The Supremacy of Christ

Colossians 1:15-20, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 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. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

I was drawn to this passage after viewing this sermon put to video on youtube by John Piper. The supremacy of Christ and all of its implications are often neglected in this day of weak and watered-down Christianity. We must see and savor the supremacy of Christ. For believers it is to realize the glory and grace of God to be reconciled to Him in spite of our sin. This same supremacy is what will bring God’s unbridled wrath upon His enemies and supply vengeance for the martyred and persecuted Bride of Christ (The Church).

In the following video John Piper proclaims this message of Christ's supremacy in a way that will draw you to praise Christ for His mercy, love and grace. It is a bit lengthy, but definitely worth the time to watch.

“God hates sin and His wrath is infinite against sin. We are all stamped and defined by sin.” God demands complete perfection and because of our sin we have this wrath of God abiding on us in our unbelief (John 3:36). “The Gospel is your only hope. Christ came into the world and bore the wrath of God…and He performed a righteousness for us that only He could perform, which is now, by faith alone imputed to you. So, you may now, be united to this perfect Christ. Him bearing all the curse, Him providing all the perfection and know that paradise is open. I can know him. I can begin to grow in knowing Him. I can actually begin to enjoy knowing Him. He’s not against me anymore, in fact the wrath of God has so totally absorbed by Jesus and the perfection that I must produce, has been so totally produced and provided by Jesus. That now only one thing governs God’s attitude toward me and that is MERCY!...The best gift of the gospel is seeing and savoring the supremacy of Jesus Christ and we had no access to that joy until he took our place.” – John Piper

Theological Misconceptions Part 4: Does God's love overrules His justice?

In America it is extremely popular today to speak of the love of God, or God is love, which is absolutely true (1 John 4:8). The question remains then, how is God's justice reconciled? The assumption is that God's love overrules or negates the justice of God. Or put in another way, if God was truly loving He would never allow anyone to spend eternity in the torments of hell. The theological misconception here is that God is under no obligation to show mercy and be gracious to man. Over and over in the Scriptures, God's glory is played out not only by His mercy and grace, but also His justice. In punishing the guilty God's righteousness is put on display.

We all understand this when a murderer or pedophile is brought to justice. However, we want God to stop evil, but where do we want this to stop? "The murder level? The lying level? or the thinking level? If we want Him to stop evil, we gotta be consistent, we can't just pick and choose. That means you and I would be eliminated right? Because we think evil stuff." - Lecrae. Jesus in multiple instances deals that sin and evil is not merely actions but flows from the heart and mind.

So how is God's love for sinners and His justice toward sin reconciled? Jesus, the God-man who lived in perfect obedience to the law was sent to suffer the condemnation of the law to bear the wrath of God against all sin. In other words, Jesus took your penalty and mine so that God's justice and His wrath would be satisfied (Romans 3:21-26). Shai Linne, who in His song, "Judge of All the Earth," inspired this series as well as the premise for this post. Finishes with this, "So now God is able to be just and the justifier of all who turn from their sin and place their trust in Messiah. The resurrected Lord is our infinite treasure truly, He gives us new eyes to see His justice in all its beauty!"