Ephesians 2:4-8
4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; (WEB) When a king sits upon his throne, it is a sign that he is ruling and reigning in his kingdom. Being seated in the royal courts means that he is not off in some far away land contending for his kingdom. To the best of my understanding, when a king is seated upon his throne, he is where he is supposed to be. In today's Bible reading, we read an amazing passage of Scripture which describes our spiritual position in Christ right now. Because of our Father's great love for us, He has made us alive in Christ and He has raised us up into the heavenly realms and placed us with Jesus on His throne. I love how the Amplified Bible translates verse 6... And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). (AMP) I find it quite interesting that this translation says that God has given us 'joint seating' with Christ. I always thought that though we were seated with Christ in heavenly places, there must be a huge distance between us and Him as He sits upon His throne. But according to the Amplified Bible, our God and Father has placed us on the same throne right next to our Big Brother! My prayer today is that the Holy Spirit would help us comprehend this spectacular picture. Though we are living in a fallen world with many fallen consequences all around us, spiritually we are positioned in Christ in the heavenly realms right now! Only the Spirit of the living God can make such powerful imagery real to our hearts. I pray that we would know that we are not orphans or slaves, but sons and daughters to Almighty God and joint-heirs with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have been called to be partakers of the divine nature and we have the privilege of being on earth and seated in heavenly places all at the same time! May we all shout out 'hallelujah!' to God for such a great salvation. Colossians 3:1-3 1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (WEB) Comments are closed.
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