What Is The Final Stage Of Christ’s Exaltation

Our salvation is bound up with the precious work of Jesus Christ. Each step of His humiliation is important because each describes how He was brought low — so low that He stood in our place as guilty before God’s law, thus satisfying God’s wrath against our sin. But there is more: the salvation which He merited must be applied. Therefore, Christ had to be exalted. This began with the resurrection.

Resurrection⤒🔗

According to 1 Corinthians 15, Christ’s resurrection was absolutely essential — “if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also vain … ye are yet in your sins … we are of all men most pitiable” (15:14, 17, 19).

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Though some have tried to explain away this event, it is a fact of history which is at the heart of our faith. No eyewitness saw the Lord come from the tomb, but Matthew tells us the astounding events accompanying Christ’s coming to life (28:2-4). After the resurrection Jesus appeared to prove that He was alive, as well as to teach of the kingdom (Acts 1:3). What was prophesied in the Old Testament (Psalm 16:10; cf. Acts 2:24-31) and by Jesus, Himself (Matthew 20:19; John 10:18), took place.

Scripture speaks of this resurrection in two dif­ferent ways. We read that He arose — it was His own work (John 2:19; 10:18). He had personal victory over death and the grave. We also read that He was raised up — the work was done by the Father (Acts 13:33; Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:3) who had re­ceived Christ’s work for our redemption.

What does this resurrection of Jesus Christ mean to the Christian?

• First, it means that we are justified before God (Romans 4:25). Raising Him from the dead, God de­clared Him to be worthy of eternal life. God had accepted the sacrifice of Calvary. Therefore, God now sees us — those in Christ — as if we had never sinned and had completely satisfied God’s justice. As the Holy Spirit applies this fruit of the resurrec­tion to us we praise God because we know that we are not “yet in our sins”!

• Second, it means that we in Christ know new life (John 5:21, 24, 25; Romans 6:3-5; Ephesians 2:5, 6; Colossians 3:1-3). Because He came forth, we in Him know what it is to be born again. Without His resur­rection this would not be our experience.

• Third, Christ’s resurrection “is to us a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection” (Heidelberg Catechism, q. 45). Because we lie in the midst of death we will die the temporal death. Yet, we will not die eternally. Jesus is the firstfruits of the resur­rection (1 Corinthians 15:20). The harvest is sure to follow. One day, because Jesus came forth from the tomb, we, too, will come forth (John 5:29). Therefore, Jesus would say,

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that be­lieveth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die.John 11:25, 26

Ascension←⤒🔗

After forty days of appearances to prove that He was alive and to teach about the kingdom, Jesus’ disciples gathered with Him on the Mount of Olives where He would be taken up into heaven. The most definite testimony of this is found in Acts 1:9-11. However, it is often mentioned in the Gospels (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51; John 6:61, 62; 7:23; 14:1-3; 16:7; 20:17) and, also, elsewhere in the New Testament (Acts 3:21; Ephesians 4:8-10; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 4:14; 6:19, 20; 9:24; 1 Peter 3:22).

What really took place in the Ascension? Jesus Christ in His divine and human natures departed earth and went to heaven. His human nature is not ubiquitous (everywhere present) here while His divine nature is in heaven. Jesus Christ, the God-Man, went to heaven. Heaven is a place (not merely a condition) but, at the same time, a place different from earth. It is not bound by earthly laws of space and time. In the earthly sense of distance it cannot be far away because while the amazed disciples stared into heaven the angels appeared and said that the Lord was already there (Acts 1:11).

Is this teaching so important? Indeed, it is. What a shame that some see no value in worship on Ascen­sion Day! We need what Jesus did in His ascension. He ascended “for our interest” (Heidelberg Cate­chism, q. 46).

Our ascended Lord is our Advocate before His Father (1 John 2:1). He is more than our Intercessor — one who prays for us. As our Advocate He pleads our case before God. He is our High Priest in heaven. We still sin and any of our sins, even though they re­main in us against our will, would make us damnable before God and deprive us of fellowship with the Father. But we have an Advocate who pleads our cause and obtains justification from the Father for us. In a sense, He says of me, “Father, he has sinned but see him through my perfect work.”

Also, our Ascended Lord — our flesh — is there as a pledge that He will take us to be with Him (Ephesians 2:4-6). He is there as the Head of the Body, His Church. We will never be separated from Him. He will draw us — soul and body — unto Him­self. In our glorified body we will know that blessed fellowship.

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The Scottish theologian John Dick, wrote:

To his followers, it is a source of high consola­tion to know, that he has not laid aside their nature, but retains it amidst his glory; because they can look up to him with confidence, in the full assurance of his sympathy, and see, in his exaltation, an earnest of their future glory. Lectures on Theology, 11:112

Finally, our Lord ascended so that He could send the Holy Spirit to be God’s Advocate to us (the word translated “advocate” in 1John 2:1 is the same word translated “comforter” in John 14:16). He has come to plead God’s case to us by applying Christ’s work. How wonderful is His testimony (Romans 8:16, 17)!

