Christ Our Lord
This relationship of the believer to the Lord Jesus determines his position, his privileges and his possessions. To be in Christ is to be where He is, to be what He is and to share what He has.
The believer in Christ is where Christ is. Christ is in His Father's immediate presence, He is at the Father's right hand, He is in the Father's sight; so is the believer in Christ.
Ephesians 2:6, "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ."
Colossians 3:3, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
Christ has left the earth as His place of abode and now dwells in the heavenlies. The believer is in Christ, therefore even now while still on earth his real citizenship is in Heaven and he is a pilgrim upon earth for his real life is in Christ.
Phil. 3:20, "For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."
Hebrews 13:14, "For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come."
Therefore the believer's heart is set upon heavenly things; he values and seeks heavenly things more than earthly.
Colossians 3:1-2, "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."
Do I hear some one say, "This is too high a standard for me; it is not only impossible but unattractive. I am on the earth and in this world, therefore why should I not live as though I were and enjoy what this earth and this world have to give me and leave the enjoyment of Heaven until I reach there?" Such is the reasoning of vast numbers of Christians and their lives are in full harmony with their reasoning. As some one has aptly said they have become Christians much as a man takes out a life insurance policy - something that does not in any way alter one's manner of living but will be of use after death and is maintained with the payment of a yearly premium. With many a person becoming a Christian has made little if any difference in either his character or conduct. He is still of the earth earthy.
Is it not conceivable that God would have us become acclimated to our eternal home in Heaven with Christ during our transient stay on earth? If the atmosphere of Heaven is stifling to me here what will it be to me there? If the heavenly pleasures and pursuits are unattractive to me now, what will they be to me then? There is music in Heaven but it is not jazz or rock; there are pleasures there but they are not the pleasures of the ballroom, the card table, the drinking party, or the cinema; there are pursuits in the Glory land but not that of making money or a name or a place in society. Death is both an exit and an entrance all in one. For the believer it closes the door on earth to open one into Heaven. There is not one instant for preparation for that higher altitude. If my heart can't stand it here how will it stand it there?
Or is it unthinkable that God would wish to open a window into that blessed realm of light and life to some wayward, worn traveler on the road of darkness and death through the Spirit-filled lives of believers on earth? In fact is that not one of His most effectual ways today of making known the beauties and excellencies of that other world? Does He not want to bring Heaven to earth that He may woo earth to Heaven? And how else can He do it but through Heaven-born, Heaven-filled men and women?
Again is there one so selfish, go grasping, as to wish to get all from God and give nothing to God? Is there one who would accept a pass from earth to Heaven provided only through God's matchless grace and marvelous love, who still will spend all his time and substance in pleasure-seeking or totally involved in worldly pursuits?
No, God means that life down here shall be in harmony with life up there; that even while sojourning on earth we shall live a life partaking of the nature of Heaven, a life holy and heavenly in character and conduct.
In Christ Jesus the believer is what Christ is in the reckoning of God. Christ, the Head, and the believer, a member of His body, are one. Through this wonderful identification God looks upon us as joint heirs with Christ, entering into and occupying the same position and enjoying the same privileges as His Son.
Romans 8:17, "And, if children, than heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."
We are enfolded and environed by the Lord Jesus that God cannot see Christ today without seeing us. This moment as God looks upon His Son at His right hand He sees you and me if we are in Christ Jesus.
"Near, so very near to God
Nearer I could not be;
For in the person of His Son,
I'm just as near as He.
Dear, so very dear to God,
Dearer I could not be;
For in the person of His Son,
I'm just as dear as He."
In Christ Jesus the believer shares with Christ all His possessions. Every spiritual blessing is ours, in Christ. Dare we believe it? All things are ours in Christ. Dare we act as though we believe it?
Ephesians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."
Romans 8:32, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"
1 Corinthians 3:21, "Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours."
God says in these and many other passages that the possessions of the exalted Christ are the possessions of the one united to Him by faith. Identification with Him in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension includes identification with Him in all the gain and the glory, all the privileges and possessions gained by Him through His passion. Christ's victory over satan and all the forces of evil is ours and His present life of rest, peace, and joy is ours.
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 6)
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