Victory Through Christ
Part 2
He is our UNSEARCHABLE FULNESS.
It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell” (Col. 1:19). Christ now lives in the power of an endless life. Being ascended and glorified, there resides in Him all fulness for His people. Every blessing, every joy, every encouragement is located in our risen Lord.
In Colossians 2:19 the Apostle writes, “In Him (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” This is one of the most profound passages in the Pauline epistles. Wisdom, personality, authority, character, sovereignity, and every other divine attribute reside in the risen Christ. Apart from Him we possess nothing that is abiding; but in Him we possess every blessing God can bestow. This means that God can have nothing to do with us apart from Christ. After reminding us that in Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, the writer adds, “And ye are complete in Him.” This is beyond comprehension. To realize that we who are altogether unfitted, undeserving, and unworthy are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power is to be lost in wonder, love, and praise.
In Ephesians 3:19 the Apostle prays “That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” This is well nigh breath-taking. But is this at all possible? If it is, how can it be experienced?
It may help us if we bear in mind that the word “fulness” occurs in each of the verses we have quoted. Christ is God’s fulness. Therefore to be filled with all the fulness of God is to be filled with Christ. This involves the negation of self. There is no room for the co-existence of Christ and self in the same compartment. We may learn from this that — Christ exalting; self abasing; this is victory.
He is Our Indissoluble Life.
One of the many reasons why Christ came into the world was that we might have life; and that we might have it more abundantly (John 10:10). This does not relate to the transitory life we live on this planet. It is the life which can never be interrupted, the life of God which has been transmitted by the operation of the Holy Spirit to every genuine believer in the Son of God. We have life through the death of Christ: we have more abundant life through His resurrection. Every Christian has life, but not every Christian has life more abundantly.
When John Knox, the Scottish reformer lay dying he said to his wife, “Read to me the words where I cast my first anchor.” His wife turned to John 17:3, and read, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” The dying man said, “Thank you, wife; that is where I cast my first anchor.” What a magnificent anchorage for the soul; sure, stedfast, and abiding!
One of the greatest statements our Lord made pertaining to this theme is recorded in John 10:28. “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish (in no wise perish for ever).” Only the Lord Jesus Christ could have made such a declaration. He also affirmed that no one was able to pluck (or snatch) them out of His hand. Those lovely hands hold the believer more tenaciously than the nails held His hands on the Cross. The Saviour then refers to the Father, and says, “No man is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand,” thus reinforcing our security.
We do well to remember that when we trusted the Saviour, He undertook the responsibility of taking us to Heaven, just as the Good Shepherd in Luke 15 carried the helpless sheep home, because it could not reach its home by its own efforts.
Another purpose for which Christ died was “That He might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” There is therefore no such thing as death for the believer in Christ. What the world (and even many believers) call death is really the dissolution of the tabernacle, as James says, “The body without the spirit is dead” (James 2:26). When the body ceases to function, the occupant (self) is released, and goes immediately to be with Christ which, as Paul says, “is very far better.”
To know, to enjoy, and to live in the power of these wonderful revelations means victory.
He is Our Sovereign Lord
The Lordship of Christ touches every phase of Christian life and service. When He has complete control, then all is well. When the Jews crucified the Lord of Glory they thought that that would be the end of His teaching, and, to a great extent, His influence. But the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost disposed of this assumption by saying, “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).
The title “Lord” implies authority and dominion. When Saul of Tarsus was apprehended by Christ on the
Damascus Road, he heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why presecutest thou Me?” The erstwhile persecutor and blasphemer replied, “Who art Thou, Lord?” He followed that by asking, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Saul had assumed that Christ was dead, but now for the first time in his life He realized He was alive, and was actually addressing him by name. Also it was the first occasion he used the title Lord. This spontaneous utterance was prompted by the Holy Spirit, because the Scripture says, “No man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit.”
Subsequent to his conversion Paul ever delighted to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ. In Philippians 3:5 he enumerates a number of privileges and advantages which were his by reason of his birth and early training; but these things which were gain to him naturally, he was willing to count loss for Christ. And not only so, but he regarded all other things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
Let us never forget that in God’s time the Son of His love will be acclaimed Lord of all by the entire creation. Whatever attitude men may adopt; to whatever extent they may oppose the divine will, God will have the last word. All in Heaven, all in earth, and all in the underworld shall (either voluntarily or by stern necessity) bow in subjection to God’s Christ, and every tongue in the whole wide world shall confess that He is Lord to God’s everlasting glory. This will be the consummation of the outstanding VICTORY which the Lord Jesus Christ gained at Calvary.
“Death is swallowed up in VICTORY” (1 Cor. 15:54).
“O grave where is thy VICTORY?” (1 Cor. 15:55).
“Thanks be unto God which giveth us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).
“And again they said, HALLELUJAH.”