The City of God

Opening Our Eyes

As we turn to our passage this Ascension Sunday, our first impression may be that it was not only Jesus who ascended, but also Paul’s words ascended far above all of our heads. Whether reading in English or in Greek, we might notice that Paul loves big words and long sentences. Over the span of these 19 verses, we have read only 6 sentences, one of which spans a whopping 7 verses! Paul had a lot to say, and didn’t give himself as much room as we might like to say it.

One thing is certain, however: Paul wanted us to be deeply aware of the majesty of Jesus. Having heard of the churches around Ephesus, Paul constantly prayed that God would give them wisdom, and would reveal to them this reality: that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is King.

Christ Victorious

This reality is what our faith is built upon. We have been celebrating the season of Easter these past few months. We have been celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ even as we hear the words of 1 Peter on suffering, and we have endured much suffering ourselves. It would be easy, then, to put the words of Paul off as those of a naive preacher. “Jesus is King” is quite easy to say when the going is good, but things right now seem so bad. “Where is King Jesus then?” we might ask Paul. To dismiss Paul’s words, however, would be rather foolish of us, since Paul himself wrote them in the midst of great distress. Ephesians is one of the prison letters, a letter written to the Church as Paul endured one of the darkest and most difficult trials of his life, a life already overfilled with tragedy and hardship.

Yes, even as Paul sat imprisoned, he was unafraid to pronounce boldly, “Jesus is Lord.” Paul wrote confidently, the dragging of his chains echoing off the stone floors, that Jesus has been not only raised, but also enthroned high above every ruler, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named, even the name “Caesar” who had him imprisoned. Ascension Sunday is a time when we remember, alongside Paul, that Jesus is indeed victorious. Jesus was killed, but he arose on the third day. Jesus was beaten and humiliated on the cross, but now he has beaten and humiliated death itself.

“Jesus is Lord” is the oldest creed of the church. It is at the very heart of the gospel. It is the gospel, and Christ’s reign is the very thing that defines the Church. Paul’s writing reminds us that our eyes must remain clearly focused on this reality not only in the good times, but even in the darkest of times. Paul prays that God’s spirit would reveal to the Church Christ in all his glory, splendor, and power, even while his Church suffers.

Church Victorious

But why? Why does it matter so much for Paul that Jesus was victorious? Why should it matter at all to us that Jesus was not just raised, but also that he ascended to sit at the right hand of God the Father almighty? That’s all fine and good for Jesus, but it doesn’t change the fact that Paul still sits imprisoned, in chains. That’s a very nice thing to say, but it doesn’t change the death and suffering we experience right now. People are still dying from Corona virus, from war, from poverty. We still suffer all manner of hardships. Does it mean anything to us that Jesus is King?

“Yes,” Paul says, “It means everything.” This is because not only was Jesus raised, not only was Christ proclaimed victorious over death, not only was Jesus glorified and seated in the heavenly places above all rulers, but we were raised and seated with him. It is important that Christ is victorious precisely because that makes his Church victorious. The ascension, as Paul says, is a glimpse of the age to come, when we too will be raised and glorified with Christ. This is our hope, that we have become co-heirs with Christ. That Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, just as Jesus has victory over sin and death and suffering, we too will be raised and victorious alongside our King.

It is this great hope that provides us light in the darkest of times. It is what helped Paul endure his chains, and what will help us endure our present suffering. We know that this present darkness will not remain, it cannot remain, because our Lord Jesus now reigns, our Lord Jesus is coming, and he will put an end to all suffering and pain, and will wipe away every tear. He will raise the faithful ones from the dead, and not only that, but will seat them in a place of honor. God, through Christ, will restore what was broken.

The Authority of the Air

And so now we wait on King Jesus. We, the Church, have hope that if our King is victorious, we too are victorious. But, Paul reminds us, as we wait, we must not return to that other king. Yes, the ruler of the authority of the air, the ruler which the children of this world follows, would love for us to abandon Christ. If we remain faithful, then we will receive the inheritance from God, the inheritance promised to Abraham, the inheritance given to Adam and Eve at the beginning of all things. God will restore humanity to its rightful place, God will renew his image in us, and make us stewards over all of creation, a renewed beautiful creation. This is our inheritance, but the other ruler delights in those who lose that inheritance. The other ruler, after all, is the one who defiled creation to begin with, and continues to defile and desecrate it.

Many have puzzled over Paul’s mention of the Devil here. Why not just call him out by name, Paul? Paul does indeed call Satan out by name, but not here, at the end of Ephesians. So why talk of the “ruler of the authority of the air”? Paul was, in fact, making a much broader statement than we often realized. The “ruler” here is not Satan, but Caesar, and the “authority of the air” is Caesar’s god Jupiter, Zeus, who gave him authority and power to rule. How does Satan play into it all then? He is the one pulling all the strings.

Though the Greeks and Romans thought they worshipped gods, and though Caesar claimed to be a representative of these gods, in fact, Paul says, they were being deceived by Satan and his demons. It is not a godly power from Zeus behind the Roman throne, but a satanic power. In fact, if we trace this theme throughout scripture, we see that most human empires and civilizations were in league with these satanic powers, from Babylon to Egypt.

This is, however, not the kind of dark power so favored by conspiracy theorists. Paul does not mean to say that some secret organization is pulling all the strings. This is not that kind of dark conspiracy. No, the satanic powers are not at all interested in creating a world order, but a world in chaos. They incite human rulers and empires to violence, warfare, the oppression of the poor, the destruction of God’s creation, and rebellion against all that God calls good. We see this satanic power at work when Rome set out to wage war against peaceful people, when Rome oppressed millions of slaves, when Rome invented instruments of torture and violence to establish their own power, when Rome taxed its people into poverty while lining the pockets of the rich.

We see this Satanic power when Pharaoh whipped and beat his slaves, when his pyramids did untold damage to the land around him, when his policies lead to the death of the poorest and most vulnerable among the Israelites.

We see this Satanic power when Germany began to systematically execute an entire race of people, when they turned their ingenuity and God given wisdom toward evil ends, creating machines for war and violence.

And we see this Satanic power when our own country tortured and oppressed African Americans, when we turn our money from helping the poor to building a bigger stronger army, and when we neglect the poor, the orphans, the widows, and the refugees while continuing to give tax breaks to the rich.

“The ruler of the authority of the air” is not just Caesar, but any ruler who claims to be serving a god while continuing to do what is evil in the sight of the one God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such a god, Paul tells us, is really Satan in disguise, and such a ruler is a servant of Satan.

To turn from Christ, then, does not always look like drawing pentagrams and calling on the names of demons. It can very often look like giving into the social and political pressures around us. It can look like abandoning the humble submission Jesus calls us to in favor of the force and power to get what I want that is so favored by the world. It can look like abandoning the poor so as to gain favor with the rich. In fact, to the surprise of many, a very good citizen of the world is often a very poor citizen of heaven.

The City of God

Being a citizen of heaven, after all, is what Ephesians has been driving at this whole time. Satan and his rulers have founded a world on violence and selfishness, but God has founded his heavenly city on Jesus Christ and the good works witnessed in his life and death.

Yes, Paul uses the language of founding a city here to demonstrate the great contrast between the Church and the world. “For we are his work, having been founded by Christ Jesus upon good deeds which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them.”

“... the earthly city glories in itself, the Heavenly City glories in the Lord.” St. Augustine