Monthly Archives: May 2021

Abba Father

Posted on May 25, 2021 by Allan Halton

Come with me back to the time when Mary and Joseph after three days of frantic searching finally found Jesus in the temple. I read that story again a few days ago because, well… because, don’t you too sometimes wish you could have been there yourself? We find the story in the Gospel according to Luke. Mary must have told him about it, along with other things we find in Luke’s gospel alone, details that could only have been known by Mary herself—among them Jesus’ first visit to the temple when Mary and Joseph brought Him there “to present Him to the Lord” (Lk 2:22).

The occasion I have in mind was when she and Joseph and their young family went up to Jerusalem to keep the feast of the Passover, something they did in the spring every year. Jesus was 12 years old, the eldest of several brothers and sisters by this time. The family was part of a larger company of friends and relatives keeping the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a journey of several days from Nazareth. We join them on the first evening of their return home after that joyous week. They have stopped somewhere for the night, and Mary and Joseph start rounding up the children. But where is Jesus? They haven’t given a second thought to His whereabouts all day, “supposing him to have been in the company.” Now in a heart-stopping moment they suddenly realize He is not with them, and hastily return to Jerusalem that very night. But it is three very long days and sleepless nights before they finally find him, of all places, in the temple. He is “sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them and questioning them, and all those hearing him were astonished at his understanding and answers.”

It is then that his astonished mother says, “Child, why have you done so to us? Behold, your father and I have looked for you, greatly distressed” (Modern KJV). The King James Version has “son” here, but the Greek is teknon, child, one still very much under the authority of his parents.

Here is the simple response that spoke volumes:

And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not [knew ye not] that I must be about my Father’s business? (Lk. 2:48,49 KJV)

Other translations bring out the sense more clearly—“in My Father’s house,” or “in the things of My Father.” Here is Young’s Literal Translation:

And he said unto them, `Why is it that ye were seeking me? did ye not know that in the things of my Father it behoveth me to be?’

In other words, they ought to have known where He would be—in His Father’s house, intent upon the things of His Father. Note that He said, “must be…” It is necessary, it behooves me, to be about the things of My Father… in the House of My Father.

Father. Eighteen years later when the anointing came upon Him in the form of a dove at Jordan the Voice from Heaven proclaimed, “This is My beloved Son in whom is all My delight.” The Son for His part delighted in His Father, and did “always those things that please Him.” He loved His Father as His Father loved Him. He rejoiced in His Father, as His Father rejoiced in Him. All through the Gospels we find Him addressing God as Father. In the Gospel of John alone He calls God Father something like 120 times.

The Gospel of John tells us of another Passover when Jesus while ministering in Galilee went up to Jerusalem to keep the feast, and again went into the temple. This time He:

…found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up (Jn. 2:15-17).

That passage when read carefully reveals that He didn’t lay the scourge on any of the people. “He said unto those that sold doves…” He knew the scourge was reserved for His own back.

But that’s quite something—that His love and zeal for His Father’s house consumed Him. That’s what He was all about. His Father. His Father’s interests. His Father’s house.

 This purging of the temple happened at two different Passovers—this one in the first year of Jesus’ public ministry as recorded by John, who also tells us of Jesus coming up to Jerusalem for another Passover (Jn. 6:4), which must have been the following year, the second year of His ministry. The other purging in the third and final year of His ministry is recorded in the three synoptic Gospels. It took place just before the Passover during which He Himself became the Passover Lamb. At this time He also cast out those who bought and sold in the temple, telling them vehemently, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Mt. 21:13).

We know that it’s never been a temple of wood and stone that God desired for His dwelling place, but He was identified with this one: His Name was there (1 Kings 8:29). And so it was only with the greatest reluctance and sorrow for their hardness of heart that Jesus finally declared as He mourned over Jerusalem, “Behold your house is left unto you desolate…” (Mt. 23:38). As Ron Bailey points outs in The Better Covenant, it is no longer “My Father’s house.” It is no longer “My house.” Now it is your house. And it is desolate. God is done forever with this house.

