The Fullness Of Christ

From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.

John 1:16

Jesus is the storehouse of all God’s treasure. He is full of all the fullness of God. “God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ” (Colossians 1:19). The Message puts that verse this way: “So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding.” Jesus is full and overflowing with all that heaven has available, and he fills us up from his own abundance.

This is the surprise that salvation holds. It is both what Christ did for you and who Christ is in you. He forgives our sins because of what he did for us, and he cleanses us of the unrighteousness that causes us to sin because of who he is in us. First John 1:9 says that “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” He poured his life out for us so he could pour his life out in us.

Therefore, we “are complete through [our] union with Christ” (Colossians 2:10). Jesus describes this relationship as that of a vine and a branch. The life that flows in the vine is the life that flows through the branch. This description shows us that it is not a one-time filling, but a continuous flow. A living union. The living Jesus being the Jesus living in us and through us. From his dwelling place in us, he circulates through us, cleansing us and progressively flushing out unrighteousness and pouring out one blessing on top of another.

All we do to receive this promise is to rest in him and let him pour himself into whatever faces us.

Jesus, words fail me when I think of the fullness of my salvation. Open my eyes to behold how utterly immense your love is. May I experience your incomprehensible love more fully. Make me complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from you.

As the cistern receives water from the fulness of the fountain, the branches sap from the fulness of the root, and the air light from the fulness of the sun, so we receive grace from the fulness of Christ.

Matthew Henry(1662–1714), English pastor and Bible commentator