Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The phrase, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” is so familiar to most Christians that we forget what an incredible thing it is. Thinking about it, I realize that quantum physics is expressed in the Bible! Few academic pursuits are as mysterious as quantum physics, with multiple dimensions and all sorts of things our minds have trouble wrapping themselves around. It’s no wonder that Paul would call it a mystery! This is expressed throughout the Upper Room Discourse, recorded in John 13-17, where Jesus talks about our being in Him and His Word being in us and all sorts of things we ultimately have to accept by faith. Three dimensions plus time doesn’t begin to explain it all! The thing is, when we experience it, it becomes a solid assurance that is as real as anything we can see and feel physically. That is a miracle indeed, and one for which we should be supremely grateful. The idea that the infinite Creator of the universe, in the Person of His Son who became a human being, by the agency of His Holy Spirit, could be in us, as small and insignificant and weak as we are, is on the face of it incredible, so Paul called it a mystery. When we forget how miraculous it actually is, we lose a great deal, I think. We need to realize that what God has done for us is logically impossible, and so trust that indeed, nothing is impossible for God. (Mark 10:27) The better we realize that, the more peace and joy we will have.

As I have written before, my father wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Greek uses of “in Christ” and cognate expressions in the New Testament. However, as he told me many years later, he had no idea what it was all about until he had a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit, after he was a single missionary in Japan. He couldn’t understand it until he experienced it! I’ve got to remember that our being in Christ and Christ being in us, though totally and joyfully familiar to me, is totally mysterious and strange to the vast majority of the people I encounter every day. I must not let that puff me up, but rather ask and allow the Holy Spirit to use me to communicate the grace and love of the Father to those people, so that they too may repent and receive the gift of faith for their salvation. It’s not at all that we are to abandon logic and reason, but rather that God’s reality is greater that logic and reason can explain. It’s only in Christ that we can have it all! I need to operate in all that God has made possible, to a greater and greater degree, so that His will may be done in and through me for His glory.

Father, thank You for this clear Word. May I indeed understand that it is a mystery I proclaim to people, and not presume understanding when there is no basis for it. May I speak Your truth in gentleness and love, under the guidance and anointing of Your Spirit, so that all of Your purposes may be accomplished by Your Word through me, for Your glory. (Isaiah 55:11) Thank You. Hallelujah!