Even now — present tense — Jesus Christ having ascended is seated at God’s right hand

Seated at God’s Right Hand←⤒🔗

Scripture uses this expression (Psalm 110:1; Matthew 26:64; Acts 2:33-36; 5:30-36, 7:56; Romans 8:34; 1 Peter 3:22) in a figurative way. Obviously, God does not have a right hand. He is spirit. Nor are we to think of some particular spot in heaven which is known as “the right hand of God.” Rather, this is a way of saying that the result of Christ’s ascension is that He is now reigning. He is in a position of power and might having all authority and dominion over the whole creation. His is the position of greatest honor.

This can be illustrated right from Scripture, as well as from our daily experience. If a king would invite someone to sit at his right hand a great honor was being bestowed. After Solomon ascended to the throne his mother Bathsheba was seated at his right hand — a place of honor (1 Kings 2:19). Today, still, at properly arranged dinner parties the guest of honor is seated at the host’s right.

Perhaps a word is in order because we read of Christ being seated and also standing at God’s right hand. John Dick wrote:

Sitting is the posture of a sovereign, or a judge, or a person who has finished his labors, and is enjoying ease; standing is the pos­ture of a man who waits to receive a friend, or is pre­pared to defend him.Lectures on Theology, 11:116

How clearly we see all of this in our reigning Savior!

But has not Christ always reigned? Yes, as the Son of God He has always been at the right hand of God. He is God and thus has always had a position of authority.

Why, then, is it said that because He ascended Christ now sits at God’s right hand? He is now reign­ing as the God-man. Whereas He has always ruled in the Divine nature, now He rules in the human nature, also. During His humiliation for us He con­cealed the glory that is His. In the high priestly prayer He prayed that He might once again show the glory that was His: “And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5). Later, after the resurrection, Jesus explained what had happened, to the two on the road to Emmaus, “Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). Because of His obedience, Jesus, the Savior of sinners, is now at God’s right hand reigning as the representative of God over all, in the name of the Triune God.

How beautiful! Charles Hodge wrote:

… this supreme ruler of the universe is a per­fect man as well as a perfect God; … He still has all human sympathies and affections, and can be touched with a sense of our infirmities. That a person in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and who is filled with all the love, tenderness, compassion, meekness, and forbearance, which Christ manifested while here on earth, has all power in heaven and earth committed to his hands, and is not far from any one of us, is an unspeakable delight to all his people.Systematic Theology, 11:637

And He is there for us. This rule over all things is for us! One day we will reign with Him as servants of God (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 3:21). Unto that day He is now working. What has He done, and what is He doing?

1. He established the Church by the ministry of His apostles (Ephesians 4:1-16).

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   He prescribed the form and order of His Church (Mat­thew 28:19, 20; Pastoral Epistles).

3. He maintains His Church throughout the generations (Psalm 22:29-­31).

4. He defends His Church (John 4:4; Isaiah 54:17).

As the Head of the Church He is putting all the Church’s enemies under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:25). He is frustrating their plans. He is governing all matters, national, international, social. He rules over Satan and his wicked plans. “And when the last enemy is subdued He will deliver up this kingdom unto the Father, and reign forever as King over the redeemed” (C. Hodge, Systematic Theology, 11:638). All of this is being done so that by the power of the Word and Spirit God’s people may be made glad and willing servants of the Lord. As A. A. Hodge com­mented on this step:

Seated upon that throne He, during the present dispensation, as Mediator, effec­tually applies to his people, through his Spirit, that salvation which he had previously achieved for them in his estate of humiliation.Outlines in Theology, 443

Further, as a result of this rule, the fulness of the elect will be brought in and everything made ready for that Last Day for which the Church has prayed, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

To be sure, during the wait for that prayer’s an­swer it seems as if God’s promise of perpetual care is not true. However, the promise is not that we will be free from persecution but that we will be kept in salvation so that we will live and reign with Christ. This is the believer’s hope: Jesus Christ shall return.

Return←⤒🔗

This is the last step in his exal­tation. He who was arraigned as a criminal at the bar of Pilate; who was unrighteously con­demned, and who amid cruel mockings, was crucified with malefactors, is to come again with power and great glory; before Him are to be gathered all nations and all the generations of men, to receive from his lips their final sentence. He will then be exalted before all intelligences, as visibly their sovereign judge.C. Hodge, Systematic Theology, 11:638

When this return will take place we do not know — no one but the Father does (Matthew 24:36) — but it will be a physical and visible return (Matthew 24:30; Acts 1:11).

Christ’s return will mean:

1. the condemnation of unbelievers to eternal hell, and

2. the entrance of God’s own to the fulness of the joy of the Lord (Mat­thew 25:31-45).

Sad to say, oftentimes, this second purpose is forgotten, or not emphasized, and the be­liever’s blessed hope (Titus 2:13) becomes a fearful prospect.

For the believer, Christ’s return will be the appli­cation to him of complete victory. Full deliverance will be our experience. Release from all of sin’s ef­fects will be known (1 Corinthians 15:51-57). Cove­nant fellowship will be fully known (Revelation 21:1-8). How wonderful, then,

… Christ … shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salva­tion.Hebrews 9:28

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