God’s Intention in His Administration is to Give Christ the Preeminence in All Things

God’s intention in His administration is to give Christ the preeminence in all things, that is, to cause Christ to have the first place in everything (see Col. 1:15, 18).

In Colossians Paul writes concerning this principle of Christ being preeminent; he says that Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, all things cohere in Him, that He might have the first place in all things.

In English we don’t see the word preeminence in Col. 1:15, 18, but in the Greek text Col. 1:18 can be translated as, That He might have preeminence.

This word used here was never used by Paul in any of his other fourteen epistles; in this book where he presents an amazing revelation of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, he speaks of Christ having the first place in all things.

This word means to be first, to hold the first rank and the highest dignity, and to have the preeminence; it means not only that you’re first in position but that you have a kind of dignity, a status that is associated with that position.

This word is not used very much in English; however, according to the dictionary preeminence means superiority, dominance, eminence, prestigiousness, supremacy, and transcendence. Wow, what a Christ!

In His administration God wants that Christ would have the preeminence in all things!

First, God’s will for us concerning the all-inclusive, extensive Christ is that we would know Christ, experience Christ, enjoy Christ, and have Christ become our life and person.

Then, we see that we have been rooted in Christ as the living land, we can walk in Him, and we can absorb Him as our rich soil into whom we’re rooted, so that we may grow with the elements we absorb from the soil to be made full in Christ in our experience.

God’s will is that we enjoy Christ, be filled with Christ, and experience Christ, so He gave Christ to be our portion.

When we speak of Christ having the preeminence, there’s a book in the Old Testament that speaks concerning this – Daniel.

We may think that Daniel speaks of the seventy weeks, the Antichrist, the beasts, etc, but the crucial revelation in Daniel is Christ as the portion of His believers, God’s heavenly rule, and the preeminence of Christ.

In Daniel we see these young overcomers who refused to eat the demonic diet, the food offered to idols, and instead they ate something pure; therefore, they had the clear revelation the the heavens rule!

When we take Christ as our portion, we exalt Christ, and we realize that the heavens rule and that Christ is preeminent!

The heavens always rule, but temporarily on the earth it doesn’t appear that the heavens are ruling, for what we see is the usurpation of Satan and the lack of God’s people exalting Him; so we need to pray, Lord, Your kingdom come on the earth as in the heavens!

Even more, the heavens rule and Christ is preeminent, but what about our own personal life, our personal universe, and our daily living – is Christ preeminent in all things? May we see more concerning God’s intention and cooperate with Him to have Christ be preeminent in all things in our being.

God’s Intention in His Administration is to Give Christ the Preeminence in All Things

In His governmental administration to carry out His economy, God wants that Christ would have the preeminence in all things, that is, that He would have the first place in everything.

In His economy Christ has the first place, for He is both the centrality and universality of God’s economy; however, in His governmental administration – the carrying out of His economy, even there God wants Christ to have the preeminence.

The entire world situation is under the rule of the heavens by the God of the heavens to match His intention in His economy, of which Christ is the center (Dan. 7:9-10; 4:34-35; Eph. 1:10).

If we look around us we may see only chaos, rebellion, and man trying to obtain power and abuse power; there’s a strong spiritual warfare taking place, and many fighting prayers need to be uttered concerning the world situation.

It appears that all over the earth the satanic chaos is everywhere, and it is even intensified.

To the natural eye it doesn’t look like the heavens are ruling, but if we exercise our spirit to stand with the Lord in prayer, we will realize that the God of the heavens rules over the entire world situation to match His intention in His economy, that is, to have Christ be preeminent in all things.

In political matters we do not take sides or try to figure things out; rather, we exalt Christ, we take Him as our portion, and we vote for Christ!

God is not a Republican or Democrat (in the USA), He is not for the Tories or the Labor Party (in the UK); rather, He has only one party – the Christ party, and He votes for Christ in every election!

In every country on earth – 195 or so of them – God votes for Christ in all of them all the time!

So we shouldn’t get involved in that sort of thing, trying to figure out who is right or wrong in this conflict or that protest; nobody is right – only Christ is the right one in the universe, so we should stay in the realm of enjoying Christ and exalting Christ!

And to exalt Christ doesn’t mean that we merely speak, Lord, we exalt You! but rather, that we take Him as our portion and give Him the preeminence in all things.

For Christ to have the preeminence in all things, God needs a people; apart from God’s having a people, there is no way for Christ to be made preeminent (Col. 1:18; 3:10-11).

If there wasn’t a group of people who exalted Christ and who, in their living and experience, give Him the preeminence in all things, He has no way to work this out.

