And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
God in rich mercy and great love made those dead in trespasses and sins alive together with Christ, raised them up together, and made them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That raising and seating is never apart from Christ but only in union with Him, who is the meeting place between God and humanity in whom believers are complete. Salvation here is by grace through faith as the gift of God, not of selves and not by human works, reaching the lowest depths of human woe with need itself as the qualification. Sitting with Christ is abiding companionship with Him, both a present standing entered by faith with Christ dwelling in the heart, and a hope to be fulfilled in heaven. The together is oneness, that reconciled sinners are made one body and one family to live in love, to be renewed in character unto the good works God ordained, and to show in the ages to come the exceeding riches of His grace.
Words and Context
The verse begins with people dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world and according to the prince of the power of the air working in the children of disobedience, living in the lusts of the flesh and fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind as by nature children of wrath. Even when they walked according to Satan and remained under the control of the powers of darkness, God acted toward them in rich mercy and great love. That mercy delivers them from walking according to the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air, and calls them away from the disloyalty of the world to build character in obedience to His word. The daily tested choice of companion and walk, whether Christ or the god of this world, is decided in little commonplace acts and affections that testify character and destiny for eternity.
God, who is rich in mercy for the great love with which He loved them, quickened those dead in sins together with Christ, raised them up together, and made them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This new standing in Christ contrasts with the former life in sin and belongs to salvation by grace through faith as the gift of God, not of selves and not by human works. It displays God's grace, mercy, love, kindness, and power toward believers, and expresses His tenderness toward all who will appreciate His love, giving great comfort, hope, and consolation. Through Christ true believers are built together for a dwelling place of God through the Spirit, no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens of the saints and of the household of light, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone into a holy temple in the Lord for a habitation of God through the Spirit, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in.
The raising and seating are together: not apart from Christ and not as separate independent atoms, but so identified with Christ as to be wholly one with Him as He is one with the Father. This together-raising and together-seating is an instructive lesson for those not working in harmony that they are made one, reconciled in one body, built together as fellow citizens and a holy temple for God, and must walk and work together in unity and peace. It is the highest measure of character and the richest blessing possible for human beings, placing great responsibility on them.
The blessing is found only in Jesus Christ and in union with Him, because His love reaches down to the very lowest depths of human woe and misery. Christ is the appointed meeting place between God and humanity, the Lamb in the midst of God's throne and humanity's Advocate through whom people are united with God and may commune with Him, so that true devotion fixes faith on Christ, who helps them know God more fully. Believers are complete in Christ who gave His life to save them and is now seated with the Father on His throne, and this completeness belongs to the education received here that can be taken to the other world, with the love of God and purity of soul running through the life.
Sitting with Christ is sitting down in companionship with Him, not merely pausing a moment in His presence, but an abiding fellowship with Him. It calls those joined together in demanding gospel work, even those who put all they have into it, to have much patience and to take time to rest with Him. A sinner who believes in Christ and repents is made to sit with Him in heavenly places, and this is both the believer's present standing in Christ by faith and the redeemed person's hope to be fulfilled in heaven. Believers must now sit together with Christ through inward union with Him, with Christ in them and they in Him, knowing Christ here and enjoying His abiding presence in their hearts, learning the mystery of His incarnation and the sacrifice He made for them. This present identification with Christ in this world, with education begun here in learning and praise, is necessary in order to be identified as His saints in the mansions He has gone to prepare, to see the King in His beauty, and to have that education perfected in heaven where they will join the heavenly choir and praise God with immortal tongues.
Salvation by Grace
Salvation is by grace through faith as the gift of God, not of selves and not by human works, received through union with Christ and displaying God's mercy, love, kindness, and power toward believers. God by mercy and grace gives those spiritually dead in sin new life together with Christ, raises them with Him, and seats them in heavenly places in Christ Jesus as part of making fallen people His children, and this belongs to His purpose of grace fulfilled through Christ.
God acts from rich mercy and great love that reaches down to the very lowest depths of human woe and misery, holding up with everlasting arms those who walked according to Satan as prince of the power of the air, with the blessing found only in Jesus Christ. This seating is not a reward for goodness or worthiness but comes from the free promptings of grace, placing believers on a safe and sure path toward sanctification and ennobled character, delivering them from the power of darkness and translating them into the kingdom of the Son. Grace is an attribute shown to undeserving humans, not sought by them but sent in search of them, with need itself as the qualification, so that God rejoices to bestow it on everyone who hungers for it not because worthy but because utterly unworthy. It could never have been learned without the fall, for sinless angels who serve and obey are loved but are not given grace and know nothing of it because they never sinned and never needed it. As soon as the sinner dead in trespasses and sins feels need and comes to Jesus confessing sinfulness, unworthiness, hopelessness and helplessness and pleading to be saved from perishing, Christ saves to the uttermost and casts out none, accepting him in the Beloved, changing cries of distress to praise, and irradiating the heart darkened by sin with the light of life.
Being made alive means passing from death unto life, from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, feeling the offensive character of sin and receiving forgiveness through hearty repentance and true faith with a broken and contrite heart, knowing the privileges and liberty of the sons of God. It is being born again by the infusion of the Holy Spirit, renewed from utter destitution of spiritual life, delivered from bondage to self and from walking according to the course of the world and the lusts of the flesh, saved and ennobled with widened thoughts and the divine image wrought anew. It comes by an inward invisible change of heart like leaven changing meal, cleansing from impurity and fitting for service, supplying no new faculties but thoroughly changing the employment of existing faculties, softening and subduing natural inclinations, implanting new thoughts, new feelings and new motives, and regenerating every faculty without loss of personal identity. This transformation comes as faith comes by hearing the Word, the Scriptures sanctifying through truth so that works testify of birth from God, and when the new life enters through faith in Christ's resurrection a quickening power takes possession of the whole man, filling the heart with hope and joy and giving assurance of a living hope wholly different from natural hope. Those made children of God give evidence by changed disposition and character in humble joy leading to abasement of self rather than boisterous self-confidence, while strangers to repentance know nothing of such change nor comprehend its language, and the verse belongs only to the truly converted and must be kept by following on to know the Lord, enshrining truth, doing His will and persevering to the crown of life.
Those made new are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in, and the verse gives power for those good works. This mercy calls men to go work in the vineyard as purchased heritage, called away from disloyalty to build character in obedience, accepted as laborers together with God as His husbandry and building, no more strangers but fellow citizens of the saints built into a holy temple for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Revival is a resurrection from spiritual death under the ministration of the Holy Spirit, a renewal of spiritual life and quickening of mind and heart, which is different from reformation as reorganization and change in ideas, habits and practices; reformation brings forth good fruit only when connected with revival, so both must blend.
God's Eternal Purpose
God has raised believers up together and seated them together with Christ in heavenly places so that in the ages to come He might display the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward them through Christ Jesus. This raising from spiritual death and placing with Christ belongs to salvation by grace, wrought by God in rich mercy and great love toward those dead in sins by making them alive together with Christ. The redeemed will remain through the ages a testimony to His love, mercy, and grace, and He desires His children even now to show the world what this heavenly sitting together means by bringing His kindness into their dealings with one another. Their changed lives united to Christ are therefore to reveal the value of Christ's righteousness through helpful words, pure actions, noble principles, and a life shaped by truth.
