Christ Preeminent, Magnified, Glorified (Colossians 1) – March 01, 2026 (78/365)

We continue to give God the glory… and in our praise and our worship to Him, it’s inevitable for reflection and meditation, devotion to take place.

So as the Lord is glorified, so we are being transformed by the renewing of our mind. It’s just in us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to continue to move from glory to glory…

…all towards the goal of unity in the body of Christ, the expansion of His Kingdom, to the utmost glory of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And with all that said, we continue to dive into the wonderful Word – continuing through Colossians 1, that is, specifically where things get just a little more exciting than usual:

(God) has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.Colossians 1:13-14

I think it’s good timing for us to be going through Colossians 1 during this time of the year, when things begin, when things are updated, and, just, when there’s a whole bunch of things going on.

The Word, Colossians 1 in particular, brings us back to just focusing on what, or who really matters – That is, Jesus Christ above all things, and in all things.

We have been rescued from darkness, and taken away from chaos, by our God and Father; And, lest we forget, our being taken away FROM somewhere entails we are brought INTO somewhere else – and in this case, we’re brought into the Kingdom of Christ.

It’s wonderful for us to know that we are no longer under darkness, just as we say that we are no longer slaves to sin, or obligated to fulfill the lusts of the former flesh. But it also makes us appreciate where we’ve been brought into – and in this case, we are not only redeemed, but we are also forgiven of sin… and, yeah. That right there. It’s not enough for us to understand that sin no longer has any power over us – through Christ, we have also been forgiven of all sin. Or, in other words, it’s forgiveness that now has power over us.

While we’re at it, yes, we’re no longer obligated to fulfill the lusts of the flesh… but now the Spirit convicts us, so we execute the desires of righteousness, naturally. We’ve been brought from figuring things out on our own, insisting on our own power and wisdom, and rejecting God’s grace and glory – we’ve been brought out of all that into naturally taking in the infinite power and eternal wisdom of our God, as our Father, revelling in His glory, moving according to His grace abounding in us.

A change of location consequently leads to an increase in action; And through it all, it is God who is praised, Christ glorified.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.Colossians 1:15-18

Though we have not seen God in all His glory, we claim the promise of Christ’s Word – where when we see the Son, we see the Father. In Christ’s love for us to lay down His life, so we see the Father’s selfless, everlasting love for all of us.

Christ was the first to be a New Creation, being resurrected from the dead. If the cross was a demonstration of His grace, the empty tomb was a demonstration of His glory. The cross expressed that He is willing to save us, and the empty tomb expressed how He is able to deliver us.

By Christ, the Word of God who was in the beginning with God, all things were made, through Him, and for Him.

And, right there – Christ was in the beginning, and is therefore before all of creation. As He is the Word who was with God, it was by His Word that Creation came forth from the depths without form. It was by Christ, God’s Word, that all things therefore are held together.

We claim the promise of this Word, especially when chaos tries to bring us back to disorder. Christ, through whom we have been born again, is the One who unites us; Christ holds us together.

Being before all things, and being the One who holds it all together, it is but natural for us to accede to the convictions of the Holy Spirit, that we realize that He who was in the beginning is the First, the Foremost; King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, indeed.

What I understand about pre-eminence is that He was glorious, or eminent, before all things. It’s important for us to understand this, just so we know and appreciate how He indeed came from the highest glory BEFORE He was born, before He died, rose again, and ascended to the eternal heavens. With that in our minds we see more into what exactly was given up. Not only did Christ allow all that He had to be gambled off, but He also gave up His entire body to be crucified, raised up for all to behold; He also was pierced, and His blood flowed for the forgiveness of our sins. But even BEFORE all this, His being born and lain on a donkey’s food trough tells us that He forsook eternal and infinite glory, to be born as one of us, within the confines of time and space.

And it also tells us that as we acknowledge Christ as the Beginning and the End, so He was glorious forever – glorious before the beginning, and glorious beyond the end.

We’re creation suddenly articulate

With a thousand tongues to lift one cry

Then from North to South and East to West

We’d hear Christ be magnified

Were the whole Earth echoing His eminence

His name would burst from sea and sky

From rivers to the mountain tops

We’d hear Christ be magnified

Oh! Christ be magnified

Let His praise arise

Christ be magnified in me

Oh! Christ be magnified