The Tuesday after Ad te levavi Sunday, The First Sunday in Advent
Posted on December 3, 2024 by under
Scripture: Colossians 1:12-23 (NKJV)
1:12 Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness band conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Devotion
In the Nicene Creed, we confess “one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God…by whom all things were made.” If Jesus is truly God—which He is (John 1:1)—it must follow that Jesus was truly involved in the divine work of creation. Our text says, “by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth.” Our Lord Jesus also holds all creation together, even at the present time: “in Him all things consist.” Jesus is everywhere, holding creation together and guiding it to His purpose.
But His divine presence everywhere must not be confused with His special presence in the Christian Church, His gracious presence. Apart from His grace in the Church, the world of sinners will see Him as a wrathful judge who condemns their darkness and wicked works. However, concerning the Church His Word says, “He is the head of the body, the church.” That is, salvation is not found just anywhere in creation, but only in the preaching and sacraments of the Christian Church, where God—the Son of God—unites Himself to men through Word and sacraments. This is why the Church was instituted: here and nowhere else does God unite Himself in a special way to those who have faith in His salvation.
Collect: Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come, that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins, and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
