CHRIST IN YOU
Text: Colossians 1:26, 27, 29; Nehemiah 1:3, 4 (26) Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
(27) To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
(29) Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Nehemiah 1:3-4 (3) And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
[4] And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
Recently I have been doing a study on deliverance from temptation, sin, and addictions in the Word of God. My study led me to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah shows us Jerusalem-in-ruins, as a picture of a life that has lost its defenses against attack and lies open to repeated hurt and misery. The book of Nehemiah depicts the way of recovery from being broken, and in ruins, to a condition of peace, security, restored order, and usefulness. Many of us know someone or have heard about someone who has been broken and their life left in ruins by sin and addiction.
The Old Testament book of Nehemiah, along with Ezra and Esther, covers the period after the Babylonian captivity when Israel had returned to Jerusalem and had begun again the worship of Jehovah in the restored temple. Ezra, the priest, led an early return to Israel and restored worship in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah is the historic account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, which took place in the fifth century before Christ. However, Nehemiah did more than rebuild a wall. This book is also the story of restoring a people from ruin and despair to a new walk with God. Jerusalem is not only a historic city that for centuries has been the center of the life of the nation of Israel, it is also a symbolic city. Jerusalem is also used in a pictorial sense throughout the scriptures. Jerusalem pictures the place where God desires to dwell.
When God first designated to King David that Jerusalem was the place where He wanted him to build the temple, he was told that this was the place where God would dwell among His people. However, it is only a picture–it is not the actual place where God dwells. We see in the New Testament, people are to be the dwelling place of God. Hallelujah! The Lord seeks to dwell in us, as Temples of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s letter to the Colossians is, Christ IN YOU, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). This is God’s provision and desire for us. My Christian friend, Oh that we would allow God to make known the mystery of all the ages through US! The only HOPE for mankind is that Christ IN YOU is made manifest to everyone around you. As Nehemiah wept over Jerusalem, may the Holy Spirit burden us to reach those whose lives have been left in ruins.
Bro. Lawrence Longworth Isaiah 61:1 “the opening of the prison to them that are bound;”
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