- Overcomer Literature Trust
- Swindon
- Wiltshire
THE CROSS AND THE AGES TO COME
By G.Campbell Morgan.
“Through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on the earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the Cross” (Col. 1 v20).
The subject of the letter to the church in Colosse is pre-eminently that of the glories of Christ in His relationship to His Church. Paul writes, “For God was pleased to have all His fulness dwell in Him" (Col. 1v19), and concerning the church he writes, “you have been given fulness in Christ”. The passage consists of one of the most remarkable declarations of the New Testament concerning the greatness of the Person of Christ, and the greatness of His work.
The greatness of His Person is set forth first in His relation to God in the words, “the image of the invisible God”, secondly in His relation to creation in the words, “the Firstborn over all creation . . . in Him all things hold together” and thirdly in His relation to His Church in the words, “He is the Head of the Body, the Church . . . the Firstborn from among the dead” (Col. 1 v15-18).
The teaching concerning the greatness of His work is inseparably connected with the greatness of His Person. In regard to His work as Revealer of God, “for God was pleased to have all His fulness dwell in Him”. In regard to His work with relation to that creation of which He is at once the Source and Sustenance, His mission is expressed in the words, “to reconcile to Himself all things”. Finally, His work concerning the Church, of which He is the Head, is expressed in the declaration, “once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death” (Col. 1 v19-22).
The greatness of Christ’s Person in relation to God is that He is “the image of the Invisible God”, and the greatness of His work in relation to God is seen in the fact that “God was pleased to have all His fulness dwell in Him”.
The greatness of His Person in relation to creation is that He is “the Firstborn over all creation . . . in Him all things hold together”, and the greatness of His work in relation to that creation is expressed in the words, “to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven”.
The greatness of His Person in relation to the Church is that “He is the Head of the Body, the Church”, and the greatness of His work in relation to the Church is that of the reconciliation of individuals in order that they may be built into the Church.
The fulness of the Person creates the fulness of the work. The immeasurable glory of the Christ as He is creates the immeasurable grace of the Christ in what He is able to do from the centre to the ends of the universe of God.
The special message is that God does reconcile, not merely individual souls, but “all things . . . whether things on the earth, or things in heaven”, through Christ, the Image of God, the Firstborn of creation, the Head of the Church, by the blood of His Cross. This is the meaning of the Cross.
When describing the glory of Christ in creation, the Apostle declared, "by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth”, but when he speaks of reconciliation he uses the opposite order, “things on earth or things in heaven". The creative order was that of heaven first and then of earth. The reconciling order is that of earth and then of heaven. It is not for us now to enter upon any discussion as to whether this planet of ours is the centre of the created universe. It is perfectly certain that there are vast reaches of creation about which we know nothing. It is enough for us at the moment to recognize that, for the purpose of our understanding of the meaning of life, we are compelled to deal with the universe as circling the earth on which we live. Recognizing this the Apostle shows that the reconciliation begins here and then affects all the heavens.
The sphere of reconciliation is first that of the "things on earth", but what may well startle us is the phrase which follows it, “ things in heaven”. This all-inclusive term refers to angels, those un-fallen intelligences. These are all in some way included in the reconciliation which Christ wrought by His Cross. Mankind is seen at the centre and below us are all the created things of the earth. Beyond us are the far-reaching realms which we are utterly incapable of understanding during the period of our earth-life. At the centre of everything Paul sees the Cross, and declares that by that Cross God reconciles all things to Himself.
The phrase “things in heaven” takes us a step further. The sphere of reconciliation is not only mankind, not merely the things of the earth beneath us, not alone the created things of heaven above us, it is that of the very Being of God.
Let us remember the words of the Psalmist, "Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other". They all exist in the nature of God, mercy and truth, righteousness and peace. Mercy, which does not mean the pity that excuses but the tenderness that bends over in love; truth, which is integrity and uprightness, that which is stable and builds; righteousness, which is a straight line without deviation; peace, which is absolute safety, all these co-exist in the nature of God.
The introduction into the universe of sin breaks up the harmony of these, and there is created the necessity for reconciliation within the very being of God. God is a God of truth. In His universe a being violates truth. How is it possible for Him to bend in tenderness and love over such a one, whose action threatens the stability of the universe? God is the God of righteousness, that is of that which cannot deviate from absolute uprightness. The introduction into the presence of essential righteousness of that which contradicts it must make peace impossible. It is one of the essential facts of His Being, that the moment sin existed in the universe there was need for reconciliation, if mercy and truth are to meet together and righteousness and peace are to kiss each other.
We speak of law and love, of truth and grace, of justice and mercy and so long as sin does not exist there is no difficulty between any of these. If there be no sin, law and love are never out of harmony, truth and grace go ever hand in hand, justice and mercy sing a common anthem. If the law is broken, what is love to do? If truth is violated, how can grace operate? In the presence of crime, how can justice and mercy meet? This is the problem of problems. It is not a problem as between God and man. It is not a problem as between God and the angels. It is a problem between God and Himself.
It is answered in the Cross, “God was in Christ” from all eternity and He found the way of reconciliation. By suffering, worked out in human history and in the sight of all the ages through the Cross, He demonstrated that love meets law as it suffers and fulfills it. Grace satisfies the demand of truth by meeting all the issues of its violation and mercy can operate on the basis of justice, not because God has smitten and afflicted another, but because, in a mystery which baffles and bruises the intellect, God has gathered it all into His own heart and suffered to reconcile all things to Himself.
Christ is the Centre, the Source and Goal of the universe, and His Cross is the centre, the source and goal of reconciliation. In his letters, Paul teaches that through the Church the wisdom of God is to be made clear to principalities and powers in the heavenly places.
Christ and His ransomed people are to exercise a ministry through all the coming ages, revealing the greatest thing in the heart of God, the love which operating through self-abandonment and sacrifice, ransomed, redeemed and remade lost humanity. Thus for all the universe and for the ages proceeding in beauty from the Being of God, the Cross will abide as the supreme revelation of God, through which all creation will come to an understanding of His holiness and His love, the deepest and truest things of His Being.
From: ‘The Bible and the Cross’.
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