Looking for a City
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians :1-3
I don’t know about you, but this old sin-filled world has become less and less desirable to me. There is not very much that the world can offer that gives peace, comfort, and joy. The only things that I can think of that offer a measure of happiness besides my relationship with Christ are family, friends, and time spent with them. But even that has its ups and downs. Loved ones pass away, move away, or just go their separate ways. Nothing in this life is certain except, as they say, death and taxes.
Note that Paul wrote, “If ye then be risen with Christ” which indicates that his words are directed to those who are born again and not to the unsaved. Note also that he wrote “risen with Christ”. How can we be risen if we are still living on this planet? When Christ died on the cross, those of us who have repented and believed on Him also died to sin, that is, our sins were nailed to the cross because Jesus took those sins upon Himself. We died with Him symbolically because we became part of Him when we were saved. Now we share in His resurrected life and have risen with Him symbolically into this new life. This is shown in baptism. The climax of our salvation experience will occur when our lives on this earth are ended, our souls will go to live with Jesus, and He will return to reunite our souls with our resurrected bodies.
I have thought about this a great deal. In my mind, I picture the rapture as Jesus appearing in the sky and bringing with him the souls of all those believers who have passed away. Then I picture the cemetery where loved ones are buried. I don’t know whether the graves will open or whether the new bodies will just arise out of the undisturbed ground. Either way, I can see all of the redeemed, those who have died and those still living, gathered together and rising up to meet Jesus in the air. It seems plausible to me that all the unsaved will be oblivious to this event, except they will notice that folks they knew have disappeared. How the government will explain this to those left behind is a mystery to me. Whatever the details are, Jesus will come for His church in the manner prescribed by His Father.
Paul also wrote to seek those things which are in heaven where Jesus is sitting beside His Father on His throne. What are these things? I know that it is not houses, cars, money, or any of that worldly stuff, you know the things that people spend their entire lives accumulating. Everything that we need in heaven will be furnished for us. I think that these things that Paul said that we should seek are likely the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. It is these things that come from above through our relationship with Christ. Also, just thinking about what it will be like in heaven with Jesus and seeing loved ones again, knowing that there will be no more pain, suffering, or evil, is a great stress reliever. Most of the things of earth are directly opposed to the things of heaven. Pride, selfishness, arrogance, hate, envy, strife, fame, prestige, and money are the fruits of the flesh. These are the things that we are to forego as a child of the King. Who can be happy living for self and spending a lifetime seeking what pleases the flesh?
The best part of these verses, in my opinion, is the fact that our lives are hidden with Christ in God. We are still walking around on planet earth. People see us, that is, they see our bodies, but they cannot see our souls. They can discern what sort of a spirit we have by our words and deeds and can see whether we live what we say we believe. But no one knows us like Jesus does. He has captured our souls and sealed our spirits with that Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13b). We belong to Him. He is our security. No one can snatch us out of His hand. Our relationship with Christ is the most important thing in our lives, and that is worth far more than anything the world has to offer.