Not many days after this Jesus is in Gethsemane.

Abba Father

 These words are found only three times in the New Testament. Here is the first:

And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. (Mk. 14:36)

This is the cry of His heart springing from the depths of His love for His Father. Abba Father. That is αββα ὁ πατήρ. Abba is Aramaic for father, and pater is Greek for father. Actually pater is preceded by the article— ὁ, pronounced ho—the Father. And so we have, Abba. The Father. Abba does not mean Daddy. Yes, it springs from the tenderest love and devotion, but it carries in it the highest respect and reverence. Jesus is acknowledging that His father is the Lord to whom His utmost obedience is due, and He gives this to Him from His heart.

Abba. Father. The question has been much debated, did Jesus speak both of these words, or is Mark translating the Aramaic Abba into Greek for the sake of his readers? “Abba, that is to say, Father.” I’m inclined to think Jesus spoke both of them, for it appears that the first Christians also used Abba Father when addressing Him. They must have picked this up from reading the passage in Mark’s gospel, the only one that records it, and likely the earliest one to make the rounds of the churches (probably as early as 45 AD).

But how did this come to be—the words Abba Father in the mouths of Christians? What was it that brought about this new relationship, that they themselves could call God their father?

After His resurrection when Jesus revealed Himself to a broken-hearted Mary Magdalene, He gave her a message for… for whom? He bids her, “Go to My brethren…” But it is not James and Jude He has in mind.

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (Jn. 20:17)

It’s His disciples He has in mind; they are about to come into a relationship with God that they had not known under the old covenant, nor yet as they had walked with Jesus as His disciples. What had He done that would enable this new relationship once He ascended? It was the result of the redemption He had wrought on Calvary, redeeming those who had been under the law, liberating them into the same kind of relationship with the Father that was His own. Here are the passages that speak of this—and now we have come to the two other times Abba Father is found:

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Gal. 4:4-7)

“The adoption.” It means, “the son-placing,” and this is not about gender, it’s about filial relationship whether male or female; it is for all those who are born of God. Here it is again in Romans:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (Rom. 8:14,15)

Abba Father. This was the heartcry of The Son of God all His days on earth. We, then,  who have received the Spirit of God’s son, how can it be otherwise than our having that same cry? Abba Father. This is our own cry now—we who have received the Spirit of the ascended Son into our hearts—it is our testimony that He continues to this day to cry out, Abba, Father. And we who have received His Spirit cry out with Him.

There is so much more that could be said. Perhaps John says it all when He writes, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God.” Children… of God?

…So I leave us with this. May this be an ever-fresh revelation and inspiration to you and me: that to be a child of God, a son of God, to have received “the adoption”—the Spirit of the Son of God into our hearts—this can mean no less than being the Son of God meant to Jesus. For Him it meant being about the things of His Father—His Father’s interests, His Father’s glory, impassioned zeal for His Father’s house, His Father’s will… though it meant the cross for Him daily, and ultimately. You and I who have received the Spirit of God’s Son, are we seeking to gratify the passion of that Spirit? Are we too crying daily, Abba, Father?

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Seek The Things Above (Part Two)

Posted on May 10, 2021 by Allan Halton

Last time we began to answer the question on many hearts these days: “Why isn’t God doing something about this?” That is, this pandemic now in its second year. Just as a few countries began to proclaim a tentative victory, it caused the medical system of India to collapse. A firsthand report from a friend there reveals that things in India are far worse than we’re hearing in the news, the number of deaths is far higher. And the worst is yet to come—this wave of the pandemic there still hasn’t reached its peak. Other countries, poor countries, some of which have received no vaccine whatsoever, are also finding it extremely difficult to cope with the increasing numbers infected. Here in Alberta, Canada, daily infections are higher than anywhere else in North America. The blame game is well underway, but it’s so short-sighted to blame earthly governments for all this; the problem goes far deeper than that.

But consider this. The pandemic has so dominated the news that scarcely any attention has been given to the fact that other evils—droughts, plagues of locusts, famines, brewings of wars… are taking place at the same time.

