The Firstborn from the dead

We have seen how the Lord Jesus Christ is the last Adam. He has established a new order where we live according to heavenly grace rather than the obligations of the earth.

Colossians 1: 12-22, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him 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: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:”

The Father has given us the greatest gift of all, this leads us to give thanks to the Father. The gift He gave us allows us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Partakers are those who take part. They are involved in the full process that is being discussed. We can partakers of good and experience those consequences (see 2 Pet 1: 4, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”) or we can be partakers of bad and experience those consequences (see Rev 18: 4, 5, “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”).

An inheritance is somethings that belongs to a person as a consequence of something someone else has done (Gen 15: 7, “And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.”) When the Lord called Abraham, He promised Abraham that He would give him the Land where Abraham was a nomadic stranger. The Land didn’t belong to Abraham at that time and he didn’t deserve to take possession in his own right. Never the less, the Lord promised Abraham that He would give Abraham that Land. We can take part in this inheritance because the Lord Jesus Christ has already done everything that is required.

The saints are the people whom the Lord has chosen to bless (see Deut 33: 2, 3, “And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.”) Light comes from God and is inextricably associated with life (see John 1: 4, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”)

The Father has chosen to give us something that belongs to Him and we don’t deserve. This now belongs to us, as it is a gift, and we belong to the light because the Father has chosen to give us this gift, even though we don’t deserve it.

We actually belong to the power of darkness because we are sinners but God has given us an inheritance in the Kingdom of His Son. The Son of God has purchased our redemption, paying the price that no one else could pay. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the price of blood, He actually lay down His own perfect sinless life so that we can belong to His kingdom. The Lord stated that sin leads to death but the Lord Jesus Christ died even though He was sinless. He was the Lamb of God and He took away the sin of the world (compare John 1: 29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”) so now we can enjoy the fruit of His perfect sinless life.

The Lord’s dear Son is the image of the invisible God. We cannot see the invisible God because He is invisible, however, we can see the image of the invisible God by the eye of faith. We were created in the image of God (Gen 1: 26, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”) so that we can have a relationship with the invisible God. The Lord’s dear Son came down to this earth and He walked among us so that we could learn more about God. The Only Begotten Son declared the Lord to us even though no man has seen God at any time (John 1: 18, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”)

The firstborn is the beginning of the Father’s strength (see Gen 49: 3, “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:”) The Lord’s dear Son is the most important person among all God’s creation. He is the full expression of the Lord’s might and power.

The dear Son was the creator of everything in heaven and on the earth. The things that we can see and the things that we cannot see, the good and the evil spiritual powers. We must be careful to say that while the dear Son created all the invisible spiritual powers He is not responsible for any of the evil choices that the evil powers made.

The dear Son is superior to all the greatest powers on the earth and all the spiritual beings who have an influence on the earth, He is even more powerful than Satan the leader of these evil powers.

Everything was created by and for the dear Son (see John 17: 5, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”) The glory belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ before the world began. He was always the best and nothing could possibly exist without Him.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the head, that is, He is the first. In Paul’s native tongue, Hebrew (see Phil 3: 4, 5, “Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;”), head is the same as first. The Lord Jesus Christ is the most important person in the church, He is the head, who defines the church and everything that happens in the church. Just as the body dies as soon as a person loses their head, the church would have no life without the head. Sometimes parts of the body don’t follow the directions of the head when a person has a parasite or suffers from cancer, for example, but this means the body is diseased. When the body is healthy all the parts of the body submit to the head’s control. When the church is healthy then every part of the church submits to the Head and follows the direction and plan that are defined by the head.

The head, the Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead. He is the beginning of all those who will rise from the dead, that it, those who believe in the Only Begotten Son and have everlasting life rather than perishing. The Lord Jesus Christ is more important than anyone else in the whole church and so He should always be given the highest place of honour in everything that we do.

We read about our Saviour’s fullness in the gospel of John (see John 1: 15-18, “John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”) When the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, to live here as a man, He gave us the most complete declaration of God that we can possibly know as long as we remain on this earth. We received as much as we can possibly receive from the Lord Jesus Christ when we believed in Him, this was  in God’s plan when He sent His Son to be the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

When Adam and Eve sinned they created a state of warfare between themselves and the Lord God for the Lord had to put an angel of fire to guard the way to the Tree of Life (Gen 3: 24, “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”).

When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, He satisfied all the legal demands for punishment brought about by this state of warfare so peace is now possible between sinful mankind and the holy, sinless God. After a state of war has been declared reconciliation must be effected before the parties can sit down together again. After the Lord Jesus Christ died, the veil of the Temple was torn in two (Matt 27: 50, 51, “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;”). This showed that the restriction, which had existed from the day that sin entered the world, between God and man was taken away. Everything in heaven and earth that was marred by sin can now be restored because sin has been dealt with.

We, sinners by birth and by choice, can now come directly into the Lord’s presence because the restriction has been removed. Even though we caused the rift between ourselves and God by our sin, the Lord effected the reconciliation even though He was the offended party. We can now, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, come into the Lord’s presence as though we weren’t sinners at all.

After the Lord Jesus Christ went back to heaven, He sat down and took His place as the firstborn from the dead. From this place, He directs all the activities of the church through the Holy Ghost. He defines the church and is the source of everything that is good in the church. When the Righteous Judge (see 2 Tim 4: 8, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”) looks at the members of the church, He sees the work that has been done by the Lord Jesus Christ and He is satisfied (Isaiah 53: 11, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”). All this occurs because the Lord Jesus Christ is alive today and seated at His place in heaven.