Rekindling the Flame #1 – The Preeminence of Christ: Why Jesus is First in Everything

Now, that’s strange, but there’s no exception. First, you have hearing. Hearing gives you revelation. Revelation gives you faith. We are believers; therefore, we cannot believe anything worth believing except by revelation. Therefore, tonight I speak to you so that you too might hear, receive in revelation, and then believe in a spiritual mode that Jesus Christ is preeminent in all things. Where is He preeminent? Well, first of all, He’s preeminent in all of us as believers if we have revelation. So, here we go. Let’s have a revelation this week. What is that revelation? That revelation is Christ…Christ…Christ…and nothing but Christ. A revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, when did His preeminence start? His preeminence started when there was nothing but Christ in the Father, and there wasn’t anything else, and there weren’t…and you’ve heard me say this… There weren’t any molecules, weren’t any angels, and there weren’t any principalities or powers; the only thing that existed was God the Father, with Christ in the Father, and that’s all there was. From that point on, the Father chose that His Son would be preeminent, central, and supreme.

How can we possibly understand that which is before, and “before before?” How can we possibly understand when there was nothing but God? If there’s nothing but God, then there’s not just God and nothing. There is God. Therefore, everything there is, He is all. Now, saints, get a hold of this, because God likes being the All. Now, He may have created, but He never got over being the All… and He never will. He still has it in His heart, in His will, and in His very being. He likes being all the All, and all there is is Him, and in Him is Christ.

Now then, something is hidden in God before anything else, and there is a mystery. So there’s God, and Christ in God, and there’s a mystery. Nobody knows what it is. Nobody even knew; not only didn’t they know, but they also did not know that they did not know. They had no idea that there was a secret hidden in God. It was not known to angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things visible, nor things invisible. It was not known to the Jew. No one knew it until the fullness of time came. Then a secret that was hidden in God was made known.

What else is preeminent in the “All-ness” of God? All there is of God, Christ Jesus, our Lord, is the preeminence of that all-ness. Now we have two very mysterious passages of scripture. Titus 1:2 and 2 Timothy 1:9. Now, try to listen to this. The Greeks can’t say eternity, so they say eon upon eons. That’s how they say eternity. One age after another, age after another, age after another, and that’s eternity…but these two scriptures don’t say that. There was an age. There was an eon before eons. There was an age before ages. Something existed before eternity. Before eternity rolled out…there was Christ.

In both these passages, you have eons before eons, and in one of them he says, “These are the rich promises given to us by God. Even before the foundation of the ages, before anything, these rich promises of Christ are given to us.” You and I have an inheritance from an age before eternity rolled out. What was going on in the age before Jesus Christ was everything…He was supreme before the face of the Father. He was now.  There is a passage in John 17 and in John 13, and this is what it says. The Lord Jesus is about to be crucified, and He said, “Father, I was with you, and you’ve glorified me, and now I’m going back. I’m going to return to where I originated.” So, let’s talk about the origin: there was a time, before time, when the Father and the Son were there, and the glory was there. If you’ve ever wondered what glory is, glory is Christ.

Now, we’re going to move up just a little bit further, and that is, Christ before creation. Christ before creation. Well, wasn’t that before creation? No, that was when He was all. Now we’re coming to a time that is before creation. What was there before creation? It’s still Christ, but He’s done some things.

Audience: Romans 16:25- 26 – Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past. But now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to the obedience of faith, to the only wise God, and Jesus Christ be the glory forever.

Audience: Romans 8:28 – And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. He who did foreknow also predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

There is something that happened before creation, and that is, that you were foreknown. You were elected. You were called, chosen, and justified. All of this happens before anything else, and it happens in Christ. What is the center of this choosing? It is Christ. In fact, Christ is not only preeminent in the choosing; if you can understand my words, what happens in the choosing is Christ.  I’m not talking about the act of choosing; I mean the content of the One who is doing the choosing. He, His content, and His choosing are all one and the same.

What is going on in Him at this time is pure. There is no sin; there is nothing but Him. The choice that is made is Christ Himself, for we have become the very righteousness of God the Father. He established in us before that we might not have, but that we might be His very righteousness. He is made unto us wisdom, and out of that wisdom has come sanctification and redemption…that is yours before the foundation of the earth.

Now, I’m going to ask you a question. By the way, I’m going to give you a hint. If I ever ask a question, nine times out of ten, the answer is Christ. Are you redeemed? Not exactly. You are redemption. You are, and it has been given to you in Christ to be redemption. Are you sanctified? No, you’re not sanctified; you are sanctification. This happened before creation, so we have been given wisdom out of which comes our sanctification and our redemption. All this before creation.