This is the third book

The all things' of Colossians

The Scriptures are the inspired Word of our God, being God breathed, so we must take notice of what is recorded, grasp its teaching and how it applies to our lives.Not that I understand a great deal of the writings of the Royal Oracles,this is due to the limitations of my mind.As I have heard difficult parts of the Bible explained by brethren, in seeing these passages in their correct light, no longer have I, Looked through a glass darkly'.Today we have many versions of the ancient writings, this can be a help, but also create problems depending on the thinking of the translators regarding our God, indeed one can be misled.We must always interpret Scripture by Scripture, we are taught that the Word of God is not by private interpretation'.The order of which teaching is written in the Royal Oracles is also important.Translators have difficulties with ancient writings

Scripture must be understood in its context, indeeäd just take the text' from the word context and you are left with a con'.Also the order of teaching in the Bible is important, Jesus taught regarding the Holy Spirit, He said, When He is come, He will convict the world of sin', of righteousness' and judgment'.Of sin' because they believe not on Me, of righteousness' because I go to My Father and of judgment', because the prince of this world is judged'.Now as we understand the order in which these three points have been given, thensin is the most important, this is the rejection of the person of our Lord Jesus then true righteousness' and judgment' follow.Elsewhere in the Scriptures there is spoken of the sin against the Holy Spirit which shall not be forgiven.This sin, as I understand matters, is the greatest one, that of rejecting the convicting power of the Spirit of our God regarding the person and work of our Lord Jesus

In the first chapter of Colossians we have two words all things' recorded a number ðof times, this is interesting and because of the frequent mention of these words they must be important. I want us to observe the settings of these two words to ascertain what is being taught and learn from them

The first record of these words is in c1 v16, that, By Him were all things created'.The power exercised in the creation of the world was from our Lord, because He is God.Translators have their understandable problems and there are two words in the Greek language in connection with divine force, the one is exsusees' this should be correctly translated as AUTHORITY, and the word dunanis' as POWER.With our Lord He has AUTHORITY & POWER

A person in an important position has the authority' to sign a document for action to be taken, but does not necessarily have the personal power' to execute the work authorised.If tasks are undertaken without having the right authority there can be anarchy

Our Lord has the authority and power to do whatever He wills, this is because who He is.In the record for the creation of the world we are not given full technical details how it happened, but we are told the force involved.In the beginning our God spoke and the words became a reality, God said, Let there be light and there was light'.Such was the wonder of creation with so much coming come from it, just consider the words of Isaiah c42 v, Thus saith God, the Lord, He who created the heavens and stretched them out, He who spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it'.Now we in the 21st Century must be able to understand more fully than in previous times, the vastness of our God's authority and power in the creation.Just think of all that which has come out'of the original act of our God in creation, solid fuels, oil, what we in England know as North Sea Gas, all the metals and so, so much more.To follow this we have those wonderful words from Isaiah c55, 'So shall My word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish tha
üt for which it was sent'.Yes our God spoke and there was authority and power within His words to accomplish that for which they were sent, such is our God

In the same verse we are considering, we are also told that all things' were created BY Him and FOR Him.We have in the Songs of Praise' in the Revelation, first of all the theme of worship for the holiness of our God, then praise for His works in creation and a New Song' that of worship and praise for the work of The Lamb' in redemption.For' a few moments let us dwell on creation, the whole of the created world was for the One who has redeemed us.So we should not just wonder in amazement at the beauty of the flowers, trees, birds and so many other things, but look beyond them and raise our hearts and spirits in worship to the One for whom these things were made.If we worship the created things, however beautiful they are, then this is idolatry, we should go beyond them all to the one who had power and for whom they were created, for Him

Before we continue with the next all things'I quote a verse from 11 Corinthians c4 v6, it reads, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'.For me, one of the things this verse teaches is that the same power which was operative in creation has been has been in action to make us sons and daughters of the living God.Selah

