We are justified by grace through faith. And as a result, we have peace with God (Rom 5:1). There are no intermediate steps. No striving; no works; peace! Like the Prodigal Son we are not just tolerated, not just treated as hired servants, but welcomed as sons into God's house. Welcomed!
But where is God's house for the believer? According to Paul, we are now raised with Christ
(Col 2:12, 3:1).
Not only that,
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus
(Eph 2:6).
So God's house is heaven itself. We are not there on our own account, but only because we are in him. It is
in him
that we become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21).
It is
in Christ
that we stand firm (2 Cor 1:21).
It is
in Christ
that we are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17),
and it is
in Christ Jesus
that we are seated in the heavenly realms.
How do we walk in this truth? Paul explains in Philippians:
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith (Phil 3:8,9).
This is how we are to be found in Christ. We have to abandon all thoughts of having any righteousness of our own, based on obedience to the law, and rely solely on God's own righteousness as being ours by faith. Once we do that, we find ourselves in Christ. How do we determine where our righteousness is coming from? I offer two tests. Firstly, if you fail, or do or say the wrong thing, do you feel condemned in God's eyes? If so, you have been relying on your own righteousness. On the other hand, if you do well, do a good deed or some spiritual activity, do you feel more worthy? Again, if so, you are now relying on your own righteousness. Oh the blessedness of being able to rely 100% on Jesus! Once we do that, we are to be found in him.
In Christ! What a place to be! It is a place of blessing, of heavenly blessing. It brings to mind Psalm 91:
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty
(Ps 91:1 NKJV).
What was secret then is revealed to us. The secret place is Christ himself, and we are there in him. I used to wonder about this verse, how the second half seemed to be merely a repetition of the first [the RSV and NRSV suggest this view, substituting
who
for
shall
in verse 1]. But we can read it now in this way: He who dwells in spirit in the secret place, now interpreted as being in Christ, will in the physical world abide under the shadow and care of the Almighty. This care is what the rest of the psalm is about. Dwelling in the secret place opens up the blessings of the rest of the psalm to the believer. This is a similar extension of blessing as stated by Paul when he said
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
(Rom 8:32).
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 28. It is a list of blessings followed by a much longer list of curses. Which of these apply to us? We read with dismay verse 1 giving the condition for the blessings:
If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands...
.
We also read verse 15 which states that the curses come to those who do not obey. We decide to forget this chapter for now ... until we remember:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law
(Gal 3:13)!
Further, we now know that Jesus has fulfilled the Law (Matt 5:17)!
Because Christ has fulfilled the Law, he has fulfilled the condition of verse 1. And because we are in Christ, we are like him
(1 John 4:17)
and therefore deemed to have fulfilled the Law, fulfilled the condition, and can treat the blessings listed as being promises
to us.
Indeed, this applies to all the blessings, all the promises of God:
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are
Yes
in Christ. And so through him the
Amen
is spoken by us to the glory of God (2 Cor 1:20).
Indeed,
the Amen
is one of the titles of
the faithful and true witness
,
which is Christ
(Rev 1:5, 3:14).
So the former promises of God, that were given with conditions, now become available to those who are in Christ. In particular, consider that the believer is justified by faith, and has the free gift of righteousness. Now look again in the Old Testament and see the effect of righteousness:
The house of the righteous stands firm
(Prov 12:7);
I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging bread
(Ps 37:25);
He will never let the righteous fall
(Ps 55:22).
There are many more. All such promises seemed out of reach when we measured ourselves by the Law. But the believer who understands what Christ has accomplished for him, can, because of Christ, partake of all such blessings. Take another example:
But his delight is in the law of the Lord ... Whatever he does prospers
(Ps 1:2,3).
We are now in Christ, who fulfilled the Law. On that basis, and that basis only, we have access to this promise, that whatever we do, prospers. All the promises are
Yes
in Christ.
This includes healing.
If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you (Ex 15:26).
The conditions about keeping all God's decrees seems prohibitive, until we remember that Christ fulfilled the Law, all of it, and that we are in Him. Being in Christ, we can take hold of the promise. There is healing in the Atonement. By his wounds we are healed (Isa 53:5). By becoming a curse for us, he redeemed us from the curse of the law (Gal 3:13), which included plagues, and severe and lingering illnesses (Deut 28:59).
