“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen…” Galatians 1:15,16
It is one thing to profess faith in Christ. It is quite another to take Him at His word, believing that He, by the Spirit dwells in the heart. The great revelation to Saul of Tarsus, who became the Apostle Paul, was not only that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, the only Savior of men from their sins, but that, because of Pentecost, and the outpouring of the Spirit, He came by the Spirit to indwell every believer. The unveiling of this great mystery, the extent of it no man can grasp this side of heaven, is monumental, and overwhelming at the same time. Why? One cannot have a part of Christ. When Scripture speaks of being baptized into Jesus Christ, becoming one with Him, being placed in the “True Vine,” having been made complete in Christ, it does not speak of partialness, or division. One is either IN Christ fully, or not. However, the problem with the believer on this earth is NOT whether he is the dwelling place of God by the Spirit. The problem lies in whether he can appropriate the Son of God by the Spirit in his every day life, until he is called home. Can he partake of the living bread, the living water, living according to the living word? Can he believe God to give to him a clear perception of the truth as it is in Christ, so that, by the power of the Spirit, he can appropriate, or receive, from Christ all that pertains to life and godliness…on earth, as it is in heaven? Where must one begin, in order to not only know the answers to these questions, but to live this Life to which the believer is called?
Again, as it is the case with every consideration of the truth of God, Christ’s work, and how little, sinful man, can truly benefit in such a manner as to glorify God, one must begin with Christ Himself. Note what Paul writes to the Galatians: “…When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb…” Paul begins with the mercy, grace, and sovereign will of God. He also begins with His wisdom, and power, for he begins from the womb of Paul’s mother, in the bringing forth of Saul of Tarsus. However, all the knowledge of what was essential for Paul’s creation, and development, is not enough to answer our questions, only to reveal how absolutely dependent we are upon God for all. Paul goes on to write that, even though he spent years “in vanity and pride,” rising to the summit of the religious world of his day, it was nothing, and did not prepare him for what was to come. Even though it was necessary that Paul experience what it was to be lost, and “…without God in this world,” it was not the complete answer to his need. So he writes: “…and called me by His grace.” How did God call Saul of Tarsus? Specifically, it was first by the revelation of Himself, declaring to him that Saul was persecuting Christ, by persecuting His church. This revelation of Christ certainly was necessary for Paul to see, and be convinced and convicted of his sin. But here again, we have not come far enough to discover the absolutely life-changing truth, that would revolutionize the life of Saul of Tarsus, to become Paul the Apostle. After Paul had repented, been baptized, and believed on Christ, there was revealed to Paul the answer to a mystery, a hidden truth from the beginning of time, for God then revealed His Son IN Paul, or as Paul would later write: “…Christ IN you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27) By the revelation of the indwelling Christ, by the Spirit, all became possible to Paul, or as Wesley put it, “…to Christ the power of God in us.”
Dear Father, Fill us with Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.