Christology 2 Lesson 7
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Today we will finish up Christology by looking at Christ work of Ascension into Heaven
We all as humans fell the joys and pains of goodbyes….
My sister Cherith always hated goodbyes…
There are different kind of goodbyes
SNEERING, SOUR, AND SCORNFUL FAREWELLS
GOODBYE, LOVE: ACCEPTANCE AND MOVING ON
PARTIES, CARS, AND AIRPORTS: GOODBYES TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS significant turning points, and even death: whatever the occasion, the farewells are deeply felt.
Quiting goodbuys
Not goodbye but until we meet again…
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
These are “anti-goodbye” of a sort: they refuse sentimental farewells, or insist that goodbyes are only temporary.
The Christian hope is just this…
Christ’ Ascension into Heaven
Christ’ Ascension into Heaven
1. Christ Ascended to a place
1. Christ Ascended to a place
After the resurrection, Jesus was on the earth for forty days.
He led them out to Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem,
And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Jesus ascended to a place! This place it at the right hand of God.
While we can’t see this place right now it still exist. Some have been given eyes to see heaven before going there.
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
We know exactly where heaven is:
And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
Some who do not believe the scripture scoff at Heaven being a real place. Like the first Russian cosmonaut who came from space and declared that he did not see God or heaven anywhere.
This points more to the spiritual blindness of man.
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2. Christ received Glory and Honor that had not been His before as the God-man.
2. Christ received Glory and Honor that had not been His before as the God-man.
When Jesus ascended into heaven he received glory, honor, and authority that has never been his before as one who was both God and man.
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
Christ is not win heaven where there angelic choirs sing praise to him with the words:
saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
2. Christ was seated at God’s right hand (Christ’s session)
2. Christ was seated at God’s right hand (Christ’s session)
One aspect of the ascension involves the fact that Jesus is setting at the right hand of God.
This was prophesied in the OT.
The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
His setting down is a picture of the dramatic completion of the work of redemption.
Just when we set down after completing a big task.
Jesus sat at the right hand of God, visibly demonstrating that his work of redemption was complete.
In addition to showing that the work was complete when he sat down at God’s right hand he showed that he recieved authority to pour out the Holy Spirit on the church.
Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
Being that he sat down does not mean that he is inactive.
He is setting at the right hand of God and
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine 3. Christ Was Seated at God’s Right Hand (Christ’s Session)
Just as a human king sits on his royal throne at his accession to the kingship, but then engages in many other activities throughout each day, so Christ sat at the right hand of God as a dramatic evidence of the completion of his redemptive work and his reception of authority over the universe, but he is certainly engaged in other activities in heaven as well
4. Christ’s ascension has doctrinal significance for our lives.
4. Christ’s ascension has doctrinal significance for our lives.
Just like the resurrection has profound implications for our lives, so Christ’s ascension has significant implications for us.
1. Since we are united with Christ in every aspect of his work of redemption, Christ’s going up into heaven foreshadows our future ascension into heaven with him.
1. Since we are united with Christ in every aspect of his work of redemption, Christ’s going up into heaven foreshadows our future ascension into heaven with him.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Run the race of life with the ascension in mind..
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
2. Jesus’ ascension gives us assurance that our final home will be in heaven with him.
2. Jesus’ ascension gives us assurance that our final home will be in heaven with him.
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
3. Because of our union with Christ in his ascension, we are able to share now (in part) in Christ’s authority over the universe, and we will later share in it more fully.
3. Because of our union with Christ in his ascension, we are able to share now (in part) in Christ’s authority over the universe, and we will later share in it more fully.
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
We share in Christ’ authoritative rule over all the earth
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,
The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.
The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine C. States of Jesus Christ
C. States of Jesus Christ
In talking about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, theologians have sometimes talked about the “states of Jesus Christ.” By this they mean the different relationships Jesus had to God’s law for mankind, to the possession of authority, and to receiving honor for himself. Generally two states (humiliation and exaltation) are distinguished. Thus, the doctrine of “the twofold state of Christ” is the teaching that Christ experienced first the state of humiliation, then the state of exaltation.
Within the humiliation of Christ are included his incarnation, suffering, death, and burial. Sometimes a fifth aspect (descent into hell) is included, but as explained above, the position taken in this book is that that concept is not supported in Scripture.
In the exaltation of Christ, there are also four aspects: his resurrection, ascension into heaven, session at the right hand of God, and return in glory and power. Many systematic theologies use the state of humiliation and the state of exaltation as broad categories to organize their discussion of Jesus’ work.