A Legal Exchange Was Made for Our Freedom and Access to a New Kingdom

Last week my boys and I had the distinct honor of witnessing our friends become United States citizens in a federal court naturalization ceremony.

It was such a privilege to see 53 people from 29 different countries, smile their way into our free country by renouncing and abjuring all allegiance and fidelity to any other power besides the United States of America.

Such strong language was recited by all during the process that I thought of what becoming a citizen of heaven through Jesus' sacrifice entails.

As they repeated the swearing in oath, they renounced any and all allegiance and fidelity to any;
foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty by which they had been a citizen or a subject.

They exchanged their allegiance to their previous country's power and rulers for allegiance to the United States of America.

As I heard the words potentate and sovereignty, I could not help but think of Jesus.  Being an avid King James Version for many years brought to mind 1 Timothy 6:15 which refers to Jesus as the blessed and only Potentate.

I Timothy 6:13-16

I charge you in the presence of many witnesses, 

who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus, 

who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate 

made the good confession, 

to keep the commandment unstained and 

free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time-- 

he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, 

the King of kings and Lord of lords, 

who alone has immortality, 

who dwells in unapproachable light, 

whom no one has ever seen or can see.  

To him be honor and eternal dominion.  Amen

 My dear friends confessed, under oath, freely, in the presence of many witnesses their obligation and responsibility, 'without mental reservation or purpose of evasion', their intentions to support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic and  bear through faith and allegiance, fight for their new country if necessary.

I was astounded at the similarities to a faithful allegiance to Jesus and His kingdom.

We, as citizens of the kingdom of Heaven now have access to all the benefits of that kingdom.
1 Timothy points out a few of those rewards as Paul describes Jesus, he says;

who has immortality

We now have the promise of eternal life through Christ's sacrifice just like my friends have the right to live in freedom here because of the many men and women who sacrificed their lives for our freedom.

who dwells in unapproachable light

Christ is the Light of the world and He it is that illuminates our path as we follow Him.  Before we were citizens of Heaven we walked in darkness.

Ephesians 1:17 

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, 
that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, 
in the futility of their minds.  
They are darkened in their understanding, 
alienated from the life of God because 
of the ignorance that is in them, 
due to their hardness of heart.  

As Christ dwells in our hearts through faith-- we are rooted and grounded in love, and we obtain the strength necessary to comprehend with all the saints the 4 dimensional love of Christ, and to be filled with all the fulness of God.

We have access to the unsearchable riches of Christ as members of His family and joint heirs of His kingdom.

Just like my friends promised to fight and potentially suffer for their new country, we too are called to suffer on behalf of our King.

Romans 8:15-17 shows that a legal exchange occurred when we became citizens of Heaven by being adopted as sons.

but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, 

by whom we cry, "Abba!  Father!"  

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit 

that we are children of God, and if children, 

then heirs-- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, 

provided we suffer with him 

in order that we may also be glorified with him.

What a privilege it is to be citizens of Heaven and joint heirs with Christ!  We have been adopted into a country even though we were once aliens and foreigners and now we have access to all the rights and privileges of our new Kingdom through Christ our King!

Abba! Father!  We thank you for illuminating the truth to our hearts and breaking off branches that we might be grafted into Your kingdom.  We are forever grateful!  Help us never lose sight of the legal exchange that was performed to give us freedom and access to Your Kingdom by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who won the battle for us so that we could live in victory!