Johann
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- Oct 26, 2022
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AND SEATED US WITH HIM IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS: kai sunekathisen (3SAAI) en tois epouraniois en Christo Iesou:
Matthew 26:29; Luke 12:37; 22:29,30; John 12:26; 14:3; 17:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26; Revelation 3:20,21
Eph 1:3
ANOTHER FACET OF GOD'S MARVELOUS GRACE
Seated us with (4776) (sugkathizo from sun/syn = with speaking of an intimate union + kathízo = to set or sit down) means to cause to sit down with. Paul uses the aorist tense, which here speaks of a past completed action. Paul is so certain of this grand truth, that he records it as if it has already occurred! So certain is every word of God, every promise! Why are we so often, so prone to wonder, so little in our faith? And so with the eyes of faith we see that this seating with Christ has occurred, even if we from our finite human perspective cannot fully comprehend its practical import. Will it is humanly inexplicable, our union with Him in covenant, this mystical union helps give us a sense of how we are seated with Him. Just as we were crucified and resurrected, so too in the immutable bond of covenant, we are just as truly seated with Him (see more on this below). And this should elicit a heart-felt "Hallelujah!"
Three great uses of the prefix sun/syn = we are… made alive, raised, seated - all with Christ.
How incredible the contrast with the only other NT use of sugkathizo in the context of Peter sitting among those who sat down together just prior to denying His Lord…
And after they (those who had seized Christ) had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together (sugkathizo - remembering how "sun-" speaks of intimacy, these men were all of one mind, determined to kill Christ), Peter was sitting among them. (Luke 22:55-note)
Earlier Paul had mention the heavenly places…
(speaking of the "surpassing greatness of His power" and the "strength of His might") which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, (Eph 1:20-note)
We don't sit in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus (yet) but we do sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Since our life and identity is in Christ, as He sits in the heavenly places, so do we. And even though we are not yet in possession of all the inheritance that God has for us in Christ, to be in the heavenly places is to be in God’s domain instead of Satan’s ("For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" Col 1:13 [note] and we were turned "from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God" Acts 26:18).
Now, we are in the sphere of spiritual life instead of the sphere of spiritual death. "In the heavenly places" is where our blessings are (Ep 1:3-note) and where we have fellowship with the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and with all the saints who have gone before us and will come after us. "In the heavenly places" is where all our commands come from and where all our praise and petitions go.
The practical import of our new position as recipients of grace is that our "heavenly status" gives us "heavenly power" to overcome the power of sin and death (Daily! Daily we are being saved by the Gospel!) Our unbreakable union with Christ affords us eternal access to the heavenly places and His heavenly power (every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place in Christ - Eph 1:3-note) to live as more than conquerors through Him Who loved us and continues to love us, even when we are not very "lovable!" Seated with Christ is our present positional reality, even though it is not yet fully realized eschatology. This now-then (present-future) tension is similar to other NT doctrines, such as our adoption as sons (Ro 8:15-note), but our eager awaiting for the fulfillment of our adoption coinciding with the redemption of our bodies (Ro 8:23-note).
Sugkathizo is used 4x in the non-apocryphal Septuagint (Lxx) - First use of sugkathizo in context of grace = Ge 15:11 ("Abram sat down by" the carcasses when God cut the covenant with him), Second use of sugkathizo in context of Law! = Ex 18:13 ("Moses sat to judge the people"); Nu 22:27 describes what happened when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD - "she lay down under Balaam"); Jer 16:8 - where the prophet was instructed not to sit down and feast with those who mourn over deaths in Judah.
Let us not miss the wonder and awe of a chapter that began with us dead in our sins, but now alive in the heavenlies with Christ! Is this not truly Amazing Grace!
Warren Wiersbe gives an illustration writing…
While attending a convention in Washington, D.C., I watched a Senate committee hearing over television. I believe they were considering a new ambassador to the United Nations. The late Senator Hubert Humphrey was making a comment as I turned on the television set:
“You must remember that in politics, how you stand depends on where you sit.”
He was referring, of course, to the political party seating arrangement in the Senate, but I immediately applied it to my position in Christ. How I stand—and walk—depends on where I sit; and I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies!
The Queen of England exercises certain powers and privileges because she sits on the throne. The President of the United States has privileges and powers because he sits behind the desk in the oval office of the White House. The believer is seated on the throne with Christ. We must constantly keep our affection and our attention fixed on the things of heaven, through the Word and prayer, as well as through worship and service. We can enjoy “days of heaven upon the earth” (Deut. 11:21) if we will keep our hearts and minds in the heavenlies. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)
Heavenly places (2032) (epouranios from epí = upon, in sense of pertaining to above + ouranos = heaven) encompasses the entire supernatural realm of God, His complete domain (it is the supernatural sphere where God rules) and the full extent of His divine operation. The true citizenship of every saint is not this present earth (which is passing away) but is heaven, Paul explaining to the saints at Philippi that…
our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait (Are you eagerly waiting for Him?) for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Php 3:20, 21-note)
Because our new citizenship through Christ is in heaven, God seats us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. We are no longer of this present world or in its sphere of sinfulness and rebellion. We have been rescued from spiritual death and given spiritual life in order to be in Christ Jesus in the heavenly places.
