This past weekend I visited my mother, who was, as usual, ecstatic to see me. Such is the way of mothers. I feel the same about my own two sons. The occasion for my rather extended visit was one of her two family reunions, which fall back-to-back in late July/early August. Both events are held at the church in which she was married, some 60 years ago.
She always insists on getting to the venue ridiculously early. After making sure all was ready, I used the extra time to take a stroll in one of my earliest "stomping grounds": the church's graveyard.
When I was five, mother and daddy placed me in a half-day kindergarten school. With both parents working, mother dropped me off very early each morning, where I waited in the empty school room for the teacher to come over from her house. (The classroom was a converted garage on her property). After classes were over each day, another mother took me to my great-grandparents' house. They lived beside the church and, by extension, also by the graveyard.
My mother was surprised this weekend when I told her that, as a five year old, my great-grandparents had let me roam the graveyard on a regular basis. I found it absolutely fascinating, all theological aspects aside. Each tombstone was like a sign post. The information on each one led to lots of speculation. At first, of course, I could not read many names, although I did learn early to read. As the years drew on, I enjoyed returning there time after time.
Yesterday, as I walked the grounds, I thought mainly of resurrection - - - how one day many of those tombs are going to explode as the unfathomable resurrection power which raised Jesus rocks the earth - - - literally. An earthquake rolled the stone away from His tomb, the same earthquake which liberated from their tombs long-dead people in surrounding tombs following. They came out of their tombs after "the first fruits" arose on Easter morning. Even now, I long for that day when it will happen again, all across the earth, in the depths of the sea, on the highest mountain peaks.1 What an amazing display of omnipotence! All is quiet in the tombs now....but then....
Colosse was located in a region rather famous for its earthquakes.2 Accordingly, in Colossians 1:21-23, Paul uses an earthquake metaphor to describe the signpost of a Christian conversion. Take a look:
21And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds, 22but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him – 23if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.
The Colossians were a pagan people, worshipping all sorts of false gods. This is why Paul referred to them (in contrast to the Jews) as "strangers and aliens". Such a distinction does not mean that they were MORE lost than the Jews who refused Christ, but that merely they were lost, separated from Christ Jesus, in a different way. They were literally "enemies of the true God", and this enmity was expressed by the evil deeds they did. Had they remained strangers and enemies, they would have faced a sure future - - one apart from God forever.
BUT, now...
After Christ, since Christ, had saved them, reconciled them to God through His physical sacrifice, their perseverance in the faith was a sign that they had indeed been converted, irrevocably transformed, just as their evil deeds previously were a sign that they had not.
Perseverance is akin to a house built on such a sure foundation (Jesus Christ) that it cannot be moved. And truly, those who have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, cannot be moved, regardless of shifting sands or earthquake or storm or peril.
That "IF" at the beginning of verse 23 still troubles you, doesn't it? The clause "If indeed you continue", according to Greek scholars3, is a "first class conditional clause". That is, it assumes that the verb/action/condition is true: a truth, couched in indirect language. Paul, who loved scholarly arguments, used this device. So did Satan. Look at Luke 4:3, when Satan was tempting Christ.
The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."
The Greek word for "If" is the same: Ei (εἶ) in both passages. Obviously, Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of God. Otherwise, his taunt would have been ridiculous and meaningless.
Of late, I have felt the storm. But, the perseverance springing from faith in the Cornerstone, has sustained me. I am not claiming credit here. It is He who holds on to me, not the reverse. It is He, the Holy Spirit, who comforts, who sustains, who causes me to "remain in the faith, established and firm". It is He who purifies and sanctifies and presents blameless, not me.
Perseverance - - the sign that an irrevocable change has occurred, the sign that the blessed hope, the promise of resurrection is mine, forever.
Father, what precious promises Your children find in Your word! Your Holy Spirit abiding in me works the perseverance in me which leads to eternal life. Thank you for testing me, purifying me and one day presenting me "blameless" before Your throne. As Psalm 117 says, "1Praise the Lord, all you nations! Applaud him, all you foreigners! 2For his loyal love towers over us, and the Lord’s faithfulness endures. Praise the Lord! (NET)
Sources:
1 Lowe, David W. Earthquake Resurrection: Supernatural Catalyst for the Coming Global Catastrophe. Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C., 2005. Print.
2 Wiersbe, Warren W., and Warren W. Wiersbe. The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete New Testament in One Volume. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2007. Print, p. 670
