The First Among Many
Colossians 1:18 Christ is the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning of everything else. And he is the first among all who will be raised from death. So in everything he is most important.
When you hear or read a strange turn of phrase, something odd that you don’t come across all that often, it has a way of grabbing your attention.
A couple of times in the New Testament, there’s a strange turn of phrase used to describe Jesus. He’s referred to as the firstborn of the dead. It sounds a bit like the title of a horror movie, doesn’t it? But that’s not what it means, although it definitely grabs your attention.
Here’s one of those two instances:
Christ is the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning of everything else. And he is the first among all who will be raised from death. So in everything he is most important. (Colossians 1:18)
What it means, quite simply, is that He died and rose again, and to that extent He’s the first to have been raised from the dead, the firstborn, if you will. In other words, by clear implication, He’s the first of many more who will follow, to be raised from the dead; who will defeat death.
I don’t think about death too much. Okay, I’m approaching sixty, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m young and fit … but one day, this body will give out and that’ll be it.
And at that point, I’ll be following along after Jesus. Death will not be the end. I’ll go on to live an eternity because I put my trust in Jesus – in the forgiveness I have through His death on the cross as He took my punishment for me, and in the new life, the eternal life I have because He rose again.
But we don’t have to wait until we die to be raised from the dead. Because the moment you and I put our trust in Jesus, this body that was dead in sin – dead man walking – becomes alive in Christ.
Can I ask you, are you actually living that new life; that resurrection life that Jesus rose again to give you? Because that’s what we celebrated two days ago on Easter Sunday. Not just the resurrection of Jesus, but the new life that He rose again to give you.
A new life for you to live, today, tomorrow, the next day … for the rest of eternity. And that … that’s meant to grab your attention.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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Ambati Prasad
Jesus gave a new life for me.
Jesus gave a new life for me.