This belongs to God's desire after Adam's fall to reconcile sinners to heaven's unchangeable holiness, justice, and truth without letting them perish. Moved by rich mercy and great love, He accepted Christ's offer to clothe divinity with humanity and give His life as a ransom so they might gain everlasting life through a love that passes understanding. It is by grace through faith as the gift of God, not of works, making saved sinners His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in, showing God's purpose for each person and what they may become by striving to fulfill it. It is one of the mysteries God has revealed through His prophets since the promise given in Eden and made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God.
The seating was made possible because Christ descended into profound humiliation and gave Himself to death so that people might be raised to sit with Him in heavenly places. Jesus, the Majesty of heaven, left His glory, riches, and high command and for the fallen race became poor, enduring trials, mocking, derision, a life of humiliation and suffering, poverty, and an ignominious death, that through His poverty the fallen sons and daughters of Adam might be made rich and exalted to His own right hand. His ascension and intercession, His self-denial and sinless life, show that He trod the path His followers are called to walk, and His victory assures them that human weakness need not prevent them from overcoming. His self-giving secures salvation and calls those He saves to consecrate themselves to His service, to follow His example in penitence, faith, self-denial, and continual resistance to pride while He shapes character and conduct. The love of Christ in dying for sinners has thrown open the gates of Paradise, and the heart of the great mystery of redemption is love; looking into His sacrifice and thinking of it binds the believer's life up with His life, imparts the same spirit that led Christ to die for sinners, and fills every fiber of being with desire to serve Him.
The risen, ascended Christ entered heaven as representative of all His people, having redeemed them with His own blood, and today as Jesus Christ the righteous He is their Advocate with the Father pleading in their behalf. He gives assurance that as He was raised from the dead so all His followers will be raised from their graves, and that all who believe in Him will be justified and all whom He justifies will be glorified. Believers are made alive together with Christ through faith in His resurrection from the dead, and when the new life enters the soul a quickening power takes possession of the whole man. This gives assurance and guarantee that the living hope, which in every way differs from the hope that arises in the natural heart, will be fulfilled, and as their head, hope, and rejoicing He gives them every reason to rejoice and sing praises to their Redeemer.
From eternity God purposed to bestow wisdom on believers in His Word, raising them to sit in heavenly places with Christ. Christ longs to give His chosen people even in this world a foretaste of the glory His faithful ones will share. This hidden treasure of wisdom and wonderful light belongs to those who keep the way of the Lord and opens to those who press on in faith, heeding no hindrance or difficulty, keeping their eyes fixed on the glory Christ reveals.
Present Union with Christ
Being raised and seated means Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, which is contemplating Him and beholding Him and ever cherishing Him as best and honored Friend so as never in any action to grieve or offend Him. The verse is full of instruction about life in Christ and belongs with the promise that salvation is by grace through faith as the gift of God and not of self. The time will never come when the hellish shadow of Satan is not cast athwart the pathway to obstruct faith and eclipse light from Jesus the Sun of Righteousness, so faith must not stagger but cleave through that shadow, for faith is not in feeling but in truth. It means being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as Chief Cornerstone, as a church built for a habitation of God through the Spirit, and being rooted and grounded in love so as to comprehend breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of God which passes knowledge. In the human heart cleansed from all moral impurity dwells the precious Saviour, ennobling and sanctifying the whole nature and making the man a temple for the Holy Spirit.
The raising is Christ lifting people from spiritual death and giving them new life with Him, bringing hope and joy, and the seating describes this heavenly spiritual life shared through Christ while still on earth. It is communion with Him now, enjoying the joy and peace He alone can give, with a clean heart and love for Christ and oneness with Him as He is one with the Father. This is entered when the light of the Sun of Righteousness shines into the heart, bringing rest in peace and joy in the Lord, as His love encircles the lost and seeks them as a shepherd hunts the lost sheep and brings them back to the fold to sit together with Him. The Spirit moving in the heart lifts people from the slough of despond and wickedness and sin to sit together with Christ, giving a new heart whose treasure is known by words of praise and thankfulness and honor to God and to the Saviour and by works testifying the character of the tree and bringing forth treasures new and old. Such believers receive from the Saviour a clean heart as the most precious gift, an experience more valuable than gold or silver or precious stones, loving Him with heart and mind and soul and strength as His blood-bought heritage, with spiritual eyesight not dimmed by worldly policy or aims. It calls for praising the Lord as the health of the countenance and God, not in words only but by consecration to Him of all that one is and all that one has.
It is received by coming to God just as one is, feeling need and confessing sinfulness, unworthiness, hopelessness and helplessness and asking to be saved from perishing, without building up self-righteousness, seeking to justify self, claiming merit for good actions, or priding oneself on knowledge of righteousness. The sinner dead in trespasses and sins who so comes in faith is accepted in the Beloved and brought into warm loving fellowship with Christ dwelling in the heart, learning the heavenly life with Him. Sitting comes when a person puts off the old citizen's dress of reliance on self and puts on the wedding garment Christ has prepared and puts on Christ, walking in meekness and lowliness and surrendering ways to God. Through the merits of the Son of God the believer then stands on vantage ground in cooperation with Christ as a partaker of the divine nature. As soon as Jesus is received as personal Saviour, cries of distress and woe are changed to songs of praise and thanksgiving, for God says let there be light and there is light, and the heart once darkened by sin is irradiated by the presence of Him who is the light of life, saving to the uttermost all who come and casting out none.
Christ stands at the believer's right hand offering to lift him up to sit together in heavenly places in Him, and grasping the hand of infinite power raises spirituality to a much higher standard. Instead of turning from Him and His promises and telling troubles, temptations and weakness to mortal human beings who cannot bear them, and dishonoring God by turning from the Source and Fountainhead of strength to human inefficiency and the arm of flesh, the believer is to come to Christ just as he is and place himself in His hands. He is to believe in Christ's keeping power and believe he is kept by the power of God through faith, committing himself to God and taking troubles to the Master, which brings the very help needed in all times of affliction.
That union is entered by submitting to the control of the Holy Spirit and receiving the Holy Spirit, putting on Christ and loving God with all heart and soul and strength and mind. God is the divine agent and the believer the human agent working in cooperation, depending on God's power while working out salvation with fear and trembling as God works to will and to do of His good pleasure. Loving to obey Christ is the one great evidence of spiritual growth entering this sweet union, for God requires believers to be doers of His Word and not hearers only. Reaching a high standard of religious experience requires cultivating the meekness and lowliness of Christ and loving obedience and loving righteousness because it is of heavenly origin, with Christ imparting His righteousness seen in a well-ordered life and godly speech as He molds traits and wills into harmony with His. In affliction believers are sustained by Christ's grace to live with Him in heavenly places through a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit, with calm and sweet trust in God while feeding on the rich promises of the Word of life and casting all care upon Him who cares for them, so that Satan with his temptations cannot separate them from the love of Christ Jesus their Lord. Sitting together with Christ is joined to loving one another and working together without conflict.
The Holy Spirit clothes believers with Christ's righteousness and gives them heavenly wisdom, enabling them to sit with Christ in heavenly places. The aim is to sit with Christ and partake of His Spirit until Christ is reflected in the life. Believers are to sit together in heavenly places in Christ by placing themselves where they continually receive the Spirit's evidence that they are God's children and that He loves them. This fellowship is sought as the Holy Spirit brings Christ's presence and love and comfort into their hearts.
