He lives, He leads, He reigns. He is above all! (Colossians 1:18-20)

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. 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.

Colossians 1:18-20 ESV

Jesus is the “ beginning, the firstborn from the dead”.  Jesus was not the first one rose from the dead recorded in Bible history.  A few that we can recall were the son of the widow that Elijah brought back to life; Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus.  The difference between Jesus’s resurrection and those before were that although they were brought back to life, eventually, they died.  When Jesus rose from the dead, He lives forever!   He is the one that completely conquered death!  Before we move forward with that, let’s rewind a little bit  – in order for Jesus to be resurrected, He had to first experience death!  Death didn’t exist until sin entered the world.  Jesus is the Holy and blameless One.  He is the One who has the divine living power to live forever.  Yet, the One who breathes life, chose to give His life on the cross for sinners such as you and me.   We were the ones that fell short on His glory and broke the covenant between God and men.  Yet for us to make peace with God, Jesus had to be the lamb that was slain. And because that is finished, we can continue forward with this blessing: when He lives, we may live too.  When Jesus “is the beginning, the first born from the dead”, He became the pioneer of those to come later.  Our body may one day experience death, but because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can live through Him,  in Him, and with Him forever.  He will “bring many sons and daughters into glory” (Hebrews 2:10).  

Paul reminded the Colossian’s church that Jesus is the head of the body, the church.  He is also the One who has supremacy in everything. And in Him all of the fullness of God dwells.  To dwell is to stay permanently.  God’s fullness is immeasurable and beyond we can imagine or comprehend.  But one thing we can see here is that the “fullness” permanently stays in Jesus Christ.  It is not in the people, not in an organization, not in a method or a program, and definitely not in any of the extra rules and false teachings happened in the Colossian church.  The fullness of God is in Jesus Christ only.   Sometimes we may think highly of someone or some method of practices, and mistakenly place them over everything else.  May we be mindful and humbly see that Jesus is the One that is above all, and in Him, all fullness dwells.  Because He is the head, we also know that it’s not by our might or power.  We should honor Him, trust in His power and follow His lead in everything we do.   He lives, He leads, He reigns. He is above all! 

Dear Jesus, thank you for your death and resurrection! Because of what You have done, I can receive the fullness of God through You. All goodness and fullness are in You! Help me to honor you and trust You.

Sharing this song also – Above All, written by Lenny Leblanc & Paul Beloche

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