From Glory to Glory
Dearly beloved of God, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him!
Walk in the reality of the new birth; in Christ dwells all the fullness of the divine nature bodily, and you are completely filled in him who is the head over every ruler and authority! How complete are we in him?
Beloved, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the mystery of God concerning Christ, and we are completely filled with everything he accomplished. The birth is only the beginning of our riches in Christ.
In Christ, we were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in the stripping off of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
We are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
In Christ, we were buried with him in baptism, the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ by which we received the gift of holy spirit.
In Christ, we were raised with him through the right way of believing pertaining to the working of God Who raised him from the dead.
We were seated together with him in the heavenly realm, so that in the coming ages He might display the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Since we were raised together with Christ we should seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right side of God. Think as our Father would have us to think, not as the world thinks.
Hold what he accomplished in mind, and walk in this new reality. This reality has everlasting ramifications, not temporal ones.
Dearly beloved, the body is of Christ; hold fast to the head. The Father freely gives us all things with His beloved Son. In fact, He blessed us in Christ with every spiritual reality in the heavenly realm.
In Christ, we were saved in the new birth, but we will experience the physical reality of this salvation when Christ returns to save us from death and from the wrath to come.
We will be delivered from the wrath to come because in Christ we are justified from the condemnation of sin and death.
“We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” I Peter 1:5
In Christ, we were redeemed and have received the remission of our sins according to the riches of His grace, which He has abounded to us.
On the day of redemption we will partake of the inheritance that is ours in Christ; we will be glorified together with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory!
Today we have the earnest of our inheritance, but the reality of the inheritance is coming.
In the east in the times the Word of God was written, the Father’s heir was his eldest son.
His son might be given the signet ring bearing the family’s crest, or the coat of colors which represented that he was the heir. As his heir, he would receive the inheritance that the ring or robe represented.
We have been sealed with the holy spirit of promise, which is the token demonstrating that we are heirs of God, and when Christ returns we will receive the inheritance that token represents.
There are both current realities in Christ, and there are future realities, and in Christ we will partake of both.
If we are having hope in Christ in this life only, then of all men we are most pitiable, but that is not the case!
We have the glory of the new birth today, and we will receive the glory of the inheritance when Christ returns. Rejoice!
So, dearly beloved, walk in him. In him you are completely filled! We are as he is, and when he comes for us we will see him as he is, and we will be like him. Rejoice!
If we know that we are in him, we ought to walk in the same manner as he walked. So, dearly beloved, walk in him; you have freely been given all things with him. It is a glory walk.