The Resource (Col. 3:1c)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/11/2017 8:49 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus: The Resource

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 3:1c

            Message of the verse:  “where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”

            In our last three SD’s on Colossians we have looked at the “reminder” the “responsibility” and now we will look at the “Resource.”  As we look at the end of verse three we can surely tell that the resource is Jesus Christ, the One in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  When we read that Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God we are looking at His exalted position.  Let us look at Psalm 110:1 “The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.’”  This verse is repeated in the book of Hebrews where we learn about Jesus Christ’s ministry as our High Priest.  Now we have talked about this before how in eternity past God promised to His Son, the second person of the Godhead a kingdom, and also a bride.  We spoke of how this would come about when we were studying the book of Revelation 21:2.  I will quote from my Spiritual Diary that goes over this verse: 

“Now as I was listening to the sermon from John MacArthur on this section I was very interested in how this next phrase has great meaning:  “made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.”  What we are seeing in this phrase is how marriage was done in the OT times and so I think it best to let MacArthur explain this.  “The city is pictured as a bride because it contains the bride and takes on her character.  The imagery is drawn from a Jewish wedding, which typically had three parts.  First was the betrothal, which was like a modern engagement, but more legally binding.  The betrothal of the Lord’s bride took place in eternity past when God pledged to His Son a redeemed people.  The next stage was the presentation, a time of celebration and feasting leading up to the actual wedding ceremony.  The presentation of the bride took place following the Rapture of the church, when believers are taken to heaven.  The third stage was the ceremony, which for the Lord’s bride began at the marriage supper of the Lamb (19:7-9) and stretched through the millennial kingdom.  The final stage was the consummation, which corresponds to the eternal state.  John saw the bride adorned for her husband because it was time for the consummation.  Adorned is from the verb kosmos (‘to order,’ or ‘to arrange’); the related noun kosmos (translated ‘adornment’ in 1 Peter. 3:3) is the root of the English word ‘cosmetics.’  The bride has become appropriately ordered in all her beauty.  By this point in Revelation, the bride concept expands to include not only the church (as it has since Acts 2), but also all the rest of the redeemed from all the ages who live forever in the eternal city.  This is the moment described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:28: ‘When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.”

            This helps us know what the plans were that God had for His Son, and all believers who have ever believed in Him will be with Him forever, but at the moment Jesus Christ is in heaven ministering for us as our Great High Priest interceding for us at the right hand of God. 

            When Jesus was on trial He told His accusers “from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God” (Luke 22:69).  I did a word search of the entire NT looking for “at the right hand” and twenty different verses came up as we see either “sitting at the right hand of God,” or “standing at the right hand of God.”  These of course all speak of Jesus Christ in His exalted position.

            John MacArthur concludes this section in his commentary by writing “Because of Christ’s coronation and exaltation to the Father’s right hand, He is the foundation of blessing for His people.  Jesus told the disciples, ‘Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it’ (John 14:13-14; cf. 15:16; 16:23-24, 26).  Believers can be assured that what they seek is there, ‘for as many as may be the promises of God in Him they are yes’ (2 Cor. 1:20).”

4/11/2017 9:16 PM