The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"The Hope of Glory"
How near is God to the born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?
This near…
"Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
"The Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (I Corinthians 3:16; emphasis added).
God gave His living presence to us when we trusted the Savior. He made our hearts His home, the intention He has always had for human beings. He so loves us that He was not content to merely dwell with us. He rather determined to enter the spiritual depths of our being, whereby Christ becomes our life through the indwelling Holy Spirit. He lives in us and we live through Him in a union of hearts far closer than we will ever fully comprehend: "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17).
The practical ramifications of such truth are both far beyond us and nearer than our next breath. First, as we "walk by faith, not by sight," we see barely a glimmer of the infinitely bright light that shines within us (II Corinthians 5:7). Israel of old, in proper fear and reverence, would not even utter the Lord's personal name. Believers in the Lord Jesus, conversely, confess that the Lord's own Person dwells not merely with us, but within us. We do so, however, with a deep and profound reverence. The truth of God's indwelling presence should never fail to astound us upon even the most cursory recall of such grace. How can such a thing be? Even as we believe and rejoice, we marvel in the awareness of how wondrously glorious is "the hope of glory."
We then seek to be practically affected by the truth, as our Heavenly Father designed and desires. We will live the next moment and all the follow in the presence of the eternal God not only as it envelops us from outside ourselves, but as it springs forth within us. We must know by faith this is the truth, believe it, and face whatever comes to us as if we are not alone. Because we are not. The blessing that make us smile comes with the Blesser. The challenge that troubles and may seem to overwhelm us will find God as our "very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). The everyday, mundane moments that seem of little significance teem with our Lord's presence, again, both outside and within ourselves. Remembering these wonders of God's abiding presence does not always change circumstances, conditions, or situations. It may not always lead to emotional response. But somewhere within us, deep in the depths of our being where the living God dwells, affirming the union of His Spirit with our own affects us in a grace that impacts our steps and how we tread them. "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).
Long into eternity, when we far better know what it means that God dwells within us, we will even more realize how impossible that we could ever fully comprehend this "hope of glory." We will also remember the price paid to make it possible and actual within us. "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?!" (Matthew 27:46). Our Heavenly Father so desired that your heart and mine would become His dwelling place that He abandoned His eternally beloved Son to die alone in the fires of His judgment wrath against sin. Presently, such truth overwhelms us. As it will eternally, when we will rejoice in the immeasurable wonder of our Lord's indwelling presence, but also in solemn awareness of the sacrifice whereby God made possible our joy. Indeed, every glance upon the hands and feet of our blessed Savior will remind us of this, making our place as the very home of God a remembrance of wonder, worship, and forevermore, "the hope of glory."
"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
(I John 4:15-16)
Weekly Memory Verse
The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.
(Habakkuk 2:20)
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