“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.” Romans 8:29
Dear Ones:
The English missionary to Africa, Charles Studd, once wrote that his desire was to see Jesus Christ walking around in African bodies. Was it not the same in the Apostle Paul’s day, but with regard to all men? The great purpose of God in redemption is more than our small thoughts of being “saved” by Christ. Though personal salvation is essential, there being the escaping of all that sin, self, and Satan, could do to keep us captive unto death, there is another aspect of salvation that is essential to grasp. In the first chapter of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes: “…being predestinated according to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel of His will: that we should be to the praise of His glory.” (1:11,12) The believer is saved not just FROM something, but saved UNTO something greater, certainly beyond what we could ask for or conceive. We find this greater something in the word “glory,” a word representing the revelation, and manifestation, of the attributes of God, His nature and character. When Moses asked to see the glory of God, God made all of his “goodness” pass before Moses. When the Lord Jesus told Martha, “…if you believe, you will see the glory of God,” He would reveal to her, and all concerned, the mercy and power of God to raise someone from the dead. There was the revelation of His person. Beyond all that we see of the glory of God in His creation, He reveals the greatest manifestation of His glory, in His person, His holy and unique nature, IN the the Lord Jesus Christ. How then does this matter apply to us, whose feet are of clay, living in a sinful world, with sinful natures?
The day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God was “poured out” upon all flesh, was a monumental day in the realization of the eternal purpose of
God. Christ, while on earth, had revealed, and unveiled to mankind, the glory of God. On the day of Pentecost, Christ in His glory came indwell the heart and soul of the believer. The great mystery, hidden from the ages beforehand, was now revealed to all mankind. Paul would write: “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27) It is in the revelation of Christ in the life of the believer, by the Spirit, that the great manifestation of the glory of God is now revealed. This is seen by the hearing of God’s own words pronounced on the mount of transfiguration: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him.” (Matt. 17:6) There is nothing, and no one, more precious to the Father in this universe, than the beloved Son of God. It stands to reason that our greatest blessing, and the highest purpose of God in His dealings with us, is that we know Christ, and that He be formed in us. It is as He “dwells in the heart by faith,” filling us with His life, character, and nature, by the Spirit, that we are transformed into His image. What then is our part, that God will accomplish this most fully?
The first thing is to see and grasp is that we are greatly beloved. As such, we are complete in Christ, justified before God by the blood of Christ. The true vision our relationship with God, and Christ in us by the Spirit, is where we see Him as the great, and supreme worth of mankind, and ourselves made worthy of His grace by faith in answer to the cry of our hearts. Secondly, we must see and grasp that our calling is to the person of Christ, and Him alone. Thirdly, we are to trustingly believe God for strength to live in the reality of what He has done in Christ.
Dear Father, grant that Thy Son may freely dwell in us, filling us with Himself. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad