
“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”
Colossians 1:27
In an earlier post we looked at what it means to be IN Adam or IN Christ. We also looked at how we got there. Now let us consider a 2nd and important aspect to this. What does it mean to have Christ IN YOU?
There is so much in this verse, actually all the riches of the person of God are here. Lets look at another verse with similar wording:
Ephesians 3:8-9 “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things”
This is a wonderful rich truth. It is actually an unfathomably rich truth, meaning though we can know this truth it is past fully exhausting. That means there are always more riches, greater depths and higher heights of Christ to be known. May the Lord spur us on to know the riches of His person given us IN Christ. God putting us IN Christ gives us actual access to God, but Christ IN us actually gives God access to us!
Another familiar scripture that shows the two aspects of this is John 15:4 “Abide in Me, AND I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” God having put us IN Christ, put us in the place or position of receiving. Another way we can speak of this is IN Christ we are brought back and reconciled to God, but our actual and present salvation is the very Life of Christ IN us.
Romans 5:10 “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
God, has done the work for us to be able to receive from Him by putting us IN Christ. If we receive what He has done it all becomes an experiential reality IN us. In other words we come to know the riches of Christ IN us which is our hope of glory. The very glory of God.
This Life of “Christ IN you” is not a once and done thing, but as shown in John 15 it is an abiding or remaining LIFE. We continually receive ALL, all the riches of the vine through the life sap being continually flowed INTO us as we abide IN Christ. To remain somewhere you must first be there. God took care of that by placing us IN Christ, all that is left is to humble ourselves and to cease from our own efforts and receive from God. Think of it like this, God has placed us IN Christ, that we might receive all He has accomplished through Christ. If we believe which equates to receiving this fact, all the riches of this truth actually come INTO US! Christ comes IN and dwells IN US this is not some nice sounding words, but a real experiential truth.
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-– unless indeed you fail the test?”
In this verse being in the faith is equated to the person of Jesus Christ being IN you. This is not a small matter, this is in fact what I am seeing to be the central issue of real Christianity.
Galatians 2:20 puts it this way: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
This is spoken of as something that is to be a reality in our lives NOW! Not some day in the future. This life is actually Christ IN me, He lives IN me, I simple receive this and walk in it by faith.
Now I must take a moment here to say something so important about faith. Faith is not trying to believe something so that it will become true! Faith, real faith according to the scriptures comes from something very specific.
Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
It is ONLY by listening intently to the very word of God that real faith comes. It is the word of God that IS reality (John 17:17) and by continually listening to God by meditating upon His word, faith, the persuasion regarding these truths begins to enter into us. We do not conjure this up, we humble ourselves to listen, meditate upon God’s word and by the working of His Spirit He will lead us into the truth and experience of that truth. Faith is the product born out of an interaction with the word and person of God. May we take time to meditate upon His word, and soak our souls in its truth, allowing God Himself to communicate and persuade us of its reality.
Ross H
0 Comments