Being in Ascension with Christ and Seeking the Things related to the Ascended Christ

God didn’t only save us from the position of death but He also seated us with Christ in the heavenlies; when we believed into Christ, we were seated with Him in the highest place in the universe, and here we can and should set our mind on the things above, the things that relate to the ascended Christ.

As believers in Christ we do not merely have a past Christ (a Christ who lived, worked, died, and resurrected in the past) or a future Christ (a Christ that will return at one point in the future and we will be with Him); our Christ is present and living, and He is in His heavenly ministry doing many things today.

If we are to cooperate with Christ in His heavenly ministry, we need to realize that this One is now not only on earth but even more in the heavenlies, in the third heavens; He has been ascended by God to the highest position in the universe, and He is sitting at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1).

Furthermore, we also were raised together with Christ – we all, the believers in Christ, were raised together with Christ – and seated with Him in the heavenlies; therefore, we should seek the things which are above, where the heavenly Christ is. Paul commands us: seek the things above!

We need to set our mind on the things which are above and not on the things which are on the earth. Christ is now at the right hand of God, having the preeminence, the first place of honor; God has given Christ the highest honor in the entire universe, and we are in Christ, one with Christ in spirit.

Therefore, on the one hand, we need to call on the name of the Lord to be saved in His life and to enthrone Him in our being, and on the other hand, we need to realize that we are where He is: we are in the heavenlies with Him.

Here, in the heavenlies, Christ is the Heavenly and Ascended One, and He is very busy. Some of the activities He is involved in, according to the New Testament, are:He is the high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, He always lives to intercede for us, He bears us before the face of God, he is the great Shepherd of the sheep, He has a heavenly ministry of transmitting all he is into us, and He is the administrator in God’s eternal economy.

Our Christ in the heavens today is much more busy and working than when He was on earth, and we need to live one spirit with Him to cooperate with Him in His heavenly ministry.

Realizing and Experiencing in Spirit that God Seated us with Christ in the Heavenlies

Our God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in offenses, He made us alive together with Christ, and He raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:4-6).

This is our real situation and position today: we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, we are one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). Outwardly we may move and live on earth in different places, but inwardly we need to realize that we are seated together with Christ in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

Here, in the heavenlies, nothing is a problem to us, for all things, matters, situations, sins, problems, and sufferings, are under our feet – we are far above all problems and persons.

When Christ ascended to the heavens, we also ascended with Him, and His ascension has been applied to us by the Spirit of Christ ever since we believed into Him; today we realize and experience this reality in our spirit.

Praise the Lord, it was in Christ that God seated us all together, once for all, in the heavenlies. May the Lord show us where we are, what our position is, and may we exercise our spirit of faith to substantiate this reality into our experience.

Today we realize and experience the reality of being in the heavenlies with Christ in our spirit through faith in the accomplished fact. We have never seen Christ with our physical eyes, but we love Him; we do not see Him at present, yet we believe into Him, and we exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory (1 Pet. 1:8).

By believing into Christ we are positioned under the dispensing of the Triune God to enjoy Him; the processed Triune God dispenses Himself into us to work Himself into us as grace and save us to the uttermost.

Once we receive such a divine transmission by enjoying the Lord, we are made alive, we are raised up out of any death, and we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies.

In seeking the things which are above we first need to have light on Eph. 2:5-6 to realize that in Christ and with Christ we are seated in the heavenlies. Then we need to exercise our spirit to substantiate this fact, realizing that is only by faith that we can enter into the experience of this.

We can realize and experience the reality of being seated with Christ in the heavenlies in our spirit through faith in the accomplished faith (Heb. 11:1).

May the Lord save us from having an earthly view of things and situations, and may our view be uplifted according to God’s word. Only Christ as the Head of the Body knows how many complications have arisen in the church and in our life because of an earthly view of the situations, bound by culture, space, and time.

Lord Jesus, we want to realize and experience the fact that God raised us with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenlies. We exercise our spirit of faith to acknowledge and receive this fact. Lord Jesus, thank You for making us one spirit with You, and now we are in You in the heavenlies, seated with You in the highest place in the universe. Praise the Lord, we can realize and experience this reality in our spirit through faith in the accomplished fact! Amen, Lord, grant us to have such a heavenly and uplifted view!

