in this created age You will also then be brought out from the dead in the new age and Paul says why would you do you understand? This is this is falling apart. This is this is going nor this is going to be destroyed But you can join Christ and be brought into the resurrection age and for him. It's like there's no comparison He said I consider everything a loss everything rubbish anything. I've got here is it's it's sacrificable i'm gonna give it up if i can just if i could somehow no christ in his resurrection okay that's page seven page eight a new verse chapter one verse nineteen so this is christ the the the firstborn from a dead he he's the beginning in the first born from the dead of this new age and what's exciting here now is this for in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell so in this man who became you know dead jesus christ in him the fullness of deity and the word dwells in him. The reason he is able to create the world, sustain the world, then join the fallen world as a man, and die for the sins of the world, enter death, and then come out as the firstborn, is well, it says, why? For in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Dwell, I'll say dwell. And here it is. God's fullness dwells in Jesus refers to God's very nature and two basic thoughts is person and purpose of the son There's no doubt about it this fullness of deity lives in fullness of God was dwelling in him again That's not he's not well here. The word is point to pluroma and you can see it right there or play roma it means fullness of filling up a sum total so whatever you've got in god you added all together that is what is dwelling in christ now there's a difference between man or adam was created in the image of god and jesus being the fullness there's idea here's god and adam was created similar to god but he's a he's clearly a creation jesus you take the fullness of deity and put it in a man you just put god in bodily form he he's the idea god outside of time joined time space matter and entered the body of Jesus. He is now God dwelling in a body. And so, you see it right there. This word is important because Paul is using this word, pleroma, in 62 A.D. before the Gnostics used it later in the second century. I put 110 to 170. The Gnostics are going to use this word, pleroma. Let's see if I can spell it, pleroma. How close did I come? Oh, yeah, I forgot. Yeah, I did. Very good. Wow. What a scholar. Play Roma, they're using this as like, like they would have God as up here. And then they would have different levels of God's light or rays of deity coming down. And these would be called play roma and jesus was one in their in gnostic thinking jesus was one of these light rays or spiritual rays deity rays he was a a portion of god in human form and so the gnostics are going to steal this word the fullness of deity and use it for their own we're not going to get into nasty talked about it before that's an idea so one of two things happen Paul uses this in 62 A.D. here in the context that Jesus is the pleroma of God, and the Gnostics pick it up and twist it to like he is one of the light rays, one of the emanations of God, not fully God, but one of many. And there's different angels and spiritual powers are all rays of parts of God's creation. and they picked it up, or it's already surfaced up here, and an early group of Gnostics is using this term, and it could be, as we read the book of Colossians, we have a better chance of making a choice, a decision. And Paul takes the word back and defines it correctly, and defines Christ as the full. He is not a ray of God coming out. He is God. Jesus is the fullness of deity and there's no one else. There's nothing else about this. And so either Paul's using the word himself and the Gnostics are going to twist it, or the Gnostics are using it and they're cutting in on Paul's theology. He reclaims the word, comes against early Gnosticism. And there's still, it's clearly the Gnostics used it, you know, like 150 AD, that they used this word in Christianity and misled many people. And it's also clear Paul used it in 62 AD. Now, which comes first is, the safe bet is Paul used it and they twisted it, but there's much room that the early Nazism was already breaking out. Nonetheless, pleroma, he is the fullness, it means that Christ is the sum total of deity. We can see this word coming up again in chapter 2 verse 9. In a few weeks we'll turn the page. And it says there, it says, for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. So you've got chapter 1 verse 19, chapter 2 verse 9, chapter 1 verse 19, we're reading it right now. For in him all the pleroma, fullness of God, was pleased to dwell then in chapter two verse nine uh... for in him the whole play roma or the play roma of deity dwells in bodily form i do want you to notice the use of both chapter one verse nineteen and chapter two verse nine the word dwell and this could be insightful uh... i've got that written down the very bottom of the page Dwell is the word katoikesia, which means to inhabit, to settle. So the concept of dwell is not to check into a hotel and dwell there, it's the idea of settling in the land of Iowa. You came and you settled. This now becomes your home, your permanent residence. In fact, it is in the past tense, it's in the aorist tense, that when it says, for in him the Pleroma of God was pleased to take up residence permanently and not leave. And so right there is the idea. Paul's going to write to Timothy. He says there's one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. So today, as we know, Jesus ascended into heaven. He's still seated at the right hand of God. But who's seated at the right hand of God? A resurrected man. He left heaven to go to Bethlehem or the point of conception to be in Mary and born as a man so he wasn't a man until the point of conception until Christmas when he was born and once that happened he is a man not just visited as