Stuck in the Middle with Who?

So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you will be revealed with Him in glory. -- Colossian 3:1-4

I’ve been stuck on Colossians 3 for weeks it seems. As Romans 4:25 says, Jesus was delivered up – that is, crucified, for my trespasses, but He was raised from the dead for my justification. Not just me, of course, but I do need to make it personal. As far as God is concerned, the death of Jesus on the cross is the death of all old Adam’s race. It is the end of the line, the omega point for the old man. In Adam all died, so in Christ all are made alive, we are told.

Paul’s declaration sounds conditional, but it is really a statement that follows from a premise, “so if”, not just “if” – it means that I am raised with Christ. That being the case, I am called to seek what is above – in the vertical dimension. In that vertical realm it does not matter about my condition or situation in the horizontal for “above” I am in Christ at the position of authority. In Christ I am God’s right hand man. I am thus called to pay less attention to the earthly dimension and move my mind’s focus to the heavenly.

"When the Messiah is revealed" is not talking about the Second Coming primarily, or possibly at all. It is Christ being revealed to me right here.

This is why I think I’ve been stuck, because, again, it is about revelation. I think the Holy Spirit is building a hunger in me to see Jesus, as I have been talking about the last few days. My real life is now Christ’s life; my reality is now the vertical, the hidden, the unseen as opposed to what is visible in Flatland. The Lord is creating a desire for revelation that I have been avoiding.

Now who, in his right mind (not saying I am), who would refuse to accept the offer to see the Messiah? Actually, it’s not just me. It happened all the time in the Old Testament as individuals chosen by God to do His work had visitations of the “Angel of the Lord”; they all expected to die. In fact, they all did, though not physically as they expected. They died to their old nature – sometimes forever, other times only temporarily. The Angel of the Presence, whether physically visible or seen in the logos, is the Angel of Death to Adam’s children.

All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance. “You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses, “”but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.” -- Exodus 20:18,19

I’ve been satisfied with the indirect approach, to being obedient without seeing Jesus, frankly because it requires not just occasional, temporary sanctification – enough to get me through a church service, or sufficient for filling in for the pastor on Wednesday night – but death, permanent unmitigated death to the flatlander within me.

In a little while the world will see Me no longer, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live, too. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, you are in Me, and I am in you. The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. Ad the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I also will love him and will reveal Myself to him. -- John 14:19-21