Acts chapter 1. And we're going
to read from verse 1. Acts chapter 1 and verse 1. The former treatise have I made,
O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until
The day in which he was taken up after that, he, through the
Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion
by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days and speaking
of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled
together with them, commanded them that they should not depart
from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which
he saith, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with
water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them,
It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the
Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, that
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. and ye shall be
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth.' And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud
received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel. which also said, Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. The Lord Jesus Christ's ascension
into heaven was the culmination of his earthly ministry. He had come into this world at
the incarnation miraculously, and he left this world at the
ascension equally miraculously. That is not to say that that
is the beginning and the end of the life of the Lord Jesus
by any means. Our Lord Jesus Christ is eternal
and he had been working in the world for many, many years before
and he continues to work in the world in these days. But as far as his human time
upon this earth is concerned, the ascension of the Lord Jesus
Christ brought to an end that time when his body was here upon
earth. Now we remember the great events
of the Lord's life, the great historical events of the Lord's
life in the incarnation. And in his life, his miracles,
his teaching, we think about his death and we think about
the resurrection. And all of these things have
got much to say to us. The things that he accomplished
and fulfilled, the work which he satisfied that the Father
had given him to do. We see all these things looking
as it were backwards. We look back in history and we
see that all these things happen. Just as the Old Testament saints
look forward, anticipating these things, we look back. But the
ascension is different because the ascension, while it took
place at a particular moment in time, and we've read about
it here in the Acts of the Apostles, It is also equally valid for
us to say that the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ is a
continuous thing. Because while he went up and
ascended into heaven, heaven is where he is today. And so
we think of him as the ascended Christ, not simply in the historical
context of something that happened, but in his ongoing rule, in his
ongoing continuing role there in heaven. He has entered into
heaven and there in his ascended glory the Lord Jesus Christ is
seated at the right hand of God. We are told in Scripture that
the ascension of the Saviour took place 40 days after his
resurrection. 40 days after his resurrection,
so almost six weeks after the Lord rose from the dead, he ascended
up into heaven. He ascended from the Mount of
Olives. That was a place where he often
went with his disciples. It was where his travail had
been, there in the garden in Gethsemane. And from that same
locale, the Lord Jesus Christ rose up into heaven. We read
in Acts chapter one that his ascension was attended by angels,
that there were two men in white raiment, white garments, who
stood beside the disciples who saw him going up into heaven
and spoke these words. They said, ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven. And from that day henceforth
we wait the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is coming back
again. And so while he ascended bodily
into heaven, we expect to see him returning bodily to this
earth to wrap up, to bring to a conclusion, to bring to an
end all those affairs of his church and his people to gather
them from the four corners of the earth to send out his angels
to bring all men into that place of judgment and the acknowledgement
of the fulfillment of the great purposes of God. We find that the Ascension is
spoken of here in the Acts of the Apostles, perhaps most clearly. But Luke also wrote about the
Ascension of the Lord at the end of his own Gospel. as did
Mark. Mark and Luke both make reference
to the ascension. Matthew at the end of his gospel
concludes it with the commission that the Lord Jesus Christ gave
to his disciples to go out into all the world. That is not to
say, however, that the ascension of the Lord is not anticipated
in Matthew in a number of places. and particularly in John. John, in the latter part of his
gospel, anticipates frequently the ascension of the Lord Jesus
Christ. in the prayers that the Lord
made, in the final teaching that the Lord gave to his apostles. So we find, for example, in John
14 and 16 and 17, that there are many, many references to
the impending ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we might
not be too surprised that John, writing many years later at the
end of his life, did not deem it necessary, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, to write about the ascension of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because it was so well recognised and acknowledged
