THAT HE MAY HAVE THE PRE-EMINENCE

by Pastor Mitch
December 14, 2014

Thanking God For A Great Time Of Knowing The Lord Jesus

It was impressed upon all at this conference of the great necessity of gaining deeper knowledge. From the first night message at camp, Pastor Charles emphasised the kind of knowledge that Paul had. It was an “Oida” kind of knowledge which was derived from seven different sources of experiences with regard to the gospel of Christ. Knowledge is never just about having theoretical ideas. It is acquiring a Biblical, experiential and practical knowledge of the Lord Jesus through His word and the application of it in life and ministry. May our hearts be challenged to know the Lord Jesus in an even deeper way after the Youth Conference!

“He Is …”

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” 
Colossians 1:15

“And He is before all things … And He is the head of the body … who is the beginning”
Colossians 1:17-18

There is so much more that we can discover about the Lord Jesus. The word “is” in the Greek is what the Greek grammarians call a stative verb. It denotes the idea of a state of being. The present tense used in this stative verb further emphasises the continuing state of the being of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus has been and continues to exist in the following ways:

  1. He is the supreme representation of the invisible God.
  2. He is ranked as first among all creation because He is co-creator of all things.
  3. He has been existing before all things were.
  4. He is the sustainer and provider of all things on earth, even the universe.
  5. He is the head of the Church body.
  6. He is the one who had been there in the beginning.
  7. He is the first one to receive the resurrected body after resurrecting from the dead.

The Lord Jesus Christ is all these things and more. The fact of the matter with regard to the Lord Jesus is that He is truly alive and reigning in heaven and earth in all these different attributes as stated in the book of Colossians. The Lord Jesus should loom larger in our life and ministry.

“He May Have The Pre-eminence…”

“That in all things He may have the pre-eminence.” 
Colossians 1:18

The apostle Paul, after using a series of “is” with regard to the Lord Jesus, used a different tense with regards to His pre-eminence. Instead of using a present tense, he used “may have” to denote the idea of the lack of reality. In other words, He is not pre-eminent over all things at the moment because there are people who have chosen not to believe in Him in their heart and life. The Lord should be given pre-eminence over all things, in every single person’s life in this world, but the sad reality is that He is not. I have purposed in my heart even more to strengthen this idea of the Lord Jesus being first place in my life. As we look forward to Christmas and as we seek to bear witness for Him, let’s truly give Him the greatest honour.

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