Believers may now sit together in heavenly places with Christ through direct personal communion with God, in which He speaks His mysteries to each one personally and gives individual understanding of duty and of His will and direction for what to do. This is received by coming to Him in faith in consecration and humility of heart instead of depending on fellow men to explain duty or tell what to do.
Converted people sit in heavenly places in Christ even in this life by associating with Him, denying self, taking up the cross and following Him as disciples, and by this they show before the universe of heaven that they are wise. While still on earth a person can dwell by faith in the realms of light, with the heart upon eternal treasures instead of gathering gold or silver or building possessions here, having looked upon the celestial city and seen the King in His glory in the midst of Zion, and the greater the surrounding iniquity the more earnest the longing for the home of God. Enoch lived this, dwelling by faith in the realms of light while still on earth and walking with God. Christ reveals Himself to believers on earth and they learn the mystery of His incarnation and the sacrifice He made for them, and this present learning and praise prepares them for life with God, for the education begun here will be perfected in heaven where they will join the heavenly choir and praise God with immortal tongues. During the whole probationary time of test and trial those obedient to Christ are to sit in heavenly places in Jesus in all their studies, learning lessons out of the Word with God's help and appropriating heavenly truths for practical use in order to receive the divine likeness, have the moral image of God restored, prepare character for the future life, return to obedience to the commandments of God, and walk in communion with God as Enoch did.
Unity Together in Christ
The together-raising and together-seating is a lesson in oneness for those not working in harmony, for those dead in sins are made alive together with Christ by rich mercy and great love and saved by grace to display the exceeding riches of His kindness in ages to come. They are made one and reconciled in one body, built together as fellow citizens and a holy temple for God, and must walk and work together in unity and peace. Through Jesus Christ believers are brought near and made one, so that distance and natural family ties do not prevent spiritual unity, which is a blessed hope resting on His merits. All who embrace the gospel are delivered from walking according to the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air working in the children of disobedience, and are made children of God and members of one family with free access to Him as Father, to love as brethren and be one in mind and spirit and action, bought with a price to glorify God in body and spirit and therefore to resist Satan's work to misjudge, alienate and divide.
Their shared life in Christ is to be visible to the world as a miracle of Christian love, showing what God's truth and divine grace can do for those who love and serve Him and partake of the divine nature. Drawing near to Christ as the central figure brings believers into close contact with one another, and this demands ceasing judgment, criticism and warfare and loving one another as Christ has loved them. This shared life accompanies active concern for saving souls, which must not diminish while people still need to be reached, but should strengthen the work that spreads knowledge of God. Nearness to Christ is expressed by receiving God's love and grace and sharing them with others, putting away selfishness, envy and evil suspicion, so that those who live in companionship with Him reflect the Saviour's character and bring joy and blessing to others.
God desires His children to show the world what this heavenly sitting together means by bringing His kindness into their dealings with one another, unto the display of the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness through Christ in ages to come. Those who come into close relationship with Jesus are lifted together into a heavenly position in Him now by the softening, subduing influence of the Spirit on hearts and minds, giving true children new sight to see wondrous things out of His law and carrying on Christian culture in every heart worked by the Holy Spirit. This produces a soft, subdued spirit in all who look to Jesus, and the love of Jesus always leads to Christian courtesy, refinement of language and purity of expression testifying to the company they keep, as Enoch walked with God, with no storming and no harshness but a sweet fragrance in speech and spirit. Trusting Christ and living from this heavenly standing in every circumstance restrains vehemence, so words do not wound hearts or destroy life, but are spoken with meekness and peace. It is known when Christians esteem one another as bought by Christ's blood, refuse hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, childish inconsistency, careless wounding speech and harshness, and instead live in love and unity with lips cleansed by God so their words elevate, refine, ennoble, carry the fragrance of Christ's righteousness, give life, bless others, and correctly represent Christ in family, church and world.
Sitting together in heavenly places is realized when believers come together in person in unity, and a rich reward comes through it in blessing and the salvation of God. It requires a waking among believers, with each imbued with the spirit of the work, possessing holy energy, faith and hope, depending wholly upon God and strengthening one another in the great work committed to their hands. This unity is the oneness between workers in Northern and Southern institutions, reached when those in the North lay aside prejudice and those in the South humble their hearts before God through better understanding of the work, uniting in love and service. Teachers in school or church and their students sit together in heavenly places when the heart is molded and fashioned by Christ's love, for only hearts so molded are qualified to teach and impart knowledge of God as it shines in the face of Christ, with the Holy Spirit present to quicken minds and show Bible truth has life-giving, convicting power reflecting light from minds of students to teachers. Believers meeting with old and tried friends can have this heavenly sitting together, holding faith and hope and trust together and seeing the salvation of God.
This shared life brings heaven's vital influence into the churches and supports unity in God's work for those made alive with Christ by grace and raised with Him to a place with Him in heavenly things. That fellowship is pictured as being together with one another and sharing precious communication, while being upheld by God rather than relying on human strength or sympathy. People who seek the Lord while carrying on hard work for Him under many hindrances are given assurance of being lifted with Christ above human opposition, with continual evidence of a power above human hindrances working for them, so difficulties are not against them. It is the privilege of walking with God and sitting together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Believers are raised up together to sit with Christ in organized church fellowship, standing distinct from the world as God's standard-bearers showing the transforming grace of Christ. Their exalted position is for revealing to the world, to angels and to men an enduring representation of the eternal world, holding forth the Word of life and warning of the binding claims of God's law. It means obeying laws of a higher order than the laws of the world, laws which are the transcript of God's character, consecrating intellect and spiritual endowments to God and humanity, partaking of the divine nature, working with Christ to show to fallen and unfallen worlds a character after the divine similitude, and showing a higher, holier order of enjoyment than the world can give.
Believers must live here below as people seated together in heavenly places, united in faith and confidence with Jesus ruling in their hearts, as preparation for entering God's kingdom. They must now sit together with Christ through inward union with Him, Christ in them and they in Him, knowing Christ here and enjoying His abiding presence in their hearts. This present identification with Christ in this world is necessary in order to be identified as His saints in the mansions He has gone to prepare and to see the King in His beauty.
Transformed Character in Life
Ephesians 2:6 is to be closely studied, for it calls for change in heart and character, for yoking with Christ to learn His meekness and lowliness, and for opening and speedily unlocking the heart to the Saviour's love so that love flows in pure rich currents of tenderness, courtesy and kindly deeds and Christ as the light and life takes possession, with reformation in the soul and determination to obey what Christ gave His disciples, or the attributes He came to give will be lost. Absorbing and manifesting the Spirit of Christ belongs to this seating, in place of dwelling on stirring thoughts that lead to unadvised speaking and unsparing criticism, by considering Christ in His school, realizing of self one is nothing, and taking Him as Pattern and as efficiency to reach that Pattern. Keeping the heart right and directing thoughts heavenward is the spiritual condition the verse points to, without which a splendid worship building or temple has no value.