by the Church. And we see that throughout the
New Testament. For example, The Apostle Paul,
writing in chapter 8, verse 34, he writes, Who is he that condemneth? Who is going to condemn the Lord's
people? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again. who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us." So the Apostle Paul
understood that the Lord Jesus Christ was now in his physical
body, ascended into heaven, and there was seated at the right
hand of God. How did Paul know that? Yes,
he knew it because it had been testified by the other apostles,
the disciples who saw him go. But Paul had also seen the Lord
Jesus Christ. On that Damascus road he had
a vision of the Lord. The Lord met him there on the
Damascus road and Paul, Saul as it was and Paul as he was
to become, knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was risen from the
dead and ascended into glory. Stephen is another example, and
in the Acts of the Apostles, we read how Stephen, that moment
of his death, looked up into heaven. There's a lovely little
alteration there in the text, a little change, because normally
the apostles write of the Lord Jesus Christ seated at the right
hand of God. When Stephen looked up into heaven
and saw the Lord, the Lord was standing at the right hand of
God. Why was he standing? Because
Stephen was coming home. And the Lord Jesus Christ rose
to meet him. What a wonderful thought to think
that as we go through this life, that Our mortality, the death
of the Lord's people is precious to him. And so it was for Stephen,
as he laid down his life as a martyr, as his enemies thought that they
were taking his life, sought to slay him and kill him, thought
that they were accomplishing their ends and their purposes. All they were doing was promoting
him. into the blessed presence of his Saviour. The Apostle Paul
Stephen, these men knew Timothy. The Apostle wrote to Timothy
and he said in 1 Timothy 3.16, without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. This again was Paul teaching
Timothy, this young man, this young pastor, the very rudiments,
the basic building blocks, the foundations, the pillars of our
doctrine, how that this great mystery of godliness, God become
man, culminated in the Lord Jesus Christ being taken and received
back up into glory. I've often wondered as the The
angels spoke and the disciples spoke about the Lord being taken
up into the cloud. What kind of cloud that was? Was it just an ordinary cloud? Was it just to take the Lord
out of their view, out of their vision, so that they didn't stand
around under a clear blue sky and look and see him disappearing? But I wonder whether or not that
cloud was a cloud of angels. I wonder if that's what it was.
a sacred writer didn't seem able or willing to point that out,
and it may be that I'm speculating here, but was there not a host
of angels announced that the Lord Jesus Christ's birth was
imminent or had just taken place? I suspect that the angels were
equally excited about the fact that the one who had just been
crucified and risen from the dead was about to return into
his glory in heaven. Maybe it was a cloud of angels
that received him back. It certainly appears that he
was carried back into heaven. And it is a lovely thought to
think of the joy of the angels as they received their God back
amongst them. Peter, one of the men who would
have been standing there that day, he writes in 1 Peter 3 in
verse 22, of the Lord who is gone into heaven. and is on the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. So there is no doubt that the
apostles understood that this bodily ascension of the Lord
Jesus Christ was him returning into heaven and there to be seated
in a place of power and authority and honour and glory. John, in
his epistle, 1 John chapter 2 verse 1 writes, My little children,
these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. John knew that that advocate,
that one who speaks for us, that one, that's the word means to
represent, to speak on behalf of another, to advocate. That
little voc in the middle there is vocal and voice. And so the advocate is one who
stands to speak on behalf of another. And John understood
that we have an advocate The Lord's people have an advocate
in heaven. The God-man, he who is of our
flesh, he who is of our physical body, is there in glory speaking
out on behalf of his church. It's a wonderful thought and
this was completely filling the minds of the apostles, these
men who wrote of their saviour and continued to minister the
things of God. But of all the apostles that
spoke, I think perhaps we would be correct in saying that it
is the book of Hebrews that most speaks about the risen Christ
in his glory. It is Hebrews and of course we
don't actually know who the author of Hebrews was. It may well have
been the Apostle Paul in some respects. I wonder who could
it else have been? Who possibly could have written
the book of Hebrews except the Apostle Paul? But again, he,
the author and the Holy Spirit thought it appropriate that that
information be withheld from us. Therefore, we will speak
of the writer of the book of Hebrews. And here was a man who
knew that Christ was ascended on high. Perhaps more than anywhere
else in the New Testament, beginning right at the very start in chapter
one, verse three, we are told that the Lord Jesus Christ is
sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. This is the ascended Christ.
