All of us, I believe, have certain places that are special and memorable to us. It might be a favorite vacation spot or restaurant or even the house we grew up in but, wherever it is, it is a place with meaning and significance.
And among places with meaning and significance, nowhere is more important or holds such power as our position in Christ Jesus. For the time being it is not a physical location that we can see our touch with our senses but it is a held position nonetheless and it is vitally important that we understand it and take advantage of it.
God would not have us be ignorant of who we are and what we were created to be. It is the enemies’ aim to keep us in the dark about our identities in Christ and about the power and privilege that he has bestowed upon us. Consider Ephesians 2: 1-10.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time,gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:1-10) NIV
Firstly we must acknowledge that we have been made spiritually alive if we have been born again and accepted God’s free gift of salvation through his son Jesus. And not only have we been made alive and been granted pardon from all sin, we have also been given a seat with God’s precious son Jesus who is even now preparing a place for us in Heaven. John Gill’s exposition has this to say about verse 6:
“Christ is entered into heaven as the forerunner, to take possession of it for his people, in their name; and to prepare mansions of glory for them, and in these they sit; which imports honour, pleasure, rest from labour and weariness, and safety and security: and what adds to the happiness of this is, that it is together with all the saints, and with Christ himself; and in these they are made to sit already; which is so said, because of the certainty of it, for the same glory Christ has, they shall have; and because of their right to such a blessing; and chiefly because Christ their head is set down therein, who sustains their persons, bears their names on his heart, and represents them.”
What a promise and what a thought! Christ himself is waiting for us, preparing for us and has claimed his position as head of all things! And while he waits, God the Father has made us joint heirs together with Jesus (the implications of this still stagger me) to partake in the same blessings and glory that has been conferred on his precious son.
This is our position in the heavenly kingdoms and it is fixed with certainty. And because we are on the journey to that glorious place we must be about doing God’s work while we journey through this life. Verse 10 makes it clear that God himself has prepared good works for us to find and discover in advance and as we set about that blessed work we know for sure that we are storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven and that our creator eagerly waits for our homecoming day. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is where we belong.
