CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY
Ten thousand troops had landed on the beach without a casualty. Not one enemy gun had been fired. It was reported that the enemy was holding positions in the mountains to the north. The king mounted a platform and addressed his troops,
"We go north through enemy territory. My kingdom is beyond. My palace is already preparing a banquet for our arrival. You will not see me during the battle, but I will be with you. You will survive the battle and complete the journey safely if you will remember two things:
Remember that I am with you in the heat of the battle ... never forget it.
And, remember that you will see me with your own eyes in the banquet hall when you arrive at the palace."
With this the king bid his troops God's speed, left the platform and disappeared from view. It was a perfect day. As the troops moved northward under the blessing of a blue sky they sang rousing songs. When they stopped to eat and rest the fellowship could not have been richer. How good it was to be alive!
The army reached the foothills and began climbing into the first mountain pass when suddenly all hell broke loose.
- Shells screamed overhead. - Mortar and cannon fire tore up the earth. - The smoke became so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of you.
Then a strange thing started happening to this army. At first it appeared to be falling apart. But no, it wasn't falling apart...it was beginning to divide. Large numbers were turning back and running toward the sea. Others were waving white flags and surrendering to the enemy.
But, in the midst of the disintegration a small spearhead of troops was forming and moving forward up through the mountain pass. All the shelling and strafing couldn't seem to stop it. Wave after wave of enemy fire poured down upon them. The spearhead moved on.
Some days later what was once an army of ten thousand, now reduced to 500 troops, entered the gates of the city and poured into the palace with shouts of victory. As they were seating themselves at the most glorious banquet table they had ever seen, a servant of the king asked one of the troops how they made it.
"Simple," answered the soldier. "We fixed our minds on two things.
That the king was with us whether we could see him or not. And that one day we would be sitting at this table looking into that face."
.....The soldier pointed to the king who had just entered the room amid shouts of joy.
....the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:26-27
....the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints .... what mystery?
The mystery that God the Son can dwell within a human being.
The saints who survive the battles, the monotony, the chaos of this world, are those who understand this mystery and who live in it.
1. That Christ is in us ... literally living within.
2. That Christ's presence within sustains the hope of glory ... which keeps us going.
...the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
It's a mystery because it is not fully comprehensible to the human mind ... that Christ Jesus is both seated at the right hand of the Throne of God, at the headquarters of the universe, and also dwelling in the very bodies of those who have opened their hearts to him and are doing his word .... he dwells in us.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. John 14:18-20
....because I live, you will live also.....
not only over there on the other side of death but here in this realm of flesh and blood.
"This is the testimony that God gave us eternal life and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life ... he who has not the Son of God has not life." I John 5:11-12
To have the Son is to have him living within.
- Speaking within our very hearts his words which are spirit and life. - Filling us with a consciousness of the presence of God. - Flooding us with a continuous foretaste of the glory toward which we move. - Giving us power to do the will of God.
When Paul talks about suffering the loss of all things that he might gain Christ ... that he might know him in the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death ... where else does this fellowship with Christ take place but within?
... it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.... Christ in you the hope of glory.
What a difference it makes in our living when we practice the presence of Christ within, when we hold fellowship with him ... walk with him...talk with him.
- How can we withhold mercy from those around us. - How can we do shoddy work, live in lust, sink into whole days of self-pity, when we're communing with the Son of the living God within our very hearts?
The power to live in mercy, to pour out our lives for others, to forgive, to make restitution when we have wronged someone, to admit the truth when we have sinned, to keep our commitments, to remain faithful, even unto death, the power to do these things comes from having a living relationship with the indwelling Christ.
But what if, with the passing of time, the Christ who came to dwell within us at our rebirth becomes neglected? Like inviting the king to come and dwell in your home and then, after a while, taking him for granted ... leaving him to shift for himself ... while you give attention to other things.
Many of us have done just that. We have lost touch with the indwelling Christ.
- We may be into religion.
- We may be experts on Bible prophecy, teaching everybody else how to pray.
- We may consider ourselves discerning critics of the state of the church,
but our own personal relationship with the Christ who dwells within has dried up.
So what happens when we lose touch with the indwelling Christ? When we lose touch with the indwelling Christ we always lose our hope....
....Christ in you the hope of glory....
The vision of glory that drives us on through the battlefield is kept alive by the indwelling Christ. When we lose touch with him, our vision goes blank. And when our vision goes blank ... when we lose our hope of glory...
- we lose our way, - we turn back and head for the sea, - we surrender to the enemy.
The battlefield is strewn with the mangled bodies of saints who lost their hope and gave up. And they lost their hope because they lost touch with the indwelling Christ.
For this reason, during the days when Jesus was with the disciples in flesh and blood, he was preparing them for the time when he would not only be with them.... but in them.
I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. John 14:18-20
"I in you,".... he speaks to us no longer from without, but from within.
To commune with Jesus within is to let those words which he speaks within ... words which are identical to his words in scripture, but now understandable, alive, blazing, clear, pure, to let those words become our life ... to live them.
When Paul says to Timothy,
....rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and love and a sound mind... II Timothy 1:6-7
... he is calling him to renew his communion with the indwelling Christ.
Consider this meal which Jesus instituted. After Jesus gave thanks for the bread, he gave it to the disciples,
"Take eat, this is my body given for you."
After Jesus gave thanks for the wine he passed it to the disciples,
"Take and drink, this is my blood of the new covenant shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins."
The eating and the drinking are a receiving, a reminder that Christ keeps giving himself to us, keeps dwelling within.
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." John 6:52-56
....Christ in you the hope of glory....
He is the hope of glory when we are in relationship with him.... listening to him, doing his word. Jesus takes care of his side of the relationship. He promises to come to us ...and he comes ... he comes afresh as you read these words..
But what about our side of the relationship? Are we really in touch with the Lord, God the Son, who died, who rose, who now dwells within just as surely as he reigns at the right hand of the Father?
God help us today and in the coming days to know and to dwell in the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now made manifest to his saints,
....to know the riches of the glory of this mystery which is Christ in you, the hope of glory!
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