Christ’s universal government, vast as it is, has its most intimate expression in the life of the individual believer.

He has been granted ‘authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom [the Father has] given him’ (John 17:2). But that authority isn’t exercised only at the scale of nations and history. It reaches into each believer’s life.

‘Why did he take the Person of the Mediator?’ Calvin asks, and answers immediately: ‘He descended from the bosom of the Father and from incomprehensible glory that he might draw near to us.’¹Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 501.

‘In an attitude of blessing he leaves the earth and goes up to heaven. Thus he had come, thus he had lived, and thus he now returned.’

From Without and From Within

In grace, Christ dwells and reigns within the hearts of his people (Rom 5:21; cf. Acts 16:14):

‘Christ reigns over his own individually, both from without and from within. From without, he subdues his and their enemies, restraining Satan, his angels, and wicked men. He strengthens them in weakness, defends them in danger, directs and cooperates with them in action, and gives them ultimately the victory in all their contests, and causes them always to persevere to the end, that they may receive the crown of life. He also, under the inspiration of his Spirit, brings his spiritual people into sympathy with one another, and stimulates and guides the great currents of sympathy … and all the various functions in which is manifested “the communion of saints.” From within, the God-man reigns supreme in every Christian heart.’²A. A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology, 232-33.

The Posture He Left In

So what is the exalted King actually doing?

When Jesus ‘was carried up into heaven’ at his ascension, he departed in an attitude of blessing: ‘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’ (Luke 24:51).

Bavinck catches the significance: ‘In an attitude of blessing he leaves the earth and goes up to heaven. Thus he had come, thus he had lived, and thus he now returned. He is himself the content of all the blessings of God, the achiever, the possessor, and the distributor of them all (Eph 1:3).’

The last thing the disciples saw was his hands raised over them. He sits now at the right hand of God, presently occupied with distributing and personally applying all the blessings secured during his earthly ministry.

The Range of It

That distribution touches every dimension of Christ’s ongoing work — securing sinners’ forgiveness, preserving the saints, advancing the gospel to the nations. Joel Beeke summarises the scope:

‘Christ’s session at the right hand of God honors him as the Divine Mediator and initiated his ministry as the glorified Priest-King (Psa 110:2-4). … From that heavenly position, Christ gives repentance and forgiveness to sinners (Mark 16:19-20; Acts 5:31) and preserves the saints to the end despite all their trials and temptations (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25; 8:1). The first public act of the glorified and enthroned Lord was the effusion(outpouring) of the Holy Spirit upon his people at Pentecost (Acts 2:4, 32-36). The Spirit extends Christ’s prophetic ministry to all his people (vv 17-18) so that they receive power to be his witnesses to all nations (1:8; 2:4-11; 4:8; 5:32). … The Spirit comes in Jesus’ name to powerfully advance the progress of the word of Christ in the world (John 14:26; 15:26-27).’³Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:904.

Not a Withdrawal

From this position Jesus Christ directs all things by his Word and governs all things by his Spirit. His ascension was not a withdrawal but a transformation of ministry — as Louis Berkhof puts it:

‘In this state of exaltation Christ continues the work which he began on earth. … the Mediatorial work … goes on in another form. He did not at his ascension enter upon an unproductive rest — but instead now applies the fulness of his achieved salvation to the church. … Accordingly, Christ remained active in the state of exaltation as Prophet, Priest, and King. He had been anointed as such from eternity. He had exercised these activities in the state of humiliation. And be it in a different way, he continues these activities in heaven now.’⁴Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 374-75.

‘Not an unproductive rest’ is worth underlining. Whatever the ascension was, it wasn’t retirement.

Under this present period of Christ’s rule, the gospel proceeds to the nations, and Jesus continues his prophetic, priestly and kingly work through the preaching, teaching and practical ministry undertaken by his earthly followers.⁵Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 375-77.

Not Yet Finished

The promise of a prepared home shouldn’t be mistaken for a finished agenda.

Before he brings his people home, he must first bring every rival power to submission. Christ’s present rule at God’s right hand will therefore remain in place until he has completed the overthrow of all his and humanity’s enemies.

This conquest is under way right now. He is subduing ‘every rule and every authority and power’ still opposed to him (1 Cor 15:24), ‘for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet’ (1 Cor 15:25). Such subjugation is to culminate in the destruction of ‘the last enemy,’ death itself (1 Cor 15:26).

Which Kind of Power?

Part of this employs the authority of civil and political institutions to support peace and order by rewarding right and punishing wrong (Matt 22:21; Rom 13:1-7). The peace that rulers may bring is a proper subject of earnest prayer — we are to make ‘supplications, prayers, and intercessions and thanksgivings’ for all people, especially ‘for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life’ (1 Tim 2:1-2).

But this isn’t mere civil good order. It sits within the central aim of Christ’s kingship, because civic peace facilitates God’s desire that all people may be saved and ‘come to the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Tim 2:3).

And that’s borne out historically. In the twenty-first century the Lord Jesus Christ is known, loved, worshipped and served in literally every nation on earth — not primarily through the exercise of civil power, but through the Spirit-wrought spread of the Christian gospel.⁶See Ian J. Shaw, Christianity: A Biography. 2000 Years of Global History (IVP/Zondervan, 2016). Also refer to Nick Needham, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power, 4 volumes (Christian Focus, 1998-2017).

‘Christ’s Kingdom lies in the Spirit, not in earthly pleasures or pomp. Hence we must forsake the world if we are to share in the Kingdom.’⁷Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 500.

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• 1
  Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 501. ↩︎
• 2
  A. A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology, 232-33. ↩︎
• 3
  Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:904. ↩︎
• 4
  Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 374-75. ↩︎
• 5
  Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 375-77. ↩︎
• 6
  See Ian J. Shaw, Christianity: A Biography. 2000 Years of Global History (IVP/Zondervan, 2016). Also refer to Nick Needham, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power, 4 volumes (Christian Focus, 1998-2017). ↩︎
• 7
  Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 500. ↩︎