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With Christ in Heavenly Places
By Rev John Thackway, pastor of Emmanuel Church, Salisbury
“And made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:6
In Ephesians chapter two the apostle Paul shows what the power of God’s grace has done in Christians: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (verse 1). The change is such that only life compared with death can set it forth. This is no overstatement for effect, as when joyous news makes someone say, “It’s like life from the dead.” This is language expressing an actual spiritual resurrection: “quickened [or made alive], who were dead.” There can be no greater contrast than this.
The following verses expand the “before and after.” Its source is infinite love: “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us” (verse 4). And its efficient cause is union with Christ: “hath quickened us together with Christ … and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (verses 5-6).
Earlier in the epistle, Paul wrote that God’s power that effected our spiritual resurrection is the same power that raised up His Son from the dead:
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places (1:19-20).
Notice here, Paul mentions something further: not only Christ’s resurrection, but also His ascension and exaltation to the Father’s right hand. And, coming back to 2:6, this is also what we share in: not only being raised from spiritual death but also raised to the highest heaven – in Christ: “and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Our union with Christ means this is true of us as well! (Cf 1:3). It is a staggering truth and has some wonderful implications for us. What, then, is the message of Ephesians 2:6 concerning our being with Christ in the heavenly realm?
- WE ARE NOT THERE LITERALLY.
These words refer to our Lord’s bodily resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand in heaven. Obviously, this has not happened to us.
1] Christians are not yet in heaven.
Our Lord is “in heavenly places” – we are still in earthly places. We have to be, because here we learn to grow as Christians. Our Lord accordingly asks for us, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:15,17). And God the Father answers this prayer. For now, this world is our place of teaching, witness, holiness and service. Our present life becomes our preparation for heaven as “strangers and pilgrims.” We are not in glory with our Lord yet – we have His divine presence with us here (Matthew 28:20). Only when in heaven shall we be “with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).
2] Our Lord is in heaven now.
He foretold this when He said that some would “see the Son of man ascend up where he was before” (John 6:62). Forty days after His resurrection He had went “into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him” (1 Peter 3:22). There He is glorified as the God-Man Mediator. This is no illusion; we can say with Joseph Hart,
A Man there is, a real Man,
With wounds still gaping wide,
From which rich streams of blood once ran,
In hands, and feet, and side.
‘Tis no wild fancy of our brains,
No metaphor we speak;
The same dear Man in heaven now reigns,
That suffered for our sake.
This is the crown and climax of our Redeemer’s work. We might say that His resurrection and exaltation are God sealing and accepting His work for us (Romans 1:4; 1 Peter 1:21). If Christ had remained under the power of death, our sins would not be atoned for, we could not be justified, and heaven would not be opened to us. But the Father has accepted the finished work of the Son, and raised Him on high, that we might be sure of our reconciliation with God and inheritance in heaven.
3] Christ is there as our Head.
He has fulfilled all that in covenant the Father gave Him to do – not as a private Person but as a public Person: not for Himself but for His people. What He did was for our sakes: “all that the Father giveth me” (John 6:37). As our Covenant Head, we were in union with Him when He died, rose again, ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high. He has gone to heaven as our “Forerunner” (Hebrews 6:20)- one who goes ahead and takes possession for those who follow – and therefore in Him, we are as good as there too. Although not actually in heaven yet, this makes it so sure for us that John Gambold could write:
Great spoils I shall win from death, hell, and sin,
’Midst outward afflictions shall feel Christ within;
And when I’m to die, Receive me, I’ll cry,
For Jesus hath loved me, I cannot tell why:
But this I do find, we two are so joined,
He’ll not live in glory and leave me behind;
So this is the race I’m running through grace,
Henceforth, till admitted to see my Lord’s face.
- WE ARE THERE EXPERIENTIALLY
Union with Christ gives us what is not actually true of us yet: “in heavenly places in Christ.” In the realm of gracious experience it is as if we are there.