Spurgeon once said…
Little faith will bring your soul to heaven; great faith will bring heaven to your soul.
In Christ Jesus - all of the glorious truths are predicated on this powerful phrase "in Christ Jesus". Marvin Vincent agrees writing that "in Christ Jesus" is to be connected with…
raised up, made us sit, and in heavenly places. Resurrection, enthronement, heaven, all are in Christ.
John Piper has some interesting thoughts on what "seated with Him in heavenly places" means writing…
Now what does that mean? We are all right here in this room, aren't we. Or are we? What did Tony Bennet mean twenty years ago when he sang, "I left my heart in San Francisco"? Well, he meant that San Francisco still holds his affections. San Francisco is always pulling him back. San Francisco governs his tastes. He may look like he is in Chicago. But Chicago has no claim on his affections. It's a foreign land. He is not interested in being like the natives of the windy city.
That is the way it is with us when we are converted. God takes our heart and puts it in heaven with Christ. Colossians 3:3 says, "For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God." So just like it is with Tony Bennet and San Francisco, so it is with us and heaven. It's heaven that holds our affections. It's heaven that's always pulling us upwards, its heaven that governs our tastes. We may look like we are in the world. But the world has no claim on our affections. It's a foreign land. We are exiles and aliens.
In a word, when we are converted God frees us from the spirit of the age and the god of the age. It's as though we had been kidnapped and brainwashed and made to think we were really citizens of the enemy territory. And then the king's intelligence finds you and shocks you out of your stupor, and you suddenly realize that what the enemy has to offer would never satisfy the deepest longings of your heart. Your heart is in the homeland. But the king says stay for now, and, though it may be dangerous, live like an alien in love with the homeland, and when you come home bring as many with you as you can. Don't you really want to be FREE from the spirit of the age. Why would anybody want to be jelly fish carried around by currents in the sea of secularism? You can be a dolphin, and swim against the currents and against the tide. Jelly fish aren't free. Dolphins are free.
www.preceptaustin.org
Last post for the day
Shalom
Johann
Matthew 26:29; Luke 12:37; 22:29,30; John 12:26; 14:3; 17:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26; Revelation 3:20,21
Eph 1:3
ANOTHER FACET OF GOD'S MARVELOUS GRACE
Seated us with (4776) (sugkathizo from sun/syn = with speaking of an intimate union + kathízo = to set or sit down) means to cause to sit down with. Paul uses the aorist tense, which here speaks of a past completed action. Paul is so certain of this grand truth, that he records it as if it has already occurred! So certain is every word of God, every promise! Why are we so often, so prone to wonder, so little in our faith? And so with the eyes of faith we see that this seating with Christ has occurred, even if we from our finite human perspective cannot fully comprehend its practical import. Will it is humanly inexplicable, our union with Him in covenant, this mystical union helps give us a sense of how we are seated with Him. Just as we were crucified and resurrected, so too in the immutable bond of covenant, we are just as truly seated with Him (see more on this below). And this should elicit a heart-felt "Hallelujah!"
Three great uses of the prefix sun/syn = we are… made alive, raised, seated - all with Christ.
How incredible the contrast with the only other NT use of sugkathizo in the context of Peter sitting among those who sat down together just prior to denying His Lord…
And after they (those who had seized Christ) had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together (sugkathizo - remembering how "sun-" speaks of intimacy, these men were all of one mind, determined to kill Christ), Peter was sitting among them. (Luke 22:55-note)
Earlier Paul had mention the heavenly places…
(speaking of the "surpassing greatness of His power" and the "strength of His might") which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, (Eph 1:20-note)
We don't sit in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus (yet) but we do sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Since our life and identity is in Christ, as He sits in the heavenly places, so do we. And even though we are not yet in possession of all the inheritance that God has for us in Christ, to be in the heavenly places is to be in God’s domain instead of Satan’s ("For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" Col 1:13 [note] and we were turned "from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God" Acts 26:18).
Now, we are in the sphere of spiritual life instead of the sphere of spiritual death. "In the heavenly places" is where our blessings are (Ep 1:3-note) and where we have fellowship with the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and with all the saints who have gone before us and will come after us. "In the heavenly places" is where all our commands come from and where all our praise and petitions go.
