We Are Seated With Jesus in The Heavenly Places


 “and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

  • As I’ve mentioned once before, some verses in the Bible are very challenging for me to grasp, this is another one of those,  so I thought I’d share my thoughts as I struggle to understand:)
  • Our verse for today says that it is God who has raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places. How is this so? What exactly does Paul mean by the “heavenly places? And how can we be there and here at the same time? I know he also teaches us, in Philippians 3:20, that this is not our home, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”(NKJV)
  • ‭ But since we are here on earth, I’m not sure how we can be two places at once? Maybe not literally, as I usually take things, but figuratively, we are with Jesus in the heavenly places?
  • Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives IN me. The life I now live in the body, I LIVE BY FAITH in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”(Emphasis mine). I have been crucified with Christ, my old sinful nature was buried with Him, and when He rose again, I rose with Him, to newness of life, and, since Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, their I am with Him! Maybe a bit simplistic, but I’m still learning and trying to understand. So, as I live out my “earthly life” in this body, “spiritually” I am with Jesus, because I am in Him; He is in me! (John 14:20). He lives His life through me, His spirit directs my paths, guides my decisions, as long as I remain open to Him day by day. 
  • Colossians 3:2-3 also reminds us, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you DIED , and your life is now HIDDEN with Christ in God.”(Emphasis mine) This verse helps clarify things a little bit more for me. I have died, not a physical death, but death to self or my old sinful nature as I mentioned above, I believe this is a daily dying to self, not once and done, as Jesus teaches us, in Luke 9:23(ESV).
  • The verse from Colossians also says my “life is now hidden with Christ in God”.  Kind of like a note inside a card inside an envelope? So for now, I continue to live out my earthly life day by day, remembering what Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, that the things we face now are temporary. All this will pass away, what is eternal is what we have to look forward to. That is why we “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  
  • Until that day when we are  fully present with the Lord, let us live our lives by faith, trusting and believing that, because of the Lord’s great mercy and love for us, (Ephesians 2:4-5), we are now seated with Him in the heavenly places and that this is not our home, we are just passing through:)





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