I AM RISEN WITH CHRIST; -  A CO-RESURRECTION.    Colossians 3

 Paul wrote the astounding truth,    ‘If you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where 'Christ is sitting at the right hand of Christ.’     Now, I firmly believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.     His resurrection greatly comforts me personally as a husband, father and grandfather; and in my medical profession.   This profound truth, ‘If you were raised with Christ’ implies that you and I, as born-again believers, were related to Christ in His glorious rising again.     Christ attached Himself to us, when he crushed the power of death and devastated the tomb and the grave, triumphing over them.     He deliberately gathered us in His eternal arms so that we may enjoy this enrichment.   

Paul had written in the same epistle, 2:12    ‘Buried with Him in baptism,   in which you were also raised with Him, through faith in the working of God Who raised Him from the dead.’   In baptism, God illustrates our association with Christ in His atoning death, burial in the tomb and the undeniable rising from the dead.    As believers we do not delight in the dazzling light of this association truth.     

When the dear Son of God hung on Calvary cross, he hung alone.     Even the Father in heaven turned His back on His beloved Son as he   cried,   My God, My God why have you forsaken Me? ‘Psalm 22:1 ‘He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness- by whose stripes we are healed.    1 Peter 2;24 .     Yet in that substitutionary death, he clasped us to His bosom so that we received all the redemptive virtue of His atoning death.     

He was buried alone in the tomb, sealed with that immense stone, which only the Lord ( via an earthquake ) could unseal.     Yet He embraced us individually to share the triumph of conquering death and shattering fear and the power of the grave; and united us with Him in His overcoming resurrection.               

Paul had also stated this in his letter to the saints in Rome, ‘therefore, we were buried with Him   (Co- burial ) through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.'    6:4 ‘For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, ( co crucifixion ) certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.    V5 (co rising again).     You see, we, His blood-bought church are His bride, and He initiates us into every part of His eternal life.     The new husband thrills to welcome his new bride into all his treasured privileges.   

My spiritual life was nailed to His cross as He hung at Calvary.     I could not bear my sin- HE did.    Mystery- surely!   How wonderful is the Lord who absorbed me into His eternal life in His unspeakable torments of the cross.    My present life has the excellent feature of   being ‘hid with Christ   in God.    ‘The Messiah, Prophet, Priest and King fills my redeemed life.    In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we read this majestic declaration concerning His oneness with us, ‘I Am crucified with Christ.      Nevertheless, I live.    Yet not I,   but Christ ( the Messiah ) lives in me.     And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me .    2:20    The Greek word for ‘gave’ is ‘paradidomi’, which describes our Lord’s illegal arrest; His bondage with biting cords; several consecutive, fraudulent trials; degrading interrogations with the high priest, Pilate and Herod; the savage scourging; the brutal taunting  in the ridiculous royal uniform; Christ   relinquished to the mocking crowds; and the final brutality of crucifixion.      So that he gave Himself for me in all phases of His suffering.

 Magnesium sacrificial anode lasted  5 years in our gas heater.      It had worn ; was jagged, twisted, but saved our gas heater from erosion.    Its stainless steel is clear, whereas it would have corroded without the anode.    A new one was installed; it will last, God-willing, about 5 years.    A picture of the Lord Jesu, not as a sacrificial anode, but as my representative in my place condemned HE stood.   

Mephibosheth is described in 2 Samuel 9:1-6 as meaning ‘exterminating idols.’  When his nurse dropped him, resulting in extreme disability,   reminds us of the fall in the garden of Eden.     He had been discarded, describing himself as ‘dead dog’.  He had been deserted, but precious to David.     We deserved the judgment of God in our rebellion, yet Christ showed mercy to us.

In Ephesians 1, we see the Father’s magnificent elevation of the resurrected Son, from the dead, enthroned at the Father‘s right hand, lifted high above every name and principality: - and our simultaneous promotion with Him, when Christ our glorious head controlled the church, His body.    ‘According to the working of His mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised Him from the dead and seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that to come.    And he put all things under His feet   and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all.’  1:20   We are joined to and controlled by Him as only a head can be linked with the body, which is His church.     The spinal cord, protected within the individual vertebrae conveys cerebral commands: therefore control.   

