The riches of grace that have already been enjoyed by faith and which are associated

with redemption and forgiveness are to be "exceeded" in the ages to come by the riches

of grace and kindness yet to be shown to us. Faith looks back, but hope looks forward,

and in these exceeding riches yet to be displayed we shall find one phase of "the riches

and the hope of the glory".

Philippians is an epistle of practical outworking, so that the use of the word "riches"

here does not take us back to redemption nor on to future ages, but in the "supply of all

our needs" introduces the blessed present-day anticipation of the glorious future.

Another important occurrence is the last, in Col. 2: 2. There we have "all riches of

the full assurance of understanding" that comes with the acknowledgment of the great

central fact of the mystery of God, which is Christ, Who is all and in all. This brings us

back to Col. 1: 27. We are not left in doubts as to what constitutes the riches of the glory

of the mystery. It is immediately defined: "Which is Christ among you, the hope of

the glory." Eph. 2: 11, 12 has already made clear the fact that the Gentiles before

Acts 28: were "without Christ", and that they had "no hope". Since the revelation of

the mystery, such a standing has been replaced by one of nearness, access, acceptance

and hope that transcends all previous revelations of grace and glory. The very fact that

"among the Gentiles" "Christ" was preached, independently of Israel or covenants, was

in itself the pledge of their "hope of glory". It opened to them all the riches of glory

that belong to heavenly places and the new dispensation. To understand this was to

receive added riches--the riches of full establishment in the truth of the new revelation

(Col. 2: 2).

The strong personal note of Col. 1: 27--"Christ among you"--is found also in

Eph. 2: 17:--

The concluding words of this section--"Whom we preach"--indicate the way in

which it could be said that Christ was among the Gentiles, and that He had come

preaching peace. The Word of truth that makes Him known among the Gentiles to-day

is, in a sense, equivalent to His own personal ministry among men. If only we believed

this as wholeheartedly as we should, with what reverence we should treat the Scriptures

that thus set Him in our midst. Just as there is a mystery in the great basic fact that God

was manifested in the flesh, so there is, in a lesser degree, a mystic union between the

living Word and the written Word:--

He was "received up in glory", and the consummation of "the hope" is that "when

Christ, Who is our life, shall be made manifest, then shall we also be made manifest with

Him in glory" (Col. 3: 4).