Jesus Came to Unite All Things in Himself

Jesus came to unite all things in Himself.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. –Ephesians 1:7-10

God has always had a plan. It may have been difficult at times to know what God is doing from the outside looking in. But Paul tells us here in Ephesians that at just the right time, God showed us Christ, and that in Him we see the very center of God’s plan, where all things are united in the story of Christ.

In Christ, we see that all the fullness of God dwelled in human flesh. We see that even though sin had broken fellowship between God and man, God had decided to do something about it in sending Christ. God had not left his creation to death and abandonment.

In Christ, we see that sin, guilt, shame, and everything else that flows from the Fall in Genesis 3 is judged. Because of sin, we are condemned to death, but for those of us who have repented of sin and trusted in Christ, we see Him as the place where our histories have changed forever. Our story has gone from one of darkness and hopelessness to joy and life because of Him.

Christ is the ultimate plan of God. He came to sum up all of God’s plan, to redeem God’s people from sin and to condemn Satan and his minions who held us in bondage to sin. And while we only see this in a dim way now, there is coming a day when “at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). Jesus is the fulfillment and the summation of God’s plan, where all things find their story changing forever.