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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Real You, continued
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:20,21—NIV)
I suppose the greatest danger of today is not that we will think of the heavens as being the only reality and life on earth an illusion, although some may be in this trap. The most common problem we have, particularly we Americans, is regarding our present life on earth as being the truly significant fact while we tend to think of "our life in Heaven" as a kind of unreal Oz in which people and angels float around for eternity doing nothing but resting.
The one truly fatal mistake any individual can make is to place too much importance on the present life and miss the opportunities we have to establish ourselves with Christ at the right hand of the Father. For when we die there is nothing we can take with us except our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Who is the "you" that has been raised with Christ? It is obvious it is not the same "you" that is here on the earth. We have two different "yous."
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3,4—NIV)
Who is the "you" that died? Now we have two "yous," a "you" that has been raised with Christ and a "you" that is dead.
Who is the real "you"? As you can understand, this is a most important question.
The "you" who has been raised with Christ is hidden. He will not appear to onlookers until Christ appears. The entire Christ, Head and Body, will appear to the world at the same time. Thus we enter the joy of the Lord, not just our own joy but the joy of the Lord. He and we enter the fullness of joy at the same time.
He is waiting until His enemies have been made His footstool. We know from Paul's writing that Satan will be crushed under our feet. So the enemies of God and man will finally be crushed under the feet of the Church because Christ is in the Church.
The twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation describes the travail of the woman, the Church, as Christ is formed in her.
She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. (Revelation 12:5—NIV)
First we notice that Christ who is being formed in us is a son, a male. Whether we are a man or woman, boy or girl, that which is being formed in us is a ruling spirit.
Christ who is our life, who is being formed in us, is destined to govern all nations with an iron scepter. We are not speaking of being saved, or of enjoying Heaven, we are referring to ruling! It is the Ruler who is being formed in us.
The "you" of our personality who has been raised with Christ and is now hidden in Him at the right hand of God is a ruler!
To be continued.