Back when God was calling Abraham and telling him that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed, there was a mystery abiding in the heart of God. Back when God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and made him the father of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, there was a mystery abiding in the heart of God. Back when God brought His chosen people out of Egypt by the hand of Moses and gave them the law and took them to the Promised Land, there was a mystery abiding in the heart of God.
Paul now reveals in Colossians 2:25-27 what that mystery was. “God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret [kept hidden for centuries and generations past): Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory [the hope of glory].” [NLT]
In Christ, that mystery was manifested for all to know. Not just Jews, but Gentiles also, in fact all who come to God by faith in Christ, share in the promises of eternal life—Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Read the phrase again, “Christ in you.” Now read it this way, “Christ in me.” The mystery is not just for groups of people; it is for individuals. Christ abides in people now by faith. Christ lives in you and in me now by faith. That is our life, our present life.
But there is more. There is the “hope of glory,” the promise of a future manifested life in His presence forever. I would be less than honest if I told you that I lived in this “hope of glory” all the time. Sometimes when I’m struggling with temptation and sin, when the disappointments and sorrows of this life outnumber the triumphs and joys, I forget. I take my eyes off God and see only earthbound circumstances. Yet, even more real than what I see around me or in me daily, is what I cannot see … those things that are mine in God. The greatest of which is “Christ in [me], the hope of glory.”