VISION PERSPECTIVE: THRONE VIEWPOINT

COL 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. [3] For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

If we have been spiritually and experientially raised up and seated with Christ in a THRONE position in the heavenly places our viewpoint will be completely changed. We should see things completely different from those who are only seeing from earth's viewpoint. If we are raised up with Him, we must seek things of a whole new world of heavenly values much more than the values of this world system.

This is exactly opposite of the "FLESHLY MIND" of COL 2:18. The fleshly mind is set on things below while the spiritual mind is set on things above where Christ is now seated.

To set our mind on things that surround the throne means that we have set our mind upon God and His eternal purpose. Upon His Kingdom and upon His heart's desire. This revelation sets the things of earth in opposition to the things in heaven by the direction that the mind is set. The one viewpoint is a contradiction to the other and inconsistent with the other. If one is 100 % right the other will be wrong. If we have already died to the earth why should we still set our mind upon the earth. Have we really renounced the earth as our source or our joy? Are we really dead to the world system? The direction of our mind will tell us the answer!

If our life "is hidden with Christ in God" then our "LIFE" is of and in a different realm than earth. If our LIFE is hidden in Christ our security is in Christ and the world can do no damage to our LIFE. Our physical body is another problem but is going to remain here on earth anyway.

COL: 3;4] When Christ, who is our life (ZOE) , is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Most of us are not clear on this important fact! Christ IS our LIFE (ZOE) ! We have no other of an eternal nature. The only other life (psuche) we have is human, natural and connected to our body. It is the soul life (psuche). At the revelation of Christ at His second coming all this will be quite evident. All those who have a different LIFE (Zoe) than Christ, Himself will also be revealed. It is this Zoe LIFE that is hidden with Christ in God.

JOHN 1:4] In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

1 JOHN 5:11] And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. [12] He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

The point is this: The direction of our mind indicates by which life we are living. If we are truly living by the LIFE that is Christ, Himself, we will have our mind set on things above. If our "head" is there and our "home" is there, then our "treasure" will be there. We will also be seeing things from that elevated perspective and all things will look different!

All the carnal things that follow in COL. 3 have to do with the flesh and the body of the earth bound. These are the things that draw us down from our heavenly position and Submerge us into the things of the world. The point of this truth is that "where the head is there the body must be also". If we are truly the body of Christ we must be seated with Him in heavenly places in the same place He is seated. This certainly must be confusing to the earth bound! However, from the elevated position of the throne this is perfectly clear and logical!

All this is a contrast with our former lives where we were alive to the world but dead toward God. Now we are dead to the world and alive unto God. Christ, Who is our Life, is hidden within us away from earthly view and we are hidden with Christ in God away from earthly view. If we believe the first why not also believe the last. Our true life, which is the LIFE of the new man, now resides in heaven. The new man has already "risen up" with Christ!

COL 2;[12] having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. Our resurrection out of the death and burial of water baptism is not a cliche but a spiritual fact when seen from the throne of God and revealed by the word of God. Just because we don't see it with the natural eye doesn't change the eternal truth.

PHIL 3:18] For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, [19] whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. Not only is this scripturally true but is obviously true all around us and among believers as this indicates.

ROM 8:[5] For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. [6] For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, [7] because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; This is such a simple and obvious truth that we wonder why it is not the normal practice and understanding of the church.

As we look back over so many years of our Christian life we are aware that thousands of options were available to us every year. We could have taken an infinite number of paths and each one would have affected our life, our work and our fellowship. How we ever followed a path designed by God beforehand that we should walk in it, I have no idea. I have doubted that we did most of the time.

EPH 2:[10] For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them

It is almost certain that we have chosen the wrong options many times. Who knows what the outcome would have been if we had been more accurate in our choices. We see so many young people who made stupid wrong choices and who will be paying for those choices for the rest of their lives. Some have quit school, got pregnant, run away from home, married the wrong person for the wrong reason or a hundred other mistakes that are difficult to correct. Some mistakes cannot be corrected and they must live with the choices the rest of their lives.

If this is true in the natural, how much more true in the spiritual? Most mistakes are made when we set our mind on the human, the earthly or the temporal or as Paul says "on the flesh". Every time we set our mind on "man's interests" rather than on "God's interests" we will be 100 % wrong. MAT 16:23] But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." Satan is right there to deceive us when we set our mind on man's interests! Our only real protection is when we always set our mind on God's interests and on what will please Him. That means on the will of God! The deciding factor between setting our mind on man's interests or on God's interests will be whether our mind is set on things above or on things below.

We have been given tremendous freedom to choose our way or to choose God's way. We also may choose which tree we will eat from but the consequences are already determined by God. We can freely choose our own path but we can't choose the consequences of walking in that path.

