Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You have been raised from the dead to be seated at the right hand of the Father. As You have been raised, You have also raised us back to be seated with You in the heavenlies, to be co-rulers with You. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”
Let us continue to consider the matter that Jesus has been raised from the dead to the right hand of God. Yesterday, we were blessed to know that we can witness with confidence and boldness because every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth, will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Since this will take place, we can share the love of Jesus with people and seek to bring them to faith in Jesus.
Acts 2:33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
Jesus has been raised to be at the right hand of the Father. The death that He died was our death and He has risen to raise us back to life. It is not just life that Jesus gives us but He has raised us up to be seated with Him in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 2:4-7 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (6) and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
We were made alive together with Christ. By grace, we have been saved. Let us not be satisfied with our experience of salvation, which is precious, but let us understand the immense work that our Lord Jesus has done for us.
He has raised us to be seated with Him in heavenly places. This is something that we have not fully grasped.
Today, the world is under the control of the evil one. I John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
Was the world given to the devil to rule? Never. The devil is a liar. It is by deceiving us that he is ruling the world. The position, identity and authority to rule God’s creation were given to man, who was to rule in the image of God.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
The image of God in us was marred because of our sin but we are now a new creation in Christ Jesus. II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
We are now being renewed back into the image of Jesus. Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
We are being renewed back into the image of Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, II Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
We are to take back the first position and task to which we were created. This is where there is a huge gap in the understanding of His church.
We have relegated the Gospel message to our personal salvation. All that we seem to want in our relationship with God is for our sins to be forgiven and an assurance that we will be spending eternity with Christ. Till that time, we are told to take care of our holiness, (which is of absolute importance) and bring others to faith in Jesus (which is also non-negotiable), but what we are not told is that we as His church are to take back our authority as the vice-regents of God to bring the kingdom rule of God of here on earth, by ousting out our enemy, the devil, over whom we have been given the victory.
Ephesians 3:9-11 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; (10) to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, (11) according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Since this has not been taught in His church, we have become confused bystanders to all that is happening in our world.
I quote Dr John Stott
It is sheer hypocrisy to raise our eyebrows, shrug our shoulders and wring our hands. The Lord Jesus told us to be the world’s salt and light. If therefore rottenness and darkness abound around us, it is our fault and we must accept the blame. DR. JOHN STOTT