In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:3
One of the most difficult places to break into is the vault of a bank where the safety deposit boxes are stored. The walls are thick and strong and the locks are almost impossible to break or defeat. But thieves who break into banks will try their best to get in because they know that inside that vault are the valuables and treasures of the bank’s depositors. Expensive jewellery is stored there. So are valuable items that people collect, important documents, bonds and securities that are worth fortunes, and many other items of great monetary and sentimental value. It is little wonder that banks go to such lengths to make sure that no unauthorized people get into those vaults. They recognize the value of all of those rich treasures. Can you imagine the value of a vault that contained all of the knowledge and wisdom that exists? Such a vault exists, and He is Christ.
The word ‘hid’ in our text carries the meaning of stored, of being assembled into a safe and secure place. We know the meaning of the word ‘treasures’, although we don’t always think of knowledge and wisdom as treasures. But they are. Just think in very earthly terms of how wealthy and powerful you would be if you had ready access to all knowledge and all wisdom. You could easily win every encounter in business, politics, war, and finance. No one could stand in your way. And that is having all knowledge and wisdom of the moment. When we identify the Lord Jesus as the repository of all of knowledge and wisdom, we must recognize that He contains all knowledge and wisdom of now, of the past, and of the future. When we declare ‘He knows everything’, we are expressing far more than we can even understand. And yet it is true. That is why the psalmist could declare: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do His commandments (Psalm 111:10). It is also why the Bible declares that all who deny God and who reject God are fools (Psalm 14:1). It also explains the inexhaustible depths of the Scriptures. We read of great and godly men who spend their lives probing the depths of the Word of God, and discover that its depths are far deeper than they ever imagined and its vastness is far more vast than could comprehend. If the Lord Jesus is the treasury of all knowledge and wisdom, so is His Book.
Knowledge includes facts and details, information of whatever kind, and the ability to calculate and determine things. The word ‘knowledge’ means ‘to see’ or ‘to see into’ a thing, thus to understand. It also refers to having personal insight, to have personal understanding of a certain thing. Wisdom, on the other hand, refers to the ability to rightly take and apply the knowledge. Those with knowledge but little wisdom are destructive, while those with wisdom but little knowledge are helpless. Only those with both are effective. The Lord Jesus has both. And there are no gaps or limits in His knowledge and wisdom. In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. -Jim MacIntosh