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The Acts of the Apostles
created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him
all things consist.” “And you, that were sometime alienated and ene-
mies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the
body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable
and unreprovable in His sight.”
The Son of God stooped to uplift the fallen. For this He left the
sinless worlds on high, the ninety and nine that loved Him, and came
to this earth to be “wounded for our transgressions” and “bruised for
our iniquities.”
Isaiah 53:5
. He was in all things made like unto His
brethren. He became flesh, even as we are. He knew what it meant
to be hungry and thirsty and weary. He was sustained by food and
refreshed by sleep. He was a stranger and a sojourner on the earth—
in the world, but not of the world; tempted and tried as men and
women of today are tempted and tried, yet living a life free from sin.
Tender, compassionate, sympathetic, ever considerate of others, He
represented the character of God. “The Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, ... full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14
.
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Surrounded by the practices and influences of heathenism, the
Colossian believers were in danger of being drawn away from the
simplicity of the gospel, and Paul, in warning them against this, pointed
them to Christ as the only safe guide. “I would that ye knew,” he wrote,
“what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for
as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts might
be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full
assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of
God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge.
“And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing
words.... As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as
ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye
are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.”
Christ had foretold that deceivers would arise, through whose influ-
ence “iniquity” should “abound,” and “the love of many” should “wax
cold.”
Matthew 24:12
. He had warned the disciples that the church