Being in Ascension with Christ and Seeking the Things related to the Ascended Christ

What are the things which are above spoken of by Paul in Col. 3:1-2? It will take much time and prayer for us to realize and apprehend what Christ is doing today in the heavenlies, but we need to know that the things which are above are the things which are in the heavens, in contrast to the things which are on the earth.

The things which are above include the ascended Christ and all things related to Him. As we realize that God has made us with Christ, raising us together with Him and seating us together with Him in the heavenlies, we need to look around and see the ascended Christ and all the things related to Him.

It is not unfair to say concerning genuine believers in Christ in their basic faith that they mainly have a past Christ, a Christ who did many things while He was on earth, and also they have a future Christ, a Christ whom they wait to return soon. But what do the believers know of the present Christ? What is the Lord Jesus doing right now?

He was ascended and He’s in ascension ministering for two thousand years. The Apostle Paul was one who sought these things, was conscious of these things, and lived in the reality of these things through the transmission of the ascended Christ.

And in the book of Colossians he deals in a particular way with one of the most engrained things in us: culture. We may be very aware of others’ culture but not our own. Is any believer in Christ concerned that continuing to live in our culture is a great hindrance to our cooperation with Christ’s heavenly ministry?

Living in our culture has become so common to us that we are not able to detect it nor do we know it exists until we interact with other cultures. Living in our culture – and not in spirit, one with the ascended Christ – can affect our fellowship, causing us to be “political”, not transparent, and always desiring to do things quickly to gain a certain success.

We need to exercise our spirit and be one with the ascended Christ, experiencing Him in a practical way by letting Him expose and deal with our culture; this is to set our mind on the things above. The things on earth include culture, religion, philosophy, and the improvement in behavior (Col. 2:8, 16, 18-23).

Do we still try to improve ourselves, or are we brought to a point that we no longer ask the Lord to patch us, help us improve, or help us but we see that our old man has been crucified and Christ lives in us?

We need to realize that our old man has been crucified with Christ, and Christ is constituted into us to live in us; what we pray for is not to be more loving or humble but to be a Christ-man for the Body of Christ.

Self-improving is earthly; introspection and seeking to see what’s wrong in us to confess it to the Lord – yet without exercising our spirit and coming to the Lord’s light – is from the earth.

We need to seek the things which are above, realizing that our life is hidden with Christ in God, and the ascended Christ is our life to be our living. Christ is all and in all.

We should drop any thought of trying to be better or to improve ourselves; we simply need to seek the things which are above so that the ascended Christ would be our life, constituent, and experience.

This is why we need to realize our position: we cannot seek the things above unless we are above. Because we have one position with Christ in His ascension (Eph. 2:6), we can seek the things which are above, the things related to the ascended Christ.

What makes this real is that we are one spirit with the Lord, and when we are in spirit – we are in Christ, in the Father, and in heaven practically and experientially.

Lord Jesus, thank You for making us one with You in Your ascension; now in ascension with You we can seek the things which are above, the things related to the ascended Christ! Amen! We want to drop any thought of trying to be better or improving ourselves, and seek the things above, where Christ is. May any culture, philosophy, religion, and improvement in behavior be exposed, and may the ascended Christ constituted into us be our daily living. Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You in Your heavenly ministry by setting our mind on the things above, not on the things which are on the earth!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron K. for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 57-59, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Cooperating with the Heavenly Ministry of the Ascended Christ (2017 Spring ITERO), msg. 1 (week 1), Seeking the Things Which Are Above.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # One with Thee in Thine ascension, / In the heavens now with Thee; / Here a pilgrim and a stranger, / My true life is hid in Thee. (Hymns #474)
  # Oh, what a fact! Oh, what a bliss! / That I of Christ a member am. / With all the saints I blend as one / And share the life of the new man. / Joined to our great ascended Head, / We’ll be the Church of His own plan. (Hymns #500)
  # Set your mind on the things that are above, / Not on the things that are on earth. / For you have died, and your life / Is hidden with Christ in God. / When Christ Who is our life shall appear, / Then we also shall appear with Him in GLORY! (Scripture song)