This is similar to what we see in Eph. 1:10, that God intends to head up all things in Christ; this is His eternal economy, and He will head up all things in Christ through the church!

First the church needs to be headed up in Christ, and then through the church God has a way to head up the entire universe. So we as God’s people need to enjoy Christ and experience Him, giving Him the preeminence in all things.

If we don’t give Christ the preeminence, we may talk about Him being preeminent but this doesn’t mean much, because we don’t live out there in the universe somewhere but here on earth, right now, right here, where the satanic chaos is going on!

Under His heavenly rule God is using the environment to make Christ the centrality (the first) and the universality (everything) to us (see Rom. 8:28; Col. 1:18, 27; 3:4, 10-11).

We all can testify from our experience that God is using the environment and even the devil with the satanic chaos with the political situation for a purpose – to make Christ have the first place in all things.

Lord Jesus, cause us to see that God’s intention in His administration is to give Christ the preeminence in all things! Amen, Lord Jesus, have the first place in everything in our being! Hallelujah, the entire world situation is under the rule of the heaves by the God of the heavens to match His intention in His economy, that is, for Christ to have the preeminence! Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to be Your people who are headed up in Christ, those who give Christ the first place in all things. May we cooperate with You as You use the environment so that Christ would be the first and everything to us and in us!

God’s Heavenly Rule over All Things is for Christ to be Preeminent in us and in everything

The book of Daniel shows in type that, God arranges the environment so that Christ becomes the centrality and universality of God’s elect, that is, for Christ to be preeminent in His people and in everything.

He uses the nations as the environment so that Christ would be the centrality and universality of His people. We are not simple people; rather, as believers in Christ we are God’s elect, and as human beings, we are part of the old creation.

As God’s chosen people, we need Christ to be wrought into us as our centrality and universality. However, as human beings, sometimes the old creation in us is like a beast (like the one in Daniel 7), or an Antichrist or a Nebuchadnezzar who seeks to defeat, capture, possess, and utilize God’s elect.

So we need to be like Daniel, opening our windows toward Jerusalem (having a vision of God’s purpose related to the church) and pray that Christ would come in to cut off and terminate everything in us that is natural and part of the old creation, and that He would be preeminent in us.

So Christ first comes in to terminate us as the old creation and germinate us as the new creation, and then He comes in to “clear away all the beasts”.

What we see in type in Daniel with the various beasts can be applied to our experience today; sometimes we may have this beast rising up in us, and at other times we may have another beast.

But Christ is coming from within us to crush all these beasts by terminating anything of the old creation, the old man, the self, and the flesh, and He will increase to become a great mountain that comprises us and that fills the whole earth to be the kingdom of God! Hallelujah!

By terminating and germinating us, and by crushing all the beasts in us, God rules over all things in our being, and we give Christ the preeminence in all things.

In this way Christ is wrought into us to become our centrality and universality. Hallelujah!

We need to realize that in His economy God administrates the universe in order to fulfill His purpose to give Christ the preeminence in all things.

We as the people of God need to realize that all things work together for our good; under God’s heavenly rule, all things work together for our good so that Christ would be preeminent in our being.

Everything in our life including the things in our family life, in our being, and in the church life, all things work together for good so that Christ would be preeminent. When we realize this, we will submit to God’s heavenly rule and give Christ the preeminence in all things.

Hallelujah, all things work together for good in our personal life, in our family life, and in the church life so that Christ would be preeminent in all things! Thank You Lord for choosing us to be Your people; thank You for coming into us to terminate the old creation and germinate us for the new creation. We want to cooperate with You, Lord, that You would come in and terminate and destroy anything negative so that Christ would be preeminent in us. Lord, we give You the preeminence in all things by faith in our being!

Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Intenția lui Dumnezeu în administrația Sa este să-i dea lui Cristos preeminența în toate lucrurile.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Daniel, msg. 12 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ (2019 Thanksgiving Conference), week 3 on the topic of, The All-inclusive, Extensive Christ Having the Preeminence in All Things.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Christ as my Person must possess my heart / And be preeminent in every part. / The former owner died but haunts it still. / O Lord, move in; my mind, emotion, will / Now welcome Thee. (Hymns #1179)
  – Oh, what a preeminent Christ! / You have the first place in all things. / Your name is above every name, / Exalted by God, Lord and King. / My portion is Yourself alone, / Allotted by God in the light. / I hold You as my Head today. / Lord, You are my focus, my life. (Song on, Oh, What a Preeminent Christ)
  – God intends in everything / Christ should have preeminence, / And that such a Christ of all / We should now experience. (Hymns #495)