Colossians 1 v 26 - 28: "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 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:
28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:"
Christ in you, the hope of glory! This is the mystery that is now made known to us and it still baffles our enemy, and he will never figure it out!
1 Corinthians 2 v 7 - 8: "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
If Satan and his demons 'the princes of this world' knew that His Body, the church, each soul a piece of the Master and containing His divine power and authority, Satan would never have crucified Him. It was hidden from them. They were not party to the divine plan of salvation and resurrection.
The enemy was outwitted and Jesus made a show of him openly when He descended into Paradise, a compartment of Hell where the Old Testament believers waited for the King of Kings to arrive. It was also called Abraham's Bosom.
Colossians 2 v 13 - 15: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."
The secret is revealed: we were dead in our sins and when Jesus died we were in Him, and when He resurrected we were also in Him. Quickened means made alive, so when He came back to life He gave life to every part of His body. And if He is alive forever, so are we.
Christ in us, the hope of glory! Our job is to not lose this life again by letting Satan deceive us into backsliding through unbelief and doubt. We have to stay in tune with Jesus to walk through this world without falling back into sinful ways.
Our God is merciful and ready to forgive every sin but He tells us that the Holy Spirit will not always strive with man. That means if we make a habit of playing games with God we will wake up one day to the reality that our sins no longer bother us. This means that the Holy Spirit has departed and our conscience is not troubled. A very serious state of affairs.
This means that Satan has captured us and does not need to tempt us to keep us from God. Our lives are largely untroubled by stress and we roll along oblivious of the eternal fire we cannot escape. Jesus says in Revelation that unless we overcome this evil our names will be blotted out of the Lamb's Book of Life.
We have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2 v 12 - 15: "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;"
We have to keep our lights shining in the midst of a corrupt world so that some will respond and find out that Christ in them is their hope of glory.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Your plan to save us is simply perfect and we thank and praise You for this marvellous gift. We cannot earn it through good works or humanitarian effort, but only by Your grace. Many are blinded by sin or deceit and You use us to shine the light of Christ in us into the depths of their souls. Father never let our light be dim or extinguished. Let it reach far and wide. In Jesus' name. Amen.
