Why does God consider believers already seated with Christ in the heavenlies?
God counts believers as already seated with Christ because salvation is by grace, not human merit. Through faith in the gospel, they are quickened, raised, and seated together with Him in the heavenlies, having been identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. This position is God's gracious gift, not earned.
Les explains that when Christ was on the cross, in the tomb, and rising in resurrection power, God saw you and I with Him. Paul brings out that believers have been raised out of deadness and made to sit together in the heavenlies. Even when dead in sins, He quickened us together with Christ, and it is by grace, not merit, that we are saved. This makes believers special in God's sight simply because they believe the gospel, and they wait for Him to come and take them to Himself. Les also notes the comfort that believing loved ones are already in His presence, seated in the heavenlies, and death cannot kill what is already a citizen of heaven.
Why does God consider believers special and already seated with Him in heaven?
Because believers believe the gospel, God identifies them with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and seating. By grace, not merit, He quickened them together with Christ, raised them up together, and made them sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, considering them already seated with Him.
What does it mean that believers are seated with Christ in heavenly places?
This position means God considers believers already raised and seated with Christ in the heavenlies because they believed the gospel. It is by grace, not merit, making them citizens of heaven, in His presence, and waiting for Christ to take them to Himself.