The Preeminence of Christ

The Father’s Love for and Honor of His Son as Our Mediator

 

“He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” (Col. 1:18)

 

It is the purpose of the triune God “that in all things Christ might have the preeminence.” God has determined to give Christ the glory of and preeminence in all things as the reward of his obedience to the Father’s will as our Mediator and Substitute. Christ’s preeminence is set before us in Holy Scripture as the display of the Father’s love for and honor of his Son (John 3:35-36; 5:20-24).

            The Lord Jesus Christ is everything to his Father. The Father loves the Son, delights in the Son, honors the Son, exalts the Son and magnifies the Son. Therefore he has determined that in all things his Son shall have the preeminence. Christ is to his Father what Benjamin was to Jacob, the Son of his love. The Father’s love for the Son is evident for all to behold in the honor he has put upon him in giving him the preeminence in all things and over all things.

In his essential Deity as the second Person of the holy Trinity the Father gives nothing to the Son, because the Son is in every way one with and equal to the Father. But in his mediatorial character and office, as the Surety and Representative of his people, the Father has made the Son preeminent and has given him the preeminence in all things.

Christ our Mediator is preeminent in the affection of the Father’s heart (Prov. 8:30-31). Nothing is so dear to the Father’s heart as his only-begotten, well-beloved Son. The Father values, prizes, and cherishes the Son. He prefers his Son to all and chooses his Son above all. The Father loves his Son. If we could pry into the very heart of God, we would see nothing but his dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is preeminence! The Father says of Christ, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased” (Matthew 3:17). God the Father is pleased with and delights in his Son. He delights in the righteousness of his Son, the sacrifice of his Son, the intercession of his Son, and his people in his Son, and for the sake of his Son.

As Christ is the preeminent object of the Father’s love, so, too, he is the preeminent object of the Father’s trust. God the Father has entrusted everything to the Son. He has put everything into the hands of his Son. The Father trusted the Son with his people (Ephesians 1:12), with all his creation (Psalms 2:7-8; John 17:2), and with his very glory (1 Corinthians 15:28).

God the Father has made Christ preeminent over all things by giving him the place of highest honor, majesty, and dominion. The Father has placed everything and everyone under the rule of his dear Son, as the reward of his obedience and death as our Substitute (Romans 14:9; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:3-9; 10:11-14).

And God the Father will give his darling Son everything he asks of him. He shall see of the travail of his soul with satisfaction. That is to say, all for whom he died, all whose salvation he seeks, all his people shall be saved. That is the joy set before him from eternity, for which he endured the cross, despising the shame.

            This matter of Christ’s preeminence is much, much more than words of adulation, pretty phrases, and religious sentiment. The crown he wears is not a figure-head’s crown, but the crown of an absolute Monarch. Indeed, our Savior is the only absolute Monarch who ever existed. And he is a worthy Monarch. God himself has given his dear Son the preeminence by devoting himself, his heart, his creation, yes, his very Being to the glory and honor of his Son. May he give us grace to do the same!

 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

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