Colossians 1:20

‘And through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, I say, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens.'

This verse concludes what Colossians 1:16 began. In Colossians 1:16 Paul began with ‘all things' created in the heavens and on the earth, here he finishes with ‘all things' reconciled to Him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens. The reversal of heavens and earth (Colossians 1:16) to earth and heavens (Colossians 1:20) deliberately draws attention to the unity of the whole passage. We begin with the heavens and end with the heavens.

This reconciliation of ‘all things', a description which includes the powers in heavenly places, as Colossians 1:16 makes clear, must be seen in the light of Paul's teaching elsewhere. Peace has been made through the blood of the cross, and all that finally is will be reconciled to Him. All will be at one with Him. But although this will include all who are, it will not include all who have been, for some will no longer be. Not all will find peace with God, because they refuse His offer of mercy. Some will therefore have been defeated and made to submit (Colossians 2:15; Philippians 2:10) resulting in final punishment. And their end will be destruction not final reconciliation. And the same will be true of sinful man. He too will have to bow the knee preparatory to receiving judgment (Philippians 2:10) and will also experience final destruction.

The total reconciliation through His cross, of all things that remain, is necessary so that all things might be summed up in Him (Ephesians 1:10) and so that the whole creation might be delivered from the bondage of corruption (Romans 8:21). But note that the latter also will partly be achieved by the corrupted heaven and earth being in the end burned up with fire (2 Peter 3:10).

With the fall of angels and of man disharmony had been brought into creation. This disharmony will now be removed as a result of His ‘making peace through the blood of His cross'. For those who respond to Him in faith His death acts on their behalf, they are seen as dying with Him (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:6), and thus the penalty of sin is paid (Colossians 2:14) and they have peace with God (Romans 5:1) and go free. They are made members of His body. They will be transformed and share His everlasting glory. But for those who do not respond His cross is a sentence of death (2 Corinthians 2:16). It is the evidence of their final guilt and of their being deserving of punishment and destruction. As a result they will have to bow the knee and submit to His judgment (Philippians 2:10; Acts 16:31), and then all rule, authority and power opposed to Him will be abolished (1 Corinthians 15:24). They will face eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 1:9), and everlasting peace will be established (Ezekiel 37:26) and God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).

‘Through Him to reconcile all things to Himself.' The first ‘Him' is Jesus Christ, the ‘Himself' is either ‘the Father' as representing the Godhead, or ‘God' as representing the same. Peace had to be finally established and all that was antagonistic and in rebellion done away. And this is accomplished ‘through Him'. The world must be finally be back at one with Him, with all that is unfit or unworthy done away, for those who are His will be fully reconciled and those who refused to be reconciled would be subjugated and would face the final sentence of eternal death.

‘Having made peace through the blood of His cross.' What the blood signifies is a human death died, and died voluntarily. The death of the representative Man Who sums up all redeemed mankind within Himself. Through Adam, the first man, death came into the world, the result and consequence of sin (Romans 5:12; Romans 5:15; Romans 5:17), through the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), the ‘second man' (1 Corinthians 15:47), came the death that was due, not to His own sins but to the sins of others (Romans 3:24; 2 Corinthians 5:21), the death that made salvation possible, that averted the wrath of God for those who respond to Him (Rom 3:25; 1 John 4:10; John 3:36), the sacrifice for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2). As the sinless One suffered He bore the sins of many (Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 53:12; 1 Peter 2:24), giving His life as a ransom (Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6; Galatians 3:13), breaking the power of sin and evil and death, and triumphing over them in the cross (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14).

No words can fully cover or define the depth and significance of what He accomplished that day. Each description is but the small part of the whole, a feeble representation of what He achieved. There ‘God made man', through His human death in the body of His flesh (Colossians 1:22) did all that was necessary to accomplish peace between God and His creation. And now peace was not only available, it was certain of achievement. God would make peace with all who would respond, and those who would not respond would be removed from the equation.