He is First!

"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." Colossians 1:18 KJV

Our Lord Jesus Christ was given to us as head of the church. This echoes the statement made in Ephesians 1:20-23.

"...and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all."  

Christ is the head, of everything to the church. He is the first (beginning). The word used here is the same word used in John 1, "In the beginning..." which is an echo from the Hebrew Genesis 1. Jesus always was. His incarnation was not His beginning, nor His beginning work. However, it was the determined work finished in the mind of the God-head before any beginning ever began. So for us to understand that our Lord Jesus was and is that very beginning, the first - that source.

"He is the firstborn from the dead...." He was not the first one raised from the dead. There are several Old Testament accounts of the dead being raised. And you will remember He also raised the widow's son and Lazarus during his lifetime in this dimension. However, He is the first to ever never die again. So He was resurrected into a dimension of life in which death has no power to end. He is the first human to ever enter there. Once He entered, He can now and will take all of us who are named by His name, in Him.

When one's body dies, their spirit remains with the Lord. We are with the Lord now and a part of His body - in spirit/Spirit. When we die, that placement does not change. We are still living in Him, but our dimension and expression of life is not the same as it has been here. When He returns (in His body that was resurrected) and calls us home, our bodies, immortal and incorruptible, will rise and meet Him and we will always be with Him in the same dimension and expression of life He has purchased for us. Until that point in time, all who have died in the Lord are where they have always been - in the Lord.

I am reminded here of 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him: for we shall see him as he is." 


He is First, Foremost, Fullness - Heart, Head, Hope!