As He is, so are we!

Noah's Ark reminds me of a sublime truth which is often not enjoyed/understood by believers. It relates to our identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. God views Christ as our representative and, as such, what He has experienced is reckoned to be true of the people He represents. The Ark serves to illustrate this:

The Ark passed through the waters of judgment once, and emerged triumphant to rest eventually on Ararat. Never again must the Ark take that journey through the flood waters. Noah and his family likewise passed through the waters (inside the Ark), and when they made their exit from the Ark, the waters of judgment were forever behind them.

The apostle John records that "[Christians] may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4.17). The meaning is that with respect to judgment, God views each believer as being in the same position as the Son of God, "as He is, so are we". This gives great confidence for the "day of judgment".

As far as the Son of God is concerned, judgment is forever behind Him. It happened once when, under the hand of God, "He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities" (Is 53.5). At Calvary, the "LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Is 53.6), and the flood waters of divine wrath swept over Him. But He has emerged from those waters, and He will never enter them again. The Son of God, in a finite period of time, bore the infinite wrath of God against sin. It was a never-to-be-repeated event of history. He was "once offered to bear the sins of many", He "offered one sacrifice for sins for ever" (Heb 9.28, 10.12). We are sanctified "through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb 10.10).

So, for the risen Son of God all judgment is past. But the wonder is that, "as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4.17)! In the reckoning of God our judgment is also past, and we stand now before God in all the acceptability of the risen Christ! Just as my judgment was borne by Christ, so my righteous status before God is "in Christ", for He is my representative. What boldness, what confidence this gives!

"Death and judgment are behind me,
Grace and glory are before;
All the billows rolled o'er Jesus,
There they spent their utmost power.

First-fruits of the resurrection,
He is risen from the tomb;
Now we stand in new creation,
Free, because beyond our doom."

(Mrs J A Trench 1843-1925)

"No condemnation O my soul
'Tis God that speaks the Word
Perfect in comeliness art thou
In Christ thy glorious Lord"

(R C Chapman 1803-1902)