FREEDOM IN CHRIST (4)
Through Christ, we are free in regard to the future. We will one day be entirely free from the presence of sin. This speaks of “glorification.” When Jesus comes again, we will be totally changed into his likeness. What God has had in mind all along is to make us totally like Christ, because Christ is the image of God (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:15), and that’s what God wants us to be.
He is right now working to make us like Jesus spiritually, but when he comes again, the flesh will be completely taken away and we will reflect the image of Jesus completely. “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it hath not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
Christians live in a state of redemption. We live in a position of redemption. Even now, as we exist in this earthly domain, if we will but accept the reality of our status as it pertains to God, then we will see and understand the dynamics of a new dimension of which we have been made partakers. Christ is everything, and in him, we enjoy every aspect of God’s wonderous work.
Partakers of Christ. Do you, my friend, understand what that means? Are you aware of what God has done in Christ? Do you see that in Christ, everything is right? And if you are a partaker of Christ, and have been included in Christ, and are a joint-heir with Christ, then all is right with you as well?
You can walk in a spiritual reality right now that is separate and apart from anything and everything that is not of God. There is rest now—rest for the people of God—and it comes through Christ. We have not yet begun to understand all of the work of Christ on our behalf. If we did embrace it more fully, we would know that there is nothing that we need outside of Christ.
Freedom in Christ means that we are free from sin and the control of other people because we are citizens of heaven now. We live the resurrection and ascension life of Christ now. We may rest in the fact that we have all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ—and we have this now. This is the perspective from which the Christian is to live for and work for the Lord.
While it is true that sometimes the Bible uses the words glorification, sanctification, and justification synonymously, they are also used to convey three very distinct aspects of freedom in Christ and the salvation process. Freedom from the past, sin’s penalty. Freedom in the present, from sin’s power. Freedom in the future, from sin’s presence.
Dewayne Dunaway
