In Colossians 3:1 Paul tells us that Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.
In 3:1 Paul also says, “If therefore you were raised together with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is.” The word raised here refers to the raising aspect of baptism, which is altogether contrary to asceticism. We were raised together with Christ. We are now where Christ is, sitting in the heavens. Hence, we should not practice the things on earth that ascetics do. Rather, we should seek the things which are in the heavens, such as knowing Christ as everything to us so that we may take Him as life and thereby walk in Him.
We need to live by Christ in the heavens, not by the elements of the world. As those who have died with Christ from the things on the earth, especially to things related to asceticism, as those who have been baptized into His death (Rom. 6:3) and raised together with Christ, we should live in the heavens. The heavens are joined to the church; therefore, to live in the heavens is simply to live in the church, for the church and the heavens are one. This is the reason that there should not be any of the elements of the world in the church. Today, to be in the church is to be in the heavens, and to be in the heavens is to be in the church. In our Christian life the church and the heavens are one. As we participate in the church life, we have the sense that we are in the heavens. The church is in the heavens. Here, in this heavenly realm, we have no place for the elements of the world.
In Colossians 3:3 Paul goes on to say, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Because our life (not our natural life but our spiritual life, which is Christ) is hidden with Christ in God, who is in the heavens, we should no longer care for things on the earth. God in the heavens should be the sphere of our living. With Christ we should live in God. We should note that Paul does not say that our life is hidden with Christ in heaven. Rather, he tells us that our life is hidden in God, in the living, divine person. This indicates that God Himself is the realm, the sphere, in which we should live and walk.
Colossians 3:3 says that our life is hidden with Christ in God. To be with Christ in God means that we are one with Christ. In the words of 1 Corinthians 6:17, he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. We are with Christ in God because we and Christ are subjectively one.
Moreover, 1 Corinthians 12:12 tells us that Christ is the Body. Since we, the believers, are the Body of Christ, this reveals our oneness with Christ. We truly are with Christ. Where Christ is, there we are also. With Christ, our life is hidden in God.
In Colossians 3:1 and 3 we have a matter that deserves our attention. In verse 1 we are told that Christ is at the right hand of God, but according to verse 3, Christ is in God. Therefore, Christ is simultaneously at the right hand of God and also hidden within God.
First, Christ is in us, but eventually we are with Christ in God. Furthermore, according to 3:4, the Christ who dwells in us is our life. Inwardly, we have Christ as our life, and outwardly, we have God as our realm and sphere in which we live and walk. The Christ who dwells in us is life, but the God in whom we are hidden with Christ is the realm of our living. We should be able to testify that we are living not on earth nor even just in heaven but in God.
In ourselves it is not possible for us to be in God. We can be hidden in God only with Christ. On the one hand, Colossians 1:27 tells us that Christ is in us. This indicates that God has been wrought into us. Because Christ is in us, God has been wrought into us. But in 3:3 we are told that we are with Christ in God. This indicates that we have been brought into God. Therefore, God in Christ is now in us as our life, and we are in God as the realm of our living.
We should praise the Lord not only that the Triune God is in us but also that we are in the Triune God. Christ came by incarnation to bring God into us, and He went back to God by crucifixion and resurrection to bring us into God. Concerning this two-way traffic, we should see that Christ came both to work God into us and to bring us into God. Since we have been brought into God and are hidden with Christ in God, God should be the realm of our living. If we live and walk in God, we will be heavenly.
Our position is that we are in Christ. Because we are in Him, we are where He is—at the right hand of God (v. 1). In John 17:24 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Father,...I desire that they also may be with Me where I am.” To be where the Lord Jesus is, is not a matter of geography. The Lord is in the Father, and He prayed that the disciples, who were not yet in the Father, would be brought into Him. The Lord prayed, therefore, that they would be where He is.
It is crucial for us to realize that our position is not only in Christ but also in the Father. In the Gospel of John we are told clearly that the Son is in the Father (10:38; 14:10). This means that the Son’s position is in the Father. Since our position today is that we are in the Son, in Christ (1 Cor. 1:30), we also are in the Father (John 14:20; 1 Thes. 1:1; 2 Thes. 1:1). The Father, of course, is in heaven. Hence, our position also is that we are in heaven. What makes this fact that we are in Christ, in the Father, and in heaven real to us is that we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). It is when we are in the spirit that we are in Christ, in the Father, and in heaven practically and experientially.
