A Christmas Carol
Colossians 1:19-22
One of the fondest and most familiar distinctions about Christmas is the special music of the season. Almost everyone has a favorite Christmas carol or hymn. The majority of those chosen as number one favorite by people all over the world have the coming of the Savior, the birth of the Lord Jesus, as their theme – even for those who say that they don’t believe in Jesus Christ, don’t believe in God even.
One recent survey showed that the top fifteen favorite Christmas carols all had a Christian theme. Let me run down the titles for just the first five and you will see what I mean:
1. Silent Night
2. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
3. O Little Town of Bethlehem
4. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
5. Angels We Have Heard on High
My favorite, O Holy Night, came in at number six. I’m sure that you have a favorite, also. And, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that favorite of yours said something about Jesus, our Savior and Lord, coming to be born here on earth. I wouldn’t be surprised if it said something about how He became humble and became one of us and that it was for our benefit. And, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that favorite Christmas carol glorified God in some way.
What does surprise me is that there are so many who fight against the mention of Jesus, the mention of Christ and CHRISTmas time when the top fifteen Christmas carols in America all mention Jesus Christ either by name or at least by Who He is!
Many scholars believe that the magnificent description of Jesus Christ found in verses Colossians 1:15-20, is an early Christian hymn that Paul is quoting. These words also comprise some of the earliest verses of the very first of all Christmas carols that have come down through the ages. The tune for this hymn has been lost in ages past, but the words remain, and they focus upon the overall supremacy of our Lord.
Here are Paul’s words:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
The word “firstborn” here has to do with birthright, not order of birth. Throughout history, and especially Hebrew history, the firstborn son was regarded as sacred to God and a special sacrifice was to be made if the child lived beyond the first thirty days. The firstborn has special rights, responsibilities and privileges. And, it was the firstborn of the royal household to whom the crown and the throne would be passed when the king either retired or died.
Now, there are many other significant factors that distinguish the firstborn in Sacred literature, but suffice it to say, in this context the focus is on the preeminence of Jesus Christ. What do we mean by “preeminence”? Preeminence means primacy, superiority, dominance, supremacy and incomparability. And, that pretty well summarizes Jesus Christ, wouldn’t you say?
There is a lot we could say about this text, and we probably will at a later time. For our purposes today, I want to look at verses 19-20:
“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
Jesus is not only Master and Lord of the created universe, He is Master and Lord over those who are being made new creations in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). All the rules changed when Jesus came and was born in Bethlehem those many years ago. There is an old Christmas carol that tells this beautifully:
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.
At His feet the six winged seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia
Alleluia, Lord Most High!
All the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ, which means that Jesus is fully God – as much as the father is. It also means that, just as Jesus said in John 14:9, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Notice how carefully the apostle links together the deity of Jesus Christ with His reconciling work. Jesus had to be God to do what he did!
One Bible teacher said it this way:
"The world is lost without a sense of God. Men and women everywhere desperately need to know that there is Someone in charge of life, and that there is a Source to whom they can turn for help and for deliverance. The world needs to know that Jesus Christ is God. If Jesus is not God, then I do not have a Savior."
That is absolutely true. If Jesus is not God, then there is nothing that can cross the “Grand Canyon” caused by sin that separates God and man.
And, that is why Christianity is so offensive to people of other faiths. They want us to be tolerant”, they want us to deny what we know to be true – they want us to deny what God has said repeatedly in His Word, especially what Jesus Himself said about being the only way.
There is only One who claims to be both God and man, and only One who has proven it to be so. This explains the name that the Lord told Isaiah the One to come would be called: "Immanuel" (God with us).
No matter what anyone says, no matter what argument they may have against it, Jesus Christ is the reason for the season! Santa Claus is a usurper, and all of the tress and presents and decorations obscure the message in the minds of so many – God came to earth as an infant to identify with us, suffer with us, pay the price for our sins, and then return to Heaven to rule and ti reign for eternity.
