Colossians 1:20

20. And It also pleased God to make him, thus qualified, infinitely transcending in dignity and excellence all possible qualification of any creature, the medium of the reconciliation. This is the second fact in the great plan. “This indwelling,” says Bengel, “is the foundation of the reconciliation.” The Greek order is: And through him (Christ) to reconcile all things unto himself (God), having made peace through the blood of his cross. The emphatic point is, that it is through Christ that God planned and has undertaken the reconciliation of the universe to himself. The reconcile of this verse is parallel with the gather together of Ephesians 1:10, yet with a broader scope, by as much as Christ’s headship in the universe is broader than his headship in the Church. Yet here, as there, we must distinguish between the divine idea, as framed before the foundation of the world, and its actual realization at the final consummation. The sin which began with the angels has extended to men, and so affected the entire creation that the harmony of the universe is disturbed. Now it is God’s plan that the incarnate Son shall mediatorially restore this harmony of the universe with himself, laying the ground of it in the shedding of his blood on the cross. He is the Lamb of sacrifice foreordained from eternity, 1 Peter 1:20. And lest there should be doubts as to how far-reaching the plan is, we are told that the all things embraces the things in earth, and the things in heaven, which terms are identical with those employed in Colossians 1:16 to designate the entire totality of created things, and can here mean no less. The glorious divine intention, then, was a reconciliation co-extensive with the same universe which the Son mediatorially created. Thus far the plan itself: in its execution the whole tendency is toward a glorious ultimate result. The Reconciler is exalted to the throne of the universe. Myriads upon myriads of men, saints rejoicing on high, and saints serving below, have found his peace. The sinless angels, who never saw God except through the Son, see him now in the glorified Christ, and are brought nearer to him. Of what the final realization will be, the passage does not speak. The resurrection will destroy death; redeemed men and blissful angels will people heaven; and the physical creation be freed from its subjection to vanity. But, reversely, it is in the power of wicked men, freely acting, to trample on the atonement and reject the proffers of peace, thus defeating in themselves the divine plan. Fallen angels, who would seem to have been included in the intended mercy, possibly in their refusal of honour to God’s Son, and their mad, persistent rebellion against him in their day of probation, have thrown themselves out from its benefits, so that they and their dark abode are not included in the reconciliation. Yet lost angels and men will finally be compelled to bow in unwilling subjection to the sceptre of Christ, so that the whole universe will confess him Lord. See note, Ephesians 1:10.