Being raised and seated means being born again by infusion of the Holy Spirit, renewed from utter destitution of spiritual life, delivered from bondage to self and from walking according to the course of the world and the lusts of the flesh, saved and ennobled with widened thoughts and the divine image wrought anew. It belongs only to the truly converted and not to one who merely began the Christian course, and is to be tested by whether it can be applied to a person; its life must be kept by following on to know the Lord, enshrining truth and doing His will, and persevering unto the end to obtain the crown of life. Through belief in Christ those ransomed become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world through lust and escape from all sin and all defects of character, learning what He is to them so they need retain not one sinful propensity, because Christ is the Sin-bearer who takes away sin. Grace sanctifies the understanding, fills the heart with divine love, subdues the natural disposition and propensities that would make unsuited to heaven, and fits to enjoy heaven and the company of holy angels, whereas the carnal-minded have no natural attraction to its purity.
Sharing Christ's place requires wearing His yoke and learning of Him while on earth, having human nature disciplined and conformed to the nature of Jesus by yielding to His authority and submitting to be molded so He can accomplish the good He designs to do, which perfects Christian character. Every student is to put on Christ now, that by and by he may sit with angels in heavenly places with Christ, and this discipleship qualifies teachers to impart knowledge of God with the Spirit quickening minds. Sitting with Christ means living in purity and holiness through entire consecration to God and entire conformity to His mind, Spirit and will, being balanced by the Holy Spirit and moving considerately, dwelling habitually where wisdom is lavished and meditating on unseen eternal things rather than seen temporal things. True greatness depends on humility rather than dwelling on doctrinal subjects or shaping religious experience to appear great before the world, and one so seated need not fear losing influence and will not lose the influence of any person high or low whose influence is worth having.
True believers already share heaven with Christ even now on earth when His will is perfected in them and His life becomes their life, light and reward, when Christ is formed within as the hope of glory filling the soul with Christlike joy, humble contrite hearts and fervent love for one another. This is the beginning of preparedness for heaven here on earth, giving efficiency and power for medical missionary work by working as Christ worked and being Christlike in word and deed, manifesting His glory and character in daily life in tenderness, love and fervency instead of lying against professed truth, so the world believes God sent His Son to save sinners. Sitting requires conversion so that His presence is revealed in words, conduct and service, with the repentant sinner who comes to Jesus, believes and makes Him example brought into His heavenly standing and clothed in the bright robe of the Redeemer's character. At Jesus' feet such a one is enabled to see mirrored in his own wicked life the awful depths of depravity to which the unconverted heart can sink, and catches a glimpse of the pure character of the sinless One and of the perfection given to the repentant converted sinner.
The converted person in whom truth takes possession of heart, mind, will and affections and love fills the heart sits in heavenly places with Christ, and Christians have the privilege of so sitting even while facing trials and sharing His suffering in this world. This standing does not remove opposition, even from family members, but the believer relies on God's power and receives victory through the Spirit. The raised holy standing requires steadfastness, for souls who love God and seek obedience may fall from it and be turned out of holiness when Satan's agents come as accusers stirring suspicion, strife, accusation and reproach and tempting to evil. God in rich mercy and great love saves by grace through faith as gift, in contrast to the past walk according to the prince of the power of the air and the lusts of the flesh as by nature children of wrath, and presses the daily tested choice of companion and walk, whether Christ or the god of this world, decided in little commonplace acts and affections testifying character and destiny; the pathway is not smooth but has peculiar difficulties testing faith, taxing patience and trying steadfastness, to be faced bravely with unswerving principle with Christ and angels present unto a crown of life, because He delivered from darkness into the kingdom of His Son to perfect characters purified and made white. Those seated are weighed by God in character, actions, motives, purposes and thoughts, requiring not increase of light but surrender of the soul to be born again so by grace He makes the light already given a living principle of action, while those who turn aside in self-confidence to unfair dealing, misappropriation and blocking salvation make false paths for others and are weighed in the balances and found wanting.
Mission and Witness to Others
Those seated together with Christ in heavenly places are to make the worth of His righteousness visible through helpful words, pure actions, noble principles, and a life molded by truth as it is in Jesus, as part of God's purpose to display the riches of His kindness in the ages to come. Their faces are to reflect heaven's light, and their living is to honor Christ with praise and thanksgiving while revealing to the world the keeping power of His grace. The converted soul thus quickened from death in trespasses and sins and by nature a child of wrath has the same work to do with Christ for other souls still dead in sins, bearing the burden to bring them to knowledge of the truth. That uplifting is gained by laying hold of God through Jesus Christ and laboring with the power that is in Him to rescue souls in danger, and it is cause to thank God and glorify Him for matchless love.
Close communion with Christ brings believers into shared spiritual life with Him that gives assurance and moves them to testify of Him, serve Him, and carry His work forward. The apostles were brought by grace into that close communion and heavenly standing through sincere devotion and humble, earnest prayer, and from it they recognized their debt to Christ. By persevering prayer that fellowship prepared them to receive the endowment of the Holy Spirit and to go out zealously with power for saving souls. When the poor, needy and destitute who have been neglected and abandoned by the world receive the gospel in its loveliness and clearness, they are raised to be sons and daughters of the Most High and lifted above any position earth can give to a heavenly standing in Christ. Even with no earthly treasure they possess the pearl of great price, with gospel light shining brightest in humble homes and angels present with them, turning even bread and water into a banquet. Through faith and pardon those despised and rejected are raised to that dignity, and their heavenly standing and priceless gift do not depend on earthly wealth.
Those who repent and believe are made to sit with His saints in heavenly places in Him, saved from living without God and without hope and brought into fellowship with God through Christ. When those dead in trespasses and sins accept present truth they undergo a reformation that makes them members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, brought into fellowship with the saints on a sure foundation. Hearing truth leads them to accept the Sabbath of creation as God's sign and to unite with the church by baptism, knowing for themselves that obedience to God's commandments means eternal life. They are enabled to reach a high standard, even the loftiest heights of faith, as Christians make straight paths for their feet lest the lame be turned out of the way, and it is an enduring work in which means and earnest labor may be safely invested. Those who helped direct them to Christ will meet them there and hear their gratitude, and the blessing they share will be fully enjoyed when they meet Him face to face.
Raising from spiritual death and seating with Christ is the privilege of every shepherd of the flock, to receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God and to know Him and the power of His grace. That privilege calls for earnest travail for souls like seeking the lost sheep, for earnest heart searching and prayerful seeking for God, and it produces a religious experience not tame and commonplace but marked by grace with divine power working with human effort. It is also fitting hope for individuals such as Andrew, that he can be made alive to God and brought into new life through Christ rather than remain under the influence of sin, as part of the saving work God is willing to do for those who surrender the will to Him. The same raising applies to those who had worked against God and labored in spiritual stupor: when they turn and join humbly in God's work He gives them power to serve, and their new life and standing come through grace in Christ. God raises workers to that heavenly place by giving grace and power from on high outside and above themselves, which is His own help giving true success in difficult and poverty-stricken mission fields to those who do not live to themselves but put self out of sight, follow where Jesus leads, and practice self-denial to open new fields.
The verse is a promise to be believed and trusted as God's living Word, declaring that God rich in mercy and moved by great love gives life to those dead in sins and saves by grace through Christ, having chosen them in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him in love. Believed, it gives faith and courage to workers not to fail nor be discouraged while Satan works with all his power to discourage and defeat those laboring in God's service. It shows they must have a firmer hold from above to cope with the powers of darkness seen and felt in every department of the work, and that God will use humble men who are daily learning in the school of Christ amid the missionary fields around them.