He has sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. In chapter 4, verse 14, we have
a great high priest, writes the writer to the Hebrews, that is
passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God. There's no mistaking the clarity,
the firmness with which these statements are being made. We
have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus,
the Son of God. In 9 verse 24, For Christ is
not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. And in chapter 12 verse 2, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. It's very evident from these
passages and others that I could have chosen and brought to you,
that the clear testimony of the apostles was that this culminating
work of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ here upon earth,
his ascension, both took place and that there is a continuing
effect and meaning of that work for the church and for each individual
believer. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ
which he spoke concerning his death, you remember that he said,
or his death and his glorification. You'll remember that he said
in John chapter three, verse 13, no man has ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of
man, which is in heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ knew and
said often in his ministry that he was returning to his father,
that there he would be glorified, that there he would be recognized
for the work that he had done and that he was going into heaven
to prepare a place for his people and he would come again and receive
them to himself. The apostolic testimony on top
of that testimony that the Lord Jesus Christ himself bore continues
to speak to us today that these things are so. Jesus Christ died,
he rose again and he ascended into heaven and there he is today. He is interceding for his people
and soon he is coming again to receive us to himself. There
are many things that we could look at as far as considering
this work of the Ascension. But I think that there are five
principal things that I want us to remember about the work
of the Ascension. The thing that the Lord Jesus
Christ here fulfilled and accomplished when he went back to his father. The first thing is, that the
Lord had performed his high priestly role. Let me put it this way. The Ascension says, mission accomplished. The Ascension tells us that that
which Christ was sent to do was completed. and that as he rose
into his father's presence, as he took that place of honour
and glory, as he was recognised in his majesty by the angels
and praised and worshipped and honoured there in the realms
of heaven, it was because he had accomplished everything that
his father had sent him to do. The resurrection, of course,
as we've already considered, testified of the fact that God
had accepted the offering that the Lord Jesus Christ had made. He had accepted the sacrifice
of the Saviour's blood. And the writer to the Hebrews,
speaks of the high priestly role of the Lord Jesus Christ. Once
again he is in these messianic roles, these offices which we
speak of concerning the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, prophet,
priest and king. And this priestly role showed
the Lord Jesus Christ as the fulfillment or the anti-type
of all the pictures that had been given in the Old Testament
scriptures as far as the religion and the ritual of the Jews was
concerned. They had been fulfilled. Eli,
we've been thinking about him, was a high priest. The high priest's
role was to go into the presence of God on behalf of the people.
It was to take blood with him to show that the sacrifice had
been made, that sin had been dealt with. There was never any
sin taken away by the killing of a bullock. It just didn't
happen. It was typical. It was a picture. It was showing the people that
this death of the animal had to take place because their sin
was an offence to God, grievous to God, and must be judged. and
that they themselves were culpable, they themselves deserved to die,
but something else would be interposed, something else would be sacrificed
rather than their blood being shed as was justifiable. But it never cleansed sin. Sin can only be cleansed through
the blood of the sinless Saviour. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
came, He both came to offer Himself as a sacrifice. His blood was
shed, but He also was the Sacrificer. He was the Sacrificer who brought
the sacrifice. And as he came into the presence
of his father, as the priest on behalf of his people, he was
carrying his own body, as it were, his own blood, his own
sacrifice, there into the presence of God. These are momentous things
that we consider in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the resurrection testified and proved that that high priestly
work had been accepted. That the Lord Jesus Christ had
accomplished the things that God had sent him to do. It demonstrated
that sin had been atoned for. It showed that death was defeated
because the Lord rose from the grave. It showed that all the
obligations incumbent upon the Lord Jesus Christ in that eternal
covenant of peace that was established between the Godhead had been
satisfied. Salvation fulfilled and the Father's
justice appeased. The law had been broken, but
the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for that broken law and
God was satisfied. The Ascension then speaks of
mission accomplished. It speaks of the victorious,
successful redeemer entering into his inheritance and reward,
returning home as a conquering king. And we see in Hebrews that
there will be that eternal testifying to his achievements. Hebrews 1.3 says, who being the
brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he himself,
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. He himself purging the sins of
his people, cleansing them, washing them away, atoning for them and
now is seated victorious at the right hand of the Majesty on
high. He is the successful High Priest
But let me make one point here just by way of clarification. Perchance someone holds a wrong
view in their mind concerning this matter. The Lord Jesus Christ
was the high priest who entered into the presence of God with
his blood and made the offering. And that's finished. The Lord
is not offering his blood continuously in heaven. The Lord is not offering
his blood day after day after day after day according to the
wickedness and the sinfulness of his people. That was a one-off
thing. The Lord is seated now in glory. That picture of his session,
his sitting down, speaks of the fact that his work is over. That's
not to say that he doesn't engage on behalf of his people. That
is not to say that he is not watching over us constantly.
