Friday, April 6, 2018
Seated in the heavenlies
Ephesians 1:20
He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places
When Jesus was raised from the dead He went and took a seat at God’s right hand in the heavenlies. We might wonder where are the heavenlies. The traditional idea is that heaven is up there, somewhere.
There is an old song about a little girl whose daddy didn’t come home, and her mother told her that he had died and gone to heaven. The little girl, in the chorus, said, “How Far Is Heaven, when can I go / To see my daddy, he’s there, I know / How Far Is Heaven, let’s go to-night / I want my daddy to hold me tight.”
Mankind has sent many spacecraft beyond the limits we understood at the time of the writing of the scripture and they haven’t run into heaven yet. It is fortunate that the mother, in our old song, didn’t try to answer her daughter.
We have to get distance out of our minds when we think of heaven. The invisible world is right here, we see the visible, obviously, but the invisible is just that, invisible. So, it is invisibility that removes it from us, not distance.
There is a scary story in the book of Daniel. In Chapter 10, Daniel explains that when he understood the prophecies about the exiles and their return to their own land, he fasted and prayed to God about this matter for about three weeks. Towards the end of this period, he was praying down by the riverside and he saw a vision. Then, an angel touched him and spoke the scary words, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.” Daniel 10:12
This was scary to me the first time I read it because it seemed that the angelic messenger, sent by God in response to Daniel’s prayer, took three weeks to cover the distance between heaven and Daniel. Sometimes we go to God with immediate requests. Immediate requests like, the plane engine is on fire Lord, help! Or they just pulled him from the car and took him into emergency surgery Lord, help! Three weeks would make all of our prayers nonsense. Distance would make all of our prayers nonsense.
Fortunately, the angel gave Daniel and explanation that brought clarity to the situation, “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.” Daniel 10:13.
Ron Kenoly’s song, “Making war in the heavenlies,” immediately comes to mind, “Making war in the heavenlies / Tearing down principalities / Standing firm / In Jesus’ victory.” There is an engagement that is taking place in the invisible world that is pressing on the visible world and we often ignore the invisible at our peril.
In an early Devotional we reflected on what is called the Transfiguration. The account is found in Luke 9:28-36 but also in Matthew 17:1-8 and Mark 9:2-8. According to these accounts, Jesus went up to the mountain to pray as was His habit and, He took some of the disciples with Him, Peter, John and James.
While they were on the mountain, Jesus changed in appearance before them, transfigured, and was visibly before them, in the realm of the spirit, in conversation with Moses, the great Law Giver and Elijah, the great prophet.
This is a truly remarkable event that doesn’t get enough attention. The spirit realm manifested visibly in the physical, and we get eye-witness accounts of the event and the details of the discussions between the historical Moses and Elijah with the contemporary Jesus. In this great cosmic conversation, they discussed what they have been a part of down through the ages of human history, and what was about to happen to bring about that which they were each called by God to do.
When Jesus completed all of the tasks that required a physical, bodily presence on the earth he ascended into heaven, “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” Acts 1:9. This verse contributes to the idea that heaven, the invisible, is somewhere up there. However, we have enough evidence in scripture to recognise that Jesus was not on a journey to outer space but was demonstrating His leaving the visible physical realm.
Both the fact that the invisible realm is right here with us and that there are activities there that affect us is very important. The very daily battles of our lives are being played out in these realms simultaneously. The Apostle Paul is very clear about this as he clarifies for the Ephesians that we should recognise who our real enemy is and that, as Kenoly sang, the war is in the heavenlies.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
The right hand of God is a position of power, not a geographical marker. The victory we have is because Jesus is raised from the dead and sits in authority at the right hand of the Father. We must learn to appropriate that victory every day.
Think on these things:
- Have you ever had an encounter with the invisible realm?
- Have you ever observed any phenomena that are termed para-normal?
- Do you have any expectations that the spirit world would influence your current activities?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would live in the victory that Jesus secured at Calvary and enforces from the right hand of God in the heavenlies.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex