O Lord, we do pray that Thou wilt make us conscious of Thyself. We pray that Thou wilt remove every veil upon our hearts, that we may behold Thee from faith to faith, and that we may be transformed from glory to glory.
O Lord, Thou dost know that we are here before Thee, and how we praise and thank Thee that Thou art ever faithful to us. So do come into our midst, and lift us up, that we may be conscious of nothing but Thyself. We are in Thy presence. Amen.
Please turn to Colossians, Chapter 1. We will read from verses 15 through 19.
Who is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation;
because by Him were created all things,
the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers:
all things have been created through Him, and unto Him;
and He is before all things,
and in Him all things consist.
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 preeminence.
For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
Now, Chapter 2, verses 9 and 10—the first part of verse 10:
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and in Him ye are made full.
Now turn to John, Chapter 1, verse 14:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us
(and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father),
full of grace and truth.
John beareth witness of Him, and crieth, saying,
This was He of whom I said,
He that cometh after me is become before me:
for He was before me.
For of His fullness we all received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No man hath seen God at any time;
the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him.
We mentioned yesterday afternoon that Paul’s burden for the saints at Colossae was that they might be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will. Paul had heard of their faith in Christ Jesus, their love toward all the saints, and the hope laid up for them in heaven. Yet Paul was burdened that these dear people of God should go on into the fullness that God had for them.
God’s thought concerning His people is the thought of fullness. Anything less than fullness will never satisfy God. Sometimes we are of such small capacity that we may be satisfied with just a little bit, but that will never satisfy God.
Therefore, Paul wrestled and laboured before the Lord in Christ, and also in his writing, that these people might be brought by the Spirit of God to the full knowledge of God’s will; that they might be filled with the fullness that is in God.
I believe that this burden of Paul is the burden of the Spirit of God. This burden is not limited by time or space. It was true during Paul’s time, and it must be true today. There should be that burden in the heart of every child of God: that we may be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will—nothing less than fullness.
This afternoon, we feel that we may go a little further. We will try to find where the fullness of God is.
Greek scholars tell us that this very word fullness means the totality of divine attributes and power. It is the filled condition of a thing; it is the realization of an ideal.
In the Godhead there is a fullness: a perfection, a completeness. Everything is full and complete in the Godhead. It is always in that state; it is always full.
It is very hard for us to grasp the idea and reality of the fullness that is in the Godhead. Sometimes, when something is too big, too vast, too great, it tends to become vague and general in our thinking, because it is simply too much for us.
God is full of love. He is love, yes, but He is full of love. That is why John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world”—not merely that God loved the world, but that God so loved the world.
And we remember in 1 John: “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.” It is the marvelous love of God, a love beyond our understanding and beyond explanation. God is full of love.
And God is light—not merely a little light. The Word tells us that in Him is light, and there is no darkness at all. God’s light is perfect. There is no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. He dwells in light unapproachable, and we have been delivered out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Dear brothers and sisters, when we think of God, we have to think in terms of fullness. Wherever you turn—whether to love, life, righteousness, glory, or power—when you think of God, it is full. It is complete and perfect.
One day I was meditating upon the fullness that is in the Godhead, and I looked up to Him and said, “Lord, how can I understand this fullness? It is just too great for me.”
Then a phrase came to me: the fullness of the earth. I remembered the passage in Deuteronomy, Chapter 33.
Moses, the man of God, was blessing the children of Israel before his death. When he came to Joseph in verse 13, he said:
Blessed of the Lord be his land,
for the precious things of heaven, for the dew,
and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
and for the precious things of the fruits of the sun,
and for the precious things of the growth of the moons,
and for the chief things of the ancient mountains,
and for the precious things of the everlasting hills,
and for the precious things of the earth and the fullness thereof,
and the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush.
Here we find Moses blessing Joseph. In that blessing he mentions many things: the precious things of the heavens, the dew, the deep that lies beneath, the precious fruits of the sun, the precious things brought forth by the moon, the precious things of the ancient mountains, the everlasting hills, and the precious things of the earth and the fullness thereof.
