THINGS THAT ARE ABOVE -- Tomorrow:
"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 21 of 25
" . . . who is our life . . . "
This is another most unique statement. Christ IS "our life." That is, without Him that is no life, as God counts life. Only death exists outside of Christ. That is why it is written, "He that hath the Son HATH life; and he that hath not the Son of God HATH NOT life" (1 John 5:12). Only the person who is in Christ, and in whom Christ dwells, is "alive unto God." Only such an one can hear the Lord, perceive Him, obey Him, and respond to Him. All others are dead – dead in sin, and thus alienated from God.
Jesus is the only one who can "give" eternal life, and that is something you must have BEFORE you leave this world! Christ said, "And I give unto them eternal life" (John 10:28). And how does He give this life? It is by dwelling within the individual. As He Himself said, "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and WE WILL COME UNTO HIM, and make Our abode WITH him" (John 14:23). Again, He called out to a dead church, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I WILL COME IN TO HIM, and will sup WITH HIM, and he with Me" (Rev 3:20). That is the way He confers life, by Himself becoming our life. Thus we may say with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but CHRIST LIVETH IN ME: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20).
As for our own life, we "are dead." Those in Christ do not consider their own lives to be the hub of the universe. Their will is not their own, but is submitted to the One who loved them and gave Himself for them. That is the manner of the kingdom, and there are no exceptions.
CHRIST WILL APPEAR
" . . . shall appear . . . "
Presently our lives are hidden in Christ, who Himself is also hidden from the world. Before He returned to glory on a cloud, He said to His disciples, "Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also" (John 14:19). To this day, those who are of the world have never again seen Jesus. When He rose from the dead, taking back His life, He appeared only to those who were chosen. As Peter declared, "Him God raised up the third day, and showed Him openly; NOT TO ALL THE PEOPLE, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead" (Acts 10:40-41).
Thus, God withdrew the testimony, leaving A MESSAGE that declared Him – the Gospel, which is God's "power unto salvation" (Rom 1:16). Doubters and skeptics question Christ's reality, and particularly what He has accomplished, and who He is. But their day is coming to an end, and the Christ will be revealed to an assembled universe.
SHALL APPEAR
" . . . shall appear . . . "
God has determined a day – a precise day – when He is going to unveil His Son to the entire world. He will show Him for what He really is, and will hold nothing back. Jesus will not be obscured like He was when He walked among men. The revelation will be so thorough that there will not be a single personality who will not know who Jesus is. Every mouth will be abruptly stopped. All questions will cease, and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is, indeed, Lord (Phil 2:10-11).
The Scriptures speak precisely about this manifestation. "That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen" (1 Tim 6:16).
Every aspect of Christ that will be revealed in that day PRESENTLY characterizes Jesus. Right now He is "the blessed and ONLY Potentate," or Sovereign with all power. Now, at this present time, He is the "King of kings." He governs them all, turning their hearts like the rivers of water wherever He wills (Prov 21:1). He is now the "Lord of lords." There is no power that is not subservient to Him. The devil has to ask permission to sift you, and even then, he cannot go further than you are able to bear (1 Cor 10:13). At this time, Jesus is the ONLY one in whom immortality is inherent, and who can give it to others. He is presently dwelling in celestial glory that cannot be accessed by any man, nor can any human eye behold Him, for He is glorified. All honor and power everlasting belong to Him, and that will be recognized and confessed by all. Men can believe it now, and then be advantaged by His showing. But every one will see that showing, whether they want to or not. And, they will bow their knee to Him and confess Him, without any regard to their supposed free will.
"The appearing" – the scheduled appearing – is when Christ will no more be hidden. Holy men are charged and commissioned with this "appearing" in mind. "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom" (2 Tim 4:1). Those who are living by faith and walking in the Spirit "love His appearing," and will thus experience the consummate blessing at that time (2 Tim 4:8).
When Christ is "our life" here and now, grace teaches us "that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:11-13). It is then that tested and tried faith will "be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet 1:7).
Jesus will appears in ALL of His glory, and therefore it will be impossible for Him not to be seen and acknowledged. Thus it is written, "He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels" (Luke 9:26). He will come in His own glory, the glory of the Father, and the glory of the holy angels! That is a lot of glory! The heavens and the earth will not be able to survive that magnificent display. As it is written, "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them" (Rev 20:11).
Now the Spirit summons us to consider that time when the Son of God is unveiled, and seen in all of His resplendent glory. It is a glory that He presently has, but is hidden to men by the natural order.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for a life that will survive the end of the world and blend with the world to come.