All posts tagged Colossians

Verses in this epistle used in these posts.

A New Beginning in Resurrection

In Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, 9, Luke 24:1, and John 20:1, the phrase “the first day of the week” is coupled to the Lord’s resurrection.

New JerusalemThe first day of the week, or the day after the Sabbath, signifies a new beginning, a new age. In Lev. 23:10-11, 15, a sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest was offered to the Lord as a wave offering on the day after the Sabbath. That sheaf of the firstfruits was a type of Christ as the firstfruits in resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20, 23)…By His all-inclusive death He terminated the old creation…In His resurrection He germinated the new creation with the divine life.*

The new beginning points to New Jerusalem, a city of resurrection. Everything about this city is in resurrection; it has no part in the old creation and there is nothing old in it.

Thank the Lord for this new beginning which He accomplished for us! It was on the evening of that same day, “the first day of the week”, that He came to His disciples (John 20:19), showed them His physical body, and “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). This completed His promise to them in John 14:17.

The Spirit breathed into the disciples is the Spirit as life for our regeneration (John 3:6), renewing (Titus 3:5), and more. This is inward, whereas the Spirit as power coming as a wind in Acts 2 is outward, upon the disciples. It is the Spirit as life for our eternal newness that is pictured by the river of life flowing from the throne in New Jerusalem.

* Part of footnote 1 on John 20:1 in the Recovery Version Bible published and © by Living Stream Ministry. A New Testament of this Bible, with 9000 footnotes, is a available in multiple languages for free from Bibles for America, Bibles for Canada, Bibles for Europe.

Bible verses quoted in these posts are from The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. The text of this Bible is at text.recoveryversion.bible; this too is © by LSM.

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by Don on May 1, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 1, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/05/01/a-new-beginning-in-resurrection/

Christ Jesus our Hope, our Coming Glory

The previous two posts focus on Colossians 1:27, Christ in us the hope of glory. This is the hope of our Lord’s glorious, public appearing (Titus 2:13) to reign over the earth, and our being brought into His glory (Heb. 2:10) and this glory being revealed in us (2 Thes. 1:10).

New JerusalemFirst Timothy 1:1 declares, “Christ Jesus our hope.” He is both the source of this hope and guarantee that this hope will be fulfilled. We do not yet see the glory but we hope for it “with endurance” (Rom. 8:24-25). We also “boast because of the hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2).

We do not hope with our own effort nor try to convince ourselves that the hoped for glory will really happen. Rather, this hope is Christ and He is within us. This is “the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7; 1:2). This is “a living hope” unto which we have been regenerated through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:3).

We can thank and praise our Lord for this hope of glory. It is good for at least some of our praising to be aloud, not merely in our thinking. The more we do this, the more we turn from our doubts unto Him as the reality of our hope. Christ in us, the hope of glory!

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by Don on April 17, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on April 17, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/04/17/christ-jesus-our-hope-our-coming-glory/

Christ in Us, Our Hope of Glory

Colossians 1:27 declares that Christ in us is our hope of glory. God desires to be glorified/ expressed in Christ through all of His people and He certainly will accomplish this. Ultimately New Jerusalem is this accomplishment.

This hope of glory is of Him, not of us. It is not an uncertain hope arising from our desire. It is not like a hope to get a promotion at work or to earn an A in a class. Those hopes depend on human effort and a positive response from another person.

New JerusalemThe hope of glory is not like that. This hope originates with Christ and He is the certainty of its fulfillment.

This hope is “in you.” Whether you feel it at any one time or not, it is present! Verse 1:27 also says “God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery.” Christ in us is a mystery, yet God wants to make this mystery, and the riches of this mystery, fully known to us.

Christ, not we, is the assurance that we will be in glory in Him as New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven “having the glory of God” (Rev. 21:2, 11). Our part is to cooperate. We can pray, O God, make the riches of Your glory known in me and in all the Christians around me.

Our Hope and the Coming Glory       Our Hope and the Coming Glory (2)

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by Don on April 15, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on April 15, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/04/15/christ-in-us-our-hope-of-glory-2/

Christ is our Hope of Glory

New JerusalemFor His people, Colossians 1:27 tells us “God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The ultimate glory in the universe is God in Christ radiating through the holy city New Jerusalem, which is composed with God and all His people. The city comes down out of heaven “having the glory of God” (Rev. 21:10-11).

On the way to New Jerusalem the manifestation of glory develops in several steps. It was first seen by three disciples during the brief transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain (Matt. 17:1-2). This glory is now being worked into us in our transformation by the Spirit “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).

The glory will appear to all men when Christ Jesus returns to earth visibly. The Lord spoke about this in Luke 9:26 and Matthew 25:31. At that time we will be brought into His glory as mentioned in Hebrews 2:10—God is “leading many sons into glory.”