That is not to say that he isn't fulfilling that mediatorial role. But let's put it this way, the
Lord intercedes for his people by his presence in heaven, not
because he's doing something with his blood there. It is,
as it were, simply a look. Simply the fact that the Lord
is there is sufficient testimony to all creation, to Almighty
God Himself, to God the Father, is testimony that the God-man
accomplished his purpose. And there is no need for that
blood to be re-offered or re-presented time after time. the very presence
of Christ in glory, seated at the right hand of God, testifies
to the efficacy of the sacrifice that He made. In Hebrews chapter
8, verse 1, we read these things. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. Okay, the writer to the Hebrews
is saying, here's the bottom line. Here's the whole thing
in a nutshell. This is the central matter. Now, of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. We have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens. Now I want us to just think about
that for a moment, because what that is telling us is that you
and me, we as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we as those
who are His blood-bought people, we have a high priest that is
set as the majesty in the throne of heaven. What have we to fear
as far as this world is concerned? What have we to be anxious about? What have we to be fearful of? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is Christ that has justified
us. He has died, he has served as
that high priest and the very fact that he is seated there
in heaven, the majesty on high, is the eternal testimony to the
fact that there is no condemnation laid upon the people of God. There is no sin imputed to us. That's a glorious thing. That's
a wonderful thing. You know, and I know that we
cannot go through a day. Our very nature, our very being
is sinful in its depths and in its soul and in its heart. And
yet, We have in heaven a testimony born to us continuously by the
presence of our High Priest there on our behalf. Hebrews 9.12 says,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. And that is where the Lord Jesus
Christ in his body is seated right now. He is seated in heaven. He sits in triumph on behalf
of his people. He is ascended Lord Jesus Christ
as the victorious High Priest. We say mission accomplished when
we think of the Ascendant Lord Jesus Christ seated in heaven
victorious. The second point then is that
the Lord Jesus Christ in his ascending gave gifts to men. So not only are we thinking about
one who has accomplished all that was given him to do, but
he then, in his ascending, gives gifts to men. The principal gift
that the Lord Jesus Christ has given is the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
go back to heaven for the Holy Spirit to come. In John chapter
16, verse 7, he says, It is expedient for you that
I go away. Expedient just means that it
has to happen. This is the best for you. Now,
the Lord was specifically here at this moment talking about
Him going away to the cross. but it also carries through in
his going away to heaven. There was an experience, an appropriateness,
a propriety in the Lord's going away because if he hadn't gone
away, if he hadn't left his disciples bereft and saddened and mourning
and anxious and troubled about his absence, then he would not
have been able to accomplish for them all those things that
needed to happen. It tells us actually something
about the necessity of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. People
say, couldn't God, if he is sovereign, couldn't God, if he is all-powerful,
have devised another way? No. It was expedient that the
Lord went away to the cross. It was necessary. It was appropriate. This is how it had to be done. It is expedient for you that
I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. John chapter 14 verse 16, I will
pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that
he may abide with you forever. That coming of the Comforter
to abide with the Lord's people forever was what we saw 10 days
after the ascension of the Lord Jesus. The Lord rose 40 days
after his resurrection, 10 days later at Pentecost, that was
50 days. 10 days later, the Holy Spirit
fell upon the gathered apostles there in Jerusalem. And it was that that Peter attested
to when he spoke to the Jews, saying that this that you see,
this that you see happening is the result of the Lord Jesus
Christ. having been taken into God's
presence. In Acts chapter 2 verse 33 he
says, Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and
having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he hath shed forth this which ye now see here. And so Peter is saying that because
the Lord Jesus Christ has gone back to that exalted place in
heaven, the Holy Spirit has been sent and these are the evident
results of his coming upon his people. And of course you'll
remember how the Jews said these men are drunk, these men are
beside themselves, these men are acting with such foolishness
and yet what they were witnessing wasn't the effects of alcoholic
substances, rather it was the coming in power of God the Holy
Spirit upon his church and upon his people and specifically on
that occasion upon the apostles. Furthermore, we discover that
not only did the Lord Jesus Christ give the gift of the Holy Spirit,
but he bestowed gifts upon his church. The Lord always has his
church and people at his heart. He is always thinking about his
people. And as he rose, or as he ascended
into heaven, the Lord bestowed gifts upon his church. Ephesians
chapter four tells us in verse eight, When he ascended up on
high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. So he was recognised as victorious. You'll remember, if any of you
have seen those Hollywood films where the conquering Roman legion
marches back into Rome and there's all the trumpets and all the
cheering and the crowds are all there and And the kings that
they have defeated are in cages behind the emperor as he, or
the generals as he comes back into Rome. He led his enemies. He accomplished his purpose. He was victorious in his return.
