In Christ

April 6

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,” Colossians 2:9

Who is Christ? This is the question that all men must decide for themselves and the conclusion that each man reaches defines who he is for time and eternity.

In Matthew 16:13-20, this exchange occurred between Jesus and Peter:

Jesus: “Who do men say that I AM?”

Peter: “Some say You are John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others say You are Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

Jesus: “Who do YOU say that I AM?”

Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Jesus: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in Heaven. I say unto you that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

When Peter stated the truth of who Jesus is, the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus affirmed not only that the words he spoke were the truth but that those words of truth are the foundation of faith! Jesus affirmed that it was upon those words of truth that all believers (the Church) would be established.

Involved in the concept of Jesus being the Son of God is the perception, which is still manifested in many cultures today, that a firstborn son is the complete representation of his father. It is his firstborn son who is able to stand before men and convey the will of his father; it is the firstborn son who is the heir of all his father possesses.

This concept among men springs from the reality that Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. Jesus represents the Father and all the Father stands for. Until a man appropriates this irrefutable truth, he cannot, as Jesus says in John 3:3, see the Kingdom of God.

But once a man has been “born again,” once he has appropriated the truth of the ages unto himself, he is established on the unshakable rock that Peter affirmed; he is part of the Church eternal and triumphant.