The glory of Christmas is that He is the answer to every dilemma we find ourselves in as individuals and as the whole human race.
Let’s go on and look at the next two verses; Colossians 1:21-22:
“And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
This is clearly one of the clearest summaries of the salvation message in all of Scripture. Reconciliation really is what Christmas is all about – it isn’t about gifts and giving and family and food – it is about reconciliation between God and man.
If you look elsewhere in Scripture, you will find the word "reconcile" used in many contexts. In Ephesians 2:11-22 (cf 16), for instance, Paul uses it of the breaking down the barriers between Jew and Gentile and reconciling them into one body. Through the Gospel penetrating into both cultures, they were now able to live in harmony in ways they never had been before.
There are several instances where the Scriptures speak of being reconciled to one another. It tells us that brother believers are to be reconciled to one another (Matthew 5:24), that husbands and wives are to be reconciled to one another (1 Corinthians 7:11).
I’m sure that all of us can think of husbands and wives, or parents and children, or brothers and sisters, or fellow Christians or even friends who need to put an end to their hostility end and begin to live together in peace.
Just as Christmas is a time when reconciliation between God and man through the humbling of His Son, Christmas should be the time when estranged family members are reconciled to one another. You see, the basic meaning of this word reconcile is "to remove all impediments to peace" so that harmony prevails.
So, what does it mean, then, that “it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself”? It means a day is coming when the hostility of evil against righteousness will be brought to a sudden halt.
It means that evil men and angels will find themselves unable to function in their enmity against God. All rebellion against God will be subdued and come to an end. It does not mean that their punishment ends; it just means that their active hostility will cease.
Just as Paul tells us in Philippians 2:10-11 that the day is coming when “every knee will bow and ever tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
There will be no doubt, no resistance, no hesitation – every knee in the entire universe will bow in submission to the great and glorious King, Jesus Christ.
And, on that day, we will understand many things that we never understood before. We will understand why God has permitted evil all these millennia. We will understand why cancer had to be allowed to take loved ones in the prime of their lives. We will understand why a drunk driver was allowed to cross the line and kill a woman and her baby. We will understand why tyrants and despots maimed, tortured and murdered millions without being stopped before they ever began.
Our questions will be answered, our doubts will be erased, our tears will be wiped away. We will have every hurt, disappointment and fear resolved.
In Isaiah 11, there is a long discourse by God where He tells us through hr prophet what those days will be like. Verse 9 says:
“They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.”
Every hurt will be resolved, every tear will be wiped away, every pain will be relieved. At last the whole universe will live in peace and harmony with one another. "Nothing shall hurt or destroy in all God’s holy mountain." Read the great promises of Isaiah in this regard. What glorious language he employs to picture an earth where nothing is out of step, nothing is eccentric, nothing is out of balance; everything is in harmony with everything else. That is what this declares. Surely this is what Paul is describing in that great passage in Philippians. An hour is coming when "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." That is where history is headed.
The marvelous thing about this is that it flows out of the death of Jesus on the cross. It is the cross that has brought this to pass. That is why it has been the central symbol of Christian faith since the very beginning. We put crosses up in our sanctuaries, not to make us think that the cross was a beautiful piece of wood, for it was a dirty, bloody, rugged means of death. But out of that death has flowed life to all the universe. That is what this is telling us. We find it described very clearly in chapter two of this letter, in the words, "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (2:15). It is the cross that is the center of all life.
Christians should never allow themselves to forget that wonderful scene recorded in the book of Revelation, where John is caught up into glory and sees the end of history, the end of all human affairs.
Here is how he describes it in Revelation 5:11-14:
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped.
That is what Christmas initiates: it is the beginning of the great process that shall end in the perfect harmony of all creation. We are privileged to have a part in proclaiming this good news right now, and in our hearts to give honor and glory to the Lord Jesus, even before the rest of creation joins in the song.
Revelation closes with this reminder:
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life... He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all God’s people. Amen. (Rev. 22:17ff)
