“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” John 7:37-39
There is an important truth embedded in these verses, and that is that the Holy Spirit was not given until Jesus had been glorified. The implications of this are huge. If Jesus had given us the Holy Spirit before He had died on the cross, ascended and been glorified, the Spirit would have been working in us to make us like the Jesus before the cross. The Spirit is given to us to make us like Jesus but He wanted us to be like the glorified Jesus and not the earthly Jesus. You would have thought that the disciples needed the Holy Spirit while walking with the earthly Christ as they were getting so many things wrong. At times you wonder why they weren’t called the ‘dah-sciples’ as they seemed to be a bit thick. After they were filled with the Spirit however, everything changed and not only were they doing the works Jesus did but greater things because He had been glorified. The amazing thing is that we as Christians in the Spirit are now as He is.
“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17
When we became Christians, we were placed in Christ and He came into us. We may not have changed much on the outside but inside our Spirit man is just like Him. We need our minds renewed to see this reality and begin to walk it out. We have now been made righteous and holy through the blood of the lamb, by faith. We are the righteousness of God in Christ.
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
The only difference between us and Him now is our earthly bodies, and one day we will have glorified ones.
“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2
We are now seated with Him in Heavenly Places even though we are here on earth. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God.
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians 2:6
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4
As we set our minds on Him, using our sanctified imaginations to see the glorified Christ, our minds are being renewed, and transformed. Imagine yourself in the glorified Christ as one with Him, for its true. You are in Him and He is there with the Father. Revelation 3:21 says that as we overcome the world with all its unbelief we will experience this truth of being in heavenly places.
“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
Unfortunately, even though this is true, so many Christians don’t see themselves in Christ and live far below the life God has for them here on earth. They live as beggars and victims instead of being victorious, reigning in life. They remain in poverty, as it were, with 1 million dollars in their heavenly bank account, hanging in there until they get to heaven and never making a withdrawal.
“And since we are his true children, we qualify to share all his treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that he is and all that he has. We will experience being co-glorified with him provided that we accept his sufferings as our own.” Romans 8:17 TPT