If you recall, we quoted Solomon of old who in Ecclesiastes gives his account of things “under the sun,” a phrase he used 29 times elaborating on the futility of it all. “Vanity of vanity, saith the Preacher, all is vanity.” That is, pointless, meaningless, futile. That is life “under the sun.” Solomon has no reputation as an optimist but he certainly was a realist. Here is what we quoted:

For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. (Ecc 9:11,12 KJV)

It has always pained my heart to hear of a suicide, a pain I’m feeling more often these days when I hear of people who have taken their own lives because life under the sun seemed so pointless to them, in fact had become unbearable—the mental and emotional oppression brought on by the lockdowns, the family breakdowns, the economic hardships… it all became too much to bear any longer, life was not worth living. That they have done so is unbearable to me, because, oh, life is not pointless, there is purpose, eternal purpose in Christ Jesus the Lord that will take ages and ages to unfold. God has not left mankind prey to evil nets and snares “under the sun.” He has made provision in Christ for life. Life above it all, as we showed last time, quoting from Colossians:

If, then, ye were raised with the Christ, the things above seek ye, where the Christ is, on the right hand of God seated,
the things above mind ye, not the things upon the earth,
for ye did die, and your life hath been hid with the Christ in God;
when the Christ–our life–may be manifested, then also we with him shall be manifested in glory.
(Col 3:1-4 Young’s Literal Translation)

What are the things above? Last time we showed that the pronoun ye is those who are in Christ, and mentioned from Ephesians that “all our spiritual blessings are above, our heritage is above, our warfare is above—in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” That’s because we ourselves are above—that is, we who have been baptized into Christ—because “God, who is rich in mercy for His great love toward us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us [made us alive] together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-7).

It is this last one—that we ourselves have been raised with Christ and are therefore seated with Him in the heavenlies—that we are emphasizing in the Colossians passage. Our very life is there. In Christ. In the heavenlies. If we then are above, says Paul, we ought to be seeking the things above, “where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”

So then, to ask what God is doing in this hour is answered by discovering what Christ is doing. For Jesus Christ the Son of God is seated at the right hand of God; the Father has committed all things unto Him (Jn. 3:35, 13;3). He has sealed Him, has given Him His signet ring, has given Him “all authority in Heaven and in earth” (Mt. 28:16). What then is the Christ doing at the right hand of God?

He is administering the Good News of a kingdom that when fully completed will mean all the works of man brought to naught and all enemies under His feet.

He is overseeing a building project. Jesus Christ at the right hand of God is building a church. “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt. 16:18). Many of us are fond of reminding others that the church is not the building. I know I’m being a bit cheeky here but the church is the building. The church that Jesus is building is a house, “…the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim 3:15). And so of course, by “house” I do not mean a house of wood and stone.

A priest upon His throne

Now there is an ancient prophecy we must read. Leading up to the passage, we are told of a crown that was to be set on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest at that time. Then follows the prophecy:

Then speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. (Zech 6:12,13)

The Branch—this is the Christ. The Anointed One. He sits and rules upon His throne. But there is something here we too often overlook. It is a priest who sits as king upon the throne. The counsel from this throne—the wonderful counsel of the Gospel of peace—proceeds from one who is both a king and a priest. Look one moment, and it is a crown on His head. Blink your eyes and it is a mitre on His head. In Christ at the right hand of God the scepter of the king and the censer of the priest are one.