The practical import of our new position as recipients of grace is that our "heavenly status" gives us "heavenly power" to overcome the power of sin and death (Daily! Daily we are being saved by the Gospel!) Our unbreakable union with Christ affords us eternal access to the heavenly places and His heavenly power (every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place in Christ - Eph 1:3-note) to live as more than conquerors through Him Who loved us and continues to love us, even when we are not very "lovable!" Seated with Christ is our present positional reality, even though it is not yet fully realized eschatology. This now-then (present-future) tension is similar to other NT doctrines, such as our adoption as sons (Ro 8:15-note), but our eager awaiting for the fulfillment of our adoption coinciding with the redemption of our bodies (Ro 8:23-note).
Sugkathizo is used 4x in the non-apocryphal Septuagint (Lxx) - First use of sugkathizo in context of grace = Ge 15:11 ("Abram sat down by" the carcasses when God cut the covenant with him), Second use of sugkathizo in context of Law! = Ex 18:13 ("Moses sat to judge the people"); Nu 22:27 describes what happened when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD - "she lay down under Balaam"); Jer 16:8 - where the prophet was instructed not to sit down and feast with those who mourn over deaths in Judah.
Let us not miss the wonder and awe of a chapter that began with us dead in our sins, but now alive in the heavenlies with Christ! Is this not truly Amazing Grace!
Warren Wiersbe gives an illustration writing…
While attending a convention in Washington, D.C., I watched a Senate committee hearing over television. I believe they were considering a new ambassador to the United Nations. The late Senator Hubert Humphrey was making a comment as I turned on the television set:
“You must remember that in politics, how you stand depends on where you sit.”
He was referring, of course, to the political party seating arrangement in the Senate, but I immediately applied it to my position in Christ. How I stand—and walk—depends on where I sit; and I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies!
The Queen of England exercises certain powers and privileges because she sits on the throne. The President of the United States has privileges and powers because he sits behind the desk in the oval office of the White House. The believer is seated on the throne with Christ. We must constantly keep our affection and our attention fixed on the things of heaven, through the Word and prayer, as well as through worship and service. We can enjoy “days of heaven upon the earth” (Deut. 11:21) if we will keep our hearts and minds in the heavenlies. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)
Heavenly places (2032) (epouranios from epí = upon, in sense of pertaining to above + ouranos = heaven) encompasses the entire supernatural realm of God, His complete domain (it is the supernatural sphere where God rules) and the full extent of His divine operation. The true citizenship of every saint is not this present earth (which is passing away) but is heaven, Paul explaining to the saints at Philippi that…
our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait (Are you eagerly waiting for Him?) for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Php 3:20, 21-note)
Because our new citizenship through Christ is in heaven, God seats us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. We are no longer of this present world or in its sphere of sinfulness and rebellion. We have been rescued from spiritual death and given spiritual life in order to be in Christ Jesus in the heavenly places.
Spurgeon once said…
Little faith will bring your soul to heaven; great faith will bring heaven to your soul.
In Christ Jesus - all of the glorious truths are predicated on this powerful phrase "in Christ Jesus". Marvin Vincent agrees writing that "in Christ Jesus" is to be connected with…
raised up, made us sit, and in heavenly places. Resurrection, enthronement, heaven, all are in Christ.
John Piper has some interesting thoughts on what "seated with Him in heavenly places" means writing…
Now what does that mean? We are all right here in this room, aren't we. Or are we? What did Tony Bennet mean twenty years ago when he sang, "I left my heart in San Francisco"? Well, he meant that San Francisco still holds his affections. San Francisco is always pulling him back. San Francisco governs his tastes. He may look like he is in Chicago. But Chicago has no claim on his affections. It's a foreign land. He is not interested in being like the natives of the windy city.
That is the way it is with us when we are converted. God takes our heart and puts it in heaven with Christ. Colossians 3:3 says, "For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God." So just like it is with Tony Bennet and San Francisco, so it is with us and heaven. It's heaven that holds our affections. It's heaven that's always pulling us upwards, its heaven that governs our tastes. We may look like we are in the world. But the world has no claim on our affections. It's a foreign land. We are exiles and aliens.
In a word, when we are converted God frees us from the spirit of the age and the god of the age. It's as though we had been kidnapped and brainwashed and made to think we were really citizens of the enemy territory. And then the king's intelligence finds you and shocks you out of your stupor, and you suddenly realize that what the enemy has to offer would never satisfy the deepest longings of your heart. Your heart is in the homeland. But the king says stay for now, and, though it may be dangerous, live like an alien in love with the homeland, and when you come home bring as many with you as you can. Don't you really want to be FREE from the spirit of the age. Why would anybody want to be jelly fish carried around by currents in the sea of secularism? You can be a dolphin, and swim against the currents and against the tide. Jelly fish aren't free. Dolphins are free.
Ephesians 2:6-7 Commentary | Precept Austin
Last post for the day
Shalom
Johann
