Look Up!

'Set your mind on things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of the Father.' (Colossians 3:2)

Did you know that the most frequently quoted verse in the New Testament is Psalm 110:1: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’"?

This reveals how the first Jewish Christians who authored the New Testament understood the phase between Christ’s first and second coming. Having completed redemption on earth and ascended to the heavens, Christ sits at the right hand of the Father until His enemies are made His footstool. While Christ completed salvation and overthrew the enemy on the Cross, there are still ‘enemies’ that are not yet made His footstool. How is it that these enemies still have power on earth, since Christ said on the Cross in John 19:30 that “it is finished”? In His battle in the wilderness, Jesus restored to humanity the Adamic authority over the earth: ‘The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men’ (Psalm 115:6). The human being who abides in Christ therefore has the authority to ‘trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy’ (Lk 10:19) and restore earth to a state of Paradise. However, unfortunately, the Christian often does not know how to take hold of this authority.

The New Testament conveys the stage in between Christ’s first and second coming as one of walking in the Spirit and by faith. We have truly been raised with Christ to the heavens and are seated, in Him, above all principalities and powers: ‘If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God’ (Colossians 3:1). As such, we have already been initiated into the Age to Come, the eschaton. However, as these things will only be openly manifested when Christ comes again to reign on earth, we hold things things with the eyes of faith: ‘Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory’ (Colossians 3:2–4).

There is, then, a somewhat awkward stage for us in which we have to learn to disregard our tangible reality—the reality of our sin, the darkness of our thoughts, the flaws of those around us, and generally anything that instils a negative inner impression—and set our minds on the heavenly realities, where Christ is. This is the battle of faith, illustrated beautifully in Matthew 14:22–33: When Jesus beckons Peter out onto the water, Peter begins to drown only when he takes his eyes off the face of the Lord and looks instead at the raging waves. The Gospels tell us that, in this period of walking in spirit and faith, we must keep our mind constantly lifted to the Lord in order to stay afloat.

Many waves are coming that will attempt to drown us—waves of deceit, of despair, of hatred and division, of wars and rumours of wars, and so on. Constant remembrance of Jesus, and absolute trust in Him as the Saviour, will keep the mind lifted above the waves.

Following the Apostle’s exhortation to ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly’ (Colossians 3:16), the early Christians knew that what keeps the lamp of faith burning in the heart is the deep digestion of the scriptural promises. The desert fathers constantly ruminated on Scripture, repeating specific verses again and again in order to plumb the depths of the words. They knew that the inner being is parched, cracked ground that requires the unceasing flow of scriptural water in order for the deep truths of the word to be fully absorbed and to illumine the mind. It takes A LOT of repetitive recitation for the bright light of the scriptural truths to pierce through the darkness of the fallen mind and fortify the heart with unshakeable trust and faith in the Lord and His salvation.

Earlier on, Origen in the third century emphasises in his Homilies on Joshua the need to keep the mind filled with hope and faith in the risen Lord, lifted to Christ at the right hand of the Father. In Homily 8, he writes:

Certainly we do not yet see believers either to have been already raised or to have sat down in the heavens, yet these things have indeed been dimly shadowed through faith; for by the mind and by hope we are lifted up from earthly and dead works, and we raise up our heart to heavenly and eternal things. In his second coming, however, this will be fulfilled: Those things that to now we have only anticipated by faith and hope, we shall then also physically hold in their effective reality.

Just as Christ in the wilderness disregarded the deceit of the enemy and His sensible reality, so the Christian must hold onto the scriptural promises in faith and hope. Prior to Christ’s second coming, the Christian must raise their mind in faith and hope to the heavens, where Christ is.

This emphasis on raising the mind in faith and hope is not one of Origen’s eccentric ideas based on a heterodox cosmology. We see the same conviction in St Athanasius’ Life of Antony and Letter to Marcellinus. He writes that St Antony’s victory over the demons lies “in his mind” which is “filled with Christ and the nobility inspired by Him.” The Christian must gaze into the face of Christ in order to be raised above demonic deceit. Antony insists:

Nor let us be sorrowful as though we were perishing; but rather let us be courageous and rejoice always, believing that we are safe. Let us consider in our soul that the Lord is with us, who put the evil spirits to flight and broke their power.

Despite tangible reality or convincing logic, the Christian is to “consider” internally that the Lord is ever-present, “believe” that they are saved, and “rejoice” in the Lord. As Antony says: “Faith in our Lord is a seal and a wall of protection.”

In his Letter, Athanasius promotes singing the Psalms as key to raising the mind to Christ. He lists many instances in which the Psalms can help, such as:

• Having “boldness in the Lord” in the face of evil

• To hold onto the Lord when treachery is “chronic”

• To resist blasphemous talk

• To give thanks when preserved from enemies

• To encourage those in tribulation

• To rejoice at being shepherded by the Lord

• To “cheer on” the soul in tribulation and opposition

• To “cry out” in thanksgiving at “the Savior’s grace, which has been extended everywhere, and the human race, which has been rescued.”

By the singing of the Psalms, the soul gathers strength from the truth of Christ’s grace and salvation. When what is seen and felt seems to contradict the truths of salvation, the Christian places their trust and hope in the word, absorbing its truth and being fortified in faith through recitation. With such boldness, the enemy is seen to be destabilised and banished, while the Christian can take their rightful place in Christ.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!