God gave me a tremendous revelation driving to work today and I would like to share it. How do we face the challenges and spiritual opposition that life throws at us? The answer we would most often give is to stand up and fight. While this may be true in some sense, I would like to share a completely different way of looking at our battles. The Christian who is truly mature faces opposition sitting down! Let me explain...
Where is Christ now? He is seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given (Eph 1:20,21). From His seated position on the throne, all things are placed under His feet (vs 23) The same image is found in Revelations 4:2. The Apostle John saw a vision of the glorious Christ, sitting on the throne.
Let me suggest two things this posture of sitting conveys. Firstly, it is a posture of rest from a finished work . It is a posture of victory. When Christ gave up His last breath on the Cross, he said "it is finished". And upon the completion of His work, the victorious Christ sat down at the right hand of the Father. Every sin, every disease, every sickness, every curse, He took upon Himself on the Cross. With His death, His work of salvation is now complete. There was nothing left for one who believed in Him to do, except to receive the gift of grace by faith. It was finished. By His stripes we are healed. By His death, we are free.
Secondly, the posture of sitting is a posture of authority. When we approach a king on the throne, we are always standing and the king is seated. When we approach the court, the judge is always seated and we stand. The one who sits is the one in authority. The one who stands is subject to the one who sits. By Christ's perfect life and perfect faith, all power and authority was given to Him over the dominion of darkness. In one act, He disarmed the principalities and powers and removed the bondage Satan had over mankind. When Satan approaches Christ, it is Christ who is seated on the throne.
When spiritual opposition come against us, we must learn to remain seated. For when we believed, God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms (Eph 2:6). Around Him who sits on the throne are twenty four thrones, with twenty four elders seated on them (Rev 4:4), a representation of the victorious and reigning saints - a picture of our position in Him. To remain seated is to stay in the finished work of Christ, to claim the authority that has been given Him. On the throne of God, there is no more strife, there is nothing left to fight, because the victory has been won. To remain seated is to remain in the perfect rest of faith. We enter into His perfect rest. Even in the midst of trouble, we remain in this perfect rest. It is when we rise from our position in Christ and try to fight our own battles that we are defeated by the devil and overwhelmed by our troubles. For when we remain seated, we identify with Christ and His victory, His finished work. And to this, the devil has no answer. So the next time the devil comes knocking, or life throws challenges at us, we face them sitting down. For we are now on the throne of grace, the throne of His finished work, the throne of His victory.