GIVE HIM HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE A Christmas Bible Study Colossians 1:18: “. . . that in everything He (Christ) might have the supremacy”. Galatians 4:4: “When the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full right of sons”.
Another Christmas is almost upon us. But in the midst of it all, when the world has almost forgotten whose birthday we celebrate, may we give Him His rightful place in our lives and remember the significance of His first coming. Our sin has brought about bondage and corruption and our efforts are useless in rectifying the situation. But here we have the intervention of God’s wonderful love and grace. There are four short phrases in this verse that concern Christ’s sacrificial death – which is the only means of our salvation. 1. The appointed time or “the fullness of the time”. God has an eternal programme which is completely unalterable, and everything on His programme has been and will continue to be fulfilled exactly at the right time. The appointed time referred to here was the moment that completed the period of the Old Covenant. It was the time determined by God and foreshadowed by the Law and the prophets in the Old Testament, and when that exact time arrived, God acted in Divine grace. 2. “God sent His Son”. There could be no greater expression of God’s love and grace than this. God did not send an angel or even an archangel — He “sent His Son” (Romans 8:32, 1 John 4:14). No one else could accomplish the work of redemption and fully deal with our sin. Two important things are implied here: They are (1) the supreme cost of our redemption, and (2) the deity of Christ – the fact that He is God (John 1:1). 14
