Reconciling and purifying Heaven?

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Esaias

Yes, that's where I'm going with this, it seems. Not so much that there are heavenly rebels who need to be reconciled to God, but that there is a judicial requirement of sorts that must be met.

The sanctuary had to be purged by blood in order to accommodate the sin offerings. Heaven required a preparation as well, in order to accommodate our admittance to the heavenly places.

Upon consideration, it would seem that the powers and principalities include the "heavenly places" in which we are seated with Christ. They had to be reconciled to God, meaning that through the cross the heavenly places are now designed to be occupied by Christ, and through Him by us.

God allowed government to continue in spite of man's sin, thus it may be said the heavenly places "bore the iniquity" of the people. But through the cross the heavenly places (powers and principalities) have been purged and reconciled to God, they have been judicially cleansed of the iniquity they "bore", and are now fit to receive the saints as the ones to occupy those heavenly places. Or, at least are in the process of being made fit to not only be occupied by but exercised by the saints. "Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?" (1 Cor 6:2)

I am still considering the question of whether the heavenly reconciliation has been completed or is in process. In one sense, it must have been completed, otherwise how could we sit in heavenly places now? On the other hand, we sit in heavenly places now "in Christ", meaning we are only in those heavenly places because we are in Christ, and He is in the heavenly places, that is, He is in the position of highest heavenly authority, which would place us over and above the powers and principalities.

Furthermore, this seems to be one of those "both now and not yet" things, where in one sense it is a present reality but in another sense it is to have a future fulfillment or completion. After all, the powers and principalities do not at present appear to be in total submission to God. Yet God calls those things which be not as though they were, and by His creative rhema what He has spoken eventually comes to be reality.