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Jesus' Lordship over Everyone
By Jason Hood
with assistance from Generous Giving staff
Jesus Christ is the Lord of all creation. Because of the work of God through him, the crucified and resurrected Messiah has been established as victorious not just over creation but also over all his enemies. His claim to be the one Lord in whom all things hold together is verified because his resurrection has given him victory. This Lord has defeated all opposing powers—even death itself—and inaugurated the New Creation. The reality of Christ’s lordship is clearly evident in the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Besides being verified by his resurrection, it is also proved through his involvement in the creation and preservation of all things (Colossians 1:16-17). Paul shows that the empire (same word in Greek as “kingdom”) of Jesus is set over and against all other empires, including those of Satan and implicitly Rome.
Paul’s “gospel” of the Lord Jesus implicitly confronts and subverts the “gospel” of Lord Caesar (the word “gospel” was sometimes used to proclaim the great works of Caesar and his empire in the first century A.D.) and all other gospels. This includes today’s gospels of democracy, Enlightenment-era “progress,” Marxism, pluralism, pragmatism and others. Caesar’s claim that he, as an agent of the gods, has reconciled all things and brought peace and “good news” is completely undermined by the message of Colossians. Likewise, Paul’s gospel subverts the modern gospels offered by advertisers, corporations, politicians and human hearts. All of these “gospels” quite naturally locate the origin and preservation of peace, happiness, fruitfulness, reconciliation and redemption somewhere other than in the crucified Messiah.
However, there is only one Lord and Author of all; there is only One who has reconciled all things to himself, and only One who deserves our allegiance. As Lord of everything, Christ guarantees the unimaginably rich inheritance which he has secured for those who give their lives to him (Colossians 1:12; 3:23-25). This inheritance, the “hope laid up for us in heaven,” is an enormous part of the good news of God’s kingdom and Christ’s lordship (Colossians 1:5). One day all that is stored in heaven will return to earth with the Lord of all, when he comes to finish establishing his empire and renewing all things. His lordship, then, is not just a matter of cold, hard rule. It also—paradoxically, for those of us used to democracy and opposed to monarchs and dictators—establishes true freedom and inheritance for all who love him.
Related Passages: 2 Samuel 22:1-28; Isaiah 12:2; Matthew 6:19-24; 2 Romans 5:9-11; Corinthians 5:16-21; Ephesians 1:11-14, 18-23; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 9:15; 11:8-10
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