Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Romans 8:19-21. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Galatians 2:20 expresses one of the deep heart cries of the apostle Paul, which many who love the Lord Jesus hold as especially dear to them. It describes a state that many desire to be their own experience. However, the importance of pressing on to attain to this degree of surrendered faith can easily be a goal in itself that doesn’t take into account its vital significance toward the achievement of the eternal plan and purpose of God. ‘For we are God’s fellow workers’. 1 Corinthians 3:9.
“I have been crucified with Christ….” At the moment that Jesus cried out “It is finished” and “Father into your hands I commit my spirit” all sins, all sinners and indeed all the works of the devil were forever dealt with. Henceforth, newness was made certain. ‘The old things passed away; behold, new things have come’. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Nevertheless, evidence of the old will linger on in the presence of the new until the dawn of eternity, when the new Jerusalem will be displayed as the centerpiece of new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell forever.
“….and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;” This is perhaps the prime example of the new coming into evidence to replace the old which still lingers on. Christ was victorious on the cross on our behalf, but now each one is called upon to surrender moment by moment to His victorious life living within. The self-life that each one of us was born with must bow to the lordship and sovereignty of God if it is to be a fact that ‘it is no longer I who live’. To the extent that Christ is leading, directing and empowering a believer, to that extent, and to that extent only, is His will being done in that life and transformation of that individual into His likeness is being manifested.
“….but [in] that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the [faith] of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me.” Darby Version. James Nelson Darby translated this correctly as ‘I live by faith, the[faith] of the Son of God’. Surely, if we assent to Christ living and operating in us then we shall live moment by moment by His faith, not ours; the faith of the Son of God. If we rely upon ourselves, as did those first disciples of Jesus to whom He said on more than one occasion, ‘you men of little faith’, then our faith will never be found sufficient to perform the works of God.
However, if we will live day by day recognizing that it is only in Christ that we ‘can do all things’ then surely He will bring us from babyhood, through childhood to be sons of God. It is God’s intention that all whom He has redeemed bear the image of Jesus as their constant testimony. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
During the thousand year reign of Jesus on the earth with His co-regents, His overcoming ones, whom He has qualified to be His sons, ‘the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’. Isaiah 11:6-9.
Jesus said “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.” Luke 10:21. The smallest and simplest tools in the hands of the Master will prove in the end to be all He needed to achieve the great eternal purpose of God. It is not our seeming limitations or apparent insignificance, but whether ‘it is no longer I who live, but Christ….’
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