WE CONTINUE THIS glorious study of Ephesians: “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:19–20). Here Paul says that “his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead”—that same “immeasurable greatness” of power is at work in us who believe. The power that raised Jesus from the dead is working redemptively in us to raise us with Him to sit in the heavenly places—the place of final authority.
The resurrection of Jesus is not something in history to be looked at and admired and rejoiced in; it is something to be appropriated and lived by—something that works in us. The same power, which turned the most abject defeat in history—the defeat of the cross—into the most glorious victory in history—the victory of the resurrection—is available in Christ now. If I am in Christ, I’m not in a defeated Christ; I’m in a Christ who wrought out the greatest victory ever seen on our planet, and wrought it out not as a sole, unique victory, but as a victory available to all who remain in Him and accept this victory, not only as a concept, but as something you receive as your working way of life. You are living on the greatest power that was ever manifested on this planet—the power that raised Jesus from the dead.
That means that you walk out of a dead past; the past is behind you. You are living on the Living Christ. “It is no weak Christ with which we have to do, but a Christ of power”—that power manifested in the resurrection. So you plug in at the highest point—at the point of resurrection—and live by that kind of power. So we live not by the Babe of Bethlehem, or by the dead Christ on a cross; we live by the Resurrected Christ on the throne.
O Lord, my God, I live by the most glorious fact in history—Thy resurrection. And more—I live by that fact now on the throne, and alive forevermore. What more can I ask? I do not ask, I take—take with both hands. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: “It is no weak Christ with which we have to do, but a Christ of power” (Moffatt).
