Colossians 1:15: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
As we’ve seen in this morning’s sermon, Paul uses the word “firstborn” twice in Colossians 1 to designate Jesus as the new Adam, the new Isaac, the new Israel , the new man. He also uses it to designate Jesus as the firstborn of Israel , the Passover Lamb who takes our place and whose blood delivers us from death. Because Jesus the firstborn has died and risen, we are translated from darkness into the kingdom of Light ; because of our Passover, we embark on a new exodus.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us.
This is joyful good news for us, but it is also a demand. If we are translated into the kingdom of light, we are to walk in the light. Jesus says, “ believe in the light , that you may become sons of light .” Paul adds, “let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light .” This means we should “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them ” since “all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.”
John says, “if we walk in the light as He is in the light , we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Walking in the light means loving one another, because “he who says he is in the light , and hates his brother, is in darkness until now” and “he who loves his brother abides in the light , and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”
We must follow the Light that is Jesus if we want to remain in the light, if we want to enjoy the fullness of the new exodus that Jesus has begun by His death and resurrection, if we want to make our way through the wilderness to the land of plenty.
Christ’s death is an invitation to this table: Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us; let us therefore keep the feast. Christ’s death is equally an imperative: Let us therefore keep the feast, not with the leaven and malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
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