Jesus’ Ascension to the Throne of God in Heaven
Our God reigns, and Jesus Christ is our God. Jesus is exalted, and He is to be worshipped. Because Jesus has been given the name above every name (Eph 1:21; Phil 2:9), it is right for us to bow our knees and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil 2:10). He is Lord of all (Acts 10:36), having been given all rule and authority in heaven and on earth (Mt 28:18). Today, Jesus Christ sits on the throne of God at the right hand of God the Father (Ps 110:1; Acts 2:33), that is, the right hand of Majesty (Heb 1:3; 8:1). How did Jesus get to such a place and position?
Following the death of Christ, His burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, and His bodily resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven (Jn 3:13; 6:62; 20:17; Eph 4:8–10). This event was witnessed by His disciples at the Mount of Olives on a day preceding the promised Day of Pentecost (50 days after Passover). The ascension of the resurrected Christ is significant for a number of reasons. Let us consider a few.
First, heaven is depicted as a glorious place (Acts 7:55). To go to heaven is an advancement to glory. Heaven is glorious because God is there, and our God is glorious (Rev 5:13). Everything in heaven glorifies God, and for this purpose all things, seen and unseen were created.
Jesus is the King of glory, who returns to glory, as viewed in Psalm 24. His entrance to the heavenly city follows the greatest victory in the history of warfare. Jesus overcame the world (Jn 16:33). He triumphed over sin, death, and the devil in His death on the Cross of Calvary (2 Cor 2:14; 1 Jn 3:8). He defeated everyone and everything arrayed against Him.
Second, there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5). In His role of mediating peace with God (Rom 5:1; Col 1:20), Jesus has served as our great high Priest (Heb 3:1; 4:14–15). Jesus entered the holy place of heaven and offered up Himself as a sacrifice for sins (Heb 7:27; 9:14). His precious blood was presented as an atonement for sin, which has brought His people to a position of being forgiven within the terms of the covenant of grace (Mt 26:28; Eph 1:7).
Having been purchased with His blood (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor 6:20; 7:23), the redeemed are brought near to God in a one-time act never to be repeated because of the sufficiency of our substitute’s sacrifice. Now, having ascended to the Father’s right hand, Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us who have been sprinkled with His blood (Heb 7:25). He is our perfect Advocate before the Father (1 Jn 2:1).
With right legal standing, there is no condemnation and no fear of the pending judgment to come on the last day, that is, the Day of Judgment (Mt 24–25; Mk 13; Lk 21; 1 Thess 4:13–5:11; Rev 19:11–21). Jesus’ sacrifice has cancelled the debt of sin for all of God’s elect people (Col 2:14).
Third, we know these good things because when Jesus ascended to heaven, He and God the Father sent forth the Holy Spirit into the world (Jn 14:26; 15:26). More specifically the Holy Spirit was sent into the hearts of God’s chosen and redeemed people in order to baptize them into the body of Christ (Rom 5:5; 1 Cor 12:13), His church, the Israel of God (Gal 6:16).
The Spirit of Christ made us alive to God (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13) by resurrecting our souls from spiritual death (Eph 2:1). Regeneration is what it means for one to be born again/made alive of God’s Spirit (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3).
Jesus is the enthroned God/man who is transferring lost souls into the kingdom of God (Col 1:13). The kingdom of God on earth is wherever the Spirit of God is manifesting righteousness, peace, and joy (Rom 14:17). In the end, the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord in the new heavens and new earth (Is 65–66; Rev 21–22).
Thus, in summary, Jesus is ascended to the place of highest honor as King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim 6:15). He has served as prophet, priest, and king, and He continues in each of these exalted roles. He is reigning, ruling, interceding, advocating, and being proclaimed in the world by His Spirit.
Jesus’ ascension gives the saints of God the utmost comfort in life and death. We, too, desire to ascend to the house of God in heavenly Zion, in order to be with our Lord (Phil 1:23). He who loved us in life and death has gone to prepare the eternal home for His beloved (Jn 14:2–3). These mansions of glory are our blessed hope for a future with the Lover of our souls.
The promise of Jesus to fulfill this blessed hope is a priceless treasure for those who believe, having received the token/pledge of His everlasting love (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5). All that Jesus has done, is doing, and will finish by His Spirit, has received heaven’s approval and adoration (Acts 17:31). Just as the victorious Christ was received at His ascension into heaven — in glory — so the Judge of the living and the dead will return in the same way — in glory (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5).
In His first advent, Jesus entered the world in quiet humility at Bethlehem (Mt 1; Lk 1–2). Only a few beheld Him and worshipped. His mission to destroy the works of the devil and to save His people from their sins is a guaranteed success (Mt 1:21; 1 Jn 3:8). All that the Father gave to the Son shall come to Him and Jesus will not cast them out nor will He lose any of them (Jn 6:37, 39). That is good news!
As you consider Christ, the ascended One, now enthroned, are you positioned to bow down in worship? Do you delight, even boast in, the One whose name is famous above everyone else?
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
August 27, 2022