When I think of the fullness of the earth, I think of the fullness of the heavens, the earth, and the sea. How vast are the heavens, the land, and the sea! Yet these are fully inhabited.
When you look up into the sky, you see the stars inhabiting the heavens—countless, numberless millions of stars. When you look at the land, you find that it is filled with things: not only mountains and hills, and precious things within them, but people everywhere, and many microscopic things which we cannot see. The earth teems with life. The same is true of the ocean and the sea.
Perhaps, when we think of the fullness of the earth, it gives us a little idea of the fullness that is in God and of God. But the fullness that is in God is spiritual, moral, and divine in nature. It is of a far superior quality. How full, how complete, and how perfect must our God be!
Still, it is very hard to grasp the fullness that is in God. We are very limited, even in physical things. Our ears can hear only certain sound waves. If a sound is shorter or longer than our range, we cannot hear it. Because our capacity is so restricted, we may consider those sounds unreal or nonexistent; but actually they are there.
Only when they are brought within our range of hearing do they become real to us. Dear brothers and sisters, in the great mercy of God, because His heart is so full toward us, He knows our limitations and our small capacity.
Yet His love toward us is so great that, in His marvelous love, He brings the greatness and fullness of the Godhead within our range, so that we, as little children, may be able not only to appreciate but also to apprehend the fullness that is in the Godhead.
And we all know that God has done this. For in Him—that is, in Christ—dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead.
The Apostle John, when he wrote his Gospel, said, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” Who is the Word? The Word is the One in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead. The One in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells has now dwelt among us.
John said, “We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father.” We have seen Him, we have heard Him, we have touched the Word of life.
Dear brothers and sisters, we shall never be able to understand the fullness of the Godhead apart from Christ. Christ has brought the fullness of God near to us.
When Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians, the beloved children of God there were in great danger. Certain false teachers had entered into their midst and had begun to give them philosophy and teaching which implied that, while Christ was indeed foremost in the manifestation of God, God was so great and so full that He had distributed His divine attributes and powers among other created beings.
They taught that Christ had inherited most of these attributes, but that some had been distributed to other beings, such as angels. Thus, they told the saints at Colossae that, aside from Christ, there were other intermediaries and partial manifestations of the fullness of God.
On that basis, they began to worship angels and other intermediaries. Their hearts were being turned aside from Christ. They did not hold fast the Head, and because of that their growth was arrested. They did not grow as they should.
Therefore, Paul emphasized again and again that in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. God has not distributed any of His divine attributes or powers to any other being. In Christ dwells all the fullness—the totality, the sum total, of the divine attributes and power of God.
Everything is in Christ. You cannot find anything of God anywhere other than in Christ. It is all in Christ. All the divine attributes and powers make their permanent home in Christ. If you want to know anything of God, you have to find it in Christ, because it is in Christ. You do not need to look anywhere else, because it is not there. All the fullness of the Godhead is in Christ. He is the fullness of God.
I believe most of you may have heard the story of a very rich man. He had much land, many properties, and many businesses. He had so much that even he did not know how much he possessed. He had only one son, whom he had sent to a foreign country to study.
While his son was away, the man became very sick and knew that he was approaching death. He called a lawyer to prepare his will, for he desired that his only son should inherit all that he had. But it was difficult, because he could not remember all that he possessed.
When the son returned, the father had already passed away. The whole household gathered together, including the servants, and the lawyer read the will. It said:
I give all my property, everything, to my steward.
But I allow my son to choose out of my property just one item, and that shall be his.
When the son heard this, he was very distressed. He thought that his father must have been out of his mind. How could he leave everything to the steward, who was his slave and who took care of all the property, and leave only one thing to his son?
The son went to the lawyer to ask why his father had made such a will. The lawyer whispered a few words into the son’s ear, and his face changed. He was very happy.
The son said, “According to my father’s will, I am going to choose one thing out of all his property. I honour and respect my father’s will. I will not challenge it, but I will do what he said.”
