I am the vine and you are the branches. If you remain "in" me and I "in" you, you will bear much fruit, apart from ME you can do nothing...John 15:5
One of the great mysteries of the KINGDOM. I am "in" JESUS...and JESUS is "in" me...all at the same time. HOW does that even work?
The mysteries of GOD are wonderful to explore, as long as we keep in mind that for now we see dimly as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face.
I once read a wonderful illustration of the mystery of the "in"...in my paraphrase let's imagine a wine bottle with a cork top. Take that bottle and walk to the shore of the vast ocean, uncork the top, empty its contents. Pour it out as an offering over the sand. Then sink the bottle deep down into the waters. Allow the container to be completely consumed and covered. When the bottle is full of that ocean water, pull it up and replace the cork. The container is now sealed. The ocean water remains "in" the bottle.
Now stand and gaze out at that ocean. It's full, it's limitless, it's endless. With all your strength heave that sealed, water filled bottle far out into the sea. The bottle is now "in" the ocean.
The wine bottle floats filled with ocean water "in" the ocean itself.
Pretty nifty, huh? Maybe that sheds some light on how we can be seated with CHRIST JESUS in heavenly places...AND....walking out our salvation on this earth all at once.
Since CHRIST has risen and is seated in heavenly places at the right hand of the FATHER...there I can be found, "in" CHRIST.
And since I am still walking this earth and living this life...there CHRIST JESUS is found, "in" me.
Amazing, wonderful, beautiful, fascinating mystery of the KINGDOM...how the two have become one.
One of the great mysteries of the KINGDOM. I am "in" JESUS...and JESUS is "in" me...all at the same time. HOW does that even work?
The mysteries of GOD are wonderful to explore, as long as we keep in mind that for now we see dimly as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face.
I once read a wonderful illustration of the mystery of the "in"...in my paraphrase let's imagine a wine bottle with a cork top. Take that bottle and walk to the shore of the vast ocean, uncork the top, empty its contents. Pour it out as an offering over the sand. Then sink the bottle deep down into the waters. Allow the container to be completely consumed and covered. When the bottle is full of that ocean water, pull it up and replace the cork. The container is now sealed. The ocean water remains "in" the bottle.
Now stand and gaze out at that ocean. It's full, it's limitless, it's endless. With all your strength heave that sealed, water filled bottle far out into the sea. The bottle is now "in" the ocean.
The wine bottle floats filled with ocean water "in" the ocean itself.
Pretty nifty, huh? Maybe that sheds some light on how we can be seated with CHRIST JESUS in heavenly places...AND....walking out our salvation on this earth all at once.
Since CHRIST has risen and is seated in heavenly places at the right hand of the FATHER...there I can be found, "in" CHRIST.
And since I am still walking this earth and living this life...there CHRIST JESUS is found, "in" me.
Amazing, wonderful, beautiful, fascinating mystery of the KINGDOM...how the two have become one.