In these wondrous words of the Holy Ghost “made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” we get the true position at this present time of every soul that has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and when I say the true position, it is purposely to fence off the thought that it is either experience or attainment. It is not so, it is fact: it is as true of the youngest believer in the Lord Jesus Christ as it is of the oldest. As to the practical walking in this immense truth, days and years may make a very great difference, and there are very few of us who do not purchase our experience at a very high figure; but with the great truth in fact, time or experience have nothing to do. There is something very grand in the way the Holy Ghost presents this truth in this chapter. He first gives the history of Jew or Gentile “dead in trespasses and sins,” “walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience”: again “fulfil- ling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as others.” What a dark black picture! “But,” oh that word but, it is the silver lining to the cloud; and better yet, it is God’s lining: yes, it is God Himself. And just look at the way He enters this dark scene—in the riches of His grace, in the riches of His love, in the riches of His mercy—for let man be what he will, God will be God; and therefore we read “But God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ and made us sit together in heavenly places IN Christ Jesus.” Mark, it is not said with Him—that shall be yet—but now it is IN Him.
Dear reader, it is a wondrous ascent this, from being dead in sins—from walking after the course of this world, the slave of its lusts and fashions and follies—from fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind, ministering to self in all its hideous and most unsightly aspects: I say, from all this, and out of all this, taken up to the throne of God, “seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” What amazing grace! And this is where God begins with every soul. “Heavenly places” is not the goal of the Christian, but the starting- post—not the position for which I hope, but the place into which I am now brought. And let me say, nothing is more important at this present time, than this very fact; but let it be once clearly apprehended by the soul, let the soul be once linked with this truth by the Holy Ghost, and there is set up not only the grand starting-post from whence the Christian runs, as well as the battle field where he is to fight, but also the plumb line and rule of his whole conduct and ways down here in this world. Oh, wondrous reality amid the unreal! My home is heavenly, my rest is heavenly, and my conflicts are heavenly; and let me say this, the great aim of Satan at this present time is to keep back from the saint the knowledge of his true position and place before God, to make him a mere earthly man, occupied with the trials, difficulties and perplexities of the wilderness, instead of a heavenly man, doing battle with principalities and powers and wicked spirits in heavenly places, and overcoming all the difficulties by the way in the powers of what is his in Christ, at the other side of death and judgment. In a word, Satan’s desire is to drag down the saint now to the level of a mere earthly man, surrounded by wilderness difficulties. It is perfectly true we are in the wilderness, yet I am not occupied with that. I am a heavenly man, though on earth, and as the seal leaves its impress on the wax, so should this great grand precious reality stamp my every act, my every way, my every thought. Oh, blessed Lord, Thou knowest how easy it is to profess, how flippant are our tongues, but do thou say it Thyself down deep into the hearts of Thy saints, “ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
O Lord! how blest our journey,
Though here on earth we roam,
Who find in Abba’s favor,
Our spirits’ present home.
For where Thou now art sitting,
By faith we’ve found repose –
Free to look up to heaven,
Since Thou, our Head, arose!
In spirit there already,
Soon we ourselves shall be;
In soul and body perfect –
All glorified with Thee!
Thy Father’s smiles are cheering
The brief but thorny way;
Thy Father’s house the dwelling,
Made ready for that day.
The Comforter now present,
Assures us of Thy love—
He is the blessed earnest,
Of glory there above.