CHRIST IN COLOSSIANS
In the Epistle to the Colossians Christ is portrayed as the Head; the book of Ephesians deals with the Body. We shall consider some of the descriptions of this Christ, our divinely allotted portion, as they are given in Colossians, and then go on to discuss how we can daily partake of Him.
THE IMAGE OF GOD
Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (1:15). God is real yet abstract. Like electricity, He cannot be seen. But as light is the expression of electricity, so this invisible God has an expression, Christ. This very Christ is our portion, our heavenly food (cf. John 6:35, 48-58). By daily partaking of Him who is the very image of God, we too become the image of God.
THE FIRSTBORN AND THE CREATOR
In Colossians 1:15 and 16 Christ is described as both “the firstborn of every creature” and as the Creator, the one by whom “were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.” How Christ could be both the first item of the creation and also its Creator, the One in whom all things were created, we cannot comprehend.
THE HUB OF THE UNIVERSE
“He is before all things, and by him all things consist” (v. 17). That all things consist by Him means that He holds everything together the way the hub of a wheel holds all its spokes together. Without the hub, the spokes would fall away. Scientists say there is some force which keeps the universe in its place. We do not know much science, but we do know who that force is; without Him the planets would fly apart. If such a hub can keep the universe on course, surely He can keep all our inward parts. What is the center of our being? Christ. Whatever happens, we do not fall apart because all our spokes are firmly fixed in this hub.
THE PREEMINENT ONE
Christ is not only the Firstborn of all creation, but also “the firstborn from the dead” (v. 18). Our God is the God of both creation and resurrection. This One, who is also “the head of the body,” is in the highest position as the first among all things; this is what it means for Him to “have the preeminence” (v. 18). In us also He must have the same preeminence.
THE MYSTERY OF GOD
God is a mystery, and this mystery is Christ (1:27; 2:2; 4:3).
THE REALITY OF ALL POSITIVE THINGS
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (2:16-17). The food we eat and the drink we take are just a shadow whose reality, body, is Christ. Holidays are days of joy and good times; to have Christ is to have a holiday every day. In a dark night a new moon is like a fresh, new beginning. This is what Christ is to us when we are in a dark night without hope and with no way out. Christ is also the rest pictured by the sabbath. Food, drink, holidays, new moons, sabbaths—all these positive things have Him as their reality.
(Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 12, by Witness Lee)
