The Daily Word of Righteousness

Participation in the Parousia, #8

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

We shall be revealed with Him.

He will be revealed in us:

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (II Thessalonians 1:10)

The "with" aspect of the parousia is important. Today Christ is in us through the Spirit. In the day of His manifestation He will be not only in us but also with us.

Christ also is "with" us now in the Spirit (Matthew 28:20). In the parousia, Christ will be with us in His glorified body, and we in ours. We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. This is a high state of glory indeed and we are to press forward to it.

The Lord Jesus Christ will be revealed together with a company of brothers who are in His image, who are glorified as He is glorified, who are filled with His glory, and whom the Father loves as He loves His Son Jesus. They are the sons of God, and God's grace has made them like His only begotten Son.

... Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, (Jude 1:14)

The "in" aspect of the parousia also is important because it is the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in the saints.

The God of Heaven never will give His glory to another. All things belong to Him. In giving rulership over all the works of His hands to the Lord Jesus, the Father actually is keeping the rulership in His own hands, because God lives in Jesus to the extent that They (the Father and the Son) are One.

The same union is to be true of us. The Father and Christ desire to enter us until we (the Father, the Son, and we) are sharing one common Life. The nations of the earth will understand, in that day, that God indeed is dwelling is us.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57)

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)

Therefore the Kingdom of God always is the rule of God Himself, even though His rule is exercised through Christ through the saints.

The glory always belongs to God Himself. In the parousia the Glory of God will be revealed with us and in us. We ourselves shall understand that it is God—never we—who is All in all.

To be continued.