The power and the beauty of the Resurrection of Jesus must never be confined to a weekend of worship services or a one-day celebration. It must be the foundational reality in which we live. The Risen Christ permeates the perspective of the earliest Christians (Acts 2:24; 17:18).  When Jesus was raised, believers were “co-raised” with Him (Colossians 3:1-2). This led to a profound understanding of self: I am in Christ who was raised from the dead, He is on the throne, and so I live now “hidden” with Him in the Father (Colossians 3:3). It is no longer my life that is ultimate or central (Galatians 2:20),  but His life that is paramount.

What does it mean for us to be “hidden” in One who is our life (Colossians 3:4)? The concept of hiddenness often suggests secrecy, seclusion, concealment. Is it any wonder that when Adam and Eve felt the guilt of their sin, their first response was the futile attempt to hide from their Creator (Genesis 3:10)? We may try to hypocritically cover our sins, but Scripture is clear: none of us can hide our sins from the One who knows our hearts (Psalm 19:12). The story of salvation is one of a Redeemer who relentlessly seeks those trying to hide themselves, offering them the chance to be found, redeemed and fully known.

Hiddenness as Identity

Our God loves us so much that He never hides from us (John 3:16). The Father sending the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit proves that God will never conceal Himself from us. It is essential to remember that the Incarnation (God becoming man) and Atonement (Christ’s sacrifice for us) are inseparable from the Resurrection. Jesus took on human nature to fully reveal His heart of love for us. His unreserved self-giving tells me who God is and magnificently reveals our identity. Why did He have to die? It was due to our rejection of His life in us at creation. That removal from Him resulted in a separation from life which meant death – “life” is impossible without Him.  If I am not “in” Him then I lose the source of life and I will try to find my identity in worthless things.

Every Easter, the church proclaims that the Incarnate Life–the only One who had no death in Him–willingly took on our self-destruction. The Creator become a creature! Why? To defeat death by taking my death into Himself. He became what I am, without ever sinning. God had to take what we had done into Himself. He assumed our death-tainted existence into His very being. When we are “hidden” in Him, salvation occurs. Thus, we can sing, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.”

Notice that in our Savior, life swallowed up death. One theologian has said, “He was so full of Life He had to borrow death in order to kill it.” When He “became sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21), it was more than something done for us or to us. His goal was to recreate a newness of life from within humanity. He did not hide Himself from the consequences of our sin–those hidden even to us (Psalm 51:9; 139:2-23). He made our impossible problem His own. The Holy One alone can take our unholiness into His heart of self-giving love. Only in Him can we ever know true life again. The quality of our entire lives is now permeated with His. That is what it means to find our identity in the Risen One. 

Hiddenness as Salvation

The Resurrection tells us that all death is trampled by His death. He conquered death by dying. The church has spoken of Jesus’ “deathless death” – His life has no death in it. That first Sunday of Life marked the defeat of our “last enemy” – death (1 Corinthians 15:26). Death no longer has the last word; it is no more. God has completely reversed our futile attempts to hide and overcome our separation, solitude, and darkness. We can now share all of ourselves because He offers all of Himself. To be hidden in Christ is to experience life as it was meant to be. We are co-resurrected in Him forever. Peter describes this saving reality as “sharing in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

This is where we tend to forget our identity and our present reality. The Risen One ascended to the right hand of the Father. And we, like Paul, are undone by this glorious thought (Colossians 3:1-4). We are hidden with Him in the very center of God’s life. We now have present access to His life. Every breath should feel different. In Christ, what we think is real points to what is truly real. You may think air gives you life, but it is the life of Jesus that sustains you. You can be hidden in many things, but the only true source of life is Jesus. He is the air you breathe. 

Hiddenness as Intimacy

Hidden is also an intimate term. Salvation is to be united to His life by the life-giving Spirit (Genesis 2:7, John 3:5-6). By grace through faith, His life becomes mine. But what He does for me is the beginning of His desire to make me new. My Pardoner is also my Re-Creator. I am born into new life–His life, life itself! And so, in sanctification, by grace through faith, His Resurrection life and power shape every part of my being. That is why Paul declares, “For me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). This new intimacy “in Christ” is an unlimited relationship.  

“Hidden” is a term of love. In a marriage, there is a unique oneness between spouses that is hidden from everyone else. Their mutual love is theirs alone; no one else can invade it. Jesus gives Himself to me, and I, in return share all of myself with Him. As in any love relationship, if any outside threat arises, it must be met and defeated. If He is my All in All, anything in me which detracts from that, as the French mystic Fenelon boldly charges, “must be killed.” Nothing in a lover should be hidden from the one they love. 

May we live in Jesus as He defines us. He is our life! Death is no more! There is no fear of death; it has lost its sting, conquered by life. Life, this very moment, can be lived in a mutual oneness with Him, “hidden with Christ in God” forever.

Questions to ponder

• How does the concept of “hiddenness” with Christ challenge the way I approach struggles, fears, and failures?
• In what ways do I try to hide from God, and how can I fully embrace His invitation to be found and known by Him?