And seated at the right hand of God this king/priest is building a Temple, a habitation, a dwelling place, a house for the living God. He is not using wood and stone. He is using “living stones,” as Peter the rock says, for He is building “a spiritual house” (1 Pt 2:5). The living stones built into the house are also its “holy priesthood,” who offer up “spiritual sacrifices [that is, themselves], well pleasing to God by Jesus Christ.” Peter also calls this priesthood “a royal priesthood” (1 Pt 2:5-9). This priesthood is not a separate clergy, and it is not confined to the ministries God has set in the church who are not a separate clergy; each and every living stone is involved in this priesthood, not just theoretically, but vitally, functionally. And so seekers of the things above, seekers whose minds and affections are set on things above, find themselves involved in what the great king/priest of this house is doing. He is building living stones into the house of God, and He is involving the living stones in the building of the house—always reminding them that “except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it” (Ps. 127:1). My old King James Version margin reads, “are builders of it in it.” Quite something, that the house is building, edifying, itself. Yet it is, and must always be, the king/priest Himself who is doing the building. “Except the Lord build the house…” All we do must be His doing, or we labour in vain.

Now I want to get to the heart of what has been in my heart concerning seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede

There are in essence two ministries in the universe—one of intercession, the other of accusation. Dearly beloved, have nothing to do with the latter, leave it to the one who in his hatred of God and man loves to do that. It is intercession that is the heartbeat of Christ’s high priestly ministry at the right hand of God, intercession that is the pleading of His own blood, as Charles Wesley wrote in his immortal hymn:

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;
His all-redeeming love, His precious blood to plead:
His blood atoned for all our race,
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Our great king/priest reigning at the right hand of God maintains continual intercession on behalf of the living stones of this house. Such were the saints in the church at Rome, whom Paul reminded that whatever the condemner might bring against them, “it is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom 8:34). This is His occupation and His preoccupation—to make intercession for His own, and He will not fail in it, His intercession has the very power of the throne in it; it is effectual. “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).

Oh, the Lamb, the bleeding Lamb, the Lamb of Calvary,
The Lamb that was slain now liveth again to intercede for me.

Thus you and I offer up this perpetual prayer of gratitude:
Thank you, Jesus, thank you, thank you, that you intercede for… me.

“I pray not for the world…”

But what is this? Jesus not praying for the world? This is what Jesus said in what has been called His high priestly prayer of intercession. John Chapter 17. He is praying for those whom His Father has given Him “out of the world.”

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. (Jn. 17:9,10)

That used to trouble me a lot because I knew that God sent His Son into the world to reveal His love for the world—the multitudes under the sun. And here He is not praying for them? It’s not because He was a Calvinist; I finally learned to read Scripture in context. When we continue reading we come to this: “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (Jn. 17:15 KJV) Or, “from the evil one” (NKJV). For the evil one is bent on resisting God’s plan for the world. And then this: “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” And then this:

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Do we see this? In seeing it are we broken? “…That the world may believe… That the world may know…” And so the very question of God not caring for those under the sun is unthinkable. It is because of His great love for the world that His ministry of intercession is first of all on behalf of His own—that they may be kept from the devices of the Evil One, who, because he is bitterly set against all mankind, and hates and deceives them and robs and destroys them and divides them against one another, he makes Christ’s own the special objects of his hatred. It’s because he knows they are his downfall. And so Christ prays to His Father to “keep them from the evil.” The pits and snares and devices of “the evil one.” And He prays that they may be “perfected into one,” may be so one with Him and with one another that the world may see Him in His house, that through those in His house the world may come to know His great love for the world.

What Jesus prayed was entirely scriptural, actually. (No surprise, the Word of God knew His Bible.) “Out of Zion the perfection of beauty God hath shined” (Ps. 50:2). “Beautiful for situation [or elevation], the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great king” (Ps. 48:2). “Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Zion… So shall the heathen [the nations] fear the name of the Lord, and all kings thy glory. When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in His glory…” Ps. 102:13-16). And so God’s burden is for His house because His burden is for the world. For when the love of God in Christ is resident in Zion, when Zion is beautified with the beauty of the Lord, others are drawn into His house; they come to know His salvation, His rescue operation from “this present evil world” (Gal. 1:3-5). This—salvation from sin, the one problem of this evil world—is God’s answer for the world. This is vehemently resisted by our arch-enemy the Devil. He is out to make war with the saints; he is out to defeat them. So in standing against him as part of our spiritual armour we are to be “praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph 6:18).

