Let us now, in the way of an overall survey, look at Christ in the Gospels, in the Acts, in the Epistles, in Revelation, and then in Colossians. In the Gospels we see that Christ was incarnated to put on the old creation. John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh. Flesh here denotes man of the old creation. Strictly speaking, God did not create the flesh; He created a body for man. But through the fall, sin entered into man’s body and caused it to become flesh. Hence, the flesh in John 1:14 refers to man as part of the old creation. Man, the head of creation, had become flesh. By incarnation Christ became a man and thereby put on the old creation.
Throughout His human living, Christ expressed God. John 1:18 says that no one has ever seen God, but the Son has declared Him. During the thirty-three and a half years of His life on earth, Christ declared God and expressed Him.
When Christ was crucified, He terminated the old creation. If a Jew were asked what happened when Jesus was crucified, he would probably answer that a man named Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross. A new Christian may say that it was his Savior who was crucified. A more advanced Christian may reply that not only was Christ crucified as his Savior, but that he himself also was crucified with Christ. An even more advanced Christian may answer that Christ, the self, Satan, and the world were all dealt with on the cross. However, not even this answer is sufficient. On the cross, Christ crucified sin, Satan, the world, the old man, and the entire creation. Moreover, the law of commandments in ordinances was also crucified there. Therefore, the death of Christ terminated the entire old creation.
According to the Gospels, Christ was resurrected to produce the church, the new creation. He was the one grain of wheat that fell into the ground and produced many grains in resurrection to form the church (John 12:24).
In the Acts we see that Christ has been exalted to be the Head over all things to the church. Acts also reveals that after His exaltation Christ descended as the Spirit to carry out God’s intention. Furthermore, the book of Acts reveals that Christ has been propagated to bring the church into existence.
In the Epistles we see that Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30), our life (1 John 5:12), our life supply (Phil. 1:19), our holiness (1 Cor. 1:30), our redemption (1 Cor. 1:30), and our glory (1 Tim. 1:1). All these aspects of Christ indicate that we shall experience a full transformation resulting in glorification.
In the book of Revelation we see that Christ is the testimony of the churches. In the churches we testify only to Christ. Furthermore, in Revelation we see that Christ is the King in the coming kingdom and, ultimately, the center of the New Jerusalem in eternity.
We have seen that in the book of Colossians Christ is the preeminent One (1:15, 18) and the all-inclusive One (3:11). He is the centrality and universality of God’s economy. In Colossians Paul uses a number of unique expressions to describe Christ, expressions that are not found elsewhere in the Scriptures. This indicates that in Colossians we have the highest revelation of Christ found in the Bible. This book is like Mount Zion, the highest peak among the mountains. We appreciate this book because, in a unique way, it presents Christ as the preeminent and all-inclusive One, the centrality and universality of God.