"When He said it is Finished, He was also saying it has Started..."

COLOSSIANS 3:3

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life

appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

We have bought into lies when the truth is that Our lives are hidden in Christ in God.

Paul specifically shares with us the source of our identity which is in Christ alone. Please understand that, when it comes to our identity in Christ, it is a progressive transformation.

2 Corinthians 3 shows us that when Paul say, “as we behold as in a mirror we are constantly changed.” Yes, you still here and there see some faults and flaws within yourself, don’t think that disqualifies you from being in Christ identity. You identity is not an achievement you work for, it’s a position you find yourself in Christ.

HEBREWS 4

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we

are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may

receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need”.

Understanding that God knows within men’s own capacity he has no capability of dealing

with his fallen state, therefore he made provision for men’s complete redemption from that which makes his fall and stumble (sin) and that provision was Christ Jesus, the one made to

be our High priest.

HEBREWS 5

So since we have a high priest namely Jesus He is appointed to act on behalf of men. (On behalf of) in the interest of, representative of, In relation to God.

This scripture stood out for me when I broke it down in this manner:

Relation //

1. the way in which two or more people or things are connected; a thing’s effect on or relevance to

another

2. a person who is connected by blood or marriage; a relative

As high priest Jesus needed to be everything like us so that his sacrifice could attorn for that which we couldn’t. But at the same time it meant if he was everything like us when he paid the price for sin then we could become everything like him when we receive the sacrifice which is his blood. So He was crucified as me so that I can be born again as him and that is how our Image is now hidden in Christ because God no longer see us as us but rather as Christ and that applies to anything else in

the realm of the Spirit. When we appear we do not appear as us but as Christ.

ROMANS 3:20

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory.”

Because of the sin, the possibility of carrying the express image of God was aborted and from that moment on man was in a fallen state even though God had intended for men to eat of the tree of life (Jesus / the Word) they chose otherwise and fell short of the glory, not that they lost the glory because Adam was not created with glory, but that they fell short meaning they could not reach out to it and eat of the tree of life and be changed because the lord put a guard to the way to the tree of life. Therefore all that where born after Adam where born as sinners even though they did not sin

according to the similitude of Adam. But the good news is Romans shares with us that by one man’s disobedience sin many were made sinners, but by one man’s obedience many were made righteous.

(Romans 5:19)

COLOSSIANS 1:24

“Christ in you the hope of glory”.

Allow me to establish what I am referring to when we mention Glory in the context of this sermon. My understanding of Glory is the Image of God that man now has the privilege and grace to bear. This understanding is derived from what the writer of Hebrews said.

HEBREWS 1:3

“Spoken through his son who is the brightness of his image and the express image {He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high}.”

Other translation go to the extent of saying he is the Sole image, which implies that Jesus was the only one that possessed all the RIGHTS to be the IMAGE of God, anyone before Jesus did not have the RIGHT because the could only be transferred through RELATION, which we explained early that it is any connection by blood or by marriage. The word marriage means ONE, in John 17 Jesus prayed to his father that let them be ONE as we are ONE, in other words Jesus was praying that we might be in the same RELATION, how did he accomplish this by dying on the cross and shedding His blood.

So our only HOPE of GLORY then becomes Jesus, and how or what did he do to get us into this GLORY (Image)?

He had to shed his blood on the cross and die the death of a sinner, taking our fallen image so we can take upon his Glorified image.

“When he said it is Finished , he was also saying it has Started”

Most of us know the famous easter phrase, then Jesus said “It is finished” , but honestly how

many of us truly understand what that meant? While in my study I came across something that

actually made me understand Grace and the power of the gospel and the paid price with a new light.

This all stemmed from the fact that , as Jesus hang on the cross, there are certain things that

happened that for me summarized his whole ministry and purpose and allow me to share as it was revealed to me.

The TWO thieves Next to Him:

These Two represent everyone in the world, sinners being judged for a crime or sin they have committed. So in actual fact they deserve what has befallen them. However the attitude of these two thieves towards Jesus is very different and this influences and determines the outcome of the end of their lives.

