God's Unusual Response

Welcome back to Write On! Wednesday. Thank you for joining me. Today, let’s read Colossians 1:19-22. Verse 19 explains how the fullness of God the Father was in His Son, Jesus, “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.” 

A few verses up, in verse 15, we see that Jesus is also “the image of the invisible God”. So, we see who the person of Jesus is in these verses. Unlike any other being, Jesus is the fullness of God and His exact image. That’s a weighty statement that shouldn’t be bypassed.

When we think of God, especially the God of the Old Testament, we know Him to be a great and awesome God. I’m reminded of when the Children of Israel stood at the base of Mount Sinai in Exodus 20. God is grand, powerful, and utterly majestic and this is how He revealed Himself to His people on that mountain. God came with flashes of lightning, cracks of thunder, billowing smoke, and a loud ram’s horn. This is the God that Jesus is the exact image of.

But God is also full of mercy. The God of the Old Testament is a patient, loving God despite what others think. God was, and still is, so incredibly patient with His people. When Adam and Eve opened the door for sin to enter the world, He should have destroyed them. But instead, He made them leave Eden. But before they left, God provided for them, “Also, for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21).

God made sure they were clothed. And the Children of Israel? I mean… Can we even count how many times they disobeyed God? I can for sure tell you the Prophet Jeremiah preached repentance to God’s people for at least 23 years and they refused to listen. And yet, God still showed mercy.

That very popular Bible verse found in Jeremiah 29:11 … you know the one, “For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.” That verse is God promising prosperity and peace to an undeserving, disobedient, rebellious people. They were so rebellious that they sacrificed their own children to false gods.

This is the God that Jesus is the exact image of. So, I just love how Colossians 1 reminds us of who we are speaking of when we talk about Jesus. He is no ordinary man, prophet, or child of God. He is set apart and different from us because no one can profess to be the exact image of God other than Christ. We are all made in the image of God, but not the exact image. Only Christ carries that representation. And no one ever carried all the fullness of God, other than Christ. Jesus is indeed, one of a kind.

Colossians reports that Jesus was the One to restore our relationship with God the Father, “and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself … having made peace through the blood of His cross.” And if we do not know why we need reconciliation with God, verse 21 tells us why, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.” Through Christ’s blood, we are restored to God. We needed the restoration because of our faults.

This is God’s world and in His world He created rules for mankind, some of which are the 10 Commandments and the Laws given to Moses while he was on Mount Sinai. Yet, we, just like the Children of Israel, cannot keep God’s rules to save our lives. Literally! We cannot keep it to save our lives, this is why Jesus came to save us from ourselves.

We were alienated from God– estranged from Him and “enemies in our minds”. It’s difficult for some to believe that they are enemies of God outside of Christ, but without Christ– where’s the reconciliation? How can we say that we have peace with God if there is no covering or atonement for sin?

Some are hopeful that God’s love will cover them with no atonement for sin. But how can a holy God dwell with or within unclean vessels? Isn’t He too divine for that?

And some believe a sincere, heartfelt apology is enough. But an apology leaves the debt unpaid. Blood is still owed due to the sins. And if we aren’t under Jesus’s blood, then you are under your own blood and it will be required of you.

But “in the body of His flesh through death” God has made us “holy, blameless, and above reproach.” (Colossians 1:22). In all honesty, sometimes the gospel seems too good to be true. I remember watching a young man minister to an unbeliever once and the unbeliever said what Jesus did was unfair.

She couldn’t comprehend why someone else should die for someone else’s sins. I suppose she believed it’s only right if everyone faced the consequences for their own actions. And in normal circumstances, most of us would agree with her. I certainly don’t want to go to prison for anyone else’s crimes. And in cases of the wrongly incarcerated, we sympathize with the innocent prisoner. We all wish to see them liberated and vindicated.

But this isn’t an ordinary circumstance. The love of God drove out an ordinary response to our faults. An ordinary response from God to our sins would have been to allow us to face our own consequences for our wrongs. But God isn't ordinary, and neither is His love.

So, God responded to our sins in an unusual way. Instead of holding us accountable, God put our sins on Christ. On the cross, Jesus bore all of our sins to restore us to God who we greatly offended by our faults. God responded with love to our offenses.

God responded with a peace offering through Jesus Christ. Even though God's wrath was upon us for being the cause of our unpeaceful, estranged relationship, He extended reconciliation. We didn’t extend it. He did. And for that, we should be grateful.

God responded to our unholy, sinful ways in such a loving, patient, abundant way. It was beyond unusual. But I am thankful for God's unusual response.

Reader, I encourage you to read Colossians 1. It truly embodies the entirety of the Good News of Jesus Christ. May it bless you and encourage you as it did me.

Thanks for your time. May God bless you and keep you. Take care.

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Sincerely,

Quin Arrington