Citizens of Heaven, Part 1
Over the next couple of weeks, I want to examine our position as citizens of heaven and how this reality provides authority as believers.
I finished the series “God’s Faithfulness” last week. I used the lives of Abraham and Sarah to discuss how faithful God is in keeping His promises, even when we are weak in faith.
Abraham waited for the “city” (Heb. 11:10). His natural eyes couldn’t see it, but he could see with a spiritual eye what God had “revealed” to him—the heavenly Jerusalem. God prepared a heavenly country and city for Abraham and all of God’s people (vs. 16).
According to Heb. 11:10, 16, we are already citizens of this city. It is so full of exciting and welcoming features that we should find it mysterious and overwhelming, for God is in this eternal city’s midst!
John describes this city in Revelation:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Rev. 21:1-4 NIV
God has prepared the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, for His people. God’s Tabernacle is in the midst, where He dwells with His people, loving and caring for us! No more death, crying, or pain in this city.
Jesus is our resurrection and life. All who pass in Christ are promised resurrection life and this new city. That city HAS been prepared for us! In Christ, we are citizens of heaven and the New Jerusalem!
Understanding your rights as a citizen of heaven empowers you to live for a divine purpose.
Heaven aids those who understand their identity and position in Christ. Knowing your citizenship and purpose affects your thinking and behavior. Confidence builds; you pray with focus, and your prayers become effective. Paul consistently uses two metaphors to describe our relationship with God and His kingdom after new birth.
First, Paul and other writers of the NT speak of our adoption into the family of God.
“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” Eph. 1:5 NLT
Father God has always wanted a family rather than subjects. Your identification with Christ as a follower affords you a place as a son or daughter in the Father’s family. You are not working for His love and acceptance. No performance is necessary to receive His love and grace.
“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Rom. 8:15 NKJV
Jesus frees us from the bondage of the law, which creates orphan thinking. In Christ, we are wholly accepted, adopted, and never to be forsaken by Him. The core of our identity is to know as truth that we are loved, accepted, and added to God’s family—we are not striving to earn God’s love! (I wrote more about being Adopted by God in another article)
Secondly, Paul writes of our citizenship in heaven.
We are citizens of heaven on earth, called to live from God’s domain here on earth. His domain is free of worry and filled with peace.
20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. Phil. 3:20-21 NLT
We are citizens of a commonwealth called heaven, where Jesus, our Savior and King, lives. We eagerly await His return and are anchored in hope of our resurrection. This confidence keeps us in His peace and joy in a turbulent world. It also empowers us to reach others and expand the borders of the kingdom of heaven on earth.
The city of Philippi was under Roman rule in Macedonia. They understood the concept of a colony in a foreign land and what it meant to be a dual citizen of two countries (although only some in Philippi were Roman citizens).
One hundred years before Paul arrived in Philippi, a Roman civil war occurred in 42 BC after the death of Emperor Julius Caesar. Two victorious Roman generals, Antoni and Octavian, and their armies in northern Greece were near Philippi. They didn’t want to bring these soldiers back to Rome, so they gave them land here, and Philippi became a colony of Rome.
Philippi was on a main road that ran west to the narrowest part of the Adriatic Sea, where you could easily sail across to Italy and travel to Rome. Close contact could be maintained with the mother city. The Philippian colonists were proud of being Romans and would do their best to order their civic life to match how things were done in Rome.1
From this earthly example, Paul reminds the church at Philippi that although they may be citizens of Philippi and Rome (dual citizenship), spiritually, they have a higher citizenship (one based in heaven) while being citizens on earth where they are only foreigners. They comprise the colony of heaven on earth—within this colony or embassy, a different culture exists. To further illustrate this, when Rome occupied a new territory, like Macedonia, they brought the influence of Rome into the region. They began to reshape the culture to look and feel like Rome. They sent leaders and ambassadors there to help make the new territory a colony of Rome.
On this understanding of the influence of Rome on the culture of their region, Paul tells the Philippian church that as citizens of another world, they should:
1st, walk worthy of this citizenship. Don’t live in the world or be influenced by the world in how to think and act. Change your perspective.
2nd, as citizens of heaven, they had the privilege of representing heaven in this world, to manifest God’s kingdom to this world.
3rd, they were exhorted not to worry; but pray and trust God (Phil. 4:4-9)
You enter God’s kingdom through the new birth (John 3:3). Each of us becomes part of God’s family, a Kingdom citizen, and part of God’s colony on earth—you became naturalized as a citizen of heaven!
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. Eph. 2:19 NKJV
Not only does new birth make you a citizen of heaven, but your citizenship begins immediately. We are kingdom citizens and His ambassadors now,
So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!” 2 Cor. 5:20 CEB
Why is this so important? Religion tends to postpone the benefits of our heavenly citizenship to the future. God’s Kingdom is both now and yet to come.
Salvation, healing, and deliverance are no good in eternity—we need them now, not later! Our generation needs to encounter God’s love and power NOW through a confident Church that understands its authority as citizens of heaven.
When I became a Christian 44 years ago, my understanding of my rights and authority as a child of God and citizen of heaven was limited. As I grew in Christ, I became more aware of the authority of God’s Word, the authority I have in Jesus’ name, and, subsequently, my authority in God’s promises and prayer. It changed my life, and it will change yours!
The reader in Paul’s day would have understood the might of Rome behind its citizens. As an ambassador for Christ, you live in one world while representing another. Currently, we have the culture, economy, and power of heaven supporting us.
Why would Jesus tell us to pray for God’s kingdom to come if it were automatic? Yes, Jesus will come again—this is a sovereign act of God. But God’s kingdom, which is His domain and rule, manifests through family members, who exercise their rights as citizens of heaven.
You see, we are citizens of heaven but live in a country called Earth.
The church (ecclesia) is called out to be like a colony. We are an embassy, a refuge for the last, least, and lost of our world!
If I am overseas, in a foreign country, I have the right as a US citizen to go to the US embassy or consulate to get help if I need it. If I lose my passport, I can rightfully expect the embassy, which has the “might and force” of the US government behind it, to help me.
Understanding your rights as a citizen of heaven empowers you to live for a divine purpose. Heaven aids those who understand their identity and purpose. Knowing your citizenship and purpose affects your thinking and behavior. It builds confidence, changes your prayer life, and affects others.
When we share our faith or pray for the sick, it’s not our authority but the authority of the name of Jesus and our rights as citizens of heaven! It’s God’s authority, not ours, and He backs us up!
I’ll pick up part two next week!
Footnote
1 Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 125–126.