This is our great high priest’s primary concern. His own. The saints. It is the concern of a commander for his army. How can they win without his continual intercession on their behalf? But once armed and empowered by His might, He enjoins upon them that “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men…” because He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1,4 NKJV). Are not you and I glad for this? How quickly some of us, now in the house of God, now God’s own, forget that “we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).

And so what Christ said—“I pray not for the world”—He said as a faithful “high priest over the house of God” (Heb. 10:21). It doesn’t mean that we in the house of God are not to pray for the world. Now provisioned as priests in His house, armed with His Spirit, His anointing, we are to pray and make intercession for our secular authorities, our neighbours near and far, our loved ones still lost, as the saints throughout the ages have done and still do, sometimes with burdens of intercession that press them into the very ground. It goes without saying that God cares for all mankind. He couldn’t care more, for in His love for the world He has given no less than His Son.

A kingdom of priests

 If this then is what God is doing, if this is what is happening “above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God,” what are you and I doing in this hour? Are we seeking the things above? We must, lest we remain earthly minded, blinded really, and cheated of what is ours in Christ at the right hand of God. Ours? But just what is it that is ours at the right hand of God? A crown? A throne? Yes, but is this something we have in mind for our own benefit alone—sitting with Christ as a king in His throne? Or… is the heart of a priest beating within us and it is the need of others we have in mind, the wayward, the lost? Are we compelled by the love of Christ, seeking that we might join our great High Priest upon the throne in His ministry of effectual intercession?

None will reign with Christ in His throne who are not priests in His kingdom of priests.

John the Revelator sees in the throne room of Heaven a throne, and One seated upon the throne, and “Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads” (Rev. 4:4). In Scripture the white robe is the garment of the priest. So here are priests wearing crowns of gold and sitting on thrones. This then is the royal priesthood, 24 being a symbolic number (as are all the numbers in The Revelation). And—something to think about here—is John in this vision of the heavenly throne room seeing just the heaven-side? Or is this also inclusive of those in the earth who have apprehended their heavenly calling? This is my view. They may be in the earth scattered in churches here and there, but spiritually speaking, they are “round about the throne” in the heavenly throne room of God. They are one with Him who sits on the throne. And with one another.

This royal priesthood is our calling “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.” It is a calling from above—the “on-high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” It’s something that originated not in our own heart but in “Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood…” so that we can go to Heaven after we die? That, beloved, is less than His love has washed us for. “…And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever” (Rev. 1:5,6). No less than this is what “the things above, where Christ is” means, and unto this honour we are called; this is our great privilege—to draw near to the throne of grace, draw near boldly as priests who have a great high priest over the house of God, draw near and join Him in His priestly intercession for others from the throne of God.

The whole creation “under the sun,” groaning and travailing in pain together until now, awaits the outcome of this.

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Seek The Things Above (Part One)

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Allan Halton

That wise man Solomon made some observations about what he called “life under the sun.” Here is one of them:

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. (Ecc 9:11,12 KJV)

That’s a very dismal assessment of things, isn’t it. But Solomon was right; it’s something that has been proven true, grievously true, countless times throughout history. People are just living life under the sun, and suddenly they are caught in an evil time, as in this pandemic, a great net cast over the Sea of Humanity. But that is just one of the hazards of life “under the sun,” and the only way out of it, as everyone knows, is by dying, itself a very unwelcome prospect for most people.

But this begets the question I have been asked not once or twice with regard to the pandemic. “Why isn’t God doing something about this?” To many He seems to be completely silent, in fact completely absent, even indifferent to it all.

