“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
We focused on the first half of this grand verse in our last discussion. Now we want to unlock truth so high, it causes us to prostrate ourselves humbly before our sovereign Lord. Spending personal time is key to really grasping grace that satisfies our soul in Christ. I wonder why this verse isn’t more recognized and memorized?
“After making purification for sins…” The word sins brings man into the equation of God’s glory. The first half of the verse declares God’s glory and the second half exposes created man’s participation in God’s glory. But notice, God’s glory in the first half explodes in the second half because purification of man’s sins is completed. Its a simple statement, surely there is nothing explosive here, is there?
Think of it on two levels. Finite created existence is exposed to an eternal life on the divine level far above man’s created state. Man disrupts this relationship by violating God’s trust and heeding words of a created serpent, Satan in a snake! This affair disconnects totally the relationship God intends for mankind whom He loves and created.
Secondly, God reaches down out of His glory, into creation, participating in finite existence, so that creatures may participate in God’s eternal divine state of absolutes becoming holy and pure. This can be compared to exploding a nuclear device but pales in comparison to the astounding miracle God performs by lifting polluted humanity out from judgment into the beauty of eternal existence, into divine fellowship, into direct access to the right hand of the Majesty on High.
“After making purification for sins…” “So much more grace” is crammed into these four words! We could easily spend a whole GraceNotes just unpacking it!
Jesus has reconciled all things in heaven and earth, including fallen man, to Himself and the Father. This completed reconciliation reclaims the glory Jesus emptied from Himself by coming to earth. It pierces created humanity exponentially glorifying God with new glory in the process. Jesus not only is in heaven as the Son of God but as the Son of Man. It is an explosion of glory with eternal effect shaking heaven itself! Have you ever considered the “eternal weight of glory?” It is grace bringing humanity into God’s attendance!
God’s glory is our realm of Spiritual breathing. God’s grace upon grace is operating within us; we are created new and holy in Christ Jesus. This is the meaning of sanctification, it is a glorification of man as well as God! This is the task Jesus accomplished by humbling Himself, coming into created life, becoming the Son of Man, accepting our death so that He can pour resurrection life into us by our faith in him. It increases the glory of Jesus!
We are speaking, of course, of believers who have received God’s new created life in Jesus. But those of us in this position, “children of God,” need to understand who we now are in Christ Jesus. We need to understand what it means to us as we remain in flesh. Living His life in our flesh is a calling. Our time on earth is an exercise of glorifying Him because of who He has created us to be in Him. We are called to make visible Jesus’ life created within us. We are to be whom He created us to be! His resurrection power is in us so others can see Christ Jesus.
Our pulpits stress our position in Christ, our imputed righteousness, neglecting to a fault our unity and created oneness in Christ Jesus. They stress assigning to us Christ’s imputed righteousness but neglect our participation by faith of walking and being in His divine life, created literally in us. We are partakers of His divine nature. This is the whole point of John’s gospel and the theme of our discussion, “Life in Jesus’ Name,” John 20:31. This is what it means to be “in Christ” Jesus.
“After making purification” … Jesus actually left His glory in heaven to fill a human container of flesh, entering into the physical demands of a created existence so that He could lift human life out of its frailty, offering a higher choice to lost humanity. This is the highest demonstration of love, offering grace to make us righteous, redeeming us and sharing His life, …“after making purification for sin.”
The purification task is completed! The reconciliation of God to man is restored through Jesus. This is why Jesus is given the seat of authority on the right hand of the Majesty on High. Jesus has brought to the Father the humanity of man. Nail prints are in Jesus’ hands sitting at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is God – Man!
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus completed his earthly task of redemption. Using His own body to satisfy the Old Testament sacrifice for sins, He Himself became humanities’ eternal offering on the cross. His personal sacrifice qualifies Him only to resume the glory and authority of the Majesty on High while beginning work as man’s High Priest. He is now actively bringing together in one Body all those who accept His eternal sacrifice, reconciling all who by faith come to Himself in the Father. Accepting Jesus as savior is just the first in a series of faith steps taking mankind deeper into the Eternal Life of our living, loving Lord.
The right hand of the Father is God’s seal of approval. Jesus is there carrying out the work of building His Body, His Church with resurrection power. This is the reign of grace. God Himself is now reconciled to mankind but now humanity must make individual choices accepting what Jesus has done. This reign of grace enables individual persons to reconcile themself personally to God. Man must choose to accept what God has done!
The new birth creation occurs within our own soul, His spirit being joined to our spirit. It is a mystery. A Spiritual union literally takes place effecting a new creation in Christ Jesus within our own soul/sprit. But while this is true, growth must invade our Spiritual understanding to reconcile human biases into the absolutes of God’s holiness of righteous love. This means our completed salvation requires a process in time. We are, so to speak, being born again.
When we say we are being born again and also that we are born again, it sounds contradictory. Either we are born again or we are not, right? Well, yes and no. I’m not so sure time wasn’t created just to handle this apparent paradox. We have to be careful here and spend a drill down moment to look into the Greek.