God in rich mercy and great love made those dead in trespasses and sins alive together with Christ, raised them up together, and made them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That raising and seating is never apart from Christ but only in union with Him, who is the meeting place between God and humanity in whom believers are complete. Salvation here is by grace through faith as the gift of God, not of selves and not by human works, reaching the lowest depths of human woe with need itself as the qualification. Sitting with Christ is abiding companionship with Him, both a present standing entered by faith with Christ dwelling in the heart, and a hope to be fulfilled in heaven. The together is oneness, that reconciled sinners are made one body and one family to live in love, to be renewed in character unto the good works God ordained, and to show in the ages to come the exceeding riches of His grace.
Words and Context
The verse begins with people dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world and according to the prince of the power of the air working in the children of disobedience, living in the lusts of the flesh and fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind as by nature children of wrath. Even when they walked according to Satan and remained under the control of the powers of darkness, God acted toward them in rich mercy and great love. That mercy delivers them from walking according to the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air, and calls them away from the disloyalty of the world to build character in obedience to His word. The daily tested choice of companion and walk, whether Christ or the god of this world, is decided in little commonplace acts and affections that testify character and destiny for eternity.
God, who is rich in mercy for the great love with which He loved them, quickened those dead in sins together with Christ, raised them up together, and made them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This new standing in Christ contrasts with the former life in sin and belongs to salvation by grace through faith as the gift of God, not of selves and not by human works. It displays God's grace, mercy, love, kindness, and power toward believers, and expresses His tenderness toward all who will appreciate His love, giving great comfort, hope, and consolation. Through Christ true believers are built together for a dwelling place of God through the Spirit, no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens of the saints and of the household of light, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone into a holy temple in the Lord for a habitation of God through the Spirit, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in.
The raising and seating are together: not apart from Christ and not as separate independent atoms, but so identified with Christ as to be wholly one with Him as He is one with the Father. This together-raising and together-seating is an instructive lesson for those not working in harmony that they are made one, reconciled in one body, built together as fellow citizens and a holy temple for God, and must walk and work together in unity and peace. It is the highest measure of character and the richest blessing possible for human beings, placing great responsibility on them.
The blessing is found only in Jesus Christ and in union with Him, because His love reaches down to the very lowest depths of human woe and misery. Christ is the appointed meeting place between God and humanity, the Lamb in the midst of God's throne and humanity's Advocate through whom people are united with God and may commune with Him, so that true devotion fixes faith on Christ, who helps them know God more fully. Believers are complete in Christ who gave His life to save them and is now seated with the Father on His throne, and this completeness belongs to the education received here that can be taken to the other world, with the love of God and purity of soul running through the life.
Sitting with Christ is sitting down in companionship with Him, not merely pausing a moment in His presence, but an abiding fellowship with Him. It calls those joined together in demanding gospel work, even those who put all they have into it, to have much patience and to take time to rest with Him. A sinner who believes in Christ and repents is made to sit with Him in heavenly places, and this is both the believer's present standing in Christ by faith and the redeemed person's hope to be fulfilled in heaven. Believers must now sit together with Christ through inward union with Him, with Christ in them and they in Him, knowing Christ here and enjoying His abiding presence in their hearts, learning the mystery of His incarnation and the sacrifice He made for them. This present identification with Christ in this world, with education begun here in learning and praise, is necessary in order to be identified as His saints in the mansions He has gone to prepare, to see the King in His beauty, and to have that education perfected in heaven where they will join the heavenly choir and praise God with immortal tongues.
Salvation by Grace
Salvation is by grace through faith as the gift of God, not of selves and not by human works, received through union with Christ and displaying God's mercy, love, kindness, and power toward believers. God by mercy and grace gives those spiritually dead in sin new life together with Christ, raises them with Him, and seats them in heavenly places in Christ Jesus as part of making fallen people His children, and this belongs to His purpose of grace fulfilled through Christ.
God acts from rich mercy and great love that reaches down to the very lowest depths of human woe and misery, holding up with everlasting arms those who walked according to Satan as prince of the power of the air, with the blessing found only in Jesus Christ. This seating is not a reward for goodness or worthiness but comes from the free promptings of grace, placing believers on a safe and sure path toward sanctification and ennobled character, delivering them from the power of darkness and translating them into the kingdom of the Son. Grace is an attribute shown to undeserving humans, not sought by them but sent in search of them, with need itself as the qualification, so that God rejoices to bestow it on everyone who hungers for it not because worthy but because utterly unworthy. It could never have been learned without the fall, for sinless angels who serve and obey are loved but are not given grace and know nothing of it because they never sinned and never needed it. As soon as the sinner dead in trespasses and sins feels need and comes to Jesus confessing sinfulness, unworthiness, hopelessness and helplessness and pleading to be saved from perishing, Christ saves to the uttermost and casts out none, accepting him in the Beloved, changing cries of distress to praise, and irradiating the heart darkened by sin with the light of life.
Being made alive means passing from death unto life, from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, feeling the offensive character of sin and receiving forgiveness through hearty repentance and true faith with a broken and contrite heart, knowing the privileges and liberty of the sons of God. It is being born again by the infusion of the Holy Spirit, renewed from utter destitution of spiritual life, delivered from bondage to self and from walking according to the course of the world and the lusts of the flesh, saved and ennobled with widened thoughts and the divine image wrought anew. It comes by an inward invisible change of heart like leaven changing meal, cleansing from impurity and fitting for service, supplying no new faculties but thoroughly changing the employment of existing faculties, softening and subduing natural inclinations, implanting new thoughts, new feelings and new motives, and regenerating every faculty without loss of personal identity. This transformation comes as faith comes by hearing the Word, the Scriptures sanctifying through truth so that works testify of birth from God, and when the new life enters through faith in Christ's resurrection a quickening power takes possession of the whole man, filling the heart with hope and joy and giving assurance of a living hope wholly different from natural hope. Those made children of God give evidence by changed disposition and character in humble joy leading to abasement of self rather than boisterous self-confidence, while strangers to repentance know nothing of such change nor comprehend its language, and the verse belongs only to the truly converted and must be kept by following on to know the Lord, enshrining truth, doing His will and persevering to the crown of life.
Those made new are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in, and the verse gives power for those good works. This mercy calls men to go work in the vineyard as purchased heritage, called away from disloyalty to build character in obedience, accepted as laborers together with God as His husbandry and building, no more strangers but fellow citizens of the saints built into a holy temple for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Revival is a resurrection from spiritual death under the ministration of the Holy Spirit, a renewal of spiritual life and quickening of mind and heart, which is different from reformation as reorganization and change in ideas, habits and practices; reformation brings forth good fruit only when connected with revival, so both must blend.
God's Eternal Purpose
God has raised believers up together and seated them together with Christ in heavenly places so that in the ages to come He might display the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward them through Christ Jesus. This raising from spiritual death and placing with Christ belongs to salvation by grace, wrought by God in rich mercy and great love toward those dead in sins by making them alive together with Christ. The redeemed will remain through the ages a testimony to His love, mercy, and grace, and He desires His children even now to show the world what this heavenly sitting together means by bringing His kindness into their dealings with one another. Their changed lives united to Christ are therefore to reveal the value of Christ's righteousness through helpful words, pure actions, noble principles, and a life shaped by truth.