We need to appreciate the word hidden in Colossians 3:3. Today our life is hidden with Christ in God, but one day Christ will appear, and we will be manifested with Him in glory. Although we will be manifested with Christ in the future, now is the time for us to be hidden and to suffer. For this reason, we should not advertise ourselves. The life of a Christian today should be a hidden life.
At present, even Christ is hidden. Consider how much He is criticized, opposed, and attacked. People rebel against Him to such an extent that it almost seems as if He does not exist. Although Christ is suffering from this attack and rebellion, He continues to be silent and hidden.
Our Christian life should be a hidden life, a life hidden with Christ in God. Our church life should also be hidden in God and in the heavens. The church life is a life hidden with Christ in God and in the heavens. As long as we are hidden, we are with Christ in God, in the heavens, and in the church, but when we advertise and promote ourselves, we are outside of Christ and are not with Him.
We need to realize that our life is hidden with Christ in God. This means that our sphere of living should be not the earth but God Himself. Whenever we are in the spirit, we are raised up and have the sense that we are in God, far above everything and everyone. At such a time, we are living in God. But when we are not in the spirit, we have the sense that we are still living on earth. God is high, far above everything and everyone, even far above the heavens. When we are in the spirit, we are living in God.
Our life is the Christ who dwells within us, and this life is hidden with Christ in God; the Christ hidden in God is typified by the manna hidden in the golden pot (Rev. 2:17). In Exodus 16:33 we see that an omerful of manna was placed in a pot and laid up before the Lord to be kept for future generations. Hebrews 9:4 speaks of “the golden pot that had the manna.” The manna concealed in the golden pot signifies that our life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). The Christ hidden in God is the manna hidden in the golden pot.
In the Bible gold signifies the divine nature. According to 2 Peter 1:4, we are partakers of this divine nature. Only the nature of God, the divine nature, can preserve Christ as our hidden manna. Within us we have a golden pot; that is, we have the divine nature. We cannot preserve Christ in our mind or emotion. We can preserve Him only in the divine nature, which we have within us through regeneration. Actually, the divine nature within us is God Himself. The manna in the golden pot indicates that the Christ whom we enjoy as our life supply is preserved in the divine nature, which is now in our inmost being, our spirit. Christ is our special portion of food hidden in the divine nature. When we touch the divine nature, the golden pot, we enjoy Christ as the manna hidden within it.
We need to discern between the natural life and the life that Christ has, the life hidden in God. First, Christ’s life is a crucified life (Gal. 2:20); second, it is a resurrected life (John 11:25); and third, it is a life hidden in God (Col. 3:3-4; Matt. 6:1-6, 16-18). These three characteristics distinguish the life that Christ has from our natural life.
The life hidden in God is a crucified life. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He always lived a crucified life. Although He was severely criticized and insulted, He did not weep for Himself. Instead, He extolled the Father, acknowledging the Father’s will (11:20-26). His life was a crucified life. If a person is truly one in life with Christ, his life will be a crucified life. The life that we have received of the Lord Jesus is not a raw, unprocessed life; it is a crucified life, a life that has been processed and thoroughly dealt with. If we truly know this life, when we are insulted, we will not say anything but instead thank the Lord and even praise Him in a genuine way. The life that we should live today should be such a crucified life.
The one life that we share with Christ is also a resurrected life. Nothing, including death, can suppress it. If we live a resurrected life, we will not be troubled should others criticize our work. If our natural life has not been dealt with, our service in the church will not last long. If we serve in the natural life, we will be easily offended and eventually will stop serving. But if our life in serving is a life that is crucified and resurrected, nothing will be able to defeat it.
Furthermore, the life that Christ has is a life hidden in God. Only the divine life can be hidden in God. The life that Christ has is not a showy life; it is a hidden life. If we serve by this life, we will not want to be seen by others. On the contrary, we will prefer to serve in secret. Our natural life is the opposite of this, for it is fond of making a show. Today’s religion appeals to this element in the natural life and nourishes the natural life, but in the church the natural life is put to death. Whatever we do in the church should be done by a life hidden in God. In Matthew 6 the Lord Jesus speaks of doing things in secret, not before men (vv. 1-6, 16-18). Even in presenting our offering to the Lord, we should be hidden. In all that we do we should live a hidden life, a life hidden with Christ in God.