With One Another – Forever!!! (4)

 

 

Just before graduating from seminary, I spoke at a breakfast meeting on the North Shore of Boston, it was as close to pure joy as I have known, for during the morning I saw friends meeting friends. There were two groups of our friends at the breakfast – friends from seminary and friends from the North Shore community, and these two groups of friends were meeting each other for the first time. I don’t recall my message that morning, but I recall the joy of witnessing the koinonia of the saints, of seeing some of my favorite people get to know one another.

 

O dear friends, if we take joy in seeing community and fellowship among those we love, how much more does our Father take joy in seeing His sons and daughters discover and delight in one another? After all, as we have seen, our Father is bringing many sons and daughters to glory through Jesus Christ (Heb. 2:10), so that our dear Lord Jesus might be “the Firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).

 

Can there be any doubt that our eternal future includes a never – ending discovery of the glory of God within our brethren, the seed of Abraham? Consider that Abraham’s seed is as the stars of the heavens (Gen. 15:5; 22:17; 26:4), and that our Father calls all of the stars by name (Ps. 147:4) – how many names shall we discover in eternity that display the glory of God in Jesus Christ? O what a many – faceted family we have, O what a glorious Body is the Body of Christ, a Body raised from the dead, raised from the grave to the heavens.

 

Psalm 139 portrays God’s intimate formation of each one of us, He formed us in the womb, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” we were “skillfully wrought” by God – O the glory of discovery that awaits us in Jesus Christ – the discovery of the beauty of Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).

 

But as much as we look forward to being with one another in Christ, in beholding Him in one another, there is One who has an even greater yearning for that Day, and that is our dear Lord Jesus, “…who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).

 

For you and I are the joy set before Him, He saw us as the fruit of the Cross and the Resurrection, and because He saw us He endured the cross, despising its shame – for He was bringing us back to His Father and our Father, His God and our God (John 20:17). Jesus was the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying, so that a glorious resurrection harvest might come forth from the earth to the glory of God the Father (John. 12:24).

 

Now consider what Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 2:19 – 20: “For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.”

 

Paul has entered into the heart of Jesus Christ, and Christ in others have become the “joy set before him,” as Paul looks forward to that Day when we know as we are known. While Paul most certainly desires to be in the fulness of the Presence of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:21 – 24), this desire encompasses being in Christ’s Presence with others – the two cannot be separated…after all, we are members of one another (Eph. 4:25; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12).

 

To be continued…