God already determined and sealed your future.

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6-7

God has already determined and sealed your future destiny if you believed in His Son, Jesus. Our insight says God raised you up with Christ and seated you with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It is God’s verdict and it is a done deal once and for all. God is not a man to change his mind after he uttered the verdict. Numbers 23:19 says this about God, “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Beloved, did you notice the verbs in our insight are past tense? It says, “God raised us up”, “seated us”. It does not say God may raise us or may allow us to sit with him based on our works and performances. Ephesians 2:8 says, how this all happened to us. Listen it says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.”

God who is rich in mercy because of his great love toward you gives the grace and even faith to believe in the finished work of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus went to the cross, died and rose again for all of your sins and shortcomings according to the eternal plan of God. By God’s grace, through faith in Christ, God raises you up from a spiritually dead condition and makes you alive toward Him. Grace and the faith-both are God’s gifts that no one should boast about his or her merit or works. At the moment of your professed faith in Jesus, the only savior of the whole world, God seals your future destiny in heaven with Him. It is not a wish anymore. It is perfectly done and once and for all secured for you. You will never lose your salvation and inheritance in heaven if you genuinely placed your belief and trust in the finished work of Christ on your behalf.

Our insight also says why God did this. It says “in order that in the coming ages God might showcase the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness toward you in Christ Jesus.”

God would showcase his marvelous, incomparable grace and kindness available in and through His Son, Jesus Christ throughout all coming ages. This is God’s plan to show His amazing grace and kindness toward you all through the comings ages (throughout the eternity). Not to showcase your merits, works, deeds, and performances. But to show forth His incomparable grace and kindness toward you, which you can appropriate by accepting Jesus as your savior. 

Got a moment for today’s prayer? “Father in heaven, I know you save me from my sins and place you in heaven with you, based on your the finished work of Jesus on behalf of me. I believe Jesus is my Lord. He died and rose again for my sins. Please save me and seal my eternal destiny with you, as you promised. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.”