What does it mean that Christ in us is the hope of glory?

Christ is said to be in us here, not dwelling in our hearts by faith, but actually the hope of glory. The hope of glory is contrasted with the Jews having Christ to reign over them in Palestine, bringing in manifested glory. The Apostle speaks of saints as now down here, but Christ in them the hope of the glory they will have with Him by-and-by above. It is Christ's life in us in its full risen character of display. The epistle to the Colossians never rises above it.

We will now consider the riches which result from the glory of this mystery. This would seem to be altogether beyond us had not God graciously made it known; as we read—“The riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Here then we are distinctly told what these vast riches are—Christ in us the hope of glory!—Christ, in whom, we are told in verse 19, “all the fullness of the Godhead” dwells:in us, not now apart from those who form His body, but livingly in them;—the hope of glory. The glory is always in view in the truth of the mystery, which is according to God’s purpose of love before time began, which was revealed in time after the Head of the assembly was glorified, and which after time ceases shall be for eternal blessing universally and glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus.

Nothing could show more strikingly the importance of the truth of "the mystery," and its apprehension by the saints, than the language of the apostle at the commencement of Colossians 2. In the previous chapter he tells us, that he had been made a minister of the body of Christ, "which is the Church"; that while the mystery had "been hid from ages and from generations," it was now "made manifest to His saints"; and that what expressly characterized "the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles "was Christ in them; not the expectation of the advent of a glorious Messiah, according to the hope of the Jew, but Christ in them the hope of glory, Christ already possessed - the One, who Himself ensured the glory for those in whom He deigned to be, and who, at the same time, was glory's hope.

The epistle to the Colossians brings before us some precious instructions on the subject we are considering. The epistle to the Ephesians has taught us that God would gather together all things in Christ, and that the Church was united to Him as His body, associated with Him in His dominion over all things. The epistle to the Colossians teaches us the same truth under another aspect. We shall also find that the idea of Christ which is presented in chapter I contrasts with all that He was as the hope of the Jews, according to the testimony of the prophets, as much as that which is found in the epistle to the Ephesians, but in a different manner. Let us first look at what is said of the double glory of Christ — Head over all things, and Head of the Church. In verses 15 and 16 He is presented as the First-born of every creature; and the reason if it is given — He has created all things. He who had created all things, having taken His place as a man in the midst of the creation, must at all events be the Head of it. This thought is confirmed in verse 17. The second part of the glory of Christ is declared in verse 18. He is the Head of the body, the Church; who is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead. These are the two truths presented in Ephesians 1:22-23; only the two things are considered separately here as two diverse glories of Christ, in whom it has pleased all the fulness to dwell. The reconciliation of all things and of the Church follows. Having made peace through the blood of His cross, the thought of God is to reconcile all things through Him, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. This answers to verse 16. Then the apostle, addressing the Christians called at Colosse, says to them, "And you that were sometime alienated … yet now hath he reconciled." This answers to verse 18. They were part of the Church of which Christ was the Head, and of which the reconciliation takes place now. Verses 24 and 25 present, as following this distinction of the double glory of Christ and the double reconciliation, a double ministry — the ministry of the gospel to every creature under heaven, and the ministry of the Church, which is the body of Christ. This ministry, a complement in its doctrine of all the preceding revelations, completed the teaching of the word of God (v. 24-26). The Church was a mystery which had been hid from ages and from generations — a mystery which admitted the Gentiles into all the privileges which it revealed, and spoke of a Christ, not the crown and accomplishment of the glory of the Jews, but who, in the Gentiles, or in the midst of the Gentiles, in Spirit, was the hope of glory. The presence of Jesus amongst the Jews ought to have been, and will one day be, the accomplishment of the glory which had been promised to them. But the presence of Christ in Spirit among the Gentiles was the hope of glory — of a more excellent glory — a heavenly glory. In Ephesians, Christ is considered as exalted at the right hand of God, whence He sent the Spirit to confer upon the Church the gifts which were the testimony of His victory and the manifestation of His power as man victorious over the enemy — a glorious Head of the Church which was upon earth. In Colossians, He is considered as present in the Church, securing to the Gentiles the possession of the heavenly glory into which He has Himself entered. This chapter, then, brings the Church into prominence in a very interesting manner. Christ raised is the Head — the Church is His body; its practical reconciliation takes effect now, being founded on the peace made through the blood of the cross. Gentiles belong to it quite as much as Jews; and Christ in Spirit dwells in it, the hope of glory. This last expression teaches us, without controversy, that the Church is contemplated as exclusively upon earth, though having the sure hope of a heavenly glory. Its unity is not declared as in the epistle to the Ephesians; but it is self-evident that the body of Christ can be only one.

