CHRIST IS THE FULNESS OF GOD
Col 1:19
Morning Meditation: 1/29/16
This is one of the great statements in Colossians: “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;”
The words “For it pleased the Father” (eudokeo) mean “it seems good to one, and is one's good pleasure” (Strong). “Its usual sense is ‘to take pleasure or delight in’” (Kittel). This means that this is God’s idea. It is one he takes pleasure in. It is an aorist active infinitive. This means that God did this at a point of time and it stands for all eternity. I take this to mean that God did this in eternity past before creation when He decided and settled where His fullness would dwell. The word “fulness” (pleroma) means “that which fills or that with which a thing is filled.” The word “dwells” (katoikeo) means “to dwell, settle.” It is aorist tense and means to dwell permanently. Bishop Moule says, “The totality of the divine Power and Attributes should take up its lasting abode” in Him.
He has just identified Jesus as the one who delivers, redeems and who is the visible image of the invisible God. He is Creator and maintainer of His creation. He is the Head of the Church. He is previous to all things. He is to have preeminence over all things. Now He gives the reason for all this. God the Father has chosen in His eternal plan of the ages to fill Christ will all His fullness so that there is nothing of God outside of Christ that does not find its source in Him (Christ).
No wonder when “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us” that He answered “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” (John 14:8-10).
Solomon said: 2 Chronicles 6:18: “But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!”
Psalm 139:1-12: <To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.> O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
David teaches in this Psalm that God is all knowing. He is not only all knowing in a general sense but in particular. He knows my “down sitting.” Do you understand? This means that he knows when I sit down. You must understand. There are billions of people on this planet. David says that God knows when we sit down. He also says here that “there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.” Then in verses 7 and 8 he says that God is everywhere. He has just presented God as infinite. Then he said something completely appropriate: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” Amen! Imagine a finite being trying to understand an infinite God. The God of the Bible is beyond understanding and cannot be explained. It is ok for us to think on the thoughts He has revealed of himself. But what happens is that those thoughts overwhelm us with a sense of his greatness and our awesome limitations.
Our text says: “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” Solomon said that a house could not be built that could contain God. Yet Paul said that all fulness dwells in Christ. When we look in Bethlehem’s manger and behold the babe cuttled in the arms of Mary, we see the one in whom all fulness dwells. When we see the young man reared in the home of Joseph and Mary and working with Joseph in the carpenter’s shop, we see the one in whom all fulness dwells. When we see the young man whose custom it was to read Scriptures in the synagogue on the Sabbath, we see the one in whom all fulness dwells. When we see him in his public ministry, healing, raising the dead and traveling throughout the land as an itenerate preacher, we see the one in whom all fulness dwells. When we see him willingly allow the attacks of the Jews upon his message and claims, we see the one in whom all fulness dwells. When we see him dying on the cross for sinners like me, we see the one in whom all fulness dwells. There is absolutely nothing that makes me want to fall on my face in speechless worship that the consideration of these things.
It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell. Many so-called scholars have problems with that. They have problems with his virgin birth. They reason the impossibility of such a thing happening. They have problems with the eternity of his sonship. To them Jesus had a beginning. He is nothing more than a created being. A good one, but a created being. They have problems with the absolute sinlessness of his birth and life. They have problems with his resurrection. He didn’t really die. He just swooned and later regained his consciousness. They have problems with his present session. They have problems believing that Jesus is now in his glorified body in heaven as great high priest making intercession for his people and is coming for us at the appointed time. They are not pleased with what the Father is pleased with. It pleased the Father that in him all fulness dwell.
I want to confess that it pleases me that in him all fulness dwells. I do not understand it, but all there is of God dwells in Christ, and all there is of God outside of Him finds its source in Him. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. If it pleases the Father to make it so, it pleases the Father for us to believe it. Amen. Excuse me while I have one of those camp meeting spells.
May the Lord bless this great truth to our hearts.
In Christ