a man he was a man from now on and he ascended into heaven so in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell it please god to inter a man and dwell there forever now the word dwell is interesting because i'm gonna go to second chronicles chapter six And you can see the very bottom of page 8, 2 Chronicles 6, 30, 33, 39 is going to be talking about dwelling in heaven and 18 and 21 dwelling on the earth. And it's picking up on this idea of God dwelling in heaven where it's his permanent residence, but also he's going to be dwelling or wanting to dwell on the earth and i'm going to start in chapter second chronicles chapter six verse eighteen and uh... this is solomon praying the prayer of dedication for the tabernacle and as you remember god came down in uh... the tabernacle and dwelt in the tabernacle and you can see the shaykh kind of glory uh... and then uh... he came down also and dwelt in the temple that solomon had built in both cases they saw the glory come the shaykh kind of glory there uh... solomon's temple this is the prayer of that event so chapter uh... two Chapter 6 of 2nd Chronicles verse 18 that Solomon's giving a prayer of dedication to the temple He says but will God really dwell on earth with men The heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain you how much less this temple I have built Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. May your eyes be opened towards this temple day and night and this place of which you says you would put your name there. May you hear the prayer and your servants servant pray praise towards this place hear the supplications of your servant and your people israel when they pray towards this place hear from heaven your dwelling place and when you hear forgive so there you've got god dwelling on earth now he's dwelling in the temple now he's dwelling in heaven uh... that's the same concept again i can't say it's the same word we have to go compare this is the hebrew we have to compare the septuagint but the same ideal of god dwelling in heaven god dwelling in the temple and now he's dwelling in the man jesus christ and so We just finished talking about the fact that He was the first one from the dead. Why? For in Him, the fullness, the pleroma of God was pleased. It was God's plan, His desire, not to just stay in heaven, not to just be in a temple, but to be in this man. And why in this man? Because through this man, He can bring peace. How can He bring peace? By dying, by dying on the cross. Okay, turn to page 9. uh... reading chapter nine chapter one verse nineteen in the first twenty for in him all the play roma of god was pleased to dwell and through him while god is dwelling in this man and through him to reconcile to himself all things now here's an amazing line reconcile to himself all things this is what i was talking about earlier you know, Jesus died on the cross for my sins. This is true, because I was part of the fallen creation. I was part of the chaos. My sin nature produced death in me. And so when Jesus died on the cross, He paid for my sin. He paid for the sins of the world. But notice right here, once It pleased God to dwell and have His fullness, His pleroma dwell in a man, a physical man living in this fallen creation. It says, and through Him, once He was there, once God became a man, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things. He's not just reconciling me. It says here He's reconciling all things." Everything that He created, visible and invisible, everything that was tarnished by sin, all things, He was reconciling, meaning purchasing back, He was realigning everything through the cross. Now, does that include me? Yes, that includes my sin, but it's, well, let's read on. and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace by the blood of his cross." Again, notice right there, he was the first one out of the dead. But the thing that we're focused on is not the resurrection, not the ascension, not that he lives again, but that all the fools of deity dwelt in bodily form. It took up residence there. It pleased God. Why? So that Jesus could reconcile all the things that he planned that he designed through him and that were designed for him, that had all gone astray, things in heaven and on earth, all things, reconciled them back to himself and making peace through the blood of the cross, of the cross or of his cross. So he had to go to the cross, shed his blood to make peace. Now remember, he went to the cross to shed his blood so that man would not have war anymore. No, no, this peace means reconciliation. It means restoration. It means the right The idea that there's the right relationship of everything, all things that he created that now have gone astray, that everything's nothing, the systems are all out, and he's holding it together, but he's going to fix it once and for all. He's going to go to, he's going to become a man. God is going to become a man, the fullness of deity in bodily form. He is then going to go to the cross. shed his blood so he dies and that right there he's gonna then come out of the dead and reconcile everything put everything in the right place in in peace the right relationship with him the way he originally designed it now the good news that includes me I mean I am part of this restoration but it doesn't end with me or the ecclesia the church it's gonna go on and talk about here we go I put this down chapter 1 verse 20, and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven. And you wonder, in heaven, what is wrong in heaven? Now again, heaven can be, in the Jewish mind, the earth is the first heaven, the atmosphere, the principalities of the air, the powers of the air would be, we could say, in the atmosphere, and then you've got the far heaven, which would be the third heaven, which is the throne of God. So whatever's referred to there, whether earth or in heaven, so things have gone astray that need reconciled to him, not just