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Lord. He who loved the law of God as did the writer of the Psalms, would have most
heartily subscribed to the majestic passage in Deut. 6: 4: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our
God is one Lord."
Whether David could have answered our Lord's question in verses 43 and 44 of
Matt. 22: is another matter; possibly he would have confessed: "Great is the mystery
of godliness" (I Tim. 3: 16) and have realized that the child born of the virgin was none
other than the "Mighty God" (Isa. 7: 14; 9: 6, 7), and bowed in His presence,
acknowledging His name as Emmanuel. The fact that Thomas was convinced that the
risen Christ had "flesh and bones" (Luke 24: 39), and that he was invited to thrust his
hand into the Saviour's side, did not prevent him from falling at His feet, saying, "My
Lord and my God". Neither did the fact that the Lord was the Son of David according to
the flesh (Rom. 1: 3) prevent Paul from saying concerning Him in the same epistle:
"Who are Israelites . . . . . whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh
Christ came, Who is over all, God blessed for ever, Amen" (Rom. 9: 4, 5).
We may not be able to satisfy the barren logic of the Unitarian, but when we "seek
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God", we have the
twofold satisfaction of knowing that, being Man, He is not untouched with the feeling of
our infirmities, and being God manifest in the flesh, all things under His omnipotent and
gracious control. What encouragements therefore are held out to us in Scripture to "Seek
those things which are above".
#5.
"Not on things on the earth" (Col. 3: 1, 2).
pp. 45 - 50
We have now looked at the positive aspect of this wonderful theme. Not only have we
learned that "things above" are "where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God", but we
have caught a glimpse of what that session at the right hand means.
We now learn, negatively, that "things above" mean "not things on the earth". While
these words, as words, are simple and require no explanation, the inspired intention may
not be so obvious, partly because of erroneous views that most of us have entertained. A
canvass of the opinions of our friends will reveal that in the estimate of the majority
"things on the earth" mean such mundane pleasures as theatre-going, smoking, and
according to temperament, such arts as music, literature and paintings. One will even
rebuke, as being of the earth, the spontaneous joy evoked by the sight of a bluebell wood,
a sunset, or a bank of primroses. We cannot discover support for such opinions in the
Scriptures, to which we now turn to discover from its teaching what the expression
"things on the earth" really means.
Let us first of all see how the earth, and things pertaining to it, are referred to in
Colossians itself.