Ephesians 2:4-7 says “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
The Christian life is one of a continuous unfolding of knowledge and understanding. When we take our first step into the Kingdom of God, we experience something that we have never experienced before – the perfect love of God! The Holy Spirit moves upon our hearts, gives us spiritual eyes to see and to understand our pitiful, sinful condition which makes us realize how much we need to believe on Jesus for the forgiveness of our sin! We would never understand the depths of our wickedness without the help of the Spirit of God.
The further we walk with God, the more we recognize of our once sinful condition, and the more we are deeply moved by His great love that He has toward us. God is rich in mercy! While we were enemies to Him, hostile to Him, unyielded in our sin, uncaring in our wretched hearts, totally bent on a life that had nothing to do with Him, He loved us, and because He loves us, He made us alive together with Christ! The woman who fell at the feet of Jesus and washed His feet with her tears understood the magnitude and magnificence of Jesus and His mercy, for Jesus in Luke 7:47 said to the unbelieving religious leaders who were reclining at table with Him “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” This woman had an understanding of the depth of her sin and the overwhelming goodness of Jesus’ love.
Not only did He make us alive together, but He raised us up with Christ, which is a type of Jesus’ resurrection. We have been raised from the dead spiritually, which is far greater even than witnessing a physical resurrection! Now that we are alive and raised with Him, we have been made to sit with Him in the heavenly places! There are a couple things we need to understand here.
We have spiritually been made alive together with Him, raised with Him, and seated with Him. Is this past, present, or future tense? From God’s perspective, according to Romans chapter 8, the justification, the sanctification, and the glorification are already finished! Our future is past tense for God. God’s will in our lives is already finished in Christ from an eternal perspective, but for us now, we are watching the will of God unfold in our lives as we walk with Him in this life, so for us it is present and future tense! What a comfort knowing that God knows the end from the beginning, and as long as we keep in constant remembrance the work that He did when He raised Jesus and raised us with Him, it will keep our souls anchored in troubling seasons.
Since Christ is seated in a place of absolute authority, we now as His disciples, seated in Him, by the power of the Spirit of God, continue the ministry that He began. We operate in His authority as we follow after His Word to us and listen to the Spirit of God! Just as the apostles and disciples of old were preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God worked with them, so He works with us as we continue to preach the Gospel and fulfill the Great Commission, for it says in Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole earth, for a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come”.
The passage we are looking at finishes by saying that in the ages to come we will see the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. In this present age we understand in part the immeasurable riches. We understand in part the kindness of God. We understand in part our position in Christ. But when the end comes, when sin and death are put away forever and we stand before our Lord in white robes of righteousness washed in His blood, in the ages to come we will fully understand His great mercy and love toward us. For now, let us seek God to understand as much as we can as we anxiously look forward to future glory with Him for all eternity!