Everyone waited to see whether he would choose a piece of land, a house, a business, or something else. Then he said, “Now I will make my choice. I choose my steward.”
And we all know that, in choosing the steward, he received everything. The father was wise, and the lawyer was clever. The father could not put everything on paper, and he was afraid that something might be missed. But the steward was in charge of everything; he knew everything.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is only an illustration, but it shows the heart of our heavenly Father. Our heavenly Father desires that we may inherit fullness. In order that we may do so, He has put all His fullness in His Son. God says, in effect, “Choose My Son.”
Our understanding of God’s salvation is usually in pieces. When we are convicted of our sins, we feel the need for forgiveness. We come to God and say, “God, look upon the cross of our Lord Jesus. There He died for us. He has shed His blood for us. Because of that, forgive me. Allow me to be atoned for.”
We come to the Lord, receive forgiveness of sins, and become very happy. Then perhaps a few weeks or months later we discover another need, and we come to God again, asking Him to supply it.
God points us to His Son and says, “Go to My Son. There is what you need.” Again, we find our need supplied in the Son. But we still do not understand.
After a few days or months, we discover yet another need, and we go to God, asking Him to give us what we need, as though we could find supply apart from the Son. But God says, “I have nothing left. It is all in My Son. If you want your need supplied, go to My Son. Otherwise, I have nothing.”
It is like the story of Joseph. When people came and asked Pharaoh for bread, he said, “Go to Joseph.” Joseph was the supply. Dear brothers and sisters, Christ is the supply.
There is another illustration in the Bible which, I think, is very helpful. You remember the story of Abraham. God blessed Abraham greatly. He gave him flocks, herds, silver, gold, camels, and much else.
In his old age, Abraham wanted to obtain a bride for his son Isaac. He called his servant and said, “Swear to me that you will go to my country and to my kindred, and get a woman from that place and bring her here to be my son’s bride and wife.”
The servant took ten camels loaded with good things and travelled to Mesopotamia, to Abraham’s native country. There he met Rebekah at the well. He prayed before the Lord, and the matter turned out according to his prayer.
He took out a golden ring of half a shekel weight and two golden bracelets of ten shekels weight, and put them upon Rebekah. Then he bowed down and worshiped God because God had led him to the house of his master’s brethren.
When he was brought into their house, he refused to eat until he had told them why he had come. He said, “The Lord hath greatly blessed my master. He has given him flocks, herds, silver, gold, camels, and everything. In his old age, God gave my master a son, and my master has given all that he hath to his son.”
That was his commission: to get a bride for the son. Rebekah was asked whether she would go, and she said, “I will go.”
Here, dear brothers and sisters, we find a picture. Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. Rebekah tasted only a little of Isaac’s riches: a golden ring of half a shekel, two golden bracelets, clothing, and some precious gifts. But those were merely tokens of the riches that belonged to Isaac.
What we have experienced of Christ is only a little token. Perhaps it is only a ring of half a shekel, or a bracelet, or a little clothing, or some small gift. What we have experienced of Christ is only a little foretaste.
But, dear brothers and sisters, even that little token ought to capture our hearts. We should not merely remain where we are and say, “This is very good. One day we shall go to heaven and see Him. That is good enough.”
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, may our hearts be captured by Christ, by the fullness that is in Christ. That little bit which we have tasted of Him should already overwhelm us and exercise our hearts.
I do not believe Rebekah could sleep at night. Even though she had not seen Isaac in person, she had seen Isaac in those little tokens of love. How could she remain where she was? She was anxious to go and meet Isaac and be joined with him in one, to be a joint-heir.
This is exactly what God desires. It is not merely that He gives us a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Through these little tokens, He desires to capture our hearts, that we may go and be united wholly with Christ in one. In that union, we enjoy and experience the fullness of God.
Paul, in writing to the Colossians, tried to convey to them something of the fullness that is in Christ—how full He is, how perfect He is, and how complete He is.
Paul presents Christ’s fullness in three relationships: His fullness in relation to God, His fullness in relation to creation, and His fullness in relation to the new creation.
