RAISED TOGETHER WITH HIM
Eph 2:6
Morning Meditation 3/19/16
“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”
The first verses of this chapter describe the saved persons past. We were in a state of spiritual death when God came to us with the offer of salvation. And these verses describe his success: “And you hath he quickened.” He speaks of it as having been accomplished. In other words, salvation is not pie in the sky by and by. A saved person can speak of his salvation in the past tense. It has already happened.
If salvation is through human effort, man can never speak of salvation in the past tense. It will always be, “I hope I am saved. I will not know until the final judgment.” The reason he doesn’t know is because he does not know how much is required of him. He hopes he has done enough good to satisfy God. This is Satan’s lie and most of the human race has bought into it. Man by nature cannot believe that God is merciful and loving and will save man by grace at his own expense. Now you think about it for a minute. Have you ever seen the idols that men have made? These idols are supposed to be the visible image of the god they represent. Have you ever seen a good-looking god that man has made to look like the god he claims to believe in? Some of the ugliest unearthly creatures imaginable are carved into stone, made of different materials like silver and gold, and worshiped by men. No wonder there is no love associated with the worship of false gods. If I met one of those out some night, or day as a matter of fact, I would not take time to worship! I would go from zero to 60 in less than five seconds!
The words “And hath raised us up together” describe what God has done in the past tense of the Christian’s life. Can’t you just hear some person in the Ephesian Church saying, “Now wait a minute, pastor. We do believe in the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures don’t we? That’s what you have explained to us in the past. And we do believe this letter you are reading to us now is inspired by God even though Paul wrote it? I need to get clear on something. Are you reading those verb tenses just like the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write them down?” I can hear someone else saying in low tones, “Yeah, pastor. I was wondering the same thing.” So the pastor interrupts his reading for a moment to explain. He says, “The words ‘hath raised together’ is the combination of two words. The word ‘with’ and ‘together’ and it is aorist tense. And the aorist tense means a once-for-all action in the past.” The pastor goes on the explain “Paul speaks of this as having already taken place. In fact, technically speaking, it all took place when Jesus our Lord was raised from the dead.” This man who is trying to understand speaks up again and asks, “Are you saying that this is the way God looks at what Paul is saying here? Does God see the resurrection as an already accomplished fact?” The pastor says, “You are definitely getting the point. This is exactly what he is saying.” The man says, “Pastor, I am sorry for the interruption. But this is a new concept to me and I have a struggle understanding it. But if this is what our Bible says I will accept it by faith.” The pastor says, “Yes, you are looking at it right. There are a lot of things I have already read in chapter one that I will all have to take by faith. It is good to know that we are called to walk by faith. We have a God whom we can trust even though we don’t understand.” Then there is a big “amen” on the part of all the brethren. I can also hear someone whistling and saying “that is the most marvelous thing I have ever heard.”
Then the pastor says, “I will continue reading. Let’s see, where was I?” “And made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The words “made sit together” (sugkathizo) mean “to sit down together” and is an aorist active indicative verb. The aorist tense means it has already taken place in a once-for-all-act.. The believer has a permanent seat in Christ in what is described as “heavenly places” (epouranios) and literally means “the heavenly temple or sanctuary.” It is not talking about floating around on some cloud out in space. It is “in Christ” and Christ is seated on the right hand of the throne of God. His resurrection is our resurrection, his ascension is our ascension, and his seat our seat.
This inquisitive Christian is on the floor again. He asks, “Pastor. I’m sorry to be so much trouble. But I want to make sure I understand what you are reading. The way I understood you just now as you were reading is that this verb is exactly the same as the one describing our resurrection with Christ. Is this correct?” The pastor says. “Wait. Let me look back to make sure before I answer you. Yes, it is the same. The words ‘quickened us together’ and ‘raised us up together’ are both aorist active indicative verbs.” The inquisitive brother sat down. He said, “this is the most glorious thing I have ever heard. I still don’t understand it. But I do understand that God has a difficult time getting down on our level and we a difficult time understanding things that have to do with salvation. I do rejoice in this truth. I will just accept it by faith.” All the rest in the assembly gave a spontaneous “Amen.” They were all very happy that Bro. C... had asked the question.
This means that if we are saved we are already in Christ in heaven. Are there other verses that confirm this? Yes there is. Romans 8:30 says, “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” The word “glorified” (doxazo) here means “to make glorious, adorn with lustre, clothe with splendour.” It is an aorist active indicative verb. Again the aorist tense refers to a once-for-all act in the past. When in the plan of God did this happen? It happened when Christ was glorified and took his seat on the right hand of the father. It happened in our history the moment we trusted Christ as our personal Saviour and were baptized by the Spirit into Christ (1Cor 12:13; Eph 1:13). Colossians 3:1 says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” The words “be risen” (sunegeiro) is an aorist passive indicative. It means “to be raised together in a once-for-all-act. The aorist means once for all and the passive voice means that the subject is the receiver of the action. This means that we are recipients of God’s action. God raised us. You say but there is an “if” before all this. Yes, it is a first class condition which means “if and it is true.” You can translate a first class conditions by the word “since” and get the true meaning. “Since ye be risen with Christ...”
When you get it right, the rest of the Scripture will agree. We have been raised together with him. That is a wonderful truth that we can allow to fill us with joy right now while we live on earth. Am I going to make it? Yes, I have already made it. I’m just passing time in obedience to his will here on earth.