What linkage with the Lord Jesus when every healthy person understands the union of the body with the head; clear instructions in controlled activity.     Also, with brain dysfunctions, stroke, hemorrhage, accident, infection, individuals acknowledge inability to follow the head’s direction.   

Paul enlarges our understanding of Christ’s resurrection to include all His blood-bought children.    We worship Him in His individual triumph, but our commander-in Chief gathers His eternal army together and leads us home in triumph.    Millions of believers from every race, culture, language ascend with Christ in this glorious display.     We shall sing the hallelujah chorus in the clouds on our way home to glory.     Fascinating and uplifting will be the reception when   we see our Lord seated at the Father’s right hand- and His Blood-washed church seated in triumph with Him.    ‘He raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’   Ephesians 2:6

I took boys from our village bible class for their first visit to Surabaya for medicine for our hospital.    On returning we traveled with the cortege of the nation’s President.     Our boys received the homage of the vast assemblies of cheering crowds, waving and bowing.     They came from the humblest village homes, never having been acclaimed as on that day.    Unforgettable honor!   Recalled with laughter.      We join Christ’s cavalcade to glory on His exaltation.    What privilege!

In the DNA structure with chromosomes and genes, our genetic future is decided.    When we are born again our heavenly DNA describes the immense potential of being born into a heavenly family, inheriting all the heavenly qualifications of our beloved Lord.     Heavenly royalty.     

Earth always drags us downwards, compelling us to search for natural, earthly pursuits.    The child of God cannot disregard this devilish, gravitational pull, yet the Lord pleads that our thoughts will have a heavenly attraction, and that we will reject the mind-set of this fallen world.     Heaven is God’s eternal home, while earth is our playing field for a few short years.     The author is in his nineties, yet regards the earthly stay as fleeting, while heaven is our spiritual home for ever and ever.      ‘Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth‘.    Colossians 3:2

The word ‘congenital details the likeness of each believer with our dearly Beloved Lord.     At first I recoiled at this, until realizing that we are born again and bear the spiritual likeness of our esteemed Lord.     So we shall see His face in uprightness; this will fulfill the deepest longings of our heart.     What expectancy we have of our dear Savior in assuming our association with Him.   

David cried, ‘As for me, I will see your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in your likeness.    ‘ Psalm 17:15  

Mephibosheth   2 Samuel 9: 7 the King said, ‘Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan, your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul, your grandfather.    And you shall eat bread at my table continually‘.    The term ‘checed’ ( loving-kindness ) was Dr Ted Gibson’s most penetrating word in Old Testament.     Comforting language followed, ‘Fear not’ as family privileges were restored.     He is still lame, contrasting with heavenly, resurrection   body modeled on Christ’s resurrection body.    When our auto makers fashion a new model from blue prints, every car follows that likeness.     Christ’s salvation blue print required Calvary suffering, the tomb for 3 days, the mighty raising from the dead, and enthronement in glory.   

Having risen with Christ, we have been adopted by our heavenly Father, who has opened the treasures of heaven to us.    He confidently assures us our Father thoroughly appreciates our position while on earth, and makes full provision for us.    I remember in WW11   lying on the floor of the DC 3 transport plane, holding firmly to the strap, and when the light showed, pushing firmly the pile of   flour, beef, sugar, tea, in the valleys where it was impossible to convey such provisions.     Isolated, hungry men knew the General commanded the exercise, but thanked God for life-sustaining food tumbling down the mountain side.    God gave us a priority to make HIM first in all our days.    In everyday life, our Father in heaven has promised, ‘My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory’.      Our position in Christ is overriding.

‘Your heavenly Father knows you have need of all these things.    But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.    Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.’     Matthew 6:33

Paul implores us to consider the eternal weight of glory rather than the poverty of our earthly position.    He further prompts us to keep our mind on heaven and everlasting life rather than of the temporary of earth.    This is a continuing struggle in every   believer’s life.   

