Apart from a few idiosyncrasies of the kind most men have – and I have a few — I like to think of myself as reasonably normal. Some Christians view themselves as being “up there with the angels” thinking they ought to live splendidly in a heavenly habitat rather than less gloriously in an earthly one. At first glance this sounds good. After all, the apostle Paul did write that “our citizenship [community] is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20).
We would all prefer to live “up there” rather than “down here,” t e need to understand what Paul means when he writes that God has “made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved) and has raised us up together, and has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:5, 6) We need to identify ourselves with the risen Jesus, not only in his death and our burial, but also in his resurrection.
This is clear in Galatians 2:20, where Paul wrote, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” “Nevertheless” is the ‘hinge’ on which Paul’s statement turns. He sees himself as crucified with Christ, figuratively speaking, and we do too, knowing that our heavenly position is “in Christ” – united with Jesus in faith.
Paul’s figurative expressions are in the same order as Christ’s literal experiences. We understand that we were “crucified with Christ” and “buried with him in baptism”, and were “made alive together with Christ” and “raised up together” with him and “made to sit together” with him in heavenly places. These expressions identify us with his suffering, his death and burial, his resurrection, and his glorification. These figurative expressions are based on literal experiences.
We are positioned (so to speak) “in Christ” in that Jesus represents us in heaven. Our heavenly Father sees us in the person of His Son. So we don’t have to strive to be there with Jesus, because we are there! Our heavenly standing is untouchable because Jesus experienced death, burial, and resurrection for us 2000 years ago – before our ancient ancestry was named! Our sanctification is another matter: Jesus justified us when he rose from the dead, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us – sets us apart – for his use daily. Justification is our fixed good standing in heaven; sanctification is our increasingly good state on earth.
I’m all for confessing Who and What and Where we are “in Christ” because it is scriptural. We know that Jesus is the only resurrected human in heaven, and so do not see ourselves as being there literally but rather in him “in Jesus” who represents us. Moreover, it’s not just a case of our being “in Christ” and being blessed “with all spiritual blessings in Christ in heavenly places” (as indeed we are) but also as operating here in ‘earthy places’ in the authority of the name of Jesus – backed up by Who and What we are “in Christ” as the ground for exercising our spiritual authority.
Operation Identification works through the sequence of our death to sin; our burial with Jesus through water baptism, God our Father imparting His life to us; our “rising up” to “walk in newness of life”, and the exercise of our heavenly citizenship rights while living in an earthly habitat.
The Bible informs us that angels “ascend and descend”, which means they are with us here on earth. This being so, it is more scriptural to say “down here” with the angels instead of “up there” with them – especially in regard to our personal angels.
In encouraging us to show love to other Christians, Hebrews 13:2 reminds us that in showing hospitality to strangers “some have unknowingly entertained angels.” With this in mind, we need to be nice to our Facebook friends, because despite their odd posts and occasional weird comments, for all we know they might well be some of them.
My army time taught me that the difference between an exercise and an operation is that the first is conducted, repeatedly, so that the second can be done once, successfully.