This belongs to God's desire after Adam's fall to reconcile sinners to heaven's unchangeable holiness, justice, and truth without letting them perish. Moved by rich mercy and great love, He accepted Christ's offer to clothe divinity with humanity and give His life as a ransom so they might gain everlasting life through a love that passes understanding. It is by grace through faith as the gift of God, not of works, making saved sinners His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in, showing God's purpose for each person and what they may become by striving to fulfill it. It is one of the mysteries God has revealed through His prophets since the promise given in Eden and made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God.
The seating was made possible because Christ descended into profound humiliation and gave Himself to death so that people might be raised to sit with Him in heavenly places. Jesus, the Majesty of heaven, left His glory, riches, and high command and for the fallen race became poor, enduring trials, mocking, derision, a life of humiliation and suffering, poverty, and an ignominious death, that through His poverty the fallen sons and daughters of Adam might be made rich and exalted to His own right hand. His ascension and intercession, His self-denial and sinless life, show that He trod the path His followers are called to walk, and His victory assures them that human weakness need not prevent them from overcoming. His self-giving secures salvation and calls those He saves to consecrate themselves to His service, to follow His example in penitence, faith, self-denial, and continual resistance to pride while He shapes character and conduct. The love of Christ in dying for sinners has thrown open the gates of Paradise, and the heart of the great mystery of redemption is love; looking into His sacrifice and thinking of it binds the believer's life up with His life, imparts the same spirit that led Christ to die for sinners, and fills every fiber of being with desire to serve Him.
The risen, ascended Christ entered heaven as representative of all His people, having redeemed them with His own blood, and today as Jesus Christ the righteous He is their Advocate with the Father pleading in their behalf. He gives assurance that as He was raised from the dead so all His followers will be raised from their graves, and that all who believe in Him will be justified and all whom He justifies will be glorified. Believers are made alive together with Christ through faith in His resurrection from the dead, and when the new life enters the soul a quickening power takes possession of the whole man. This gives assurance and guarantee that the living hope, which in every way differs from the hope that arises in the natural heart, will be fulfilled, and as their head, hope, and rejoicing He gives them every reason to rejoice and sing praises to their Redeemer.
From eternity God purposed to bestow wisdom on believers in His Word, raising them to sit in heavenly places with Christ. Christ longs to give His chosen people even in this world a foretaste of the glory His faithful ones will share. This hidden treasure of wisdom and wonderful light belongs to those who keep the way of the Lord and opens to those who press on in faith, heeding no hindrance or difficulty, keeping their eyes fixed on the glory Christ reveals.
Present Union with Christ
Being raised and seated means Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, which is contemplating Him and beholding Him and ever cherishing Him as best and honored Friend so as never in any action to grieve or offend Him. The verse is full of instruction about life in Christ and belongs with the promise that salvation is by grace through faith as the gift of God and not of self. The time will never come when the hellish shadow of Satan is not cast athwart the pathway to obstruct faith and eclipse light from Jesus the Sun of Righteousness, so faith must not stagger but cleave through that shadow, for faith is not in feeling but in truth. It means being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as Chief Cornerstone, as a church built for a habitation of God through the Spirit, and being rooted and grounded in love so as to comprehend breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of God which passes knowledge. In the human heart cleansed from all moral impurity dwells the precious Saviour, ennobling and sanctifying the whole nature and making the man a temple for the Holy Spirit.
The raising is Christ lifting people from spiritual death and giving them new life with Him, bringing hope and joy, and the seating describes this heavenly spiritual life shared through Christ while still on earth. It is communion with Him now, enjoying the joy and peace He alone can give, with a clean heart and love for Christ and oneness with Him as He is one with the Father. This is entered when the light of the Sun of Righteousness shines into the heart, bringing rest in peace and joy in the Lord, as His love encircles the lost and seeks them as a shepherd hunts the lost sheep and brings them back to the fold to sit together with Him. The Spirit moving in the heart lifts people from the slough of despond and wickedness and sin to sit together with Christ, giving a new heart whose treasure is known by words of praise and thankfulness and honor to God and to the Saviour and by works testifying the character of the tree and bringing forth treasures new and old. Such believers receive from the Saviour a clean heart as the most precious gift, an experience more valuable than gold or silver or precious stones, loving Him with heart and mind and soul and strength as His blood-bought heritage, with spiritual eyesight not dimmed by worldly policy or aims. It calls for praising the Lord as the health of the countenance and God, not in words only but by consecration to Him of all that one is and all that one has.
It is received by coming to God just as one is, feeling need and confessing sinfulness, unworthiness, hopelessness and helplessness and asking to be saved from perishing, without building up self-righteousness, seeking to justify self, claiming merit for good actions, or priding oneself on knowledge of righteousness. The sinner dead in trespasses and sins who so comes in faith is accepted in the Beloved and brought into warm loving fellowship with Christ dwelling in the heart, learning the heavenly life with Him. Sitting comes when a person puts off the old citizen's dress of reliance on self and puts on the wedding garment Christ has prepared and puts on Christ, walking in meekness and lowliness and surrendering ways to God. Through the merits of the Son of God the believer then stands on vantage ground in cooperation with Christ as a partaker of the divine nature. As soon as Jesus is received as personal Saviour, cries of distress and woe are changed to songs of praise and thanksgiving, for God says let there be light and there is light, and the heart once darkened by sin is irradiated by the presence of Him who is the light of life, saving to the uttermost all who come and casting out none.
Christ stands at the believer's right hand offering to lift him up to sit together in heavenly places in Him, and grasping the hand of infinite power raises spirituality to a much higher standard. Instead of turning from Him and His promises and telling troubles, temptations and weakness to mortal human beings who cannot bear them, and dishonoring God by turning from the Source and Fountainhead of strength to human inefficiency and the arm of flesh, the believer is to come to Christ just as he is and place himself in His hands. He is to believe in Christ's keeping power and believe he is kept by the power of God through faith, committing himself to God and taking troubles to the Master, which brings the very help needed in all times of affliction.
That union is entered by submitting to the control of the Holy Spirit and receiving the Holy Spirit, putting on Christ and loving God with all heart and soul and strength and mind. God is the divine agent and the believer the human agent working in cooperation, depending on God's power while working out salvation with fear and trembling as God works to will and to do of His good pleasure. Loving to obey Christ is the one great evidence of spiritual growth entering this sweet union, for God requires believers to be doers of His Word and not hearers only. Reaching a high standard of religious experience requires cultivating the meekness and lowliness of Christ and loving obedience and loving righteousness because it is of heavenly origin, with Christ imparting His righteousness seen in a well-ordered life and godly speech as He molds traits and wills into harmony with His. In affliction believers are sustained by Christ's grace to live with Him in heavenly places through a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit, with calm and sweet trust in God while feeding on the rich promises of the Word of life and casting all care upon Him who cares for them, so that Satan with his temptations cannot separate them from the love of Christ Jesus their Lord. Sitting together with Christ is joined to loving one another and working together without conflict.
The Holy Spirit clothes believers with Christ's righteousness and gives them heavenly wisdom, enabling them to sit with Christ in heavenly places. The aim is to sit with Christ and partake of His Spirit until Christ is reflected in the life. Believers are to sit together in heavenly places in Christ by placing themselves where they continually receive the Spirit's evidence that they are God's children and that He loves them. This fellowship is sought as the Holy Spirit brings Christ's presence and love and comfort into their hearts.
