-April 25, 2023-
“To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
(Colossians 1:27).
God revealed His plan of the ages over all the dispensations of time. It started with God’s creation, then seven specific time periods in human history: innocence, conscience, human government, promise, law, grace, and millennial kingdom. God dealt with man in various ways through them all. All of them point to and find their fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ: His birth, His life, His ministry, His death on the cross, His resurrection, His ascension to glory, His second coming, His millennial reign, and the eternal state of glory with Him.
We are currently living in the dispensation of grace, the time we call the church age. The gospel is going forth, souls are being saved, and the church is God the conduit through which His truth flows forth. We are all part of the church, the body, building, and bride of Christ. This truth is one of the mysteries in the Bible. A mystery in the sense that it was previously hidden and unknown but now God has revealed it to the world.
Of all the mysteries, the greatest is the one before us today: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Just stop and think of that for a moment. The living God who is omnipresent, who fills the universe and controls all things by His authority and power, now lives in us by the Holy Spirit! His love, power, peace, and joy are in us. We are sinners saved by grace, saints, children of God. We are so blessed. As great as this is, the best is yet to come. The Lord Jesus is our hope of glory. The coming of the Lord is imminent. One day we will see Him face to face in all of His glory.
One of my favorite hymns, and I have many, is “Christ Liveth In Me.” It was written by Daniel W. Whittle. It says, “Once far from God and dead in sin, no light my heart could see, but in God’s Word the light I found, now Christ liveth in me. As rays of light from yonder sun the flow’rs of earth set free, so life and light came forth from Christ living in me. As lives the flow’r within the seed, as in the cone, the tree, so praise the God of truth and grace, His Spirit dwelleth in me. With longing all my heart is filled that I like Him may be, as on the wondrous thought I dwell, that Christ liveth in me.” The chorus proclaims, “Christ liveth in me, Christ liveth in me, O what a salvation this that Christ liveth in me.”
Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Paul is not alone, every believer in Christ has Christ living in him. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Have a blessed day in Christ, for Christ, and with Christ. He will lead us, provide for us, and help us. There is victory in Jesus. Stay safe and healthy.
Living in me, living in me, O how my heart is beating for Thee,
Dean
Dean Allen's Daily Devotional 