How are we already "sitting with God in the heavenly places" - Eph. 2:6

[Nita]

Eph. 2:4-6 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

This was another one of those puzzling verses (bold part) for me. Msgr. Pope’s column today, Feast of the Ascension, gave an analogy that I found applies to these verses beautifully and helps me grasp their meaning.

But, you may say, He is in glory while I am still here. How is it that I am ascended or ascending? Consider the following humorous example about our physical bodies. When I get on an elevator and push the button for the top floor, although the top of my head gets there before the soles of my feet, my whole body will get there (unless some strange loss of integrity or tragic dismemberment takes place). So it is also with Jesus’ mystical body. In Christ, our head, we are already in glory. Some members of His body have already gotten there. We will get there too, provided we remain members of His Body. Yes, we are already ascended in Christ, our head. If we hold fast and remain members of His Body, we are already enthroned in glory with Him. This is the fellowship of the Ascension.
What Does the Ascension Accomplish for Us? A Homily for the Feast of the Ascension - Community in Mission

Does anyone else have a way that helps them in understanding this concept?

 

[thistle]

Eph. 2:4-6 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 4, &c. But God…hath raised us up together, both Gentiles and Jews, to life in Christ, remitting our sins by faith in him, and by the grace of our merciful Redeemer, by his pure mercy, not by any works of ours, nor merely by the works of the former law. — Hath made us in a condition to sit together in heavenly places, to be hereafter crowned in heaven. (Witham)

Ver. 5. Quickened us together in Christ. Faith, baptism, and grace, are pledges of our future resurrection and glorification in heaven. Our present conversion is also a kind of resurrection. The time is come, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live. (St. Augustine upon St. John, No. 7.)

 

[Shakuhachi]

Your elevator analogy reminded me of the initial sinking feeling when the elevator first starts lifting. Eventually we feel as though we caught up. At the top we sort of keep going a bit.

I guess we are somewhere between the sinking feeling and the catching up.

 

[Nita]

Thanks for your thoughts.

It’s the concept that of us “already sitting with God” in heaven that seemed/seems so mysterious to me. Msgr. Pope’s analogy provided me with an image that aided. (Pictures or analogies always help me get a better hold on spiritual mysteries.) Where one’s head is, there is his body also. We are Christ’s mystical body. His head has reached it’s destination. Altho in one way we’re not there yet, still there’s the mystical way in which we are because we are attached to Him as head.

 

[Latin]

God bless every readers of the CAF.
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Our baptism might help to answer the question of Eph.2:6.

In our baptism, there is God’s part to do and our part to do.

God’s part to do in our baptism ALWAYS PRECEDES our water baptism.
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GOD’S PART TO DO IN OUR BAPTISM

GOD’S WORK IN OUR BAPTISM IN FINE DETAILS
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The sequence of events of our baptism.
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1. GOD SANCTIFIED us. – At our sanctification God has completely washed us clean, made us holy our (spirit + soul). – 1 Cor.6:11; 1 Pet.2:9; etc.

We may call it our first purgatory/purgation as God has completely washed us clean. – It was an instant event.
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2. God delivered us from the power of darkness and taken us our (spirit + soul) up to heaven. – Col. 1:13; Eph.2:6.
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3. In heaven God baptized us into the body of Christ. – 1 Cor.12:13, 27.
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4. In the Body of Christ God RE-CREATED us (from spiritual death, in Christ God made us spiritually alive. – 1 Cor.15:22; Eph.2:1).

At our re-creation God MADE us SONS of God and NEW CREATIONS / BORN AGAIN by given us a new heart, given us a new spirit and God put His Spirit into us – Ez.36:26-27; 2 Cor.5:17; 1 Cor.3:16; 1 Cor.6:19.
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5. God JUSTIFIED us. – At our justification God has DECLARED us JUST and DECLARED us to be sons of God. – Rom.3:24; Rom.8:15.
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6. Eph.2:19-22; Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.
20 Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

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Eph.2:6; God made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
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Continue

 

[Latin]

Continuation
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AUGUSTINE’S CONTRIBUTION TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE IN THE BODY OF CHRIST.

Quote: We are inserted into the Body of Christ by our baptism and become members united to the Head, so that while our feet may be on earth we are already in heaven. End quote.

The above quote taken from a public letter of Paul Maloney OSA Written September 19th 2012
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Because it is a mystery we may not yet fully understand the way it is possible that at the same time our (spirit + soul) is in heaven built into God’s Holy Temple, God made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus and on the earth as well.

Obviously the sins of our corrupt bodies doesn’t enter into heaven into our (spirit + soul) and into God’s Holy Temple.
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So, when we will die our (spirit + soul) continue to living in heaven as our (spirit + soul) are already there and our corrupt bodies goes to the grave on earth.
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Of course, when our bodies resurrected and before enter to heaven also need a purgation in the same way as our (spirit + soul) had a purgation at our baptism before God taken up our (spirit + soul) to heaven.

1Cor.15:51-52; Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
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Obviously the purgatory/purgation of our bodies will be an instant event (in the twinkling of an eye) in the same way as the purgatory/purgation of our (spirit + soul) took place at our baptism.
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For example:
If one of the greatest sinner of a 90 years old person has the baptism and he dies one second after his baptism, he instantly goes to heaven in heavenly glory.

As we see, God doesn’t need ages to clean up a person’s (spirit + soul) to heaven.
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The way I see:
We need two purgatory/purgation, one for our (spirit + soul) at baptism before God takes our (spirit + soul) up to heaven, and one for our bodies before goes to heaven.
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God bless every readers of the CAF.

Latin

 

[Nita]

Continuation
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Quote: We are inserted into the Body of Christ by our baptism and become members united to the Head, so that while our feet may be on earth we are already in heaven. End quote.

The above quote taken from a public letter of Paul Maloney OSA Written September 19th 2012
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Latin

I particularly like the above quote. Thanks. Goes so well with the Ephesians 2:6 passage: and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,