MAT 25:29] "For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. [30] "And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The worthless slave could freely choose how he would handle the master's property but he could not choose the consequences of doing nothing with what he was given. Many speak about the "freedom we have in Christ" as if that meant that nothing is required of us and we are "free" to do our own thing. How can people be so blind? It is simply because they are looking at man's interests and setting their mind on earthly concepts. The parable of the unprofitable slave is perfectly rational from the Kingdom viewpoint.

From the earthly, man centered viewpoint it seems too severe to cast the goats into eternal punishment just because they didn't do their share of social work. MAT 25:[32] "And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; [33] and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. MAT 25: [41] "Then He will also say to those on His left, `Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; [42] for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; [43] I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' [44] "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, `Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' [45] "Then He will answer them, saying, `Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' [46] "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Many who will be expecting eternal rewards will be thrown into eternal punishment for the simple reason that there was no outward action connected to their flock experience. The goats were certainly of His flock . MAT 25: 34] "Then the King will say to those on His right, `Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [35] `For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; [36] naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' There is no question that the King expected the goats to serve the needy but they didn't. Serving the needy is not how we are redeemed but that is how the redeemed are expected to act. Their eternal destiny depends upon it! If this is only viewed from "man's interests" it appears to be false doctrine and not in harmony with "the gospel of salvation" that is popularly preached. However, if this is viewed from the throne of God and the Kingdom of God and from "God's interests" it will be seen to be a qualifying requirement! The "goats" will not be cast onto the New Earth but into the fire and eternal punishment. Social work appears to be very important! Our viewpoint is very important because everything looks different from the elevated vantage point.

He took along Peter and John and James, and went up to the mountain to pray.LUKE 9: [29] And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming. [30] And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, [31] who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem

LUKE 9:39] and behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth, and as it mauls him, it scarcely leaves him. [40] "And I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not." [41] And Jesus answered and said, "O unbelieving and perverted generation, ( Jesus is speaking to His disciples) how long shall I be with you, and put up with you? LK 9:46 And an argument arose among them as to which of them might be the greatest.

The scene on the mountain was quite different than the scene in the valley. Those on the mountain were seeing Jesus transfigured before their eyes and hearing the voice of God while the disciples in the valley were arguing about which among them was the greatest and none of them could even cast out a demon. However, mountain top experiences don't last that long to become permanent.

LUKE 9:52] and He sent messengers on ahead of Him. And they went, and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make arrangements for Him. [53] And they did not receive Him, because He was journeying with His face toward Jerusalem. [54] And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" [55] But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; [56] for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

This is speaking about James and John that was just on the mountain with Jesus. They were seeing from a heavenly viewpoint but now they were just seeking "man's interests".

EX 32:1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." [2] And Aaron said to them, "Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." [3] Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. [4] And he took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a molten calf; and they said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." Moses and Joshua were on the mountain top receiving revelation from God and at the same time Aaron and the 70 elders were in the valley making the golden calf and declaring it was the god that brought them out of Egypt. Shortly before this time Aaron, his sons and the seventy elders were on the same mountain and ate and drank with God. EX 24:9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, [10] and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. [11] Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they beheld God, and they ate and drank.

Even though we know where we are going and what the goal of the Christian life is, we are always struggling to find the exact way of fulfillment because the path unfolds only a few feet ahead of where we are. Israel was constantly facing new challenges every day and we see their failure because it is carefully spelled out in scripture. We don't so clearly see our own failure and like Israel we blame someone else for our failure. Since Israel was just seeing from earth's viewpoint and as their experience benefitted man and corresponded with "man's interests" they missed the greater viewpoint of where God was taking them. The "land flowing with milk and honey and a promised prosperity " was clearly spoken by God but now was clouded over by the hardship of the moment. This is also the reason for short- sighted viewpoint today.

2PETER 1:8] For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. [10] Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; [11] for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

God sees the end from the beginning from where He sits but from earth we only see the current difficulty. From earth we can see no way of escape and no solution to our problems. This is exactly why we must be raised up and seated with Him in heavenly places. From the throne the next step is clearly visible. (That is doctrinally and scripturally but not necessarily experientially).

The reason is because the church and we, ourselves, are in transition or the state of conversion. We are being changed from what we are to what we must become to participate in the Kingdom. This is also the perspective that we need to view Israel in their journey from Egypt to Canaan. They were in a state of TRANSITION from slavery to citizens of the earthly kingdom in Canaan. While their bodies were free from Egypt their consciousness was that of slaves. God could easily take them from Egypt but it was not so easy to remove Egypt from them. They had been influenced by Egyptian ways for over 400 years. There had to be a real conversion that was a progressive revelation bordering upon revolution take place within them and their viewpoint to prepare them for God's rule over them. It appears that much of their complaint against God was based upon their experience with Pharaoh and how he had treated them. They had a slave mentality. They thought God had taken them out of Egypt into the wilderness to kill them. They thought God was just like man and they had no idea that God wanted man to be just like Him. That required a complete conversion.

[8] For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. [10] Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; [11] for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.