7 - A Heavenly Citizenship | Uniting Heaven and Earth

The connection between heaven and earth takes place in human beings – in their identity. That is why only a human being could restore it after self-deception: Jesus Christ.

The central question is always: Who am I? Because identity determines origin and belonging. We all come from one life – from Adam. Through the Fall, we are “born dead”: in the wrong identity, unable to come into God's presence. According to the law of inheritance, we inherit this dead nature – and with it the power of death and evil (Hebrews 2:14-15): Christ took on flesh and blood in order to take away the devil's power over death through his death and to free us from the bondage of death. Satan has power over us solely through our false identity. Jesus nails this old life to the cross and creates a new life through his resurrection. Everyone can enter into this new life through faith: they give up their old life, die with Christ, and rise with him.

Importantly, there is no choice between good and evil – only the decision whether or not to come out of death and false identity into new life. The “head of evil” (the old identity) must be killed by recognizing and renouncing it. This is a process: recognition → surrender → life by faith. And Christ is the firstborn of the new life, our origin. Through faith we become “flesh of his flesh” – inherited not by law, but by grace.

Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20): that is where our life, our origin, is. Christ came with a transfigured body and spirit – a completely new creation. At his return, we too will be transformed into this new life (“Rejoice that your names are written in heaven” – Luke 10:20). In the last days, evil will establish a deception: a “new identity” through an earthly order (the mark of the beast as false citizenship). This is deception and the rejection of true life. We are heavenly citizens, God's children. Let us never give up this identity! This and more will be explored in depth in the seventh part of the series “Uniting Heaven and Earth.”