‘For our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us   a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things that are seen.      For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.     2 Corinthians 4:18

God granted us heavenly citizenship following the atoning death and glorious resurrection of our beloved Lord.    So we have 2 locations; one on earth and a sure one in heaven.     Our daughter has lived 30 years in Unites States of America, thus entitling her to dual citizenship, with all just privileges.     Meanwhile we expect Christ’s rapturous appearance from heaven   to seize us, and whisk us away- from earth to our ultimate glory.     To be with Christ for ever in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.     Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to Himself.     Philippians 3: 21

We have longed for heaven as our home.    All virtue we yearned for in our earthly country will be realized in our heavenly.    God put the desire in our hearts- for it is a good thing.     

Furthermore we have a God.     Receiving Christ as Saviour through the operation of the Holy Spirit, we have a God who is eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God.      We have the true God.    WE do not need to manufacture one, shattering the second Commandment, bowing to an    external god.     None can   replace the Father in the prodigal son, as He runs to welcome us, throws His arms around, despite the filthy wretched garments from our dissolute lifestyle- and embraces us.     Tears flow from the Father’s face, when he embraces us.    Emotional;   yes,   real Fatherly love.   

‘Now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country.     Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.’      Hebrews 11:16

                                     CHRIST SITS ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.   

David announced this majestic truth 1000 years before the Messiah was born of the virgin, crucified on the rugged cross, and rose to glorious triumph after 3 days entombment.     The Father reserved this place of unique honor for His dear Son.    And allowed us, His blood-bought church to enter into this amazing oneness with Him.    No earthly recognition compares with the full   distinction lavished upon our Bridegroom and us His bride.                        

In announcing the Messiah’s reign, ’the Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand ( place of highest esteem ), till I make your enemies your footstool.’ Psalm 110:1  

Our Lord Jesus rightly claimed Son ship with the Father.    That sonship included us for we have been united with Him for eternity.     The high priest would have been shaken to hear the Lord Jesus confirm His pivotal seat at the honorable right hand of the Father, a seat shared with His Bride, those in  the spiritual church.     Our lives are hid together with Christ.    Then the rapture, when our Lord announced He would leave heaven’s throne, come with the clouds of glory ( Oh, the shekinah glory ) in gathering the saints’ bodies from the grave or ocean or from disaster, and then transform all of us in that moment of absolute triumph.     

The high priest said to Him, ‘Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.    ‘ Jesus said to him, it is as you said, ‘nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming in the clouds of glory.’ Matthew 26:64

Stephen was first to be martyred for his trust in the Lord Jesus as his Savior.    Many nations now persecute and torture believers in our Lord Jesus.     More have died for our Lord in the last century than in the preceding 2000 years.     These martyrs count it all joy when they suffer temptation.    Stephen quoted frequently from the Old Testament, affirming His personal trust in his Lord.     This infuriated the priestly group stoning him,  for they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.    Then one of heaven’s exquisite glimpses   of eternity came from   condemned   Stephen.   Please notice that the Holy Spirit has filled the life of this dear man.     His eyes were heavenwards;   rewarded with the gaze of  his beloved Lord in resurrection form, rising to greet Stephen.    In Greek it is ‘crown.’ The Lord recognizes each one who has laid down his life for the Christ of God.    ‘He being full of the Holy Spirit gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, Look!   I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.     ‘They led him out of the city ( Jerusalem ) and stoned him.’   His final breath on earth admitted him to heaven’s  pure atmosphere, where He hallowed his Lord.     He had forgotten the torturous stoning, and was  secure for eternity.   

Mephibosheth, living at Jerusalem, eating continually at the king’s table, now recognized, promoted, comforted.     However, Christ’s redeeming work in us contrasted with the continued incapacity of Jonathan‘s son.     This person ‘was lame on his feet.’   Unless the Lord healed him,   this disability would remain until called to meet his eternal God.     When our Lord raises us in His likeness, we shall be free, able to worship at the feet of our risen Lord; and move freely in the glory of His heaven.     I hope you qualify for this: firmly  believing  in Christ’s atoning death and overcoming resurrection, and continually walking in the presence of our glorious Lord.   

‘If you be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of the Father.’