Meditations on Colossians: The blood of peace

We’ve begun our study of the book of Colossians in our Life Group. I told my husband this morning, “There is some good stuff in there.” As I read through the first chapter, writing down my observations as I went, I found myself engulfed in several portions along the way. If I can gather some moments in my chaotic days, I would like to write out some of my meditations on this book.

Here is the first:
Colossians 1:19–20
“For in [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”
As I read, I was very struck by the phrase “making peace by the blood of His cross.”

Have you ever considered the blood of the cross? I mean really looked at it? Today I saw the blood as it ran down the cross of Christ. I saw it, red and dripping from the top of the head of my Lord where the thorns of a twisted, mocking crown pressed into his limp and hanging head; it ran down His face, matting his hair; it dripped from his hands spread out and held in place by cruelly pounded nails; it poured from his side until only water remained; it flowed down between the wooden grooves of the hewn beams until it pooled at the foot of His cross.

And as I considered this trail of blood, I considered the contrast of what it must have looked like through the eyes of satan and what this passage in Colossians tells us it looked like through the eyes of God.

To satan, the blood of the crucifixion represented a violent attempt at victory; I imagine it said, “I have killed the Messiah, now He cannot bruise my head (Genesis 3)”; it was intended to thwart the redemptive plans of God; to crush his dignity, His deity, His authority, His royalty, His power; it was beaten and torn out of the flesh of Christ to humiliate and bring about pain; it was to represent the victory of sin, death and the power of the devil...

and yet, to God, it was the blood of peace.

It was the blood of peace...the red, flowing flag of surrender. Surrender not to the enemy but to the love of the One True and Living God. To God--the Creator, the King, the Authority--this blood signaled not the victory of satan but the victory of Love as it brought about a reconciled relationship between holy God and sinful man. Because the fullness of God delighted to dwell in the body of Christ, His fullness filled every drop that left His crucified body, His fullness brought about the reconciling peace for which it fell. The very FULLNESS OF GOD ran from the first drops that flowed in Garden of Gethsemane from the brow of Jesus all the way to the place of shame up on the Hill of Golgotha, it fell upon the ground where pilot’s soldiers whipped Him until He barely resembled a man, it drained along the road beside the groove left behind by the cross He dragged, it flowed upon the ground as the nails were driven through His flesh, and dripped from His perch of shame until only water remained. Jesus the god-man was not alone as He walked the path to willingly lay His life down for the sake of sinners; He literally dripped the fullness of God every step of the way. To God, this blood was the blood of peace...it was shed to reconcile ALL things to Himself. It did represent victory, not of the destroying power of satan, but of the life-giving power of God for those who believe.

So today, I considered the blood...and the contrast of what the eyes of those observing saw when they looked upon the cross of Christ. Because no matter what satan may have intended or saw as Jesus died that day, he did not know...in those moments, satan did not know that the blood was the glory of God, it was the love of God, it was the peace of God.

I pray today that you may know this peace made by the blood of the cross of Christ; that you delight in a reconciled life with your Creator; and that you stand beneath the fullness of God as it flows through the cross.