And when the Lord Jesus Christ rose and went into heaven again,
he led captivity captive. and he gave gifts unto men. A couple of verses further on
in Ephesians 4, 11, we're told what those gifts are. I wonder
if you think about these as gifts. Here's what it says. Here are
the gifts that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to his church at
his ascending up into heaven as the victor. He gave some apostles
and some prophets and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. You see what he did? He established
the rule and authority, the lower lights, if you like, in his church. He established the structure
and the pattern. He had commanded his apostles. We read that together in verse
two of chapter one of Acts, that it says there, the Lord Jesus
Christ was taken up After that, he, through the Holy Ghost, had
given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. What were
these commandments that he gave them? He said to them prior to
his death as many things that I've still got to tell you. These
40 days after the resurrection of the Lord and before the ascension
of Christ into heaven were days that were spent in the Lord teaching
his apostles what the church was to be like. That's the reason
why these men were able to write as they did, were able to take
authority as they did, to understood the doctrine of Christ as they
did. When the Lord Jesus Christ was taken and crucified, they
were everywhere. They went in every direction. They were frightened men. They
wanted to go back to their old lives, back to the fishing. What
changed was that the Lord, by his resurrection, proved that
he was alive, motivated them in their passions to believe
in him and to trust him. But the Lord commanded them by
the Holy Spirit in the things that they were instructed to
do. And therefore, these men were the gifts that the Lord
Jesus Christ gave the church. He gave the apostles. He gave
the prophets. He gave evangelists. He gave
pastors and teachers. For this reason, for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying
of the body of Christ. Of course, the saints are perfect
in that they are sinless in Christ. But the word there, perfecting,
means that it would be their enlarging. It would be for telling
them all that the Lord had told them. And they would convey that
as the Holy Spirit gave them wisdom and discernment, and inspiration,
they would convey these things to the greater church body. This
is the gift that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to his church. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
and also these men as he ascended up into heaven. Thirdly, what
else did the Lord Jesus Christ give when he ascended up into
heaven? Or what else did it mean to the
church? Well, he ascended to intercede
for the church, to intercede for his people in heaven as their
mediator. and he intercedes by his very
presence there in glory. So what we've already established
is that he's not offering his blood in heaven, but by his presence
there, he intercedes for his people. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, that is risen again. who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. It is the presence of
the God-man there in heaven that is our intercession with the
Father. Hebrews 7.25 says, Wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for
them, to save to the uttermost. No one is beyond the power of
our Lord's salvation. That's something that we should
remember. We tend to We put limits on the work of
our God and the work of Christ. We do it. We do it subconsciously. We do it without thinking. We
have this view of the world which says, well, this is the sort
of thing that God will do. This is the sort of work that
the Lord will accomplish. And we can't think outside of
that. Certainly the Lord has limits
to the things that he is doing. He is accomplishing his purpose
and nothing beyond that purpose will occur or happen. Nevertheless, we do not dictate
what those limits are and we should be optimistic about the
Lord's work in our day. We should expect, we should hope,
we should desire, we should pray for, we should ask for great
things because he is able to save to the uttermost. And if
men will come to Him, if they will come, if they will hear,
if they will be brought by the Holy Spirit to that place of
bending before the Lord Jesus Christ in His glory and in His
authority and in His power, He will save to the uttermost those
that come unto God by Him. There is no lack in the efficacy
of the blood of Christ. There is no limitation to the
righteousness that He gives His people. We are perfect as Christ
is perfect. And when God the Father looks
upon His Son seated there in heaven, The church is united
with him and he sees us in him. He sees us as holy as he sees
his own dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that testimony that
was witnessed to several times in the ministry of the Lord,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. carries on
into the church and to individual believers because of the intercession
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are united to him and the
Lord says of us that he is well pleased with us because we are
seated together with Christ in glory. All are perfect. He saves to the uttermost. All
are perfect who come to God by him. The fourth thing that we
can see from the rising into glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
is that he continues as a living presence. The body of the Lord
is in heaven. The Lord's flesh and blood is
in heaven. Now, it's a different body than
the body that went to the cross but it's his resurrection body
and it's the same body that we are going to have when we are
taken from this earth into heaven or into the air and we are changed
and given a body like to his body. But it is nevertheless
the same body. It's the same but different.
