It’s a strange but delightful promise the Son of God makes to us—that He will dwell with us, live with us, share our abode with us: He “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3). Imagine living in such “places”!
You and I may live in shacks in Shanty Town—but the Lord Jesus says He will live with us there, share our humble abode, partake of our lowly hospitality as our permanent Guest. His holy presence with us makes our shack become a Palace. It is transformed into a “heavenly place,” the loftiest abode in the universe.
Never again are we to be lonely; life each new day becomes a fresh, glorious adventure, for we never can anticipate the new and unimagined joy that becomes ours, dwelling with Jesus in a divine intimacy.
Even Jesus Himself shares with us the unimaginable joy of living in “heavenly places,” for in verse 20 we read that the Father “raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the [same] heavenly places.”
In the case of Jesus there is a super magnificent heavenly joy involved, for Jesus was “dead,” and no one can ever appreciate life like someone who was “dead”—the only such Man so far is Jesus, and now it’s we also through living faith in Him.
Our brother and fellow-believer in Christ, the beloved apostle Paul, has a glimpse of what it all means. He has a unique insight: he sees us as having been “dead,” but he also sees our present life therefore as being a “resurrection” from death. Interesting insight!
This transforms life for us: it makes our present “boring,” ordinary existence to be transformed into magnificent resurrection life.
If this is a new idea to you—thinking of your present life as a resurrection life already having exited from death—don’t thank me for it; I am nobody, I could never have thought of it—thank the Lord. Your eternal life “in Christ” has already begun; you may yet go to sleep a bit; but if your name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life, nothing can ever take it out (aside from your own choice, which, God forbid!).
“I am come,” says Jesus, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
That’s your life today; it transforms your what-you-thought-was-your -mere-existence into the most glorious life in all of the universe—life with Christ, its Creator, its Sustainer, and the Savior of it all.
And there’s no end to it, ever!
Get on your knees, thank Him that it’s true. And then rise, to serve Him gladly forever.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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