263. Life Hid with Christ
Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
The promise of a life hidden with Christ must be believed because we can’t see it; of course, we can’t see that life: it is hidden. We must be told that there is such a thing as a life with Christ in God, and so we have this promise that this is true: We have a life that is hidden from the world of earth-dwellers. Christ is God and God is by definition spiritual and invisible to physical eyes: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” And so we do, by faith.
We must also be told that we are dead, because we do not want to see this truth and it does not appear to be true. Adam probably didn’t believe it either, that the moment he disobeyed God he surely died. We sin daily and that causes death, but we don’t see the consequences right away. We think we got away with it because we are still living; life seems to go on the way it always has. Sure, people die around us, and that stinks, but it hasn’t happened to us yet. And although we see death around us and we feel it in our bodies when we are sick or injured we don’t really see it and we refuse to see the link between sin and death, the cause and effect relationship. Therefore, the Word must tell us that we are dead, and that we are dead because of our own sin and guilt.
Than we hear the Gospel and we are told that we are alive with Christ in God, and although we do not see life with Christ in God we believe it. When we examine our life honestly in the light of God’s Word we see Sin and Death in us, and we also see Righteousness and Life in Christ. In Christ I am alive; in myself I am dead. This radical and eternal truth is believed through the preaching of Christ Crucified, through the preaching of Law and Gospel. For this reason we have the Word of God: to show us what we cannot see.
This invisible truth of life is unveiled to the eyes of faith in the Word of God. The final and definite Word of God is Jesus Christ in human flesh. The Word is visible and became flesh. Some have seen Him and touched Him and witnessed it for us to believe and witness, too. And then God is gracious to also give us visible elements like water and bread and wine so we can see life hidden with Christ in God. Now we ask the Lord to open our eyes so we can believe and proclaim: “I am dead and my life is hidden with Christ in God.”