I
consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. Philippians 3:8
The saving of men from
sin, death, and hell, and getting them to heaven, was as nothing compared with
what Paul saw as to the significance of a believer now. All that which he has
seen concerning Christ in His eternal purpose – eternal, universal, vast,
infinite – now relates to believers: "Even as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be... unto the praise of His
glory... in the ages to come" (Eph. 1:4,12,21). Believers also are
lifted out of time, and are given a significance altogether beyond anything
here.... What a Christ!
It is Christ Who will lift
us out, Christ Who will set us free; but let me say this, that it will not be
by His coming and putting His hands under us and lifting us out, but by being
revealed in our hearts. How did Paul come out of his narrow Jewish conceptions
about the Messiah? Simply by the revelation of Christ in him, and as that
revelation grew his liberation increased. There were some things which he did
not shake off for a long time. He clung to Jerusalem almost to the last. He
still had a longing for his brethren after the flesh, and made further attempts
for their deliverance on national grounds. But at last he saw the meaning of
the heavenly Christ in such a way as to make it possible for him to write the
letter to the Ephesians, and the letter to the Colossians, and then Judaism as
such, Israel after the flesh, ceased to weigh with him. It was the revelation
of Christ which was emancipating him, leading him out, freeing him all the
time. In that way Christ is our Deliverer and Emancipator. It is just the Lord
Jesus that we need to know. Everything small will go as we see Him. Everything
of earth and time will go as we see Him, and in the background of our lives
there will be something adequate to keep us through difficult and hard times.
We shall see the greatness of Christ and the corresponding greatness of our
salvation "...according to His eternal purpose."
No comments:
Post a Comment