Orange Moon Monday, January 23, 2023 "The Fulness of Him"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

(For Frances)

    

              "The Fulness of Him"         

    

     

    Since His incarnation and the atoning work He accomplished through death, resurrection, and ascension, God no longer views the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of simply Himself.

   "The church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (Ephesians 1:22-23).

    "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ" (I Corinthians 12:12).

    God sees His beloved Son as spiritually united to all who have trusted Him by faith.  The Lord Jesus is "the head of the church," the church is the body, and we will forever be united to our Savior in the eternal purpose of our Heavenly Father (Ephesians 5:23). Of course, we do not become Christ, nor does He become us, any more than a husband and wife become each other when joined in the "one flesh" union of earthly marriage (Ephesians 5:31).  However, the Lord Jesus and His church do dwell in a spiritual union that promises His involvement in everything in our lives, and our involvement in His doings forevermore.  "Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end" (Ephesians 3:21).

   Believers must view ourselves accordingly.  We are not just ourselves, but ourselves as united to the Lord Jesus in such measure of grace that God declares us to be "the fulness" of Christ.  In this sense of God's purpose, our Savior would be incomplete without us.  God determined that His Son would have a spiritual bride, even as once declared of the first Adam, "It is not good that the man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18).  We are that eternal companion, as it were, and we are that "fulness of Him" in this day.  The Spirit of the Lord Jesus dwells in us, we live in Him, and our Father ever works in our lives according to who Christ is to us, and who we are to Him (Galatians 4:6; I Corinthians 1:30).

   Of course, we presently "walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).  It often does not appear that we are the subjects of such grace, nor do we alway feel and think accordingly.  The truth nonetheless forever abides.  God sees believers as united to the Spirit of Christ, accepting us in Him, and working in us based on His Son's presence and working in us (Ephesians 1:6).  The increasing realization of such truth will go far in infusing our hearts and lives with the wonder of how much we matter to God, and how important it is that we seek to live in a manner that reveals and honors the Lord Jesus.  Our Father does not see us apart from His Son.  Let us join Him in the holy view made possible by the gracious mercy that united us with Christ, and promises God's working in us as "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

"He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."

(I Corinthians 6:17)

"For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church."

(Ephesians 5:31-32)

Weekly Memory Verse

      "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ."

 (I Corinthians 12:12)

 

   

  

    

     

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