Colossians 1:24-2:5
I wonder if when people look at our church they see the beauty of Christ?
Christ endured affliction for the sake of His body, the Church; He bore the entire judgment of sin in Himself. For the first time the Holy God of all things--who cannot look upon sin--turned His back on His Son who had become sin for us on the cross. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" There must be something special about the Church, the Body of Christ.
Somehow, as His body, the Church is to display the beauty of Christ. For many generations, this mystery of atonement was hidden; but now it is revealed. "Christ in you" (lit. 'among you') is the testimony of the riches of His glorious atonement. The beauty of Christ is seen not only in His sacrifice for sins, but in His people assembled as His body. Paul's struggle was that the body of Christ would realize this; that they would be knit together in love and reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery--Christ. The goal is that the body of Christ would display the beauty and glory of Christ to a world without Christ.
"...Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Jesus is the answer. Jesus is the repository of all that is needed today. In Him is found pleasures forevermore. In Him is found perfect peace. In Him is found eternal life. In Him is found the Kingdom at hand. In Him is found better husbands and wives, better parents and children, better employers and employees, better teachers and students, etc.
Jesus is beautiful. The Church is Christ incarnate. The beauty of Jesus is made known by the Church. "Christ in you, the hope of glory." May we be saturated with the beauty of Christ and display that beauty to all the world that they might come to obtain the hope of glory.