It's different, but it's the same. This body that the Lord
Jesus Christ has is recognizable as Jesus, and we will recognize
him when we get to heaven. But he's a living presence in
heaven for his people. Now, if the Lord hadn't ascended
into heaven, he would never have died, because he had already
destroyed death, the power of death, so he would still be living,
in Jerusalem, or near the Mount of Olives somewhere, or wherever
it was, and we would all have to go and see him. We would have
to get onto a plane. Now I know some of you don't
like travelling, but we would all have to go and see him. if
he had stayed on the earth, but he didn't. He ascended into heaven
so that he has an immediate presence with his people wherever they
are on this earth because he has this spiritual union with
us. He doesn't dwell in a temple. He doesn't dwell in a church.
He doesn't dwell in a local geographic place. He dwells in his people,
in the body that he has established, the body that he has gathered.
He is the head and we are the body and he lives in us. He lives and we live in him. He ministers to his people through
the power of the Holy Spirit. He ministers to us, he indwells
us, he comforts, he stands close by to us, and he is always present
with us. Lord Jesus Christ says, Lo, I
am with thee always, even unto the end of the world. That's
how Matthew finishes his gospel. Matthew 28 verse 20 says, Lo,
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Amen. Did you know that in Revelation,
the word Amen is a name given to the Lord Jesus Christ that
just as he's called the Lamb of God, just as he's called the
King of Kings, just as he's called the Branch, just as he's called
the Rock, one of the names of the Lord Jesus Christ is the
Great Amen. I like to think that that's like
the finishing signature at the bottom of Matthew's Gospel. This
is the Lord Jesus Christ and he says, Amen. Amen. Absolutely.
Certainly. I testify to it. This is my mark. This is my witness. He is a living presence with
his people. And finally, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the ascended Lord, is waiting in expectation until all is fulfilled. He is waiting in heaven in expectation
until all is fulfilled. He is going to return again.
He is going to return and establish His rule. He is going to gather
His people. He is going to judge the wicked,
and He is going to send them into hell and into judgment,
and He is going to gather His people to Himself. Our Savior
is presently in heaven. Hebrews 10, 13 says, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Look at, turn with me in your
Bibles please to Psalm 110. Psalm 110. It's lovely to think
that this book that we turn to for our teaching and our doctrine
is a book whose message is constant throughout the ages. Psalm 110
is a Psalm of David. Listen to what it says, verse
one. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until
I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness, from the
womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn and will
not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. There's that intercessory work. The Lord at thy right hand shall
strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge
among the heathen. He shall fill the places with
the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over
many countries. He shall drink of the brook in
the way, therefore shall he lift up the head. This was the testimony
of David many, many years before and the Lord Jesus Christ does
that, making willing of his people, the sending out The Jew of his
youth is the power of the gospel, the power of the testimony of
Christ, accomplishing the purposes of the gathering of the chosen
people to himself. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. When our
Saviour ascended, two men in white apparel, stood beside the
disciples, the apostles and declared, this same Jesus, the same Jesus,
the very same one, this same Jesus which is taken up from
you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen
him go into heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ is expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool, and the Church is
expecting for their Saviour to return. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse
16 says this, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God. And the dead in Christ shall
rise first, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. What a day that will be. There will be joy and there will
be glory for the people of God, his church. And there will be
judgment and there will be separation. and there will be weeping and
there will be wailing and there will be gnashing of teeth. This
is no speculation. This is no make-believe fairy
tale. This is the truth. The promise
of the father to his son bears witness to these things happening. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Amen.