Only in Christ can we find true and eternal glory. The treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him from eternity, but the riches in Christ were hidden to the prophets. They could clearly see in detail what pertained to Christ outwardly. They saw Judas betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Zech. 11:12-13. David also saw Judas. Ps. 41:9; 55:13. He saw that they pierced Jesus’ hands and feet, that they divided His garments among themselves, and that they cast lots for His clothing. Ps. 22:16-18. He saw that not one of His bones was broken (Ps. 34:20), and that they gave Him gall and vinegar to drink. Ps. 69:21. Isaiah saw that Jesus did not open His mouth in self-justification, that He was like a lamb led to the slaughter. Isa. 53:7. In fact, all of Chapter 53 is a clear vision of Jesus’ sufferings for us. Verse 9 says that He was buried in a rich man’s grave. See Matthew 27:57-60. In Isaiah 7:14 we read that He was born of a virgin. Abraham sat in his tent and looked for the city whose builder and maker was God. Heb. 11:10. Thousands of years ago the prophets saw the times we are living in, and beyond that. The Bible is truly to be believed! What the prophets could not look into and partake of is now open to us. The apostles were the first ones to have the wisdom and the glory that was in Christ revealed to them. This wisdom had been hidden for ages. Col. 1:26; Eph. 3:9; Rom. 16:25-26. The great mystery in Christ is the church of the living God—fellowship in the Spirit, the brotherhood. The prophets were chosen people from their mother’s womb; they were raised up at certain intervals to awaken Israel from their sins. However, fellowship in the Spirit in one body and brotherhood were foreign to them. Only in Christ, in His body, can we grow up into Him who is the head, Christ, “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Read Eph. 4:15-16. We cannot grow up as self-sufficient individuals—we can only grow if we are joined and knit together in an unfailing fellowship in the Spirit and in the brotherhood. Personal boasting and honor are excluded from this fellowship. Christ works everything in each person, and to Him belongs all the glory. The ministry of death and condemnation resulted in an external glory that vanished, but the far greater glory in Christ never vanishes. 2 Cor. 3:7-12. “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.” 2 Cor. 4:1. In order to bring forth this inner and abiding glory, Paul admonished and taught every man with all wisdom to present every man perfect in Christ. “To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.” Read Colossians 1:26-29. In Christ is true consolation, comfort of love, fellowship of the Spirit, compassion, mercy, and perfect joy. Phil. 2:1-2. Only in Christ do we have the possibility of growing up to the same life and the same virtues that were in Christ. Paul considered this matter of abiding in Christ so serious that he did not cease to exhort every one of them with tears for three years, both day and night. Acts 20:31. The law of sin and death rules over us, and we are under condemnation before we come into Christ. The wages of sin is death. In Christ we have entered into obedience to the laws of the Spirit of life. By these laws, which are stronger by far than the laws of sin and death, we are made happy and free, and we are not under condemnation. Our mind is set free to serve the law of God; life and glory await us for time and eternity. However, if we should serve the law of sin, we do not serve it with our enlightened mind, but it is a manifestation of the law of sin in our members, in which case we do not do it consciously. In Romans 7:17 Paul says, “It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” If Paul had either said or done any evil knowingly, then he would have done it, and he would have had to give account for it. As we continue to walk in an ever-increasing light, and as we become aware of things of which we had no knowledge before, the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from those things if we continue to grow in a deeper self-acknowledgment. 1 John 1:7. In Christ it is light, peaceful, safe, and good, whereas darkness, including religious darkness, continues to increase outside of Christ. People do not believe that Christ is that great example whom we can follow unselfishly and faithfully; they are driven about by the winds of time after the fashions and customs of this world. This is true concerning songs and music as well. One does not pay attention to God’s Word: “And do not be conformed to this world.” Rom. 12:2. “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Jas. 4:4. These are serious and clear words, and love for Christ will cause us to believe them as they are written. Jesus will come at midnight, and those who are in Him will shine out of deep darkness by revealing the life of Christ and His nature. They will go forth to meet Christ to be with Him at the wedding.Aksel J. Smith

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” Ch. 3:1. In this epistle we read how Paul explains the difference between works of the law and being led by the Spirit. He was amazed that they had so soon been led away from the light they had received through Christ Jesus being portrayed as crucified. What kind of light was that? It was this: That if one died for all, then we are all dead so that we should no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and rose again. 2 Cor. 5:15. “But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Gal. 6:14. Paul portrayed Jesus Christ as crucified in such a way that the Galatians saw themselves as being dead with Him. In our days there are many who travel around and portray Jesus as crucified—but not in the same way Paul did it. The religious masses have fallen prey to the same deception into which the Galatians had fallen. They know nothing of the death of Christ which enables them to live no longer for themselves. If they live for themselves they have to be “kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.” Ch. 3:6. That was the faith in being crucified with Christ. If we—without that faith—are not kept under guard by the law, sin will take over completely. All those who live for themselves need to be chastened by the law until they come to the faith that they are crucified with Christ. Only then can the Spirit begin to lead them, and only then are they no longer under the law. For all “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Ch. 5:24. “Against such there is no law.” V. 23. The religious masses argue about what is sin and what a Christian is permitted to do. This proves that they live for themselves and are under the law. Most of them are also enemies of the cross of Christ—the cross by which they were to be crucified to the world and the world to them. This is evident from their conduct—they desire earthly things. Phil. 3:18-19. All their worship of God, including Bible schools and mission work, is of no avail for as long as they live for themselves. All this is only their own righteousness, the righteousness that is from the law. Phil. 3:9-10. That is why they also have something to boast of. They compete with each other and strive against each other because they live for themselves in whatever they are doing. The Spirit cannot lead them; that is why they do not partake of sanctification and spiritual growth. Paul did not come to them to preach the gospel of God with excellence of speech, because “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 1 Cor. 2:1-5. He did not want to know anything about their boasting of different people, or that they preferred the one above the other. Ch. 3:4-7, 21; 4:5-8. All liberty, all freedom without being crucified with Christ is false liberty and deception. Jesus’ life can only be revealed in our body if Jesus’ death is working in our body. 2 Cor. 4:10-11. For the Word of the cross is the power of God to salvation for those who believe. 1 Cor. 1:18.Sigurd Bratlie