Ephesians 2:6
and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
- We were dead in our offenses and sins (Ephesians 2:1)
- He made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:5)
- He raised us up together with Christ (Ephesians 2:6)
- He seated us together with Christ in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6)
It was God from the beginning to the end, so that all glory will be to Him alone. As I used to say, one thing that God would not have before Him is boasting (Romans 3:27).
God did all those things in an unpredictable way.
Having Jesus born in a manger rather than in a palace may not have been what the wise men from the East expected (Matthew 2:1–8, 16). They might have expected to come to the house of Herod, and for everyone to be very aware of the newborn king of the Jews.
They might have come to establish, maybe, a political connection and to show their respect. But later, they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod after they had found the child.
How can God in the flesh be so weak that He was under the threat of death by the man for whom He was responsible for the air he breathed? I am talking about Herod now.
The point is that salvation is the smashing of all preconceived notions (1 Corinthians 1:18–23) so that the only thing that will remain is following God wherever He leads. It demonstrates how God is not man.
Specifically, it crushes the preconceived notion of who God is so that we stop having an image of God that is just an extension of the strongest man we can imagine, or the mythologies constructed by people long ago.
As it is written:
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:25)
The point of Ephesians 2:5-6 is that we have nothing to contribute except to receive. We have nothing to do except nothing. Yes. nothing. That is why Paul exclaimed, by grace you are saved! (Ephesians 2:5)
That concept is difficult for people to grasp, just as the wise men may not have been able to imagine that the king of the Jews would be in a manger. The point is, God messes with our categories so that we would depend on Him alone, step by step. So that which is hidden is truly hidden until God decides to reveal it through the preaching of the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 3:4–5).
If we were only raised up, we would be wondering where we should go, maybe stay in one corner because we would think that was enough, that was more than what we deserve, but grace has not finished its work.
If we were just lifted up to heaven alone, we would have sought a corner there, thinking it was too good to be true. But we were seated with Christ, put in the highest authority, and the next verse will tell us the reason. It is to display the greatness of God's grace towards us.
Paul would call it the surpassing wealth of his grace.
To be made alive is something. It's like the reversal of what happened in the Garden of Eden, where the judgment was death.
To be raised up together with Him is the next level, because that begins to create daylight between who we are and who Adam, the origin of the old creation, was.
It would begin to show that we have been turned into a new class of beings, the new creature, not just a refurbished version of the old. Something new has emerged on the earth (2 Corinthians 5:17).
And then seated. To sit means there is nothing else to do. After sitting down, what else is there to do?
But to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? (Hebrews 1:13)
After Christ has made one sacrifice for sin and said it is finished (John 19:30), He is now seated on the right hand of the Father.
But when this priest had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God, where he is now waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. (Hebrews 10:12-14)
Salvation is sealed and settled. It's the work of God. God has to make what He does different from what we do. What He does is perfect.
As for the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. He is a reliable God who is never unjust, he is fair and upright. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
I also know that whatever God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken away from it. God has made it this way so that men will fear him. (Ecclesiastes 3:14)
One offering, that’s all. That was the divine genius. That was when the devil knew that His time was short and he would be made a footstool for Christ's feet. That is the very height of humiliation. But nothing is stopping it.
That was why Paul wrote,
The God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. (Romans 16:20)
It's not "maybe" or "if possible". God will certainly do it.
Praise the Lord!
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