(tm) The crown is produced by the cross
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If we suffer we will reign. If we enter the bonds of His suffering we will experience the power of His resurrection. It is the conqueror who will rule with Christ.
To sit on the right hand and the left hand of Christ is assigned to those for whom these positions have been prepared by the Father. They will be required to drink of the cup of Christ and to endure a baptism of suffering like His.
There was no need for Christ to experience the first area of redemption, that of initial salvation, because He was guiltless in the sight of God.
There was no need for Christ to experience the second area of redemption, that of sanctification, because He was without inherited or acquired sinful tendencies and practices.
The only area of redemption of benefit to Christ Himself was that of self-denial. Christ learned obedience by the things He suffered.
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Hebrews 2:10)
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (Hebrews 5:8,9)
Christ was made perfect by suffering. By suffering He learned obedience to God. We also are made perfect by suffering. By suffering we learn obedience to God.
When Christ was in the flesh He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death (Hebrews 5:7). This reminds us of the wrestling of Jacob with the angel.
We also, as we become older and stronger in the Lord, find ourselves in the wrestling match with God. We struggle with God in the throes of death to our self-love. This is the area of conquest.
If we desire to go all the way through to the fullness of redemption we must die and be raised into the Person and Presence of the Father. Here is the ultimate in self-denial. Here is the ultimate in obedience. Here is the ultimate in fruitfulness. Here is the ultimate in Divine strength and dominion over the works of God’s hands.
As soon as we have died this death and have been raised in this resurrection the fire of God no longer will harm us. The second death no longer has authority over us. We are alive in God eternally, having been declared to be a son of God by the resurrection from the dead. The sentence of the court of Heaven is that we be raised from the dead in the fullness of Divine Glory to meet the Conqueror as He descends with His saints and holy angels.
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