Believers may now sit together in heavenly places with Christ through direct personal communion with God, in which He speaks His mysteries to each one personally and gives individual understanding of duty and of His will and direction for what to do. This is received by coming to Him in faith in consecration and humility of heart instead of depending on fellow men to explain duty or tell what to do.
Converted people sit in heavenly places in Christ even in this life by associating with Him, denying self, taking up the cross and following Him as disciples, and by this they show before the universe of heaven that they are wise. While still on earth a person can dwell by faith in the realms of light, with the heart upon eternal treasures instead of gathering gold or silver or building possessions here, having looked upon the celestial city and seen the King in His glory in the midst of Zion, and the greater the surrounding iniquity the more earnest the longing for the home of God. Enoch lived this, dwelling by faith in the realms of light while still on earth and walking with God. Christ reveals Himself to believers on earth and they learn the mystery of His incarnation and the sacrifice He made for them, and this present learning and praise prepares them for life with God, for the education begun here will be perfected in heaven where they will join the heavenly choir and praise God with immortal tongues. During the whole probationary time of test and trial those obedient to Christ are to sit in heavenly places in Jesus in all their studies, learning lessons out of the Word with God's help and appropriating heavenly truths for practical use in order to receive the divine likeness, have the moral image of God restored, prepare character for the future life, return to obedience to the commandments of God, and walk in communion with God as Enoch did.
Unity Together in Christ
The together-raising and together-seating is a lesson in oneness for those not working in harmony, for those dead in sins are made alive together with Christ by rich mercy and great love and saved by grace to display the exceeding riches of His kindness in ages to come. They are made one and reconciled in one body, built together as fellow citizens and a holy temple for God, and must walk and work together in unity and peace. Through Jesus Christ believers are brought near and made one, so that distance and natural family ties do not prevent spiritual unity, which is a blessed hope resting on His merits. All who embrace the gospel are delivered from walking according to the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air working in the children of disobedience, and are made children of God and members of one family with free access to Him as Father, to love as brethren and be one in mind and spirit and action, bought with a price to glorify God in body and spirit and therefore to resist Satan's work to misjudge, alienate and divide.
Their shared life in Christ is to be visible to the world as a miracle of Christian love, showing what God's truth and divine grace can do for those who love and serve Him and partake of the divine nature. Drawing near to Christ as the central figure brings believers into close contact with one another, and this demands ceasing judgment, criticism and warfare and loving one another as Christ has loved them. This shared life accompanies active concern for saving souls, which must not diminish while people still need to be reached, but should strengthen the work that spreads knowledge of God. Nearness to Christ is expressed by receiving God's love and grace and sharing them with others, putting away selfishness, envy and evil suspicion, so that those who live in companionship with Him reflect the Saviour's character and bring joy and blessing to others.
God desires His children to show the world what this heavenly sitting together means by bringing His kindness into their dealings with one another, unto the display of the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness through Christ in ages to come. Those who come into close relationship with Jesus are lifted together into a heavenly position in Him now by the softening, subduing influence of the Spirit on hearts and minds, giving true children new sight to see wondrous things out of His law and carrying on Christian culture in every heart worked by the Holy Spirit. This produces a soft, subdued spirit in all who look to Jesus, and the love of Jesus always leads to Christian courtesy, refinement of language and purity of expression testifying to the company they keep, as Enoch walked with God, with no storming and no harshness but a sweet fragrance in speech and spirit. Trusting Christ and living from this heavenly standing in every circumstance restrains vehemence, so words do not wound hearts or destroy life, but are spoken with meekness and peace. It is known when Christians esteem one another as bought by Christ's blood, refuse hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, childish inconsistency, careless wounding speech and harshness, and instead live in love and unity with lips cleansed by God so their words elevate, refine, ennoble, carry the fragrance of Christ's righteousness, give life, bless others, and correctly represent Christ in family, church and world.
Sitting together in heavenly places is realized when believers come together in person in unity, and a rich reward comes through it in blessing and the salvation of God. It requires a waking among believers, with each imbued with the spirit of the work, possessing holy energy, faith and hope, depending wholly upon God and strengthening one another in the great work committed to their hands. This unity is the oneness between workers in Northern and Southern institutions, reached when those in the North lay aside prejudice and those in the South humble their hearts before God through better understanding of the work, uniting in love and service. Teachers in school or church and their students sit together in heavenly places when the heart is molded and fashioned by Christ's love, for only hearts so molded are qualified to teach and impart knowledge of God as it shines in the face of Christ, with the Holy Spirit present to quicken minds and show Bible truth has life-giving, convicting power reflecting light from minds of students to teachers. Believers meeting with old and tried friends can have this heavenly sitting together, holding faith and hope and trust together and seeing the salvation of God.
This shared life brings heaven's vital influence into the churches and supports unity in God's work for those made alive with Christ by grace and raised with Him to a place with Him in heavenly things. That fellowship is pictured as being together with one another and sharing precious communication, while being upheld by God rather than relying on human strength or sympathy. People who seek the Lord while carrying on hard work for Him under many hindrances are given assurance of being lifted with Christ above human opposition, with continual evidence of a power above human hindrances working for them, so difficulties are not against them. It is the privilege of walking with God and sitting together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Believers are raised up together to sit with Christ in organized church fellowship, standing distinct from the world as God's standard-bearers showing the transforming grace of Christ. Their exalted position is for revealing to the world, to angels and to men an enduring representation of the eternal world, holding forth the Word of life and warning of the binding claims of God's law. It means obeying laws of a higher order than the laws of the world, laws which are the transcript of God's character, consecrating intellect and spiritual endowments to God and humanity, partaking of the divine nature, working with Christ to show to fallen and unfallen worlds a character after the divine similitude, and showing a higher, holier order of enjoyment than the world can give.
Believers must live here below as people seated together in heavenly places, united in faith and confidence with Jesus ruling in their hearts, as preparation for entering God's kingdom. They must now sit together with Christ through inward union with Him, Christ in them and they in Him, knowing Christ here and enjoying His abiding presence in their hearts. This present identification with Christ in this world is necessary in order to be identified as His saints in the mansions He has gone to prepare and to see the King in His beauty.
Transformed Character in Life
Ephesians 2:6 is to be closely studied, for it calls for change in heart and character, for yoking with Christ to learn His meekness and lowliness, and for opening and speedily unlocking the heart to the Saviour's love so that love flows in pure rich currents of tenderness, courtesy and kindly deeds and Christ as the light and life takes possession, with reformation in the soul and determination to obey what Christ gave His disciples, or the attributes He came to give will be lost. Absorbing and manifesting the Spirit of Christ belongs to this seating, in place of dwelling on stirring thoughts that lead to unadvised speaking and unsparing criticism, by considering Christ in His school, realizing of self one is nothing, and taking Him as Pattern and as efficiency to reach that Pattern. Keeping the heart right and directing thoughts heavenward is the spiritual condition the verse points to, without which a splendid worship building or temple has no value.