But it all depends on our faith.
According to your faith will it be done to you
(Matt 9:29).
God has provided a path to complete fulfilment, one that depends on faith from first to last. First faith in the truth of our own sinfulness, then faith in the free gift of righteousness, faith that we are seated with him in heavenly realms and faith in whatever promise of God we need. So faith is vital. That is why trials, that test our faith, are a blessing. See the wisdom of God in bringing us through this tangled web that humanity has fallen into and restoring us to be the children of God that we were intended to be all along.
In this position in the Secret Place, in Christ, we will find it to be a place of rest (Ps 91:10).
In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength
(Isa 30:15 ESV).
We need to rest from our own work and [paradoxically] make every effort to enter this rest
(Heb 4:10,11).
Once there by faith, the fruit of the spirit [love, joy, and peace] flow easier.
The Secret Place is also a place of authority:
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
(Ps 91:13).
We can simultaneously reside in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, looking up with joy, praise and thanks to God in every situation, while in the world we trample on the enemy and defeat his plans against us! This is what Jesus did at Lazarus' tomb. He looked up and gave thanks, then
called in a loud voice:
(John 11:43).
Lazarus, come out!
It is also the source of spiritual gifts, which Paul encourages us to earnestly desire (1 Cor 14:1).
When he ascended
on high,
he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men
(Eph 4:8).
The gifts are up there with him on high, and therefore in the secret place of the Most High! We need to believe that we are in Christ and raised up with him into that place. This will facilitate our believing that he will give us the spiritual gifts that we need. Paul stated that the gift of prophesy was especially desirable, because it edified the church. Speaking in tongues is a lesser gift, because it only edifies the speaker (1 Cor 14:5).
It seems to be the case that this lesser gift is often among the first to be received, or received most commonly, as on the following occasions:
Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4)
Samaria [probably] (Acts 8:17)
Cornelius (Acts 10:46)
Ephesus (Acts 19:6)
Corinth (from 1 Cor 14:23)
The Apostle Paul (1 Cor 14:18)
It does make sense that often the first gift a believer receives is one that is for himself, rather than one that is to bless others. This is in line with Jesus' admonition to take the plank out of our own eye before correcting others (Matt 7:5).
Paul stated that he
would like every one of you to speak in tongues
(1 Cor 14:5).
He used it a lot (v18).
Receiving this as with other gifts is dependent on faith. The speaker of this gift and the gift of prophesy can stop at will
(1 Cor 14:28,30),
showing that these gifts are entirely under the speaker's control. The Spirit does not force use of the gift. With speaking in tongues, the mind is unfruitful (v14).
In fact, it seems that the conscious mind is bypassed, and the words are formed directly on the lips. From all of this it can be deduced that receiving this gift is a matter of desiring it, asking for it in Jesus' name, believing it has been received, and then speaking out without thinking beforehand what to say. The use of the gift is called praying with the spirit (v15 NKJV).
It is for self-edification according to Paul, and is more specifically a faith builder according to Jude:
..building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit
(Jude 20 NKJV).
God wants us to serve him, but he does not force us to serve. He would give us gifts, but does not force them on us. He commands us to love, but only because He loved us first. For every step he needs our acquiescence, our willingness, and our faith in his provision. Some of us are slow to progress, taking years to make another step. Others are much quicker, but some of those burn out quickly too. Wherever we are in our walk, let us dwell in the Secret Place, continuing to learn and know him better (Eph 1:17). Let us stand our ground in trials, stay in faith, follow the Spirit and rejoice in every spiritual blessing in Christ.
The one blessing which for us is higher than any other is this: peace and fellowship with God himself!
What fellowship has light with darkness?
(2 Cor 6:14 ESV).
This question tells us that God can only have fellowship with other righteous beings. So receiving his gift of righteousness enables us to have fellowship with God, which would otherwise be denied us. It is as if God gives us this righteousness
in order that
we can have fellowship with Him, implying that
He
wants to have fellowship with
us!
This is something that
pleases
him, in the same way that it pleases God to adopt us as sons (Eph 1:5).
It's true!
Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ
(1 John 1:3).
The Father is righteous. The Son is righteous. And, now,
by faith,
we are righteous with a righteousness which is from God himself, and can come into full fellowship with the Father and the Son. And there is no privilege on Earth greater than that.
The End