Colossians 3:4

You died, you have been raised in Christ, your life is hidden in Christ, Christ is your life (Colossians 3:1-4).

These things are spiritual realities that Paul is conveying to the readers.

Now you are a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17), now you live a new life (Romans 6:4), now you can cease from sinning and live for righteousness (1 Peter 2:24), meaning your nature is no longer sin, rather righteousness (Romans 6:11, 2 Corinthians 5:21).

That is why we can now aim to have a good conscience before God (1 Timothy 1:5) because we have our conscience washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22). We are in a different state of being, with different desires, patterns of thinking, and priorities— heavenly priorities.

These are people who hold allegiance to Jesus and Jesus alone, who fear not for their lives, and the reason is that the hope of heaven is laid firmly in them than any loss on earth.

This focus verse is all about the hope of heaven, the hope of God's glory (Romans 5:2). Paul drew the people's attention to what would come after. He did not tell the people that they should hold fast to Christ because then they would have great wealth, a political position, or become more brilliant and pass their tests.

He said they died, and those things that are important to the natural man are no longer important to them. They no longer see human accolades, human position, or human approval as the end they are for, but rather the hope of the glory of God beyond the veil of this present time and space.

Look at the words of Paul: he said, “When Christ (who is your life) appears…” When would that be? We don't know. But as surely as God (in a visible form) became a baby in a moment of time, He will again appear (now not as a baby, but as the resurrected Lord, as who he really is, unveiled), and all eyes will see him (Hebrews 9:2, Acts 1:11, 1 John 3:2, Revelation 1:7).

We live in the hope of God's glory. That hope fuels us and motivates us to live for him now so that we will not be ashamed when he appears to judge the living and the dead (1 John 2:28, 2 Timothy 4:1).

The unbelievers do not understand this. They are blind and cannot see beyond their noses. That is why they persecute the believers and will continue to do so. The unbelievers and the believers have divergent priorities, motives, and drives, so a clash is inevitable. There was something that Jesus guaranteed the disciples, and that was persecution (Mark 9:29-30).

The writer of Hebrews says that we should think of Jesus, who endured opposition to himself from sinners so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up (Hebrews 12:3).

Jesus becomes the prototypical Christian, so to speak. He is the head, and we are the body (Colossians 1:18). He said if they called the master names, they would call the disciples worse things (Matthew 10:25).

Jesus refused to sugarcoat things. He said you need to count the cost before you become his disciples (Luke 14:28-33).

In his parables of the kingdom, we have stories of people selling everything (Matthew 13:44-46). Jesus was not concerned that people were not flocking to be his disciples. He said no one could come after him except the Father to draw him (John 6:44). He was not struggling about getting a crowd; he was all about doing the will of the Father, whatever that is (Hebrews 10:7).

What does it mean that Christ is your life? It means you owe no one obedience, allegiance, or condescension except him and in his service. It means you are secure.

Read my lips: you are secure in him who is the head of all principalities and powers (Colossians 2:10). Nothing is touching you.

You too will be revealed in glory with him.

That means people who want to judge you based on the flesh now are mistaken.

Remember that Paul had been arguing against people who are arguing that there are things that people need to do to attain more spirituality through things that are destined to perish with use. Some will use oil, some water, some food, and some recommend certain rituals. One thing they have in common is that they can be measured in a lab; that is why Paul said that they perish with use.

That is why your life hidden in Christ means you are free to do the will of God and not the will of those false teachers. And there is a-you that will be revealed in glory with him.

We are yet to see your final form. You, too, will be revealed in glory with him (but I repeat myself). Christ is enough for you, is all I am saying. And it is finished on the cross.

But that place of rest is antithetical to people who want to create a monument for themselves apart from Christ, create for themselves a relevance different from the cross.

Let me repeat that Paul's aim here is to strengthen the believers and tell them that there is nothing they are missing from being in Christ. There is nothing outside of Christ that should appeal to them that they would like to, like Esau, sell their spiritual birthright for a bowl of earthy red meal (Hebrews 12:16-17). Hence, he wanted to reveal our identity in Christ and the special hope that is laid before us.