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All Things are for Christ
By Mary Kroeger
The scriptures often surprise us with the answers they give to our questions. We may wonder why God created the universe, why He created good and evil, why He wanted an image of Himself, etc. In this paper we will limit ourselves to discussing why God made all things.
In Romans 11: 28 we read, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” What a statement! All things are from Christ, through Him and to Him, and for His glory! Col. 1:16 enlarges on this statement. "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him." What an all inclusive statement!
As we meditate on these verses, we are impressed with the preeminence and greatness of Christ Jesus! He has first place in everything! Everything God has done, is doing and will do is through Christ, for Christ and for His glory! This is not a selfish or arrogant glory; it is not like the glory of kings and rulers who fight and destroy to gain power and control over people. The glory of Christ is His love, humility and willingness to be sacrificed in order to free humanity from its bondage to sin and to transform it into His likeness! He could have come down from the cross, but in His obedience to the Father's will, He remained on the cross! God rewarded His perfect obedience by giving Him a name that is above every name! Although all things were created through Him and for Him, yet He needed to prove to us that He was worthy of this glory by providing a redemption for all humanity!!
Everything was created for Christ. What does everything include? Everything includes all things. “All things” can have no exceptions. If there were any exceptions, they would have to be named. We are rather surprised that even dominions and rulers are named, and we find it hard to believe that God even has a purpose for dominions, rulers and authorities.
“All things” also include you and me! It's so good to know that God has a purpose for each of us, and that his purpose is fulfilled in Christ! Just as Christ embraced the Father's will as His will, so we too, even in the face of much suffering, have to embrace His will as our will!
The whole universe and everything in it was created through Christ! In 1 Cor. 8:6 we read, "Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” Again, notice that there are no exceptions! Everything that moves, breathes and exists in the visible realm as well as the invisible realm, was created through Christ! God has a good purpose for everything; He did not create anything for which He did not have a good purpose – and that purpose is fulfilled in Christ!
Not only was everything created for Him, but also to Him. Since "all things" cannot have any exceptions, even the things we can't understand, and the things that we often wish did not exist, must be included. All things will be gathered together into Christ! Since no evil can be gathered into Christ, it means that all evil must disappear because of the power of God's great salvation in Christ!
Our Father God has the ability and power to do His will and His will is fulfilled in Christ! He wants all things to function together in love and unity. What a contrast to the strife and disharmony we see in the world today! To the natural eye this looks impossible! The spiritual eye of faith looks beyond the impossible realm and sees the power of God in the great work of redemption that He brought about in Christ! "And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven." (Col.1:20).
God begins His work of transformation in us. This transformation is now taking place in the invisible realm of the spirit, but it will be revealed. (Rom. 8) In Phil. 3:21 we read, "Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has to subject all things to Himself." What power! He has the power to do everything He purposes to do! The outcome of His wonderful purpose is found in 1 Cor. 15:28, “And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all."
This process of subjecting all things to Himself begins in those who belong to Him. We who are His children, sons of the Most High Go, are the first to learn what it means to embrace the will of God as our will, and to follow Christ in the obedience of faith! As we live in obedience, Christ is formed in us!
When we are transformed into the very image of Christ – the exact image of the invisible God, the very essence of God will be come evident in us. The essence of His being is love, righteousness and purity. No sin can enter His being! The consuming fire that He is, consumes all impurity! Can we imagine what it will be like when God is all in all? It will be greater and more wonderful and magnificent than we have ever imagined!
This wonderful plan of God to fill all things with Himself was hidden in times past and only now revealed in Christ. In Eph. 1:9-10 we read, "He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.” In Paul's letter to the Ephesians he repeats this truth in chapter 4:10. "He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things."
Many Christians still cannot believe this good news. They think the devil is stronger than God and that the majority of people will be kept as prisoners in hell and tortured for all eternity. They do not understand that all of God's disciplines are redemptive, and that torturing people in hell for all eternity would not serve any good purpose. They preach that God's love is unconditional, yet if people do not believe in Christ before they die, it becomes conditional. They believe that Adam's disobedience is greater than Christ's obedience! They believe that God relinquished some of His sovereignty when He gave man a "free will", that is, a will that cannot be influenced. The Bible does not say God gave us a free will. If man's will can override God's will, then God cannot do His will. If that were the case, then God would not be sovereign. They may not analyze their belief in this way, but by saying that all unbelievers will suffer in hell for all eternity, (when God has said He is unwilling for any to perish) they are demonstrating this belief.
In Romans 5:15-19 Paul writes, "But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then, as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act or righteousness there resulted justification of lie to all men. “For as through the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One, the many will be made righteous." "The many" who were made sinners, has to be the same number as "the many" who were made righteous!
If Christ's obedience in His death and resurrection doesn't override Adam's disobedience, then death is stronger than life. In Hebrews we read that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. So if death is destroyed, there can be no more death. In Romans 8:6 we read that the carnal mind is death. Therefore, when the carnal mind no longer exists, all must be in life. If God cannot fulfill His desire and promise to do away with death, He is not a sovereign God, and evil is stronger than life. We know that God is sovereign and He will accomplish all His desire!
In Phil. 2:9-1 we read, “Therefore also God highly exalted Him i, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." When every tongue confesses Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father, there is complete victory. In 1 Cor. 12:3 it says, “Therefore I make known to you, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus is accursed'; and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit." Since no one can say, "Christ is Lord" but by the Holy Spirit, when every knee bows and every tongue in heaven, on earth and under the earth proclaims that Jesus Christ is Lord, no compulsion and no force is used to fulfill this prophecy.
What a great and wonderful Savior we have! He can achieve His desire to make man in His image! This takes place in the second Man, the spiritual Man, the Man Christ Jesus. All things are for Him, through Him and to Him!!! Hallelujah!