"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." Colossians 3:3-4
We have been given new life in Christ and through Christ. Our old self died and our new life is hidden with Christ in God. I understand the new life versus old life analogy in this passage but the idea of being hidden in Christ was peculiar to me until I thought of Moses in Exodus chapter 33.
"Then Moses said, 'Now show me your glory.'
And the LORD said, 'I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,' He said, 'you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.'
Then the LORD said, 'There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen." Exodus 33:18-22
Moses wanted to see the glory of God, but God knew that Moses, a sinner, could not stand face to face with Him and live. The sinfulness of Moses was in danger of being consumed by God's awesome perfection; Moses would die if He saw God the Father face to face. So, God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock.
We are in the same predicament. We want to see God's glory, but we have sin still in us. While I am a new creation I am not yet perfected; I will be perfected but I am not yet.
This is why we are hidden in Jesus. We don't just need to be saved from the fires of Hell, we need to be shielded from the awesome, burning perfection of God. We are hidden with Christ. Jesus gives us access to the Father without being consumed. While on this earth we desperately need this.
But notice what comes next, "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."
When Christ appears or when we die our sanctification will be made complete. We will be perfect. And at that moment we will be with Jesus in glory, in the direct, face-to-face glory of God the Father. We won't need to be hidden in the cleft of the rock because we will not have an ounce of sin in us because Christ will finish the job as He promised to do.
"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden." Genesis 3:8
Presumably before the Fall Adam and Eve walked with God and saw Him face-to-face in the Garden of Eden. The verse above was directly after the Fall. See, Adam and Eve were fully aware that their sin made God dangerous to them, so they hid from Him. Sin keeps God from us and keeps us from God. When men and women return to our original, sinless design we will no longer need to be hidden from God, we will see Him face-to-face.
I am hidden in Jesus, the cleft of the rock, and allowed to enter the presence of the Almighty God and one day when my sanctification and glorification is complete, I will see the three-in-one God face-to-face. I will one day and for eternity after that be able to look on the face of my God. Until then I thank God that He has hidden me in Christ.
Thank God that your life is hidden with Christ in God today.
Hey Matt, I stumbled upon your reflection when looking when doing a google search on this passage from st. Gregory N. "What is this that has happened to me, O friends, and initiates, and fellow-lovers of the truth? I was running to lay hold on God, and thus I went up into the Mount, and drew aside the curtain of the Cloud, and entered away from matter and material things, and as far as I could I withdrew within myself. And then when I looked up, I scarce saw the back parts of God; Exodus 33:23 although I was sheltered by the Rock, the Word that was made flesh for us. And when I looked a little closer, I saw, not the First and unmingled Nature, known to Itself — to the Trinity, I mean; not That which abides within the first veil, and is hidden by the Cherubim; but only that Nature, which at last even reaches to us. And that is, as far as I can learn, the Majesty, or as holy David calls it, the Glory which is manifested among the creatures, which It has produced and governs. For these are the Back Parts of God, which He leaves behind Him, as tokens of Himself like the shadows and reflection of the sun in the water, which show the sun to our weak eyes, because we cannot look at the sun himself, for by his unmixed light he is too strong for our power of perception" (Gregory of Nazianzen 2 Theological Oration)
ReplyDeleteI felt it connects well with the point you are making, (by the way, very well done), and thought I would share it with you. Hope your race for the last four years has been strong and sure. God's peace brother!
Jason, thank you. St. Gregory said it much better than I. Thank you for the encouragement.
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