What follows here is my answer to that question (yet not mine, but God’s). It shows that God is doing something, and shows just what He is doing, and further, that He has participants in what He is doing. The answer is found in the first four verses of Colossians Chapter 3. I’ll cite them, greatly loved as they are:

 If, then, ye were raised with the Christ, the things above seek ye, where the Christ is, on the right hand of God seated,
the things above mind ye, not the things upon the earth,
for ye did die, and your life hath been hid with the Christ in God;
when the Christ–our life–may be manifested, then also we with him shall be manifested in glory.
(Col 3:1-4 Young’s Literal Translation)

There we have it, God’s own wonderful answer. There is a life not “under the sun” but above it all. There are “things above.” That is, for those who have been raised with Christ. These are to “seek the things above.” What are the things above? As we discover in Ephesians, all our spiritual blessings are above, our heritage is above, our warfare is above—in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. But we want to focus on the Colossians passage. What  we discover in Colossians is that our very life is above, because—and it’s this that we hope to open here—Christ is above, seated at the right hand of God. Christ Himself, as always, is Paul’s emphasis—“If ye then be raised with Christ, seek the things above where Christ is…” To be raised with Christ obviously implies that these first died, which is what Paul goes on to say. “Ye did die…” Who are these ye? You mean that if I am one of them I don’t live under the sun anymore? Wonderful news—I’m outa here, I died. But just when did I die? And more wonderfully, when was I raised with the Christ, and therefore am seated with Him at the right hand of God, living the life that is hid with Christ in God? We must backtrack into Chapter Two for our answer. We need to dive into the middle of one of Paul’s very long sentences:

…Because in him [in Christ] doth tabernacle all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,
and ye are in him made full, who is the head of all principality and authority,
in whom also ye were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh in the circumcision of the Christ,
being buried with him in the baptism, in which also ye rose with him through the faith of the working of God, who did raise him out of the dead. (Col 2:9-12 YLT)

There is a vital revelation in these verses, and we only have space here to get to the essence of it. Note the words, “in him…” “in whom…” That is, in Christ. The ye of Chapter 3 are those who are “in Him,” that is, in Christ. And how did they get into Him? They were baptized into Him. They were “buried with Him in the baptism…” That’s what going under the water of baptism signifies—being dead and buried. But note that Young’s Literal Translation includes the article here. “The baptism.” This is not baptism in water but baptism in Holy Spirit, which baptism in water only signifies. It is baptism in Holy Spirit that is baptism into Christ—into His death. My death by any means, by my own hand or otherwise, cannot accomplish what His death accomplished. Death to sin. Death to this world. It is this death of which A.W. Tozer spoke when he said, “The Christian’s grave is behind him.” For, the baptism is also baptism into Christ’s eternal resurrection life. (See also Romans 6:1-4.)

Do I hear you thinking, “I don’t feel like I’ve been raised with Christ”? But baptism in Holy Spirit—that moment when you received the Spirit of Christ within—is something you no doubt did feel, you experienced this. And so being raised with Christ is true of you and me whether we feel it or not, for baptism in Holy Spirit is baptism into Christ, and in Christ are  hidden realities. And when by revelation our eyes are opened by the Spirit to see these hidden realities, we may embrace them by faith. “…Being buried with him in the baptism, in which also ye rose with him through the faith of the working of God, who did raise him out of the dead.”

Let me add this, brothers and sisters. Many of us anticipate a mighty move of the Spirit of God. But let us not be looking to a coming move of the Spirit to make real to us what even today may be embraced by faith, and walked in.

We’re still backtracking in Chapter Two; Paul has this baptism in mind when toward the end of the chapter he says:

Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle…” (Col 2:20,21 NKJV)

And he continues to have it in mind at beginning of what we call Chapter 3:

If, then, ye were raised with the Christ, the things above seek ye, where the Christ is, on the right hand of God seated, the things above mind ye, not the things upon the earth…

Let’s read that carefully. “If then ye were raised with Christ, seek the things above…” What a wonderful word to find here. Above. Above it all. “Seek the things above, where Christ is…” Let’s not miss the emphasis. “Where Christ is.” Not the things themselves, but Christ Himself. “Seek the things above, where Christ is…” And where is Christ? Christ is “seated at the right hand of God.” Seated, that is, enthroned. And we who have been baptized into Christ are there with Him. We are seated, enthroned, with Christ at the right hand of God, the place of all power, the very power of God. What an astonishing revelation for faith to lay hold of.

More next time.

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