But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)
God’s Great Love for the Ungodly
God built the architecture of salvation on a foundation of love. Love for us compels the mercy and grace of God. He loved us when we were dead in trespasses and sins. God chooses to save rather than condemn when we are at our weakest. Paul says in Romans 5 that when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
How God’s Great Love Raises Us Up
God loved us when we were unlovable and saved us by the blood of Jesus Christ. But He doesn’t just save us from our sins; He raises us from the dead and crowns us with glory. We are made alive together with Christ. In Romans 6, Paul shows how water baptism unites us with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When I believe in Jesus, repent of my sins, and submit to baptism, God raises me from spiritual death and gives me life through His powerful work.
Seated in Glory
Upon my resurrection from spiritual death, I am raised to sit together in the heavenly places with Christ. Jesus sits at the right hand of God; when I become a Christian, I sit with Him. In Christ, I am treated like the son of a king and elevated to a position of privilege and prestige. This is not a position I deserved or earned. I deserve to be condemned; God, in His mercy, saved me. By Jesus Christ, God freely gave me a position I could never earn through my own efforts.
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