Devil -- Christianity; Spiritual life -- Christianity
Another phase of the believer's position is revealed in the fact that he
is said to be a citizen of heaven; his home center or citizenship having
been moved there from the earth. His name would, therefore, appear only
among the celestial beings, in any true census of the universe. The
reality of this unseen relationship is brought out in several passages:
"For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall fashion anew the body of our
humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory,
according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things
unto Himself" (Phil. 3:20 R.V.). "For ye know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan,
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from
heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we
that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we
would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed
up of life. Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God,
Who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are
always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we
are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to
be present with the Lord" (II Cor. 5:1-8).
Again, as to the believer's position in that which is termed in
Ephesians "the heavenly _places_,"--though the supplying of the word
"places" is very misleading. The meaning of the word "heavenly" here is
not so much of locality as of experience: as is indicated by the use of
the same word in other passages where the believer is said to be
"heavenly" in standing and relationship (Heb. 3:1; Eph. 2:6. See also
Matt. 18:35; Jno. 3:12; I Cor. 15:48).
Dr. C. I. Scofield makes the following statement on this important phase
of the believer's position:
"The Christian is 'heavenly' by calling (Heb. 3:1), by citizenship
(Phil. 3:20), by inheritance (I Pet. 1:4) and by resurrection life (Eph.
2:6), as a member of that body of which the Head is actually in heaven.
The heavenly (or 'in heavenly _places_,') therefore, is the sphere of
the believer's present association with Christ. This is shown by the
constant context, 'in Christ Jesus.' The believer is now associated
with Christ in life (Col. 3:4; I Jno. 5:11, 12), position (Eph. 2:6),
suffering (Rom. 8:18; II Tim. 2:11, 12; Col. 1:24; Phil. 1:29); service,
(Jno. 17:18; Matt. 28:18-20), and betrothal (II Cor. 11:1-3).
"The believer is to be associated with Christ in Glory (Jno. 17:22; Rom.
8:18; Col. 3:4), inheritance (Rom. 8:17), authority (Matt. 19:28; Rev.
3:21), and marriage (Eph. 5:22, 33; Rev. 19:1-9).
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