Friday
John 14:9-14; Colossians 1:19-20a

Jesus is the only one qualified to reveal God’s character as the Everlasting Father because he is one with the father. Jesus said, “The Father is in me, and I am in the Father.” The writer of Hebrews says Jesus is the exact representation of God. Jesus and God are one and the same. But what does this oneness mean? How did it impact the life and ministry of Jesus on earth? And what does it mean for those of us who follow him today?

1:19-20 says, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him [Jesus], and through him to reconcile all things to himself.” First, we can conclude that Jesus’ oneness with the Father—the Father’s fullness living in Jesus—means our salvation. Unless all of God is in Christ, the death and resurrection of Jesus is just a magic trick. It doesn’t forgive sin. On the other hand, because all of God’s fullness was in his sinless Son as he died on the cross, went to hell, and took the keys of sin and death, and as Christ rose again victorious on the third day, we have forgiveness of sins.

Jesus describes oneness as the result of the Father living in him—speaking the Father’s words and acting in the Father’s authority, not his own. Jesus says the evidence of his oneness with the Father is the work he does. In light of all of this, we can also conclude that Jesus’ oneness with the Father is a template for the oneness we are to share with Christ.

Stop and thank God for the mystery of his oneness with Christ. Praise him that all God is dwelled in an infant frame. Celebrate that, today, this Christ child is our Savior and someday our returning King.