The next all things' we consider is in v17 of the same chapter, we are told that, He is before all things'.There is a time factor in all created matter, they were created by the creator who is the Lord God Almighty and He is eternal.The great eternal being never had a beginning, neither can He have an end and our Lord Jesus was already with God before time began.Just consider the first fewwords in John's Gospel, it says of our Lord Jesus that, In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God'.This teaches that asthe world was created, our Lord Jesus, the great eternal One was already there before time began, full stop

We follow on with words in the same verse that, By Him all things' consist', other versions use the words are held together' instead of consist'.In the beginning of time the world was created by our God, it was all good', then there was the disobedience of man and consequently an imbalance in everything because of his sin.In the created world as we have it right now, there are problems, it is not now all good'.There is excessive rain in some parts of the world and drought in others, we have thunder storms causing so much damage, hurricane gales which bring havoc and all this is, as I understand, because of the imbalance in all things due to man's disobedience.Having accepted this fact, there only needs to be a small variation in increased temperatures and there would be big problems, yes Global Warming, Greenhouse Gasses, call it what you will.There is an imbalance now in the whole of the creation, there is a battle going on, yet our Lord is still working His purposes out.Yes I am going to state again the words of Scripture that, By Him all things' are held together' and that our Lord has, The whole world in His hands'. Yes there are still the forces of evil, but we are moving forward to the time when, The kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our God', then our Lord will reign supreme

Our Lord Jesus Christ is The Head of The Church', this church' being the mystical body of Christ.It is said of this same Jesus in v18 of Colossians c1, That in all things' He might have the pre-eminence'.In dwelling on these words for a( few moments just think of the teaching of our Lord Jesus in The Disciples Prayer, there is a time coming which we pray for, for Thy Kingdom to come', then For Thy will to be done' and the wonderful benediction at the end, For THINE is The Kingdom, The Power and The Glory'.Yes we could all add to that teaching many others which dwell on the same subject, but let us go deeper please.Our Godis supreme, yet He is our Father God and desires fellowship, as He is the only eternal being, then this fellowship can only be with His created ones

Our God created the world, this is and has been occupied by those who our Lord created first of all after His own image.Now this great eternal being is our Father God, as a father He desired children with whom to keep company, He placed them in an ideal e>nvironment and Walked with them in the garden' in the cool of the day'.We as fathers and mothers, desire to enjoy the company of our children and this changes from year to year as they and we grow up.The company' we had with our young folk when they were babies, is different to what is experienced when in their teens, so our Father God desires our fellowship with Him to deepen, to be more enjoyable, for us to mature as we all grow up, does we?

What the great creator God desires most of all is fellowship with His ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven children, that in our lives In all things He might have the pre-eminence'.Our Father God'desires to walk every day in the garden'Êof our lives, the lives of all His blood boughtchildren.It is only through the way of The Cross that we can have peace withþ our Father God, in and through our Lord Jesus, by His Spirit, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one cometh unto The Father but by Me'.Now let us fall back on the Ten Commandments, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me', do we?Yes I will spell out the answer a little, the idols of wealth, position in a society Christian or otherwise, sex, sport, our appearance, ones personal power, music and other things.As Christians everything should be in moderation, ensuring that they do not become our masters, for the Christian these things can be enjoyed provided they do not become idols or gods.Just dwell on the words we are considering, In all things He might have the pre-eminence', not us

In the time of Jeroboam, he was a wicked king, two calves of gold were made,they must have been beautiful, the one set at Bethel, the other at Dan, and this thing became sin'it is recorded, and the people went to worship before them, even unto Dan

In my, in our lives may not so many things, become sin' to us

The final all things' in Colossians is that, All things will be reconciled unto Himself' and this will only be, Through the blood of His Cross'

The life which our God created, it was very precious indeed to Him.So precious, that as life was taken and spoilt then the penalty had to be paid, the laws of God must be obeyed, yes for laws broken the penalty has to be paid as our God is just.One of the laws of our God is that, The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die'.We all sin, disobey the law ofü God, we die spiritually, also physically.The penalty for our sins was paid for by our dear Lord Jesus Christ, for us to escape eternal separation from God our only hope is in our God, in and through our dear Lord Jesus Christ, by His Spirit

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This is the third book