“He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church.”
Ephesians 1:20-22
“[God has] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”
Ephesians 2:5-6
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12
What is your ultimate reality? What you perceive as reality determines the decisions you make. For many, this world is the ultimate reality. We live and then we die; that’s all there is. For others, this world is a transitory place, where we live for a while, die and come back in some other form (reincarnation). For believers, this world and the lives we live in it are real, but they are not the ultimate reality. What we do here is preparation for our life in eternity. We prepare for eternity with God by being saved by grace. We prepare for eternity apart from God by rejecting the Gospel. Our decisions in this life have eternal consequence. What we decide is real and binding. Our real decisions in this real world have implications for a real eternity.
Yet, this world is not the ultimate reality. We do not base our daily decisions on the realities of this life, but on the realities of the spiritual realm. In Ephesians, Paul used the word “heavenly places” five times (1.3, 20; 2.6; 3.10; 6.12). In each case, Paul was emphasizing significant spiritual truths. He was also pointing the Ephesian believers to the ultimate reality. He told them God had “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” He declared Jesus was “seated at [God’s] right hand in the heavenly places.” Paul further said God had raised up believers “with Him (Jesus), and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” He said the “manifold wisdom of God,” revealed in the mystery of the Gospel, would “be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.” Lastly, he declared our struggle as believers is “against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
What does all this mean? Simply stated, the ultimate reality for believers is the “heavenly places.” We are to have a “world view,” or a perspective on life rooted in eternal truths, not temporal ones. When Israel was told to go into the Promised Land, they rebelled (see Numbers 13); they refused to enter the land because what they “saw” made them afraid. The Lord had told them he had already given them the land, they only had to fight to take it; God would give them the victory. Yet, based on the report of the faithless, ten spies, they refused to obey God. Their reality was based in what they saw, not the truth.
We live too much of our lives based on what we see and not on the truth. We pray for God to bless us. Yet, Paul said we had already been “blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” If we have already been blessed, why ask God to do again what he has already done? Why do we cower in fear before a defeated enemy who is already “in subjection under the feet” of Jesus? Why do we treat the church disrespectfully when God is showing his “manifold wisdom” through the church to the “rulers and authorities in the heavenly places”? Why do we have such poor self-concepts as believers when we are “seated with Him in the heavenly places”?
In some earlier posts on this blog, I have argued against the possibility of believers being possessed or oppressed by demons. If I, as a believer, am seated with Jesus in the heavenly places, then, to be possessed or oppressed would mean the devil has the power to ascend to the Throne of Jesus and overpower him. My safety and security in this life and in eternity is rooted in Jesus and the reality of his completed work on the Cross. As Paul told the Colossians, we believers “are complete in Him.” We are not safe because of our faith or our fight, but because of Jesus and what he has done for us. He is the ultimate reality.
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