THINGS THAT ARE ABOVE
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Col 3:1-4)
Devotion 19 of 25
" . . . and your life is hid with Christ in God."
The life given to those who are dead with Christ is hidden from the world. It is a secret life, and is sustained in the secret place of the wilderness, as portrayed in the book of the Revelation (Rev 12:6,14).
The life – "your life" – is "hid with Christ." Wherever Christ is, that is where your life is. It is "hidden" there, inaccessible to the enemy of your soul. It cannot be touched by your peers who breathe out threatening against you. The principalities and powers against which you wrestle cannot touch this life. That is why it is written, "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not" (1 John 5:18). This could not be true if your life was not "hidden with Christ."
Your new life is as safe as Jesus is, for it is "hidden" with Him. There is no power that can take that life from Christ, where it is "hidden." This is such a great mystery to some, that they imagine themselves never to be in danger. However, a person must "walk" in the "newness of life" to take advantage of it (Rom 6:4). Jesus gave us life, and He sustains our life. It is with Him – in His hand, so to speak.
IN GOD
" . . . in God."
This is a glorious technicality that is declared for our comfort and assurance. Our life is hid with Christ, and Christ is "in God." Speaking of this arrangement, Jesus said He was sitting in His Father's throne. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne" (Rev 3:21).
This means that Jesus is reigning to sustain the life that He has given, which is hidden in Him. Who, then, is able to harm that life? Where is the person capable or wresting us out of Christ, who is in God?
THE AFFIRMATION OF JESUS
This circumstance is what Jesus referred to when He said, "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand" (John 10:28-29).
Many professing Christians object to the use of these words of our Lord. The fundamental point of their theology is that we can fall away. Of course, that is, indeed, the truth. However, falling away is not the subject of these words of our Lord. These words are spoken concerning His sheep, whom, He affirms, hear His voice and follow Him. Furthermore, He knows them in a personal and effective way (John 10:27). These are people who follow Jesus, abide in Him, trust Him, and are being sustained by Him. All such souls are refreshed to hear this word, and will not allow any man to take it from them. Jesus said of them, "And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers" (John 10:5).
See, the lives of the sheep are in Christ's hand "hid with Christ." And Christ is in His Father's throne – "in God." What adversary has access to Jesus? NONE! What enemy of the saints has access to God the Father? NONE! There is safety, security, nourishment, and tender care "in Christ" and "in God" – and that is where our lives are hidden!
We will not allow any man to take these things from us, binding us to laws about meats, drinks, feast days, new moons, and sabbaths. We will not submit to a series of humanly devised "touch not," "taste not," and "handle not's." We will not subject ourselves to those who encourage self-imposed humility, and trying to subdue the flesh by rules. God has made us alive, and we will not return to the environs of death (Col 2:16-20).
This is precisely why Paul said of such men, "And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you" (Gal 2:5).
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You that my new life is not accessible to my adversary the devil.
-- Tomorrow: