All That God Is For You In Christ (Another meandering meditation)

We have established some of what our God is for us in our Lord Jesus Christ – acceptance with God which causes us to confess Him before men (both our brethren and unbelievers); peace with God which carries within it so much more than a mere passive sense of peace, founded upon our being justified by the propitiatory satisfaction of God’s wrath against sin in our Lord Jesus Christ’s offering of Himself (Matthew 20:28; John 10:14-18; Romans 5:1; 1 Corinthians 5:21); cleansing of our sins, resulting in the death and washing away of that old nature, resulting in the new life imparted, which is being conformed to His image and unto good and holy works preordained (Titus 3:4-6; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 2:10; Titus 2:11-14).

It should be obvious, now, that one cannot consider just one area of that which God is for us in Christ Jesus, our Lord, without meditating upon other areas – the work of God in Jesus Christ for those He has called, accepted, justified, sanctified, and given rest cannot be pondered in a vacuum; one thought leads to the next, and all thoughts are interconnected, when doing such meditations, and this is by that renewing of the mind which gives the lie to outward conformity to the world and the flesh, but the truth, as it is in Christ Jesus, whom the Spirit has formed our inner man to grow from one degree of grace to the next degree of grace, in making us conform to that which He perfectly is as the first and only Man who walked perfectly before God, and this is through the work of the Word being applied by His Spirit to our inner man, which is preeminently seen and realized in our thoughts – which is to say, our mind – being transformed, that transformation radiating outward to show the character of our Lord as we are continually changed to live a life which proclaims and promotes the glory of God (Romans 12:2; 7:25).

The glory we will share with Him, or be with Him in, is not that glory of the infinite (the created creature can never share the infinite but in finite measure), although it is surrounded by that glory of the infinitely perfect and holy God; it is that glory of the Man, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, which glory – that of the perfect man who is also God the Son – we are given to know and live in finite measure now, and completely in the age to come (John 17:17-24; 2 Peter 1:3-4; 1 John 3:2).

The careful reader, considering the things stated in these meditations, will also have noticed the context of those Scripture passages referenced, which will give the solid evidence of a faith that is lived out because of all that God is for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. It must be noted, however, and considered carefully, that such is not done even by way of thanksgiving, since that in itself is but one of the good works true faith shines forth, but because of who we have been made in Christ, and for this reason, the present meditation turns to a well known passage of Scripture, which defines our present and future identity in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:3: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

This verse is a plain statement of that which is true of those elect in Christ Jesus, who, having obtained that salvation of which He came to give to them, must realize the very identity of who they are is, indeed, hidden in Christ in God.

Some of the simplest statements in Scripture often are so profound as to shake our foundations when we meditate upon them, and I submit, this is one of those statements.

God uses that which would be mundane, in our manner of language, to express the infinitely great glory He proclaimed in His Son, and by extension, in those who are co-heirs with Him – I do not think the present statement mundane at all, and do not think those who are unsaved could even give such a meaning to it, short of ridicule; however, if God conveys such earth and heaven shattering truth in the words of the mundane, how much more so in what, to unredeemed ears, would at least be (if given true thought) an occasion for contemplation of the spiritual (as they know and understand such, though not of that spiritual understanding only the redeemed know) at a level of depth to which most men never seek (so, how much more should this truth give rise to heights of contemplation when done by the new nature in union with our Lord through His Spirit)?

By way of comparison, think of our Lord’s words to the apostle Paul when he asked for the temptation to be removed from him: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

What?! “Sufficient?”

Why, this chair I am sitting on is “sufficient” to hold my weight as I type these words; should I decide to empty the trash, my feet are “sufficient” to bear me along, as the Lord has built me, to walk to the one receptacle, and carry the contents of it to the larger receptacle. Such an ordinary word in our usage, yet when given in the God-breathed Scriptures, see how it changes!

The weight of all temptations may come upon you, and because your life is hid with Christ in God, His grace is sufficient to  not only bear you up under the load, but to give you occasion to rejoice, even as it did the apostle. Now, that is sufficient!

To our current text: What does one think, confronted with the truth that their life which they lived before conversion has died, and that new life the Spirit of God gave birth to within them is hidden with Christ in God?

The context of this verse is contained in the first 17 verses of this third chapter of Colossians, and we see that the reason for the consideration we are to give it is because we have been raised with Christ and therefore, seek those things not of the carnal world, but of the heavenly treasure (vs. 1-2).

For the sake of brevity, I will put forth the purpose statement which accompanies my meditations as I do them, regarding this verse, and end this present meditation with that purpose statement, in consideration of this section of Scripture (Colossians 3:1-17, with special emphasis on verse 3):

“Realize all your righteousness, joy, peace, needs fulfilled, works, sanctification, holiness – all you are now, and all you will be, are in Christ, not in your efforts to apprehend Him, but of, by and through Him alone – look to Him, not your efforts.”