1] This can be real to us now.
“Made us sit together in heavenly places” – there is one other verse in the New Testament where this phrase is used. It is in Luke 22:55 where servants had made a fire and “were set down together” to warm themselves, and Peter foolishly joined them there. However, those in Christ are “set down together” in safer and more glorious company – with Christ Himself in heaven. We can share “the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2) the other side of the cross and in wearing the crown.
Rightly viewed, this will have that separating and sanctifying effect upon us for which our Lord prayed in John 17. In Christ we are raised above this sinful world and belong to a more glorious realm. Born “from above” (John 3:3 margin) our native place is no longer here: heaven becomes the homing instinct of our soul. As Wilhelmus à Brakel put it: “Since the Head is already in heaven, all His members must also become heavenly minded, and by way of the ascension must continually stir themselves up to holiness of life.”
2] This is fellowship with the Lord in heaven.
The phrase “sit together” (Ephesians 3:6) literally means, “take a seat in company with.” Therefore, our Lord’s entrance to heaven means that He bids us experientially join Him where He is. John Trapp put it like this: “We have taken up our rooms beforehand in heaven, whereunto we have just right upon earth by virtue of the union.”
3] This gives us a higher element and sphere.
“In heavenly places” becomes a realm increasingly more familiar to us because of union with the ascended and exalted Christ. By His inworking Holy Spirit He draws our hearts upwards into the divine (2 Chronicles 17:6). Therefore, the scripture exhorts us: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1).
We can breathe the purer air of heaven to counteract the polluted air of this present world. All the means of grace in the church foster and promote this for us. Secret prayer and private reading of scripture bring heaven near, but the public means of grace even more so. The sung praises of God, the reading and preaching of God’s word, the ordinances of the Lord’s Supper and baptism, and the fellowship of saints can be like our heaven below. We will never be nearer heaven than in the assembly on the Lord’s Day. Here, we give thanks for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. Let us approach every service and meeting praying for soul elevation that enables us to “see Jesus … crowned with glory and honour” (Hebrews 2:9).
4] This spoils us for this world.
When we view this present evil world in the light of a better world, how temporary is our native place. All is vanity and emptiness. John Owen declared: “The more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy.” You and I, dear reader, might well ask, what claim has it upon us now? Another world beckons us as our “inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4).
5] Therefore, we stand for higher things.
Christians, like the spire on church buildings, point unbelievers upwards. We are a continual reminder to them of a God in heaven, a great Saviour, and a world to come. “Wherever thou meetest a Christian, he is going to heaven” wrote William Gurnall. The world of unbelieving sinners desperately needs this witness. They may disbelieve and ridicule the gospel, but it is hard to dismiss a life and lifestyle that has priorities redolent of eternity: “Holding forth the word of life … For our conversation is in heaven” (Philippians 2:16; 3:20).
6] We bemoan earth-boundness.
“My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word” (Psalm 119:25). This will often be our prayer. Our new and heavenly nature exists alongside remaining sin in us. And our native corruptions – “the motions of sins” (Romans 7:5) – work to counteract motions heavenward. The default direction of our soul is always downwards. We feel earthbound and heavy: “our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth” (Psalm 44:25).
Only the quickening of the Holy Spirit can counteract this. How wonderful are those times when we are lifted heavenward as the “the things which are not seen [and] are eternal” become real to faith and experience (2 Corinthians 4:18)! We notice in Psalm 119:25 that the means the Holy Spirit uses is the word of God: “according to thy word.” And that the psalmist prays for it: “quicken thou me.” It is a prayer the Lord will be pleased to answer. Charles Bridges assures us:
But this complaint is the language of conflict and humiliation – not of despondency. Observe the believer carrying it to the Lord – ‘Here I lie in the dust, without life or power. Oh! Saviour, who came that I might have life, and that I might have it more abundantly – quicken me: breathe into me Thine own life, that I may rise from the dust, and cleave to Thee.’ This cry for quickening grace is the exercise of faith. We have a covenant to plead. Faith is the hand that takes hold of the promise, ‘according to Thy word.’ Can this word fail? Sooner shall heaven and earth pass away, than one jot or one tittle pass from the engagements of a covenant-keeping God. ‘He is faithful that promised.’ The man who takes hold of this plea, is ‘a prince who has power with God, and prevails.’
