“Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.” Psalm 24:9,10
When God began to reveal to mankind the salvation in Christ, He did so in three ways. The first was, not only the revelation of what the result of sin was and is, spiritual and physical death, but its devastating consequences with respect to eternity and present living on this earth. Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden, separated from the tree of Life, and destined to know the effects of the curse of God upon sin, not only with regard to the pain and sorrow in childbearing, and the arduous labor involved in growing one’s food from the ground, but also, in the fact that sin’s presence and power would be seen in the first murder, that of Cain killing his brother. Sin had entered into the world, more specifically into the heart of man, there to become the dominating principle and law of his life. God’s judgment upon sin would bring men’s attention to bear wholly upon himself, self-consciousness crippling him, and depriving him of the blessing of God’s presence and power. It would be in the Garden of Eden that the good news of the Gospel began to be preached and taught, and this by the revelation of God to Adam’s family. The evidence of this was in the matter of Able’s sacrifice that he brought to God, which was accepted by God for his sins. This was simply and perfectly confirmed by the Spirit of God in the book of Hebrews, where it is written that Able was “righteous” before God, “…God testifying of his gifts.” (11:4)
Throughout the history of this world to this very present moment, the testimony of God’s ways, as opposed to those of sinful man, have been increasingly revealed, not only in the greatness of the truths concerning the salvation in Christ, but in the power of Christ’s indestructible life in the heart and soul of the believer confirmed, and revealed by the presence and fruits of the Spirit. That which is for our day, and this, since the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh on the day of Pentecost, soon after the ascension of Christ, was the unveiling of “…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations but now has been revealed to His (God’s) saints.” (Col. 1:27) What was and is this mystery NOW revealed in the Scriptures? It is a mystery, not only revealed to the Jew first, as was the case on the day of Pentecost, but now “…among the Gentiles,” the non-Jewish nations of the world. The mystery is “Christ IN you, the hope of glory.” (1:27) It is true that Christ is “before,” or in front of us as our example, and the One by whom we approach the throne of the Father, but now He, by His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, “dwells” in the heart. By the power of Christ’s indwelling life, the believer is called upon to not only know the forgiveness, and cleansing from all sin, but to be utterly dependent upon the Spirit of Christ, the great Comforter in this sinful world, the believer’s Teacher, Guide, provider of all the strength and power in Christ, the sufficient and abundant answer to every need. Christ in His church, His living body of born-again believers, is not only the KEY to a victorious life, but the essential essence, proof, and confirmation of it.
But what of the “Mind of Christ?” If the believer is one with Him by the action of the Father, and the baptism of the Spirit, what is to be Christ’s mind to him? The Apostle Paul declared in his writings: “…but we HAVE the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor. 2:16) To the Philippian believers Paul would write: “Let this mind BE in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (2:5) Christ’s mind, His thoughts and ways, are the believer’s by faith.
Dear Father, Grant us Christ’s thoughts. In Jesus’ name, Amen.