Have you ever spent time just contemplating Heaven? What is the spiritual realm like? What will I experience after I die? What will I experience when I receive my new resurrected body? What will the New Heaven and New Earth be like? I certainly hope you have. Paul tells us, “Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3)

Before we get started talking about some of these “things above” we need to understand something about Paul’s letters to the different bodies of believers. Paul didn’t write these letters to an individual. They were written to a group of believers who met together on a regular basis., Most of them were even meant to be circulated, or shared, with multiple congregations. So, we must understand much of what is written from a corporate, collective, or group basis, not individual. We’ll get more into this later.

As I was reading and contemplating on Ephesians a phrase caught my attention and I noticed it several times within the book. The phrase was “heavenly realms.”

“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ” (Eph. 1:3) So, God has given us EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. What are these spiritual blessings? First, he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, He adopted us as legal heirs through Jesus Christ, He claimed us as His own possession. Ephesians 3:8 talks of the unfathomable riches of Christ. I would venture that ALL of our spiritual blessings can be found in Him.

“This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only is this age but also in the one to come.” (Eph 1:20,21)

Now, we see in the “heavenly realms” that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. He has the authority of God and He is above every rule, authority, power, and dominion. These aren’t just earthly kings, but are spiritual beings on God’s divine council. So, God sits in council with Jesus at His right hand showing that Jesus has His authority. Now look what happens next!

“But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you are saved!- and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:4-7)

Remember where Christ is? He is seated next to God the Father in the divine council. We were dead in offenses, then made alive and raised up together with Christ. Notice that the nouns used here are plural. He loved US, even though WE were dead in offenses, made US alive together with Christ, and raised US up together with him. Remember the part about us reading Paul’s letters in terms of the congregation and not individually? WE, US, plural nouns. This is a collective thing. The recipients of this letter read it in the assembly and interpreted it as relating to the whole. You can see this very clearly in this letter where Paul talks about being “members of one another” and being the “household of God” and the reference to Christ being the head and us being the body of Christ. Believers constitute the Body of Christ, so therefore God seated us together with him (God) in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. The church is seated in the same place Jesus is, right next to God. In the spiritual realm, the heavenly realm, heavenly places, the Bride of Christ is seated with him at the right hand of God the Father in the divine council. This is a very important place for His Bride to be as we will soon see.

“To me-less than the least of all the saints-this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to enlighten everyone about God’s secret plan -the mystery that has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things. The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access to God by way of Christ’s faithfulness.” (Eph. 3:8-12)

God wants to reveal his “multifaceted wisdom” to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms (in His divine council) and how does He want this revealed? Through the CHURCH. The Bride of Christ, His image bearers on this earth, has been chosen to disclose this enlightened mystery. These rulers and authorities from the spiritual realm are being shamed by this weak woman known as the Bride of Christ because we are being Christ’s image bearers on earth, we are revealing his glory on the earth. When the Body gathers and exalts Christ as the Head, the rulers and powers are shown God’s wisdom and their own foolishness.

These rulers and authorities don’t like this situation, which leads us to our next passage.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers over this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.” (Eph. 6:12)

So, now we are presented with our struggle, our battle, our wrestling. The Bride, the Body of Christ, is engaged in a struggle that goes back to before time began. Luckily, God has given the Bride armor to wear to protect her. Her battle plan is “to stand.” If you look closely at all of these verses in Ephesians 6, you will see that we are not called to attack but we are told to stand on several occasions. Each piece of the armor is something that is provided to us by the Bridegroom to protect us. Christ is the truth that we have around our waist. He is also our righteousness that covers our breast. It is the good news that Christ is Lord that protects our feet as we go. It is only by the faith Christ provides that we are able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Christ is our salvation that covers our head. And last of all, Christ is the Word, which is the Sword of the Spirit. So, HE will defend us, HE will fight for us, and we will shame the rulers and powers by exalting Him and imaging Him on this earth.