In Heavenly Places (Part 2)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,  ( Ephesians 1:3)

The blessings that God has laid up for us in Christ are blessing that He deems of real and permanent value, that is, of heavenly value, not mere earthly trinkets.  It is important that you and I recognize this and keep it in mind.  Our reward, and our incentive is not earthly, though it can, and does, show itself, at times, in earthly times.  This is not its primary incarnation.  Our eyes are to be on a heavenly prize, that is, a prize that has to do with heavenly goals and priorities is awarded according to heavenly criteria and  in heavenly terms, as opposed to earthly ones.  All too often we see men, even godly men, chasing after an earthly prize and goal of one sort or another.  Our goals must be a different, higher one.  Our goal must be that which is in the heavenlies.

Further, that which is our is manifest in heavenly terms, and not earthly terms.  It is measured and awarded according to heaven's standards and requirements, and not earthly, fleshly ones.  It is not man who determines what spiritual success is, but God.  We must be careful that, as we evaluate what and what is not successful, that we are doing it according to spiritual, heavenly standards, and not according to a human, earthly standard of success.

Five times in this book Paul used the phrase “in the heavenly realms”: here in Ephesians 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12. In verse 20 of this chapter he speaks of the mighty power of God “which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,” referring, of course, to heaven, at the right hand of His royal throne.  Chapter 2:6 speaks of believers and says that God has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,…”.  Thus, we are already, in God's eyes, present with Christ in glory!  Chapter 3:10 tells us that God has designed salvation to work in such as the recipients of salvation, we who are genuine believers, by our life and witness to God's grace and power show “the manifold wisdom of God” and that this great wisdom of God might be made known “to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,..” referring to the angels.  The fifth place in the book the term is used is in chapter 6:12 where our battle, as believers, to live out the plan and purpose of God is not against flesh and blood, primarily, but is against “…principalities, against powers, against the rulers of £the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  These are these same angels (here, specifically the fallen angels headed, of course, by Satan) to which God desired to show His manifold wisdom earlier in the book. 

The point of all of this is to underscore that the “heavenlies” refers to a real and literal place.  It is not a romantic reference to some spiritualized state of mind or emotion.  It is not that we just imagine ourselves or our situation to be better.  It is not that we need to “rethink” or “re-imagine” our circumstances or create a new reality with our words, as so much of Christianity seems bent on counseling us to do these days.  Nor is it that we bring heaven “down here” onto earth and make our situation better.  The idea here is that God has given us a grand inheritance in another place that cannot be touched or affected by those here, or by any circumstance of occasion that might come our way.  The essence of all that we are and all that we have to llook forward to stand untouchable and unaffectable by any power on earth!  That is marvelous news and should stand as a great encouragement and a tremendous motivator.