- WE WILL BE THERE ULTIMATELY
“And made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This awaits its eventual and ultimate fulfilment when we are in heaven with the Lord.
1] This will be true of us in the fullest sense.
We will actually “sit together” in heaven with our blessed Lord, for He has said, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21). This, surely, is astonishing! That we will actually be next to the Lord on His throne, in the place of highest honour and favour! If He is “highly exalted” (Philippians 2:9) so shall we be. Charles Simeon expresses it in this way,
As a view of the recompence that awaits us … it will be proper to contemplate it with care. Our Lord declares it in terms the most glorious that can be conceived: ‘The Christian shall reign with Him.’
Christ is seated in heaven on a throne of glory: but He does not occupy that throne alone; He admits His victorious followers to a participation of it. Nothing less than this is deemed a sufficient reward for them. It were an unspeakably great reward, if we were only permitted to behold Him upon His throne; but He assures us that we shall be exalted to sit thereon together with Him, and thus to share both His honour and felicity. Such honour have all His saints; and He, as the arbiter of life and death, pledges His word, that He Himself will bestow this reward upon them. How blessed then must they be! How poor a recompense would earthly kingdoms be in comparison of this!
2] This exalts us higher than the angels.
They live in the heavenly places, and it is their sphere of service, as they come and go in this world: “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). But even those exalted beings will be lower than us when we are in heaven. Our union with Christ will mean our realised relation above theirs. As Thomas Watson put it: “God has made His children, by adoption, nearer to Himself than the angels. The angels are the friends of Christ; believers are His members.” From being a little lower than the angels we shall be so much higher than they. Then Hannah’s song will be fulfilled in the glorified saints, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory” (1 Samuel 2:8).
3] What we have known by faith and experience will be ours forever.
John Howe expresses our share in Christ’s heaven and glory: “The display of this glory is the ultimate product of the great achievements, sharp conflicts, glorious victories, and high merits of our mighty Redeemer. Our holy souls now enter the Divine Shekinah, the Presence Chamber of the great King. Here His glory surrounds us with encircling beams: which are beset with glory and filled with joy. We are within the veil, whither Jesus the Forerunner is for us entered. Will it not … be a satisfying glory?”
But let John Bunyan have the last word on this point. In his Pilgrim’s Progress he has the angels telling Christian and Hopeful what exalted joys await them in the Celestial City where they have nearly arrived:
In that place you must wear crowns of gold, and enjoy the perpetual sight and visions of the Holy One; for there you shall see Him as He is. There, also, you shall serve Him continually with praise, with shouting, and thanksgiving; whom you desired to serve in the world, though with much difficulty, because of the infirmity of your flesh. There your eyes shall be delighted with seeing, and your ears with hearing the pleasant voice of, the mighty One. There you shall enjoy your friends again, that are got thither before you; and there you shall with joy receive even every one that follows into the holy place after you. There, also, you shall be clothed with glory and majesty, and put into an equipage fit to ride out with the King of Glory. When He shall come with sound of trumpet in the clouds, as upon the wings of the wind, you shall come with Him; and when He shall sit upon the Throne of Judgment, you shall sit by Him; yea, and when He shall pass sentence upon all the workers of iniquity, let them be angels or men, you also shall have a voice in that Judgment, because they were His and your enemies. Also, when He shall again return to the City, you shall go too, with sound of trumpet, and be ever with Him.
May we be “in heavenly places in Christ” now, that we may have the realised culmination of it all in the world to come!
(Used with kind permission of the author.)
