‘Christ In You….’

‘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

The Scripture abounds in summary statements. Christ made such statements, which He used to communicate great truth in simple language.  The Apostle Paul also uses such statements.  In our text for today, the Apostle speaks of the mystery which is, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’  In order for us to attempt to understand this statement, we should look to the verse that precede it.  Paul speaks of this in Colossians 1:26, ‘even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints….’  He speaks of the times past when ‘this mystery’ was ‘hidden.’  He goes on to say that now it ‘has been revealed to His saints.’  If we cast an eye over the Old Testament, using the light of the New Testament to interpret it, we can easily see how people could have missed the evangelical elements of the truths which exist there in the types and shadows.  Having said that, many of His prophets had great evangelical knowledge, which is apparent in their utterances which are unmistakably Christocentric.  Paul does link the old days with the new, and proceeds to narrow down the revelation to this summary statement regarding the work of God in us, which is, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’  Over the next few days, we want to explore this statement to derive from it the understanding of the work which God is doing in us.

Our Wise and Sovereign God,
we rejoice that You have revealed Your truth
in the ways that we can understand it.
We praise You that Christ is in us,
by the power of Your Holy Spirit,
and that is the hope of glory.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning