Bits and Pieces – 183rd Edition – October 1, 2023

“In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” [Colossians 2:9]

     The incarnation of Christ is one of the most profound events in history.  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became a Man – “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”  [John 1:14].

     And the text in Colossians is one of the most profound, wonderful, amazing, and mind-boggling in the entire Bible.

There is the picture.  Jesus is “the image of the invisible God”  [Colossians 1:15].  He is the living manifestation and embodiment of the Father.  There is also the permanence.  “In Him dwelleth.”  It is the present continuous.  Yesterday, today, and forever Jesus is the same.

     Paul well said, “That I may know Him” [Philippians 3:10].  There are some things we know about Jesus, some things we ought to know, and some things we shall never know – it would take omniscience to know and we are not omniscient.

“In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and godliness”   [Phil. 2:3].  “In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” [2:9].

     There are two Greek words for “Godhead.” ‘Theiotes’ [Romans 1:20] is an attribute likened to a ray of sunlight.  ‘Theotes,’ (in our text) is essence likened to the sun itself. We are walking history books and contain some of the ancestral genes of earlier people, some good and others not so good.  We have a small amount of the fulness of man but Jesus has “all the fulness of God.  In the Shorter Catechism answer 4 we read, “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth”  All that God is is found in Christ. If you would ever know God you must know Christ.

     A father loves his child; therefore, whether it be a smile or a stroke, it is all for the good of the child.  I am thy God, thy Father; therefore, all I do is for thy good.  “As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee”  [Deuteronomy 8:5]. God’s chastening is not to destroy but to reform.  God cannot hurt His children, for He is a tender-hearted Father, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him” [Psalm 103:13].

     Will a father seek the ruin of his child, the child that came from himself, that bears his image?  All his care and contrivance is for his child: whom does he settle the inheritance upon, but his child?  God is the tender-hearted “Father of mercies” [2 Corinthians 1:3].  He begets all the mercies and kindness in the creatures.

     God is an everlasting Father [Isaiah 9:6].  He was our Father from eternity; before we were children, God was our Father, and He will be our Father to eternity.  A father provides for his child while he lives; but the father dies and then the child may be exposed to injury.  But God never ceases to be a Father.  You, who are a believer, have a Father that never dies; and if God be your Father, you can never be undone.  All things must needs work for your good. – [From Thomas Watson’s All Things for Good].

     Lalo pastors the Coram Deo Free Presbyterian Church in Cordoba. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have four children: Pamela, Eduardo, Uriel and Gadiel. Church address: Calzada Morelos 6219-A, Santa Clara Barreal, CP 94552, Cordoba, Veracruz, Mexico.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. Power in preaching the Gospel.
2. That the people in the church would live godly lives.
3. For the church to grow in grace and knowledge and numbers.
4. Good time management as Lalo pastors and works to provide for his family.
5. Financial provision for his family and the church.

     Bennu is an asteroid, about a third of a mile in diameter.  It was the subject of a seven-year space exploration costing over $870 million.  Its objective? To collect samples of Bennu and bring them back to earth.  This happened last Sunday when a capsule landed in the Utah desert.  Queen musician, Sir Brian May, also involved in the project, said “this box when it is opened of material from the surface of Bennu can tell us untold secrets of the origins of the Universe, the origins of our Planet, and the origins of Life itself.”

     They spent $870 million for a measly 9 ounces of material that is to be divided among 200 scientists.  They would have been far better to open a Bible.  It would answer their questions about origins. They would also learn that “the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God” [Psa. 14:1].  They have not disproved the existence of God, they have merely set Him aside. Some day they will have to meet Him at the judgment bar.