God is making kings, judges, priests. The tragedy of the Garden of Eden reveals the need for iron rulership. First came the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. After Him the nobility of the Kingdom are being created and formed. As soon as the ordained number of rulers have been prepared the King will return with His coheirs and the Kingdom of God will be installed upon the earth by force.

God makes all things of the creation to work together for good for those who have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, to be His brothers.

Ephesians 2:6 (above) is an astonishing verse of the Scripture. If the tense of the verb raise were future or even present, God will raise us up, or God is raising us up, it still would be utterly astonishing. But raised!

Where are He and we at the present time?

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:18-21—NIV)

Where are He and we? "Far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."

Have these verses always been in the Bible? Yes. Why haven't we paid more attention to them? I don't know. Perhaps it wasn't God's time.

When we think of going to Heaven we picture going to Paradise. Jesus Christ came to bring us to Paradise, we believe. What will Paradise be like? It is thought that the word Paradise means garden. So we picture a beautiful park with grass, trees, birds, and little children playing on the lawn.

An archaic translation of the Greek term for room, or dwelling place, has added "mansions" to our vision. When we go to Heaven we will have a mansion in a beautiful natural setting.

But it appears, from the Scripture, we already have been lifted up past the garden and the children and are at the right hand of God, far above all other rule, authority, power, dominion, and title. We have been raised, not to Paradise but to a position of enormous authority and power.

Now this certainly is something to think about.

It goes back to the definition of "man."

But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet." In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. (Hebrews 2:6-8—NIV)

To be continued.