“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Col. 3:4)
These words penned by Paul, sound very much like they could have been written by John. In John’s first Epistle he writes, “For the life was manifested, and we have seen it…and shew unto you that eternal life. which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.” And again, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (I John 1:2; 3:2) How close John clings to Jesus! So does Paul!
Christ is our life! “Christ, who is our life.” This, He is in every sense of the word. He is the source of our life. “Awake…arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (Eph. 5:14) Christ is also the substance of our life - His life is our life: “Alive in Him our living Head.” He is the Vine; we are the branches; severance from Christ would be severance from life. Christ is the substance of our life, for we feed on Him, the living Bread of Heaven. Christ is the solace of our life.
“Midst darkest shades, if He appear
My dawning is begun;
He is my soul’s bright morning star,
And He my rising sun.”
Christ is the pattern of our life. “O, to be like Him!” This is the longing of every believing soul.
Christ is our life now and forever. This is our dignity. He is “Honor,” and through union with Him we are honorable in the eyes of God. (I Pet. 2:7; Psa. 45:9ff) Our oneness with Christ is the basis of holiness; and also the basis of our security. Hymn writer, Wade Robinson said it well in one of my favorite lines,
“Heaven and earth may fade and flee,
Firstborn light in gloom decline;
But while God and I shall be,
I am His and He is mine.”
Christ is our life. Our life is therefore hidden. “…your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Vs. 3) As Paul writes, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:19) As Christ is not yet manifested, so our life is hidden. Our life is hidden from the unbelieving world. Rather than admiring our life, they treat believers as they treated Christ. “He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”
“Tis no surprising thing
That we should be unknown;
The Jewish world knew not this King;
God’s everlasting Son.”
When Christ appears, we shall appear also, and Christ will appear! “When Christ…shall appear.” To “appear” means to be revealed as He is in His glory. He did not so appear in His first advent, but rather in His humiliation. Christ will appear personally, bodily, visibly, and “every eye shall see Him.” When Christ appears, we shall appear also. “Then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” We have life now, for Christ is our life, but we do not have life in the form we then shall have it. He will be glorified in His saints. Paul writes in II Thessalonians 1:10 about this glorious appearing, “When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe…”
The believer in his present state has been likened to a lion in a cage; to an eagle fettered, to an acorn ungrown; to a butterfly in the chrysalis. Should it not be so? Christ has not yet appeared. But one grand day Christ shall appear, and our life shall break forth in great glory, the same glory as shall be seen in Christ, Who is our life. “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
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