We will not only go into glory, but the Lord’s glory will shine out through us “when He [the Lord] comes to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at in all those who have believed” (2 Thes. 1:10). This will be the initial expression of the corporate glory of New Jerusalem. Christ is our hope for this!

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by Don on April 12, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on April 12, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/04/12/christ-is-our-hope-of-glory/

Christ Replaces Old Testament Shadows

New JerusalemThe prior post presents verses about Christ as the NT reality replacing all the OT symbols. John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life.” He is not merely the “truth,” as the correct fact, but He is the realness of every positive thing in the Bible.

Colossians 2:16-17 tells us that OT feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths “are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ.” Christ is the reality, “the body” which casts the shadows.

Examples of shadows of Jesus Christ as the reality:
• John 6:31-51, Jesus as the bread of life is the reality of the manna that Israel ate.
• Romans 5:14, Adam is “a type of Him [Christ] who was to come.”
• 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, “our Passover, Christ” replaced the OT passover.
• 1 Corinthians 10:4 proclaims Christ as the spiritual Rock, the reality of that rock which followed Israel in the wilderness and supplied them with water.
• Hebrews 7 describes Christ as the eternal High Priest, replacing all the OT high priests.
• Hebrews 11:19 says that the offering of Isaac was a picture of resurrection.

God’s New Testament way is that we hold Christ as everything. He is “our way, our reality, and our life.” Let us “lay hold on the eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:12) which is our Lord Himself.

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by Don on March 8, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on March 8, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/03/08/christ-replaces-old-testament-shadows/

Jesus Christ, the New Testament Reality

The Old Testament uses physical objects to portray spiritual matters. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the reality and He replaces all the physical symbols, both now and in eternity.

One example is John the Baptist’s word in John 1:29. In the OT physical animals were presented on the altar as sacrifices and offerings. But when John saw Jesus, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus replaced all the OT animals.

New JerusalemIn the OT, God’s house was a physical tabernacle and then a physical temple. Jesus replaced them with Himself as the dwelling place of God. John 1:14 says literally that the Word tabernacled* among us. Then in John 2:19-22 He presented Himself as the replacement for the physical temple.

All the NT believers together are the universal church, the Body of Christ, and the one new man. Ephesians 1:22-23 proclaims that the church is His Body. First Corinthians 12:12 shows that Christ is not only the Head of the Body but also the reality of the whole Body.

According to Colossians 3:10 we have put on the new man. And in verse 3:11 in this one new man “Christ is all and in all.” He is all, everything, and He is in us all. This is the reality today and will continue into New Jerusalem.

* “Tabernacled” is the literal translation, although most English versions use the word “dwelt.” See the sections Literal Translation and NT Translations on https://biblehub.com/parallel/john/1-14.htm.

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by Don on March 6, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on March 6, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/03/06/jesus-christ-the-new-testament-reality/

New Jerusalem Comes Forth from the Maturity of God’s Life in His People

New Jerusalem is heavenly but eventually it will come out of heaven and be on earth. Because New Jerusalem is heavenly, we should not try to understand it with earthly concepts based on our outward environment.

New JerusalemColossians 3:2 instructs us, “Set your mind on the things which are above, not on the things which are on the earth.” To set our mind on the things above includes to set our mind on God’s word. Many portions of His word give us a preview of New Jerusalem.

One preview is the Body of Christ, a living organism brought forth in resurrection. The Body of Christ is portrayed in figure by our human body which is wholly constituted by life and grows by a supply of life. Today “we who are many are one Body in Christ” (Rom. 12:5).

New Jerusalem is the consummation of the Body of Christ. It is a living city composed of God in Christ who has lived and grown to fullness in all the believers and continues to live in them eternally. View New Jerusalem as the full-grown realization of the Body of Christ, not as a physical, material city.

Bible verses quoted in these posts are from The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. The text of this Bible is at text.recoveryversion.bible; this too is © by LSM.

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by Don on February 2, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on February 2, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/02/02/new-jerusalem-comes-forth-from-the-maturity-of-gods-life-in-his-people/

New Jerusalem is Built by the Growth of Christ in Us

New Jerusalem

Colossians 2:19 – “holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.”

The “growth of God” is the spread and development of Himself as the eternal life in us. This growth builds the Body of Christ.

God will not regress from this living organism in this age to a physical city in the future. No. The living Body of Christ will expand to become the living New Jerusalem!

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by Don on January 26, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 26, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/01/26/new-jerusalem-is-built-by-the-growth-of-christ-in-us/

Oneness with God for His Manifestation

New JerusalemIn John 14 the Lord Jesus spoke about leaving the disciples in death and returning to them in resurrection. In 14:20 He said, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” That day is the day of resurrection when He returned to the disciples and breathed the Holy Spirit into them (John 20:22).