There are two great parts in this hid but now manifest mystery (v. 26). The first is that Christ should be set in heaven above all principalities and powers, and have the entire universe given to Him, as Head over the inheritance on the footing of redemption — Himself exalted as Head over all things heavenly and earthly, and the Church united to Him as His body, He being thus given as Head to the Church over all things. Then the other side of the mystery is Christ in the saints here below, and in such a sort as to bring in the Gentiles with the utmost freedom. "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles [or nations], which is Christ in you the hope of glory." v. 27. The hope of glory is the hope of all the glory that flows out of His heavenly place as now at God's right hand.

But it was a mystery that, when Christ was rejected by His people, and during the time of His exaltation in heaven, God would make Him to be the Head of a heavenly body, chosen by His grace out of all — Jews or Gentiles. This was not treated of in the Old Testament. There were certain things that we can now show to be types of it, but they never would have yielded the least light upon it, if the mystery had not been brought out. There was no such thing then, nor even any such predicted, as Jew and Gentile being blessed together in one body; and this is the reason why it is called "the mystery hidden from ages and from generations." It was a secret hid in God that the prophets did not touch upon. When the Jews have their Messiah, it will not be as the hope of glory, but as the One who Himself brings in the glory. When the time comes for the blessing they are looking for, there will be no doubt about it, for all will be manifested, whether for friends or foes; neither will it be a hope, but the actual accomplishment of glory in their midst. But now there is an extraordinary state of things that God is effecting among the Gentiles while the Jews are cast off. The Gentiles have Christ now, not as bringing in glory visibly on the earth, as it will be among the Jews by and by, but they have Him in them the hope of glory by and by, and in heaven.

In Scripture a "mystery" does not mean something mysterious or incomprehensible, but simply something which up to that time had been secret or hidden, or at all events only known to the initiated. The mystery spoken of here had been completely hidden in earlier ages, and now is only made manifest to God's saints. It concerns Christ and the church, and more particularly the bringing in of the Gentiles in one body. This side of it is more definitely unfolded in the epistle to the Ephesians. In verse 27 of our chapter it is said to be "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Read the verse and you will see that the "you" here means "you Gentiles." Formerly God had dwelt for a brief time in the midst of Israel, and then again the Messiah had appeared for another brief season amongst Jews in the land, but that Christ should now be found in Gentiles was an altogether new and unprecedented thing. It was a pledge of the glory to come, for Christ will be all and in all in that day.

"If ye continue in the faith." The moment you find saints on earth, you get "if." Now we have the double ministry - "the gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven," not like Peter's to the circumcision. And "the church, whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to complete the word of God." The moment the church was revealed, the whole circle of the testimony of God was complete. Verse 27 gives us "Christ among you, the hope of glory." The Christ of the Jews was not "the hope of glory," but "a crown of glory" when He came, and not among the Gentiles at all. But now Gentiles who have no title to glory have Him as "the hope of glory." The epistle to the Colossians is a word on the way, in which you get between the two.

To Paul was given a special service — to fulfil the word of God, the mystery once hidden, but now made manifest to his saints, to whom (i.e., the saints) God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Entrusted with such a ministry, he did not feel his work was done when he fulfilled the word of God, by first setting forth the mystery. God would have it made known to the saints. By Paul, the apostle, the minister of God’s choice, was the word of God fulfilled, or completed. By Paul the teacher was the mystery, and the riches of the glory of it, proclaimed far and wide. What a theme he had to dwell on! “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This concerned the saints in general, and each one in particular. By and by “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” But what these Colossians expected was, not simply to see the glory, but to be in it. When that glory is revealed, the place of the Gentiles on earth will be subordinate to that of the Jews. For those to whom Paul wrote, though Gentiles by descent, such national distinctions no longer existed. (Chap. 3:11.) In the glory was to be their place, and Christ in them, the riches of the glory of the mystery — the hope of it.

People get confused by connecting these "if's" with redemption. "Christ in you the hope of glory" - in you, Gentiles - is an entirely new thought, a thing never heard of before; it is that side of the mystery that is revealed here - not Christ come in glory to take up His people, but Christ in you, the hope of glory.