“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12
The Christian life has been likened unto a race, a walk, a journey, a battle, or a mission. In all of these perspectives there was a beginning point, also a point at which the believer is presently living, and then the looking down that corridor of time to a point of destiny, or objective, a fulfilled purpose. Paul would call this point of objective to be “…that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” The Apostle Paul knew and believed the truth that Christ is the life of the believer, and also life’s objective. He is the goal, to know Him, and the power of His resurrection. The Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary of His own volition so that God would be glorified fully in every believer’s life. Salvation was conceived and accomplished so that the believer would be delivered FROM sin, self, the world and the devil. However, the purpose of God, with Christ coming as our sin-bearer, and the deliverer from death, both that which was physical and spiritual, would go beyond the forgiveness of sins, to providing the “much more” of His abundant, victorious life, thus providing the assurance of eternal life to the believer by His power. God’s purpose was nothing less than the fulness of His blessing and Life dwelling in the believer by the Spirit of God. His presence in darkness was to give light, life, and purpose, manifesting God’s glory. Christ rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, so that He might give the Spirit of God, as revealed at Pentecost, to every believer, Christ coming to dwell in every believer’s heart. But this is not all. He did so to FILL the believer with His Life by the Spirit, leading the believer during this journey, in this spiritual conflict, and race set before him, into an ever-increasing, deepening, and lasting fellowship or communion with Himself. In essence, Christ has come to show forth His glory in the life of every believer who would truly walk and commune with Him according to HIS WAYS for HIS GLORY. It would take the Apostle Paul some time, after his conversion, and the new birth, to understand God’s ways of dealing with the soul, so that, by the work of Christ on Calvary, the soul could live in the fulness of God’s presence, ever growing in knowledge of Him. The end point of the race would be when faith would become sight, and he would be changed forever in the presence of the Lord. This raises the question: How much, and how far, does God desire to reveal Himself to the honest seeker, so that by a life lived in and by the Spirit, the very life of Christ is revealed to the world? What is it that Christ desires and wills that we apprehend of Him, and to what extent?
When the Apostle Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus, there was a mighty upheaval in his heart. His concepts of God were shattered, for in the revelation of Christ, he discovered that even though he had been zealously seeking to serve God, he had been totally wrong as to who God was. Not only this, he learned that God’s ways and thoughts were absolutely not his. The foundation of his existence was wrong, as was the means of his concepts to live before God. Paul would discover, as the Spirit revealed it to him, that Christ could be truly known, but only by a cross, His shed blood, the power of the Spirit, and Paul’s response of faith alone in Christ. Paul’s race and journey had begun, and though he would pursue Christ, to know Him in fellowship with Him, there would remain “much land to be possessed.” Paul would learn that Christ as his life would be apprehended truly only BY FAITH.
Dear Father, Strengthen us to pursue. In Jesus’ name, Amen.