The Father and our Lord Jesus Christ can see what is in your spirit, but the world and your family and church can only see what is in your body. For this reason, Apostle Paul cried out, "According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death" (Philippians 1:20). The human temple is a prized possession to the true saint of God. We no longer see the body as the instrument of selfish pleasure, fulfilling the lust that was manifest when we were in sin.
We are now new creatures and the old man is dead. Nothing is more miraculous in the kingdom of God than transformed saints. The early church turned the world upside down because they became His living, breathing temples. A Biblical temple – in every life that is His – is always a place where Jesus Christ is revealed. His excellent Shekinah came down visibly in the wilderness tabernacle and in SolomonÂ’s Temple. That glory was a type of GodÂ’s Holy Spirit that filled the church at Pentecost. Everything of the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament. Jesus Christ came to complete the First Covenant. "For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, (Old Covenant) much more doth the ministration of righteousness (New Covenant) exceed in glory" (II Corinthians 3:9).
If your life is nothing more than the repeat of this unclean world, you cannot dare claim that you are a new creature. The triumph of the cross is the life of His saints. The Holy Ghost, speaking by Paul said, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14). The cross is not an ornament for our sanctuaries or a chain for our neck, but a place to hang our flesh. The cross is a glorious place because it did not end in gore but in glory. Looking at what men did at Calvary appears as gore but looking at what God was doing, reveals glory. The resurrection makes this cross a heavenly triumph where death becomes powerful life. I am dead, only that I might live.
Every Saint of God must have special moments when they return to the cross. Just this week I have repented because of my weakness in "glorying in the cross.". Being so busy – writing, studying, witnessing, and loving both the saints and sinners – I had neglected my own place before the cross. It felt like heaven in my heart as I have renewed myself in the cleansing and sanctifying power of Calvary. I tell you this only because the Bible does the same with His saints of old. Our righteousness is not our clean living nor our faithful service; it is His constant supply of grace.
The righteousness of keeping the laws and commandments of God will not make your face to shine. In fact, I have met a multitude of the law keepers who were hard as stone while pure in standard. They make you tremble to witness their lives which are so full of bondage. The laws and commandments are our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ where He takes us far beyond the guilt to the freedom. "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead" (Romans 7:7-8).
The great victory of Jesus Christ is to take us far, very far, beyond just keeping the rules of righteousness. With enough efforts, we can keep the rules but it is His glory to take us into the fellowship of Himself and His imputed and implanted righteousness. Keeping the commandments becomes mute to us when He has filled us with His very own nature. Holiness and abstaining from everything of this world that is even a little bit unclean becomes our joy.
Jesus Christ can now become magnified in our body. There is no such commodity as righteousness in the human spirit that does not also exist in the mortal body. To speak of a relationship with Christ by faith that leaves the mortal life free to live in sin is contrary to the Holy Scripture. Great miracles will flow from a Godly saint that "glories in the cross of Jesus Christ."
Begin today to glory in His cross. Think of the dark bondage that your life would reflect if you knew nothing of His sacrifice for your sins. Watch the prostitutes plying their wares on some street corner and remember, "There go I but by the grace of God." Consider the culture of a land like Haiti where voodooism rules and you will thank God for the freedom of your world because you have heard the gospel. Consecrate your life anew to the triumph of His cross. Remember, an empty cross and an empty tomb has brought us to the upper room.
