Ephesians Word Study: Heavenly places

6/2/10

Time Spent: 35 min

Main Idea: Heavenly places pointing towards the metaphysical spiritual warfare in the present.

What I Learned about God: God is the one who gives spiritual blessings through Christ by the putting on of the armor of God

Summary: "Heavenly places" shows up in three places in this letter (Eph. 1:3; 1:20; 6:12). At first glance, one might assume that the heavenly places that Paul is talking about is the future in heaven, where God will abundantly bless and enrichen the lives of believers forever. Although that is true, Paul was talking about the present reality of the metaphysical spiritual warfare that is going on. In Ephesians 6:12, Paul says that the there are demons and principalities that exist in this "heavenly place", thus, it cannot be heaven. It also does not make very much sense that we would have to put on the armor of God in heaven. What is there to defend ourselves from over there? Therefore, we can conclude that Paul is talking about the heeavenly places here on earth; that we are engaged in a spiritual battle armed with the victory that has already been won in Christ. However, we need to enact this victory through the placing of the armor in our lives.

Application: God has already won the victory through Christ, but my job is to put on the armor. The armor is not just some arbitrary pieces of discipline that I need to put on. Instead, the pieces of the armor should have some relevancy and relation to my relationship with Christ. There is no greater truth the the way, the truth, and the life, and thus donning this belt of truth is in meditation of what Christ has done for me. For my breastplate of righteousness I know that my righteous deeds are like filthy rags; the only righteousness that is accepted by God is not my own but His righteousness in me (2 Cor. 5:21). I wonder how much weight I put into putting on the armor of God and fighting this battle by myself instead of looking to my commanding officer who has guaranteed victory for me over the enemy.