me, but things on earth and things in heaven, at least in the atmosphere where the prince of the power, power of the air rules and beyond but nonetheless uh... i got one a b c and d uh... this reconciliation through his blood on the cross is going to affect i i wrote these things down the recent verses uh... the created universe the created universe is going to need to be reconciled of the spiritual realm is going to have to face the consequences of this, restore all things, bring peace to all things. Now bringing peace, well, bringing peace can be putting things in the right relationship, or if things are in rebellion, it means bringing the judgment to send them away. It's going to establish the right relationship. And if a spiritual being, like an angel, this does not mean, we know the fallen angels, they are not going to be restored. How are you going to bring peace to Satan, the beast out of the abyss, the angels that rebelled and are alive? How are you going to bring peace with that? Well, we're going to put them in the right relationship. What's that? the eternal lake of fire. It's like there. That's where they belong. It's like there. Instead of Satan roaming the earth seeking whom he might devour, it's like, hmm, how do I restore this? How do I bring peace to this? Well, cast them into the lake of fire, and they are removed. So again, this peace doesn't mean everybody gets a snow cone and a balloon. Some are going to just be put in the right place. Well, that's the spiritual realm. And then the church. which again means the cult, C-H-U-R-C-H, and then the cosmic, or we'll just say the world. Now here's the verses that we've got to support this idea. I'm going to read through these and then we are done Romans chapter 8 verse 19 through 23 the created universe the created world I've got it under underlined in bold the word creation 1 2 3 4 5 times in Romans 8 19 through 23 for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God now who are the sons of God the sons of God are the Called-out ones Now, we're called out, but we haven't been revealed yet. The day we are revealed in our resurrected body is the day the created world, the created universe is like, yes, it's here. We've got things in the right relationship. We've got peace. The creative world waits in eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption. It's not normal for creation to be in bondage. It's not normal for creation to die. It's going to receive peace. It's going to receive the right relationship. its bondage from decay, and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, meaning waiting for this revealing of the sons of God. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, I mean, we're born again, but we are still groaning because our body is still part of this fallen creation. We're gonna die. We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. So again, we are sons of God, but what is not yet born again? Our bodies have not been redeemed or purchased back. Ah, the price has been paid, but the time has not occurred. The spiritual world, 1 Corinthians 15, 22. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ, then comes the end. So after the sons of God are all resurrected, then comes the end. Now, again, your eschatology can place things in a different sequence. I'm not going to get into that. I'm just reading the verse. Then comes the end. when he delivers the kingdom of god the father after destroying every rule every authority and power right here the spiritual realm what's gonna happen it's gonna come the king is going to come and every destroying every power in a ruler that is against him will be destroyed for he must rain until he has put all his enemies under his feet uh... the church we got this right there and again the church is going to be a a choice not everyone you've got a choice to be part of the new creation or you're going to have to find peace by going with those who are damned. You've got to be put in the right place. You're either going to be part of the new creation or you're going to reject Christ, reject life and be sent to the right place and have peace with God or the right relationship which is in judgment. And then the cosmos of the human world, Revelation 21, we could read all the way through this, it says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. Remember the Lord's prayer, your kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven and this is i heard the voice saying behold the dwelling place of god heaven is now with man He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He'll wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, this is awesome, behold, I am making all things new. Right here, all things new. He redeemed him by the blood of Christ. Now here I'm making all things new, all things are going to be brought into this. Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And what he began in creation And then in the recreation or the new earth, he's going to finish that up. And that's what those verses are talking about. Obviously it goes on. If you look at the next verse and you chapter one, verse 21, we'll review this next week and pick it up right here. And you. who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil things, you have been reconciled to God and now we're talking about the redemption of that cross. Okay, I'm praying and we'll be done. Father, I do thank you again for the chance to look at these things. I do ask that the things I've said would be helpful, would be useful, but most of all that they'd be accurate. and bring glory to you and truth would be proclaimed. We do ask that we would abide by these things and allow them to transform our life. We do find faith and hope in the promises that you've given to us that we are part of the new creation and awaiting the greatest manifestation of it yet to come. We do thank you for these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for your time.