I was looking at a postcard-sized picture of Jesus with His arms wide open, beckoning to me (and anyone else!). I had been asking Him about the jailer in Acts – the promise that he and his household would be saved. At the time, my beloved husband was “pro-God” but lukewarm about Jesus and definitely anti-Bible. I was praying for his salvation and knew he had been set apart because the unbelieving husband is sanctified by his wife. Sanctified? Set apart?
I suddenly understood that, when we accept Christ, we are placed into settings as though we were diamonds put into golden settings. Like my engagement ring. And I understood that, whenever I worship Him with my whole heart, I become radiant. So do all the other gems that are set into His Body like precious gems. In this way, His Body is glorified in the throne room of heaven.
It’s literal! The Body of Christ is literal! Imagine Him, sitting at the right hand of the Father, literally encrusted with jewels. Those jewels are us. Saints. Individual believers. In addition, there are empty settings. These are the places reserved for those who are set apart, sanctified to become believers. Their settings await them in His Body.
Thus did the Lord provide me with guidance about the true Body of Christ and how His Body is glorified even now, by us who are IN CHRIST, who, in turn, is seated at the right hand of the Father in the throne room of heaven! Does anybody else find this absolutely mind-blowing?
This got me thinking about jewels. Some start out almost perfect, such as pearls. Others need a lot of work to be pretty, like garnets, or even jade.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the poster of Christ which is made up of the tiny faces of people, like a giant computer-generated collage?
I love this! And yes, I have seen that poster, and that's EXACTLY what I was talking about! Yay, Wildermom! I think He literally plucks us from this earth and places us into a "setting" with our name on it when we come to Him. Which means that, though we live here for a time in our earthsuits, we are also alive in Him who is seated at the right hand of the Father. I think the Holy Spirit connects us to Him there, as if by a long extension cord or amplification system. Picturing myself as ALREADY there has helped free me from many snares and entanglements that keep trying to lassoo me back into the swamp. I finally see what sowing and reaping is all about: investing my resources in the things that have lasting value, eternal value, not the dust and rust of this temporal, temporary life. It's a broken world through which He walks because He lives in us -- and we in HIm. When we let Him have His way in an through us, it's as though we turn "RADIANT" and thus He is glorified in heaven before the Father even now. I find this picture absolutely life-changing. I am His vessel here on earth and not my own, and I am in heaven, at least in part, even now. It's His work, not mine -- this takes ALL the pressure off!
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