Once we are regenerated, we pass out of death into life; we are made alive. The Bible shows that formerly we were not only sinners; we were also dead. Therefore, it is not enough for our sins to be washed away by the blood of His Son. We also need to be regenerated by His life so that we can pass out of death into life and be made alive.
If God only cleanses us outwardly without regenerating us inwardly, His salvation would be like the work of a mortician. A mortician may clean a dead person outwardly, but the person is still dead even though he is clean. This is not the ultimate goal of God’s salvation. In His salvation God not only wants to cleanse us, to take away our sins; He also wants to regenerate us, to make us alive. Because we were dead in our sins, we needed God’s forgiveness and God’s regeneration in order that we may be made alive (Eph. 2:5). As soon as we are regenerated, we pass out of death into life; we are made alive.
John 5:24 says that he who believes “has passed out of death into life.” Ephesians 2:5 says that God “made us alive together with Christ.” Originally, we were dead in our offenses and sins, but now God has made us alive together with Christ. Colossians 2:13 says that God made us alive, having forgiven us all our offenses.
Being made alive is a crucial point in God’s salvation. If we do not have life and are not made alive, we can never walk, grow, or serve God. We can walk, grow, act, and serve God on the basis of having the life of God and being regenerated and made alive.
Those who have been made alive still need to be resurrected. To be resurrected is to rise up, to transcend. In John 11 Lazarus was not only made alive in the tomb, but he rose up and left the tomb. Ephesians 2:5 says that God “made us alive together with Christ,” and verse 6 says that God “raised us up together with Him,” Christ. In the original text, to be resurrected is to be raised. A believer who does not walk or serve the Lord has merely been made alive; he has not been raised. In John 5:8 the Lord Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Rise, take up your mat and walk.” This is resurrection. We are saved not only to the extent of being made alive but also to the extent of being resurrected. This is similar to the lame man at the door of the temple who was healed in Acts 3:8; he was “walking and leaping and praising God.” After receiving the Lord’s healing, he did not sit in one place, saying, “Hallelujah, praise God, I am made alive; I am made alive.” He did not do this. He walked, leaped, and praised God. This is resurrection. God’s salvation is to save us to the extent that we are not only made alive but are resurrected, raised up, and able to act and live.
The moment we believe in the Lord and are saved, we ascend to the heavens and become heavenly people. We are transcendent. Ephesians 2:6 says, “Raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” We have not only been raised up; we have also ascended. This is God’s salvation, and we should say, “Hallelujah!” We may not have any feeling when we hear this, but we need to rejoice and say, “We are all in the heavens! We have not only been raised up; today we are all in the heavens!”
Ephesians 2:6 not only says that we have ascended but that we are sitting in the heavenlies. We were formerly lying in a tomb, but we have been made alive, raised up, ascended, and seated in another place—in the heavenlies; this is salvation. If we do not know of our being seated in the heavenlies, we cannot walk properly on earth. In order to walk the path on earth, we need to be seated in the heavenlies. This is to be saved; this is God’s salvation. Someone may ask, “How can we go to the heavenlies to be seated there?” This is not superstition, nor is it foolish talk. Consider a lamp in a building that is unconnected to a power plant. However, if the electricity in the power plant is connected to the lamp, the lamp becomes connected to the power plant. Likewise, we have ascended and are sitting in the heavenlies because the Lord who is sitting in the heavenlies has been connected to us. It is not that we have ascended and are now sitting in the heavenlies; rather, we have ascended and are sitting in the heavenlies in Christ.
Once we are in the heavenlies, we are renewed inside and out. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; they have become new. We are altogether new from inside to outside. In the heavenlies everything is new. These points can be seen in Titus 3:5 and 2 Corinthians 5:17.
When we are saved, our eyes are opened to see. Acts 26:18 says that God opens our eyes. The Lord’s gospel and His life have illuminated our eyes. In the past we were blind, but now we are saved, and our eyes have been opened and illuminated so that we can see. Seeing does not only require life within, but it also requires a position. Although I may be living, I can still be in darkness if I am in a basement. But, praise God, today we have ascended, and we are in God’s light. We not only have life inwardly; we are also in the light outwardly. We are altogether an illuminated person in God’s salvation.
At this point we are completely free; nothing can bind us, and nothing can control us. Formerly, we had sin, death, Satan, the world, the old creation, and the law. We were blind; everything was controlling and binding us. Before we were saved, we were not free; we were slaves of sin and under the authority of Satan. But now that we have been saved in the many aspects mentioned above, we have indeed been set free! This is the freedom spoken of in Galatians 5:1 and 13 and in John 8:36.
This does not mean that we are saved only when we reach this point; rather, it means that being saved includes so much and is so rich. This is what it means to be saved in 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5, and Romans 5:9-10. In these verses salvation does not merely refer to being forgiven outwardly; it also refers to being regenerated inwardly, and includes the rich content of being in ascension, being seated in the heavens, being renewed, having our sight recovered, and being set free.