The day of His resurrection began the mutual indwelling of the Triune God and His people. Because resurrection is eternal, this indwelling is eternal and is characteristic of New Jerusalem.

We are one with God, being mingled with Him….First Corinthians 6:17 tells us that “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” The New Testament also tells us that God dwells in us and that we are dwelling in God (1 John 4:15). The fact that we are in God and God is in us is coinherence. …When eternity comes, we will not be an entity separate from God, but we will be one with God, thus one entity. This one divine entity is the New Jerusalem.*

Colossians 3:4 is a promise, “When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.” He will first be manifested to all humanity when He returns visibly to earth “with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27). We, being one with Him in life, will also be manifested. This manifestation will reach its peak as New Jerusalem.

* From chapter 42, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986

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by Don on October 4, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on October 4, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/10/04/oneness-with-god-for-his-manifestation-42-1-4/

The Trinity Prepares us for New Jerusalem

New JerusalemIn the New Jerusalem there are three materials for its existence: gold signifies God the Father in His divine nature, pearls signify the produce of Christ through His death and in His resurrection, and precious stones signify the produce of the Spirit’s transforming work. According to Ephesians 4:4-6, we see the Spirit, the Lord, and God the Father for the existence of the Body of Christ today.…In Ephesians 4 the existence of the New Jerusalem has been applied to us already and is still being applied to us. Day by day we who are in the church, in the Body, are enjoying this application of the existence of the New Jerusalem.*

Colossians 2:9-10 and 18-19a warn us not to be distracted from Christ Himself who is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead and is the One who fills us (and who is realized by us as the Spirit – 2 Cor. 3:17). A rich supply flows out from Christ the Head of the Body.

As we hold Him as our Head, by the rich supply coming to us the whole Body “grows with the growth of God” (Col. 2:19). The human body is a picture of Christ’s Body. A baby needs a rich supply of milk and gradually of other foods and over many years grows to be an adult.

The growth of the Body of Christ is the bringing forth of New Jerusalem. The rich supply will go on forever in the eternal city and we, without the hindrances of the old creation, will enjoy it much more than we do today.

* From chapter 41, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986

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by Don on September 8, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on September 8, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/09/08/the-trinity-prepares-us-for-new-jerusalem/

The Body of Christ Now, New Jerusalem Soon

First Corinthians 12:13 tells us that “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free.” Whatever our nationality or status was, the Spirit has put us all into one Body. Hence Romans 12:4-5 says “For just as in one [physical] body we have many members…so we who are many are one Body in Christ.” This is a big step unto New Jerusalem.

New JerusalemSince the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the entire divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures, its existence can be applied to us by going back to look at the church. In Ephesians 4:4 is the Body. The Body is the church, and the church is a miniature of the New Jerusalem. We can also say that the Body of Christ is a precursor of the New Jerusalem….The New Jerusalem will be a full consummation of this precursor, the Body of Christ.
We are not in the New Jerusalem yet, but we are surely in the Body. What is applied to the Body today will consummate in the New Jerusalem.*

The Body is also the new man created by Christ on the cross, bringing into one all His believers (Eph. 2:15). In this new man, as in the Body, and as in New Jerusalem, “Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11).

Verses 3:12-14 exhort us to put on many virtues; these virtues are the Christ we experience, the Christ who lives through us to be all in the new man now and all in New Jerusalem for eternity.

* From chapter 41, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986

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by Don on September 6, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on September 6, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/09/06/the-body-of-christ-now-new-jerusalem-soon/

Enter into Christ, into the Holy of Holies, into New Jerusalem

Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God. Colossians 2:9 tells us, “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” As the embodiment of God He is also God’s real tabernacle as we read in John 1:1 and 1:14.

New JerusalemChrist is a tabernacle for people to enter into. When we believed in Him, we entered into Him. John 3:36 says, “He who believes into the Son has eternal life.” The same Greek preposition for into is used in Romans 6:3, which tells us that we have been baptized into Christ Jesus. Just to say that you were baptized in Christ is not adequate. You were once outside of Christ, but when you were baptized into the water, that signified that you were baptized into Christ.*

The Old Testament priests entered the holy place of the tabernacle. In the New Testament we all are priests (Rev. 1:6, 5:10) and we have entered. In the OT only the high priest could enter the holy of holies and only once per year. But in the NT Christ, through His death, has removed the barrier.

Now we have “boldness for entering the holy of holies in the blood of Jesus” (Heb. 10:19-22). Therefore “Let us come forward” (v. 22) into the present reality of New Jerusalem (the eternal holy of holies) and let us remain here!

* From chapter 39, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on July 12, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on July 12, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/07/12/enter-into-christ-into-the-holy-of-holies-into-new-jerusalem/

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