Glorious Riches

AS A DEVOTED SERVANT and mouthpiece of God, Paul grasped more quickly than the other apostles a vital truth concerning things pertinent to the new dispensation. This was the fact that Gentiles were to be fellow heirs with the Jews in the kingdom privileges of entertaining the hope of the high calling.—Col. 1:24-27

Our Key Verses indicate the true church is being selected from the world of mankind. This is a great mystery to those who are not initiated into this fellowship. These fail to realize the great privilege of enjoying heavenly blessings to a degree even now as we sojourn in our earthly tabernacle.

“Though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”—Col. 2:5-8

The foregoing exhortation is a reminder that believers whose lives are in conformity with the principles of righteousness, having been justified by faith in the merit of Christ’s ransom, are viewed from God’s standpoint as being sanctified. Thus they have the prospect of being glorified and reigning with our Lord in blessing all the families of the earth when the church is complete and Satan is bound for a thousand years.—Rev. 20:1-3,6

Nevertheless, devotion to the ministry of the Gospel can lead to weariness of the flesh. True saints can never be content to take life easy when there are brethren to be served, or when the Truth of God’s Word can be proclaimed to reach those who may be called to become a part of the bride. We have a wonderful example of this in the ministry of Paul. He endured a great amount of suffering following his encounter with the resurrected Lord on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-8) Stripes, imprisonments, stonings, perils in the sea and in the city, and even perils among false brethren were his portion, all for Christ’s “body’s sake, which is the church.”—II Cor. 11:23-28; Col. 1:24

Suffering is such a common experience among humanity. We might hardly take notice of it without some extraordinary event causing it to be brought to our attention in some forceful manner. Believers willingly experience this while emulating the Lord’s course of righteousness in the face of evil. Nevertheless, there will come a time when such will no longer be the case, either for the saints who have proven faithful unto the end of their course, or for humanity in general. God’s kingdom shall eradicate every vestige of sin, sickness, sorrow, pain and death. What a cause for perpetual rejoicing when Satan is destroyed and our exalted Heavenly Father is acknowledged by all people as the eternal fountain of wisdom, justice, love and power.—I Cor. 15:24-28