Being raised and seated means being born again by infusion of the Holy Spirit, renewed from utter destitution of spiritual life, delivered from bondage to self and from walking according to the course of the world and the lusts of the flesh, saved and ennobled with widened thoughts and the divine image wrought anew. It belongs only to the truly converted and not to one who merely began the Christian course, and is to be tested by whether it can be applied to a person; its life must be kept by following on to know the Lord, enshrining truth and doing His will, and persevering unto the end to obtain the crown of life. Through belief in Christ those ransomed become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world through lust and escape from all sin and all defects of character, learning what He is to them so they need retain not one sinful propensity, because Christ is the Sin-bearer who takes away sin. Grace sanctifies the understanding, fills the heart with divine love, subdues the natural disposition and propensities that would make unsuited to heaven, and fits to enjoy heaven and the company of holy angels, whereas the carnal-minded have no natural attraction to its purity.
Sharing Christ's place requires wearing His yoke and learning of Him while on earth, having human nature disciplined and conformed to the nature of Jesus by yielding to His authority and submitting to be molded so He can accomplish the good He designs to do, which perfects Christian character. Every student is to put on Christ now, that by and by he may sit with angels in heavenly places with Christ, and this discipleship qualifies teachers to impart knowledge of God with the Spirit quickening minds. Sitting with Christ means living in purity and holiness through entire consecration to God and entire conformity to His mind, Spirit and will, being balanced by the Holy Spirit and moving considerately, dwelling habitually where wisdom is lavished and meditating on unseen eternal things rather than seen temporal things. True greatness depends on humility rather than dwelling on doctrinal subjects or shaping religious experience to appear great before the world, and one so seated need not fear losing influence and will not lose the influence of any person high or low whose influence is worth having.
True believers already share heaven with Christ even now on earth when His will is perfected in them and His life becomes their life, light and reward, when Christ is formed within as the hope of glory filling the soul with Christlike joy, humble contrite hearts and fervent love for one another. This is the beginning of preparedness for heaven here on earth, giving efficiency and power for medical missionary work by working as Christ worked and being Christlike in word and deed, manifesting His glory and character in daily life in tenderness, love and fervency instead of lying against professed truth, so the world believes God sent His Son to save sinners. Sitting requires conversion so that His presence is revealed in words, conduct and service, with the repentant sinner who comes to Jesus, believes and makes Him example brought into His heavenly standing and clothed in the bright robe of the Redeemer's character. At Jesus' feet such a one is enabled to see mirrored in his own wicked life the awful depths of depravity to which the unconverted heart can sink, and catches a glimpse of the pure character of the sinless One and of the perfection given to the repentant converted sinner.
The converted person in whom truth takes possession of heart, mind, will and affections and love fills the heart sits in heavenly places with Christ, and Christians have the privilege of so sitting even while facing trials and sharing His suffering in this world. This standing does not remove opposition, even from family members, but the believer relies on God's power and receives victory through the Spirit. The raised holy standing requires steadfastness, for souls who love God and seek obedience may fall from it and be turned out of holiness when Satan's agents come as accusers stirring suspicion, strife, accusation and reproach and tempting to evil. God in rich mercy and great love saves by grace through faith as gift, in contrast to the past walk according to the prince of the power of the air and the lusts of the flesh as by nature children of wrath, and presses the daily tested choice of companion and walk, whether Christ or the god of this world, decided in little commonplace acts and affections testifying character and destiny; the pathway is not smooth but has peculiar difficulties testing faith, taxing patience and trying steadfastness, to be faced bravely with unswerving principle with Christ and angels present unto a crown of life, because He delivered from darkness into the kingdom of His Son to perfect characters purified and made white. Those seated are weighed by God in character, actions, motives, purposes and thoughts, requiring not increase of light but surrender of the soul to be born again so by grace He makes the light already given a living principle of action, while those who turn aside in self-confidence to unfair dealing, misappropriation and blocking salvation make false paths for others and are weighed in the balances and found wanting.
Mission and Witness to Others
Those seated together with Christ in heavenly places are to make the worth of His righteousness visible through helpful words, pure actions, noble principles, and a life molded by truth as it is in Jesus, as part of God's purpose to display the riches of His kindness in the ages to come. Their faces are to reflect heaven's light, and their living is to honor Christ with praise and thanksgiving while revealing to the world the keeping power of His grace. The converted soul thus quickened from death in trespasses and sins and by nature a child of wrath has the same work to do with Christ for other souls still dead in sins, bearing the burden to bring them to knowledge of the truth. That uplifting is gained by laying hold of God through Jesus Christ and laboring with the power that is in Him to rescue souls in danger, and it is cause to thank God and glorify Him for matchless love.
Close communion with Christ brings believers into shared spiritual life with Him that gives assurance and moves them to testify of Him, serve Him, and carry His work forward. The apostles were brought by grace into that close communion and heavenly standing through sincere devotion and humble, earnest prayer, and from it they recognized their debt to Christ. By persevering prayer that fellowship prepared them to receive the endowment of the Holy Spirit and to go out zealously with power for saving souls. When the poor, needy and destitute who have been neglected and abandoned by the world receive the gospel in its loveliness and clearness, they are raised to be sons and daughters of the Most High and lifted above any position earth can give to a heavenly standing in Christ. Even with no earthly treasure they possess the pearl of great price, with gospel light shining brightest in humble homes and angels present with them, turning even bread and water into a banquet. Through faith and pardon those despised and rejected are raised to that dignity, and their heavenly standing and priceless gift do not depend on earthly wealth.
Those who repent and believe are made to sit with His saints in heavenly places in Him, saved from living without God and without hope and brought into fellowship with God through Christ. When those dead in trespasses and sins accept present truth they undergo a reformation that makes them members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, brought into fellowship with the saints on a sure foundation. Hearing truth leads them to accept the Sabbath of creation as God's sign and to unite with the church by baptism, knowing for themselves that obedience to God's commandments means eternal life. They are enabled to reach a high standard, even the loftiest heights of faith, as Christians make straight paths for their feet lest the lame be turned out of the way, and it is an enduring work in which means and earnest labor may be safely invested. Those who helped direct them to Christ will meet them there and hear their gratitude, and the blessing they share will be fully enjoyed when they meet Him face to face.
Raising from spiritual death and seating with Christ is the privilege of every shepherd of the flock, to receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God and to know Him and the power of His grace. That privilege calls for earnest travail for souls like seeking the lost sheep, for earnest heart searching and prayerful seeking for God, and it produces a religious experience not tame and commonplace but marked by grace with divine power working with human effort. It is also fitting hope for individuals such as Andrew, that he can be made alive to God and brought into new life through Christ rather than remain under the influence of sin, as part of the saving work God is willing to do for those who surrender the will to Him. The same raising applies to those who had worked against God and labored in spiritual stupor: when they turn and join humbly in God's work He gives them power to serve, and their new life and standing come through grace in Christ. God raises workers to that heavenly place by giving grace and power from on high outside and above themselves, which is His own help giving true success in difficult and poverty-stricken mission fields to those who do not live to themselves but put self out of sight, follow where Jesus leads, and practice self-denial to open new fields.
The verse is a promise to be believed and trusted as God's living Word, declaring that God rich in mercy and moved by great love gives life to those dead in sins and saves by grace through Christ, having chosen them in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him in love. Believed, it gives faith and courage to workers not to fail nor be discouraged while Satan works with all his power to discourage and defeat those laboring in God's service. It shows they must have a firmer hold from above to cope with the powers of darkness seen and felt in every department of the work, and that God will use humble men who are daily learning in the school of Christ amid the missionary fields around them.