Saturday, April 7, 2018
Seated with Him
Ephesians 2:4-6
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
In our previous Devotional we discussed the fact that the resurrected Jesus is now seated at God’s right hand “in the heavenly places.” We have a good appreciation of that. We said that the heavenlies refer to the invisible realm that’s right here with us.
Now, as the Apostle Paul advances this teaching, he writes that we too are “raised up with Jesus” and are seated together with Jesus in the same “heavenly places.” Now, if we start walking around telling people that we are “seated in the heavenlies” they would begin to think that we are in some alternate dimension or reality. Some might think that we are out of our minds.
However, in this very letter to the Ephesians, this matter comes up constantly, five times actually. Here is a quick summary. One, the exalted Christ is seated at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms Ephesians 1:20-22; two, Christians are seated there with Him Ephesians 2:6; three, there we enjoy every spiritual blessing Ephesians 1:3; four, these heavenly realms are also inhabited by “rulers and authorities” (“principalities and powers”) Ephesians 3:10-11; and five, those other inhabitants of this realm are further described as “the spiritual forces of evil” (“spiritual hosts of wickedness”) Ephesians 6:12
The heavenly realms, therefore, refer to a spiritual sphere where God, Jesus, the powers of darkness, and the believers exist together and where we, as well as sharing Jesus’ reign and blessings, are involved in spiritual warfare.
The Apostle Paul distinguishes in his writing between heaven, the final dwelling place. and the heavenly realms which are a part of the created order. This is an important distinction which we will explore separately.
These ideas are consistent with the whole teaching of the Bible, but many of us, especially those of us who are not biblical scholars miss this. According to the scripture, and as we examined already, there two parts to reality – the natural part that we see normally and supernatural or invisible part. (I prefer to say invisible part to distinguish from a lot of the science fiction around.)
Let us look at some quick examples. In Genesis 32:1-2, “So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.” That word that Jacob used means ‘two camps.’ When Jacob saw the angelic hosts that were there to help him through the natural journey he declared that there were two camps in this place. He got a vision of the invisible realm in the visible realm.
Then there is the story of Elisha and his servant trapped in Dothan in 2 Kings 6. They were surrounded, and the servant was afraid when the Syrian army surrounded them to seize them. But this is what happened next, “So [Elisha] answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” 2 Kings 6:16,17.
We have already talked a lot about the transfiguration when the invisible manifested in the visible and Jesus talked with Moses and Elijah. There is also the story of Jesus on the Emmaus Road walking and talking with some of His followers and “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.” Luke 24:31. Jesus slipped from the visible realm to the invisible realm.
Then there is the resurrected Jesus also appearing to the disciples in the middle of a closed room as they cowered in fear.
There are many more examples, we discussed recently Daniel 10 and there is also Job 1, among them.
The Bible-believing Christian must understand everything in the context of these two parts of our reality. Francis Schaeffer said it this way, “Being a biblical Christian means living in the supernatural now – not only theoretically, but in practice.”
The invisible (supernatural) world is right here and that is where our real battles are fought every day. We are impacted by what goes on in the heavenlies and we also have an important role to play in that realm.
We must also remember that in that realm we are being watched and observed by all sides, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1
Paul felt that way, “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” 1 Corinthians 4:9; and he charged Timothy that way “I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.” 1 Timothy 5:21.
Think on these things:
- Do you have a sense of being observed by those in the invisible realm?
- What would that understanding change about the way you live out your faith?
- What, if any, experiences have you had that you could attribute clearly to activities in another realm?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would live conscious of the fact that we are seated with Jesus in heavenly places.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
