Jesus Only: Part OneSample

Week 4, Day 4 - Wednesday

The Big Reveal

Reveal parties are a big deal these days. Keeping a secret, planning a party, celebrating with family and friends – what’s not to like? People like to guess, and some of us are way more invested in being right than others. Who’s going to be happy if it’s a girl? Who really wanted it to be a boy? In the end, though, we all realize that we don’t have any control over it. We’re just waiting to see what God has planned.

Paul had a mystery to reveal in Colossians as well. In Col. 1:15-20 (the Messiah poem) he’s already laid out that Jesus created all things, and so shares the identity of the one Creator God, and that He is also the head of God’s new creation, a multi-ethnic family of those who believe in Him. Now the secret that has been kept for ages is revealed: Jesus will live in and among His international people. And this is amazing because all of God’s fullness dwells in Jesus, and so, with Jesus in us, the hope of God’s glory is available to all people.

The significance of this may be lost if we don’t step back and understand what it was like before Jesus came. How did people experience God’s presence? Well, they had to go to God’s temple, and they had to follow God’s law. And that still didn’t seem to work out so well because the temple kept getting destroyed, and the law was broken over and over again by God’s own people. It seemed like there was no way humanly possible to be in God’s family, to have the hope of glory. People didn’t understand that the temple and the law were only a prequel, looking forward to when Jesus would come. People cannot come to God on their own. Not humanly possible, but with God, absolutely everything is possible. God came to us in Jesus. “Those who receive Him as their Messiah and believe in His Name (who He really is) are born into His new family." (John 1:12-13)

So Paul tells the Colossians (and us) God’s plan is for all of His people to make this rich, glorious mystery known to the Gentiles (all non-Jewish people).

“The mystery… has now been revealed… Christ in and among you, the hope and guarantee of [realizing the] glory...” (Col 1:26,27 AMP)

Jesus now lives in and among us by His Holy Spirit. We will never be without God again. 

Reflection Questions:

What would your relationship with Jesus be like if Jesus lived somewhere else?

How would your life be different if Jesus were not always available to you by His Spirit?

How could you allow Jesus to pour His hope and glory (Himself) into you today? 

What does realizing this change for you?