The Greek language is time sensitive but the emphasis is not on time as it is in English. The verb action being used is of primary importance in Greek. Time is a medium accommodating change. In time, one thing can be changed into another. In eternity a thing is or it is not! In eternity we know as we are known. The Greek language focuses on this distinction. If a thing is completed and whole it is placed in the Greek aorist tense but if it is in process, not completed, it is in the Greek present, past or future tense. There are combinations and variations on this but we are not here to learn Greek but rather to understand a meaning conveyed in Greek obscured by languages like English. So lets just focus on this one thing to illustrate how this difference is scripturally conveyed regarding our salvation.
Let’s turn to 1Corinthians 1:30 where we read: And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and justification.
In the first half of this verse we “are” continuously, perpetually in Christ Jesus as believers. The verb to be, in the first half, is a present indicative verb used to describe our continuous state “in Christ,” i.e., because of him you are in Christ Jesus.
In the second half of the verse, Jesus “became” to us, wisdom, righteousness, etc. “Became,” however, is in the aorist tense. In other words, these properties of salvation are already completed and in our possession because we are created one in Christ as His children. These attributes of salvation, i.e., wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and justification are finished components of a salvation we already possess. We own them all because we are forever continuously one in Christ Jesus.
The temptation is to interpret this from out of our temporal self, applying “natural” understanding of mind and will. But we are now Spiritual, in Christ, and have to grasp by faith who we now are in Christ. We must act out of this heavenly, eternal reality and not out of our natural, corrupt self. This passage unequivocally lays out for us an eternal relationship in Christ completed because He is seated on the right hand of the Father, working now in us, work already completed in His flesh on our behalf. It may seem reasonable to apply the process principle of time against work being done in us, in fact scripture does this very thing, but at the same time we are exhorted to act out the completed work of salvation already ours since we are united in Christ Jesus forever. The temptation is to say they are imputed, and this is true but it doesn’t include the rest of the story. There is more!
This takes us back to the early days of GraceNotes which was started as an extension of a Sunday Class Helen and I were teaching at First Baptist in Mesa, AZ. The primary first principles we were dealing with were: (1) Knowing who we are in Christ, (2) Accepting who we are in Christ and (3) Being who we are in Christ. What we are talking about here and now is this first fundamental principle of Who we really are when we are created new, becoming one with God’s Spirit in Christ, “because of Him, you are in Christ Jesus,” eternally!
When we grasp this reality, it totally changes our perspective and behavior. Instead of being harnessed by fear and doubts of fleshly restraint, we can actually accept in our head and heart that God is, in fact, doing the work and we labor in the joy of knowing our work is not in vain when it is the resurrection power of our Lord Jesus doing work in and thru us. We actually participate by God’s grace through faith, “because of Him, you are in Christ Jesus.”
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
“He made purification for sins,” includes both “because of Him” and “ you are in Christ Jesus.” “He made purification for sins” expresses us, in Christ, as an eternal on going reality in the present indicative tense as well as a completed aorist event. “He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” where He has the power and authority to deliver our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and justification because it is already packaged completely for our personal use once we grasp grace putting it in its intended place, i.e., 3. Being who we are in Christ!
Two things are happening simultaneously. We are born again in the aorist tense and we are being born again in the present tense. Turn with me to Romans 1:16,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jews first and also to the Greeks.
Here again we need to refer to the Greek. The phrase “for it is the power of God for salvation” reads in the Greek, “for it is the dunamis power of God “into” salvation.”
The Greek uses ειs, not “for salvation” but “into salvation.” So what is the difference? That’s what the translators say, “for salvation” reads easier than into salvation and “into salvation” creates theological problems. But “into” is the word God chose to use and it has a purpose relating to the “process of salvation.”
Once we are saved, eternally, God’s power begins a work in us creating our knowing of God’s “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and justification” as God is able to pour “into” our soul the reality of who we really are. When we know the issues of righteousness, sanctification and justification in our own hearts and minds, then, … then is when we can begin making decisions to be who we already are in Christ. The Holy Spirit teaches us these things so that we can make holy choices that are pure and righteous because we are becoming who Christ has made us to be. These are things we have been made into (aorist) but by experience (present tense) we acquire knowledge and using our will to choose, we can put to death the things of the flesh, sharing in His sufferings, growing into the person He has made us to be.
(1) Knowing who we are in Christ.
(2) Accepting who we are in Christ.
(3) Being who we are in Christ.
What we are talking about is this fundamental principle of WHO WE REALLY ARE when we are created new becoming one with God’s Spirit in Christ. We have to accept who it is God tells us we are, based upon God’s holy word. When this becomes our prevailing behavior, we can act in faith and experience the joy of living in Christ Jesus.
This is what is implied by Jesus setting at the right hand of the Father. This is the work He is now doing in us once we have become One with Him by a new birth creation. This is contained in the work of grace and why grace is so much more than the law of Moses. This is what is described in Romans 5 through Romans 8. Unfortunately, many people get hung up in Romans 7 thinking Paul is struggling with self when he is merely describing self under law without Christ. There is, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death. If the Spirit of God dwells in us, we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. We have been justified by faith and we now have access into this grace in which we now stand.
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.