First, he says that Christ is the image of the invisible God. God is invisible. No one has ever seen God. But God has an image in which He may be seen: Christ.
At the end of the earthly life of our Lord Jesus, He gathered with His disciples and began to tell them that He was going to the cross, that He would leave them and return to the Father. The disciples were grieved in their hearts.
Philip said to the Lord, “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” The Lord said to Philip, “Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
No one has ever seen God, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him. The word image carries the thought of representation and exact reproduction.
It is not like a child trying to copy letters in a book, tracing them with uncertain hand and going outside the lines. That is not the meaning of image. An image is an exact reproduction, a direct copy of the original—not something formed outwardly, but something derived from within.
Our Lord Jesus is the image of the invisible God—not an imitation produced by trying to copy God from the outside, but the exact expression of God from within. He does not merely represent God; He manifests Him.
God is invisible, but in the Son the invisible God has been made visible. Everything that is of God—His divine attributes and power, everything that can be said of God—is found in Christ exactly. Nothing is lacking, nothing is missing. He is the complete expression of the invisible God.
Paul then tells us that Christ is the firstborn of all creation. We must not think that Christ is a created being and that all other created things merely followed after Him. No. He is not a creature. He is eternally begotten of the Father. He was before all things.
The word firstborn here speaks of priority, dignity, and sovereignty. It does not mean that He was the first created being. Christ is before all creation and over all creation.
For by Him were created all things: things in the heavens and things upon the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. All things were created through Him and unto Him.
When you pass by a building, whether it is a great building or a beautiful one, you know that it expresses the mind of its architect. The beauty and design reveal something of the wisdom and ability of the one who designed it.
In a far greater sense, creation reveals the wisdom, power, and glory of Christ. All things came into being through Him, and all things are unto Him. He is not only the Designer; He is the Creator. He is the origin, the source, and the goal of all things.
Therefore, He has the right of sovereignty over all things. He has the first place in all things.
Paul then presents a third aspect: Christ is the Head of the body, the church. Christ is not only the eternal Son and the Creator of all things, but He is also the Head of the new creation.
The church is His body. In Genesis, God said that it was not good for man to be alone. Yet Adam could not find a counterpart suitable for him. So God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, took something from his side, and built a woman.
When Adam saw her, he said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” Eve came out of Adam, and she was joined to Adam. This is only a type; the reality is Christ and the church.
Christ’s side was opened upon the cross. Out of His pierced side came blood and water. By His death and resurrection, God has brought forth the church, the body of Christ, His bride, His counterpart.
Christ is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead. Our Lord Jesus was not merely the first person to be raised from death. Others had been raised before Him, but they died again. Christ was raised in the power of an indestructible resurrection life.
He is the firstborn from among the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. The church is a new creation brought forth in resurrection life. It is not merely an outward organization; it is the body produced by the resurrection life of Christ.
The Word tells us that we are complete in Him. We are made full in Him. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily, and we are complete in Him.
How often we are like Ruth gleaning in the field. Ruth was poor and had nothing. She asked Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favour.”
By the providence of God, she came to the field of Boaz. Boaz said to her, “Hear thou, my daughter. Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens.”
Dear brothers and sisters, sometimes we are gleaning in the fields of Christ, gathering a little here and a little there. But the will of God is not merely that we may be gleaners behind Christ. His will is that we may be joined to Christ, that we may enter into the fullness that is in Him.
Christ is our Boaz, our Kinsman-Redeemer. We are drawn to Him and joined to Him. He is our joy, our inheritance, and our fullness.
O Father, Holy Father, Thou dost know our limitations. Thou dost know how impossible it is for us to rise up and grasp the fullness of Thyself.
We pray that Thou wilt open our eyes. Thou hast put all fullness in Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. May we not merely gather one or two small things here and there, but may our eyes be opened to see that Thou art our fullness.
O Lord, may we be joined to Thee as one. Day by day, may we know the reality of the fullness that is in Thee. May we not go hungry, seeking supply elsewhere, but may we always be found in Thee and with Thee. Amen.