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In the Heavenlies


Ephesians 2:5b,6,7

What is your favourite sports team? When you watch in person or on TV what kind of emotions do you have when they win or when the loose? Can you identify with them? Do you get excited when they win or make a good play and feel disappointed when they loose. Do you angry when there is a bad call or someone cheats? As humans we have a great capacity to identify.

Can we identify with Jesus? If we picture him during the final day as he was in a mock court, being accused of the sins of man for which he was to die. Can we imagine the pain and suffering he endured as he was flogged, hit, crowned with thorns, spit upon. Can you picture the pain and suffering he went through as he stumbled through the streets of Jerusalem on the way to Golgotha, the place of skulls, under the heavy burden of carrying his own cross, probably 150 pounds or more as he struggled up the hill to the place where he was to be crucified. Can you imagine the pain as the nails were driven through his hands and feet and then as they lifted the cross and the pressure of his body tore the flesh of his hands and feet. What suffering he went through to become our sacrifice. Jesus died for me and for you. He identified with our disobedience and sin. Yet he himself was sinless so he could become our sacrifice, the lamb of God which took away our sin and atoned for the sins of the world. Can you identify with Jesus as He identified with us?

At the point of his death, he felt even a greater pain. The pain of separation from his Father. Have you experienced the loss of someone who has been close to you, a parent, spouse a friend or even a pet? Jesus suffered that separation from God as he became our substitute and God turned his back on the man who was taking on the sin of the world. That intimate relationship which Jesus had known with the Father was broken as sin separated Jesus from his Father. But it did not last. God accepted the substitutionary death on the cross to be the atonement for sin and then God restored his relationship with Jesus and raised Him up bringing him back into heaven to be seated with God Himself on the throne in heaven.

This is where the image Paul is painting becomes real exciting for me. As I meditated on this passage and pictured its meaning I realized that God was the one extending salvation and abundant life to me almost as a fait d'accomplier - an event which was already accomplished by God.

One of the first things which struck me in looking at these verses was the use of the past tense of the verbs. Notice the end of verse 5, "you have been saved" then in verse 6, Paul says God raised us up And the He seated us - things which had already been done for us (past passive voice) in which we had little control. God is waiting for us to trust in Jesus and then wanting us to realize these truths. When we believed in Jesus, God sent his Spirit as a seal of our relationship and the Holy Spirit is in our life guiding, encouraging, comforting, convicting, and empowering us, for a life of godly intimacy with our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ.

We are saved - Salvation is not by our own efforts but it is a gift which is given to us from a merciful God who wants to see his creation at peace and living an abundant and full life. Have you believed and become saved from the wrath of God which will be poured out on all mankind, everyone that is that has not come into that intimate relationship which is ours as a result of belief that Jesus is our personal saviour and friend.

Verse 6 says "God raised us up with Christ." Elsewhere Paul writes in Romans 6:3 - 5 " Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection." We are raised with Christ and seated with Him in the Heavenlies

We do not walk up to Jesus and ask him if we can sit down beside him. This verse says that when we are saved, God takes us and sits us down with Jesus up in heaven. We can see things from a new perspective if we look around from God's throne. We need to be raised above the ordinary level of human existence and see the glory of God. As a result of our new position we need to look around at God's glorious kingdom and praise and worship Him.

"If the raising of Christ from death is to sit at His own right hand is the supreme demonstration of God's power, the raising of the people of Christ from spiritual death to share Christ's place of exaltation is the supreme demonstration of His grace."

Can you imagine yourself sitting with Christ in heaven, seeing the beautiful place that Jesus is preparing for us after he comes to physically take us into the city he is preparing for the church, the bride of Christ. Read through Revelation 21, 22 where it describes the great beauty and brightness which we will experience.

When we realize our worth in God's sight that he will bring us up to his son's throne even though we do not deserve it, we have a whole new sense of value for the life around us.

The story is told of an engineer on a river ferry-boat in the States. His boat was old and he did not care for it. The engines were covered in grime and poorly maintained. The engineer was transformed by the power of the good news of forgiveness and became a Christian. The first thing he did was to go back to his ferry-boat and polish his engines until every part of the machinery shone like a mirror. One of the regular passengers commented on the change. : What have you been up to? He asked the engineer. " Why are you cleaning and polishing these old engines of yours? Sir, answered the engineer, "I've got a glory" That is what Christ does for a man. He gives him a glory. A whole new way of looking at the world. To raise us up above the old mundane

Why does God want us to have this new perspective? Verse 7 tells us that He does this so that he can show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. The word "incomparable" here is the word used for "exaggerate, beyond normal thought " I do not think that we experience the great blessings of God very often because we are stuck on worldly thinking and do not remind ourselves that we are to be sitting with Christ in the heavenly realms. Where is your thinking this morning? Are you caught up in the world and existing here below or do you allow yourself to think about God's glory and majesty more than just a couple minutes here on Sunday morning?

God has seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. God wants us to have a glorious and eternal sense of life. Picture yourself today seated with Christ on his throne in heaven. That is where God wants us to be. For these verses say that God wants us to have a heavenly perspective, one that is far beyond what the average person ever can experience without God and his kindness to us. God wants us to know the incomparable riches of his grace. Christ came down to earth to bring us forgiveness so that we could sit with him in the heavenly realms.

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