Seated with Christ in the Heavenly Realms
“And God
raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in
Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6)
Many people misinterpret the meaning of this passage
in Ephesians that talks about us being seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly
realms, thinking that Paul was describing the future situation of Christians.
In fact, Paul was proclaiming through God’s perspective a glorious consequence.
That is, by faith, God’s children have united with Jesus Christ and enjoy in
our triumphant Lord a host of spiritual realities that come from Him, including
being seated in the heavenly realms with Jesus who was resurrected from death
and rose to heaven. We accepted Christ’s grace of salvation through faith. Not
only do we experience death, burial and resurrection together with Him, God has
permitted us, who have faith as our foundation, to be brought up to heaven and
be seated there with Him. The words “raised us up with Christ and seated us
with Him in the heavenly realms” in the original Greek were written in aorist
active voice indicative mood form, and are a proclamation to us by God.
There are at least the following indications to Jesus
Christ being seated right now in heaven: (1) He has completed the work related
to salvation and is now sitting at rest (Hebrews 1:3). (2) The Father has
exalted Christ to sit as King on the heavenly throne and to enjoy the glory of
victory. The Devil lies at His feet in defeat (Acts 5:31, 2:33-34). (3) He sits
to await the Father sending Him back to judge the world (Acts 17:31, John
5:19-27). It appears then that we who are united with Christ are seen by God
just as He sees His Son - we are seated with the Lord in heaven to enjoy the
rest brought by the Lord’s salvation (Matthew 11:28-19), to experience the
triumph of Christ (Revelations 12:11), and to wait for the glory of the Lord’s
return (Titus 2:13). Although our bodies now live on earth, from God’s
perspective, we who believe in the Lord’s name and have been saved are already perceived
by Him as having experienced all of the above blessings in His Beloved Son. “God,
who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is
faithful.” (1 Corinthians 1:9)
Since we have already received the heavenly status
granted by our Father, we do not just have standing as the children of God, but
we also possess a spiritual reality, and that is ruling as kings together with
the Lord. So we should use the perspective of God and a heavenly point of view
to look at our lives on earth from today onwards, applying the standard and
will of God to measure all that we experience in the world. In this way, the
attitudes of our lives will be different.
This writer often says, “The decisions of our past
affect the circumstances of our present. As well, the decisions of our present
will affect the circumstances of our future.” We are living souls and our
present bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). One day,
our bodies will weaken and be corrupt. Then our spirits will return to the God
who bestowed them. If so, we must take hold of opportunities now and our
limited lifespan, and strive with all of our might to obey the will of God and
work for eternal matters because of the inspiration of God’s great love.
“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)
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