The one mocked Jesus, in other words did not believe he was who he said he was, as a result

the ravens came plucked out his eyes and he died blind and unsaved. The other thief on the

other hand believe in Jesus and even asked to be remembered , and Jesus assured him that in

that very day he would be in Paradise with him. Simply by accepting Jesus as who he said he

was, a sinner who had lived his whole life without God received mercy and grace and was saved that very instant and didn’t need to live right to prove his salvation but instead his Identity was changed because of his acceptance of Jesus as lord so he now bore the image of the son and had a place in paradise.

Jesus Thirsts:

Through out the scriptures we read how Jesus is the fountain of life, the living water. Isaiah even

writes of him saying, “Come to me all those who thirst”. In John 4 we see Jesus conversation

with the woman at the well when he reveals hat if the woman knew the Gift of God she would

have asked him of water and he would have given her water that she would never “thirst again”, because with that water a fountain or spring of water from the inside would have been formed and the woman could drink at will from her own well. The same he says in John 7 when he told his disciples that out of their inner most being (belly) shall come rivers of living water.

Now being aware that Jesus is the source of water, how then is it possible that the source can say, while hanging on the cross “I Thirst”. What had caused him to thirst? According to my understanding, at that time Jesus had POURED himself completely out, everything that had sustained and carried him as God in the flesh he had poured out at that moment, and he had nothing left in Him.

An interesting thing about this incident is that instead of the people giving him water, they gave Him Vinegar.

What is Vinegar?

On the surface it looks like water, but once consumed it is nothing like water instead it is the direct opposite. It is bitter and it does not quench ones thirst, and that is what Jesus had to drink for our sake. Everything in our lives we could have hold dear thinking it is our water of

life but turned out to be Vinegar.

The relationship we though would quench our thirst of love and acceptance but turned out to be hurtful and toxic. The Car we thought would buy us status and quench our insecurities but ended up lending us in debt, and what we thought would be a sweet experience now brought a bitter taste. This can apply to our careers, ministries, finances or even dreams, everything we could have hold dear outside of Jesus that turned out to be Vinegar, I have good news, Jesus drunk that cup so you wouldn’t have to drink it. He poured all of him into YOU, so that he could drink all of YOUR bitterness, hurt , disappointment, loss etc.

So while you can now drink of the water of Life he drunk of the Vinegar (bitterness of life).

To prove that, after he had drunk the Vinegar he cried out IT IS FINISHED (John 19:16-30), after

drinking all the bitterness taking upon the image of fallen man the bible says he then gave the ghost. That was the end of the image of the earth earthy, when the soldiers came to check if he was still alive they pieced his side, and out of it came out WATER mixed with BLOOD giving

room for us to now receive the life giving Spirit.

Now if you connect this whole scene to what was written by Moses in Numbers, who we understand was a prophet and a foreshadow of Jesus, then the pouring out will now even make

greater sense and carry much weight every time you take the communion.

Number 15 & 28 talks about the pouring out of wine.

“In the Holy Place you shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the LORD.”

“This drink offering signified Victory and settlement in the land.”

In closing, Jesus came to make the Settlement, balance we owed to sin, he paid it. After that

he blessed us with the Victory that now enable us to be partakers of his image and for the first

time we have a place to hid and be protected from the things that brings us down.

When Jeremiah wrote, “ I know the plans I have for you, plans for an expected end.” That expected Hope, is the one that Colossians 3 , “Christ in us, the Hope of Glory”. I hope this encourages you to know that there is HOPE, you can live in the identity and image of God. This HOPE is ONLY FOUND in Jesus Christ, when you allow yourself to be Hidden in Christ then You will never be seen, but instead Only Jesus will been seen through your life.

#StayHidden, thank you for reading this but if you want to learn more on this subject please check our YouTube for the Just Jesus series. Thank you and God bless.