Our fifth and last priceless thing that we find in Ephesians two, and which also starts with C is our Citizenship in heaven.

"You are fellow citizens
with the saints" (Ephesians 2:19).

In this world, we can gain the right to enter another country and stay there awhile, even though we are not citizens of that country. The permission to enter usually comes in the form of a visa. When we come back to our own country, we have no need of a visa, for we are citizens. Heaven is a country that issues no visas. Nobody may enter that country unless they are citizens. If you do not have citizenship, you cannot come in. Heaven has no tourists, temporary residents, or asylum seekers. Citizens only may enter in.

This citizenship has several characteristics. As we meditate, in this lesson, upon the nature of our heavenly citizenship, we will look at some of these characteristics. Each of them starts with P.

Our heavenly citizenship is...

Personal

Our citizenship is a very personal thing. When Paul says, u are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints" (Eph 2:19), he is speaking to a group of Christians (the Gentiles in the churches of Galatia), but he is also expecting each one individually to take what he says to heart and make a personal application of it. For we are not known and recognised by God merely as a group, but each one of us is known personally.

I have a number of navy blue socks. They are recognised, when they come out of the wash, as my socks. But they have no individual identity. They are neither numbered nor named. And any two of them will be put together as a pair with no concern as to which is which. God doesn't look upon us Christians as navy blue socks. Our "names are written in the book of life" (Php 4:3).

Jesus spoke of "one flock and one Shepherd" but he also said, "I am the good Shepherd, and I know my own" (Jhn 10:14-16). The shepherd does not merely know the flock as a whole. He knows each individual sheep. He does not lay down his life for the flock only as a whole, but for each one of its members individually.

Precious

We have noticed many times, in our study of Ephesians 2, the "surpassing riches of God's grace in kindness toward us..." (Eph 2:7). All our studies have emphasised "Priceless Things". The granting of our citizenship in heaven came at a price far beyond our ability to pay. It was purchased with "the blood of Christ" (Eph 2:13).

How precious then is this citizenship granted us. We do not have a piece of paper to prove our citizenship. It will be the personal testimony of Jesus that will certify our right to enter heaven. When he puts the sheep at his right hand and says, "Come you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," (Mtt 25:34), there will be no argument. If he sets you on his right hand, that is your certification, and there is no other.

If you had a piece of paper which certified you as a citizen of heaven for eternity, and you could not get into heaven without it, how carefully would you look after it? How much would you insure it for? Would you consider selling it at any price? We have no paper, but we do have the King's personal recognition. How much is it worth to be known personally by him? It is the most precious thing we have, this friendship with the King. Nothing else has any value in comparison.

Permanent

There is no expiry date on our citizenship in heaven. It is eternal. When God "seated us with Christ in the heavenlies" (Eph 2:6), he did so for all "the ages to come" (Eph 2:7). Those ages in that new world are "without end" (Eph 3:21 KJV). In that verse, the Greek expression "age of the ages" means "forever and ever".

The song Amazing Grace expresses how, "when we've been there ten thousand years... we've no less days.. than when we first begun". John Newton stretches the grammar a bit there, and he stretches our minds too. It's hard to grasp eternity. But citizens of heaven have a place in a city of absolute happiness in the joy of God. And they will live there for ever without end.

Pre-arranged

Three words in Ephesians 2, "God prepared beforehand", make a powerful phrase(Eph 2:10). Paul, in Ephesians, emphasises "God's eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph 3:11). We were "chosen in him before the foundation of the world" to be citizens of heaven (Eph 1:4).

It has always been God's purpose that every human being should have citizenship in heaven. When Jesus puts the goats on his left hand, that will not be what God wanted. God never chose for anyone to go to hell. I know that, because Jesus clearly says that hell is "prepared for the devil and his angels" not for human beings (Mtt 25:31-34,41). Those who are sent there, will be sent to a place that was not prepared for them, and will miss out on the place that was. It was pre-arranged that they should be citizens of heaven, but they broke the arrangement. When God tried to restore the arrangement, they chose not to respond.

Promised

The fact that heavenly citizenship was pre-ordained for the world is underlined by the covenants made down through the ages. Paul calls them "the covenants of promise" (Eph 2:10,12). God can only promise what he has already prepared and pre-ordained, otherwise his promise would be of the variety that goes, "I haven't done anything about it yet, but I'll get around to it, I promise".

We must keep in mind too, that God's promise has been confirmed with an oath (Heb 6:17) and with a seal (Eph 1:13-14). The promise is absolutely guaranteed. Christ cancelled out "the certificate of debt" (Col 2:14) and has given us a certificate of promise which cannot be cancelled by any authority. Only we can cancel it, should we be so foolish.

Present

Although we are presently in this world and not in heaven, we do presently have citizenship there. "Our citizenship is in heaven" affirms Paul (Php 3:20). He says "is". He does not say "will be". Paul does not say, "God will raise us up and seat us in heavenly places" although it would of course be true to put it in that way. However Paul chooses to state it as an accomplished work: "God... raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places" (Eph 2:4-6). We are not in that state yet, but we certainly have that status. We are already privileged citizens. We are now journeying through a land in which we do not belong. We are journeying to our homeland above, the land where we do belong.

In Ephesians 2:7-10, you will note that Paul speaks in three different tenses, future, past, and present. In a way he is saying, "We shall be saved, we have been saved, we are being saved". Each tense, in its own sense, is perfectly true.

Peacemaking

One of the themes in Ephesians 2 is peace and reconciliation. Peace between people and God, and peace among the people (Eph 2:14-19). The citizenship we have been given imparts obligations, and it is a given "that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:10). One of our main obligations is to be peacemakers, by bringing the gospel of peace to others that they might be reconciled to God, and by encouraging peace and unity among people.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God" (Mtt 5:9).

Heaven is a place of peace perfect peace. That does not mean inactivity or silence, but full fellowship and unity. We are "fellow citizens with the saints" (Eph 2:19). God's gift to us now is peace, reconciliation, unity, and fellowship. We must grow in this gift so as not to be found misfits in heaven. Heaven has no high walls so that people who are enemies will be kept away from one another. Whoever is there, you'll have to live in their company forever. So make peace with them now.

Patriotic

Citizens of any country are usually patriotic about their country and loyal to it. They honour the leaders of their nation. They would certainly not work for the enemies of their nation, for that would be treason.

At the beginning of Ephesians 2 Paul is clear about "the prince of the power of the air", that evil spirit who is working in "the sons of disobedience" who therefore work for him. These are "children of wrath". Now we can be on that side or God's side. Choose you this day whom you will serve.

Later in Ephesians, Paul says, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against... the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wicknedness in the heavenly realms. Therefore take up the full armour of God..." (Eph 6:10-18). We are called upon to fight the good fight. We are called upon to be patriots, zealots, ready, willing, and able soldiers for our country, our homeland, in the heavenly realms.

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