“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10
In the Apostle Peter’s second epistle, in speaking of God’s power which has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness (1:3), he goes on to add: “…whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:4) What is Peter saying here? First of all, he brings us to the reality that the believer has been blessed, as Paul put it, “…with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3) Paul goes on to write to the Colossian believers; “…And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.” (2:10) Not only is the believer, by virtue of his union with Christ, blessed with all that is in Christ, but that in every way he is complete in Christ, nothing lacking. In other words, the believer, in a very true and eternal sense, cannot be more complete than he is in this very moment, for he has all in Christ. Christ has become his Life, Light, and Love…and so much more. The problem is not with this blessed full salvation in Christ, but in the appropriation of it, the partaking of it, the living it by “…the faith of the Son of God.” (Gal. 2:20) How can this become a reality to us? What are God’s ways to learn and abide by so that the truth of what Christ is and desires to be in and through us, will truly be such “on earth as it is in heaven?”
The beginning of God’s ways begins with Himself, with Christ, and the revelation of WHO He is and what He has done. Throughout Scripture, we not only see Him as the Beginning and the Ending, the Alpha and the Omega, the Creator and Redeemer, but also as that One who has come to us in utter, and total humility, to reveal Himself, seeking to win our hearts. As the hymn writer wrote so well long ago: “For grace alone can reach me and love alone can win.” The first thing is to see, and grasp, in the measure that is possible, that Christ is God, the Son of God, and the very One who is seeking the lost soul to save, and the believer’s devotion. All power and authority belongs to Him. It is necessary to see Him in this way, for one must believe Him for the power to live, the power to believe Him for His highest for His glory. So, there He is, seated at the Father’s right hand, in some cases standing, and yet, certainly seeking to meet the needs of every lost soul, and every believer, who will respond to the overtures of His call.
The second thing to grasp is the means by which we take that which has been declared as the truth, and appropriate Christ according to it. What does this mean? When Israel was in the wilderness, the Lord provided manna from heaven, and water from the rock. These were to be partaken of by faith and obedience, not just seen. The spiritual, heart-felt position of faith is just as real as the gripping of a sword for battle. If one is to “receive,” and benefit from this union with Christ, it must be by faith, and this according to the “exceeding and great promises” of God. God the Father in Christ, by the Spirit, has provided a very tangible means to truly know Him. It is by His faithfulness, expressed by His promises. However, the knowledge of the promises remain academic, until by faith, specifically and wholly in Christ according to those promises, we receive that which is promised. The fruit of such faith may be immediate. God always responds to deliberate, decisive faith.
Dear Father, Strengthen us to receive. In Jesus’ name, Amen.