Collossians 1:19-23

 Jesus Christ King of kings and Lord over all.

The ultimate proof of providence is the death of Christ on the cross. No deed was more evil. Yet God not only knew of the crucifixion; he ordained it. Everyone thought the life of Jesus was over—but God. His Son was dead and buried, but God raised him from the dead. God took the crucifixion of Friday and turned it into the celebration of Sunday. Can he not do a reversal for you? Max Lucado

Jesus has done His part. He is our mediator. Our reconciler. The One who has already atoned for our sins. But we must also confess our sins in recognition of how desperately we need Him. First 5

Lawrence Kushner suggests that the "burning bush" was not a miracle. It was a test. God wanted to find out whether or not Moses could pay attention to something for more than a few minutes. When Moses did pay attention, God spoke. The trick is to pay attention to what is going on around you long enough, to behold the miracle.
But then, Moses wasn't hindered by his iPhone. 

This week our world shook with the invasion of Ukraine.
And we were confronted with our sense of helplessness...
And our need for a paradigm shift. From big world to small world. You see, the big world feels, often overwhelming and outside of our ability to change or affect change. On so many big world issues people give up. “It’s not my problem, after all.” But the small world is right in front of me. And the small world invites me to be present for the sacred (burning bush). Which means I’m present to see people, before anxieties... people with faces and names. People with real tangible emotions, fears, exhilaration, joys and burdens. When I start with the person, I put down my labels or tendency to prejudge, now open to learning, growing, giving, caring, healing. Terry Hershey “Sabbath Moments”

2 Corinthians 5:18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

Ephesians 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,

Collossians 1:19-23

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. The New King James Version

God is fully present in Christ. Consequently, Christ is sufficient for the Colossians’ salvation. This phrase echoes the glory of God filling the tabernacle Exodus 40:34. In the ancient world, people believed that deities lived on high places such as mountains. For example, when the Israelites entered the wilderness, God met them on a mountain. But God did not stay on the mountain; He instructed the Israelites to build a tabernacle—a dwelling place for Him to live among His people. God came down and filled the tabernacle with His glory as a sign of His presence among them.

The prophet Isaiah interpreted this cloud of glory as the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 63:11. 

This gracious act was God’s extension of friendship to the Israelites. The Gospel of John describes Christ as the tabernacle or the dwelling of God—an allusion that demonstrates the continuity between God’s presence among the Israelites and His presence in the person of Christ. 

The Greek word used here, apokatallassō, refers to the act of restoring a relationship to harmony. The purpose of Christ’s death on the cross was to bring all things created by Christ and for Christ into harmonious relationship. 

Christ was not an angel or a nonphysical being; He had a body, and He endured suffering and death in His body. By emphasizing Christ’s physical body, Paul may be combatting early gnostic-like influences that could have been at work in Colossae. Gnostics emphasized spiritual, nonmaterial reality over the material world, prompting some people to deny that Christ had a physical body. Gnostics wrongly considered material reality to be evil and sought to escape it through abstaining from worldly comforts and pleasures. While fully developed Gnosticism postdates the new testament, the beliefs Paul seems to be addressing here resemble later gnostic thought. It describes belonging to or being set apart for God. 

The Colossians cannot claim responsibility for their status before God; no human tradition or rule made them holy. Rather, Christ’s work of reconciliation brought them into relationship with God, making them holy. Since believers belong to God, they bear His image, which enables them to live out God’s command to holiness. Paul seems to be acknowledging that the Colossians are at a crossroads. He charges them to continue trusting in Christ and living out the gospel message. However, they must refuse to observe the rules and traditions of false teachings, which threaten to lead them in a different direction. They must remember that faith in Christ is not simply a way of entering God’s kingdom—it is the way of life within the kingdom. Faithlife Study Bible

John 1:16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.

Romans 10:18 But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

Ephesians 1:10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.