THE BOOK OF HEBREWS begins with a comparison between the old covenant and the new, and progressively elevates that comparison throughout. Those comparisons reach their zenith in the author’s vision of the heavenly city. “You have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks.” (Heb. 12:22-25) God and Jesus dwell here, with countless angels in joyful assembly. Also present here are those made righteous by the blood of Jesus, those of the ‘church of the firstborn.’ Such are you and I; but what is that church in the here and now?
Every organization requires structure and leadership in order to be effective in its mission. Make no mistake, the church of Jesus Christ is an organization; foremost, however, it is an organism, a living body with a head, a torso, and all appendages (cf. Rom. 12:4-8, 1 Cor. 12:12-31). And, it is a body like no other. Jesus is the head of this body, and the Apostle Paul says of him, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ” (Col. 1:15-18) You and I, and all our brothers and sisters in Christ in the here and now, make up this current living body.
Jesus’ teachings that “you must be born again” (John 3:3), and that “whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35), is further explained by Paul in the concept of men dying to sin in order to live a new life, and then to live eternally freed: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ” (Gal. 2:20; cf. Rom. 6:2-11, Eph. 2:1-5)
As we overcome the trials of life lived in linear time, we appropriate and make our own these fundamental teachings. These are the birth truths of our faith. We are truly being transformed (cf. Rom. 12:1-2) and as this takes place, we are being shaped for our heavenly home: “As you come to him, the living Stone, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.” (1 Pet. 2:4-10)
The forgiven of this world are in the process of becoming the dead to the old self, and are the fledgling saints of this world led by Spirit into new life. We are and will be the living members of the church of the firstborn from the dead. We are now already (cf. Eph. 2:6) and ever will be those in joyful assembly, praising the name at which “every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:10-11)
We are not under the Covenant of Law, but of Mercy and Grace, and need not fear the God of wrath. Instead, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.” (Heb. 12:28-29)
Q. Am I living my old life repaired, or my new life in Christ?
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