Treasure
When people think of treasure, they usually think of riches. However, I am not using this word in that sense. I am using it in the sense of something of greatest value.
Believers in Jesus have been given a treasure.
2Corinthians 3:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
What is the treasure?
Colossians 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The fellowship Jesus has with the Father and with the Holy Spirit He freely gives to us. The union has been made ours in Christ.
In John 17, Jesus prays for His disciples at that time; however, as He continues praying, He shifts His focus to those who believe in Him afterward.
John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Jesus was not praying for our unity with each other; He was praying for our unity with the Trinity.
He is praying about oneness with God. By stating this, I’m not saying there is no beauty or significance to our unity on some level. I am simply putting the focus where Jesus placed it in His prayer. There are riches too great to measure in our unity with God.
He has made His abode with us in Christ Jesus! We should never lose our ability to marvel at this amazingly glorious privilege of Christ in us, the hope of glory. What glory? Oneness with God! In step with Him, aware of His desires. In tune with Him to such a degree, we know in the moment what He desires for us. But even more than the knowing is the power to not only access but possess the very thing He desires for us.
2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
A partaker of the divine nature! It’s one thing to have access and a whole other thing to possess. We have a treasure in these earthen vessels that is meant to be taken advantage of to the fullest. A true treasure, the divine nature, unity with God, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and Christ in us! Can we get any richer?
