Christ the Lord: Jesus' Person and Kingdom

Deep Cuts

Christ the Lord: Jesus’ Person and Kingdom

Part 4: Resurrection, Ascension, and Heavenly Session

by Benjamin Dean

Contents Outline

Christ’s Resurrection

The Resurrection as Proof of Christ’s Lordship: The Gospel in Acts
- Christ and Lord
Arresting Attention, Generating Faith
Vindicating the Value of Jesus’ Death
- Resurrection as History’s Hinge
- Vindication and the Value of the Cross
- What the Resurrection Does — and Does Not — Prove
Jesus’ Full Appointment as Messiah Dates from his Resurrection
Starting Point of the Eternal Kingdom and the New Creation
Jesus’ Atoning Death Was Decisive
His Resurrection Signals Victory, Rule, Restoration, and Renewal
- Victory Over Sin, Death, and the Devil
- A Bodily Hope, A Full Humanity
- Already, But Not Yet: The Renewal of Creation
- Present Power for Present Living
- The Gospel’s Word to Today’s World
The Good News of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection
- Christ Crucified
- Christ Raised
- Death and Resurrection: One Gospel, Undivided
Synopsis of a Purer Theology (1620-25). On Jesus Christ in His State of Exaltation. Disputation 28:3-7.
True Bodily Resurrection, Against Phantom-body Errors
Human Nature Retained: Infirmities Removed, Essence Preserved
Errors Refuted: The Nature of Christ’s Risen Body
The Cause and Fruits of Christ’s Resurrection
His Body, Our Hope: The Resurrection Applied

Christ’s Ascension

Beyond the Empty Tomb: The Ascension and Heavenly Session
He Has Gone Ahead: The Fact and Significance of the Ascension
- The Forty Days: His Bodily Departure
- A Real Departure: The Place and Nature of the Ascension
- Forerunner: Christ’s Humanity Taken into Heaven
- Absence and Advantage: The Ascension and the Spirit’s Coming
- Attested Throughout Scripture
- Absolute Supremacy: The Meaning of the Ascension
Enthroned at the Father’s Right Hand
The Savior’s Omnipotence
Three Great Things About the Dominion of Jesus
Synopsis of a Purer Theology (1620-25). On Jesus Christ in His State of Exaltation. Disputation 28:10-20
- The Place to Which He Ascended
- The Form or Manner in Which he Ascended
- The Goals or Fruits of his Ascension

Christ’s Heavenly Session

The Current Phase of Christ’s Kingdom
Seated on God’s Throne in Heaven at the Father’s Right Hand
- Jesus’ Present Location: Heaven and Earth
- The Posture of the Exalted Christ: Seated, Standing, Walking, and Riding
- Exaltation and Authority: The Significance of Sitting
- Seated Above Angels, Priests, and All Creatures
- Where did Christ Sit down? The Right Hand of God
- The Session: Definition and Dignity
- The Threefold Office of Prophet, King and Priest
- The Present Reign: Now, and Not Yet Fully Revealed
- The Moral Virtue of Christ’s Power
Synopsis of a Purer Theology (1620-25). On Jesus Christ in His State of Exaltation. Disputation 28:21-36
- ‘The Right Hand of God’: A Royal Metaphor
- The Kingdom of the Mediator
- Glory and Power: The Content of Christ’s Session
- Questions of Nature, Merit, and Ubiquity
- Fruits of Christ’s Session for the Church
- Christ’s Heavenly Intercession as a Priestly Act
- The Final Act: Christ as Judge

Christ’s Resurrection

‘For I come to declare that great and most comfortable article of our Christian religion and faith, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. … Assuredly, so highly comfortable is this article to our consciences, that it is even the very lock and key of all our Christian religion and faith.’¹

‘Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again his body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of Man’s nature; wherewith he ascended into Heaven, and there sits, until he return to judge all Men at the last day.’²

‘The resurrection is unexplainable apart from the intervention of God in Christ. The empty tomb does not make sense as a sequel to the trials and crucifixion. Dead men do not just rise spontaneously from the dead. In the resurrection of Christ, we see the decisive, cataclysmic intervention of God in world history. The event transforms history, in the sense that the new age has broken in at last. Indeed, in this one Person, Jesus Christ, crucified and yet risen, the present age and the age to come meet and begin to overlap. The resurrection is an ultimate – eschatological – event.’³

Resurrection as Proof of Christ’s Lordship: The Gospel in Acts

Christ and Lord

The book of Acts presents the gospel fundamentally in terms of Jesus’ kingship — the good news of the Kingdom of God. To carry this message across the transition from Jewish to Greek categories of thought, Acts consistently deploys the paired terms ‘Lord’ and ‘Christ’ (Acts 2:36; 5:42; 8:12, 35; 9:20; 11:20; 18:5; 20:21, 25; 28:23, 31).

Central to this proclamation is Christ’s resurrection. In Acts, it is Jesus’ rising from the dead that is presented as the divinely appointed proof (pistin, Acts 17:31) of his ‘Christ-ship’, his Messiahship, and Lordship.⁴ The narrative itself opens on this note: the risen Jesus appears to his disciples, ‘presenting himself alive after his suffering by many proofs’ (Acts 1:3; cf. 1:22). The emphasis set at the outset is sustained throughout — roughly half of Peter’s Pentecost sermon is given over to Christ’s resurrection (Acts 2:22–32), and the evangelistic addresses that follow across the book maintain the same concentration (Acts 3:13, 15; 4:10; 5:30–32; 10:37–40; 13:29–31; 17:30-32; 23:6–10; 24:15; 26:12–18, 22–23). Whether the audience is Jewish or Gentile, the cutting edge of the apostolic message remains: the proclamation of ‘the resurrection of the dead’ in and through Jesus (Acts 4:2; 17:18; 25:19).

This pattern reveals a twofold apologetic strategy on the part of the apostles: first, to commend Jesus’ resurrection as historical fact; and second, to present it as evidence — authoritative testimony from God himself (Acts 17:31) — that the message of Jesus’ kingship and lordship is indeed good news.⁵

Arresting Attention, Generating Faith

Then, as now, the claim that Jesus — publicly, bloodily executed — had come back to life arrested people’s attention like nothing else. It is among the gospel’s matters ‘of first importance’: ‘that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared …’ (1 Cor 15:3–5).

As David Seccombe puts it:

‘The death and resurrection of Jesus – if it is true – is quite enough to catch the attention of anyone and force the conclusion, firstly that God has done something quite out of the ordinary, second that there must be something very special about Jesus, and third that he must be the man who God has appointed to judge the world – given his prior claims and miracles.’⁶

Then, as now, the proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection drew derision and mockery from many — yet it was at the same time met by the faith of ‘some’ (Acts 17:32–34). But there are solid and compelling reasons for believing that it happened precisely as the New Testament describes. To approach the historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection with clear-eyed honesty — setting aside prejudice and preconception — is itself enough to prompt firm and personal faith in him. It is an event that may be tested and verified.⁷

Vindicating the Value of Jesus’ Death

The central significance of Jesus’ resurrection, however, is not merely its status as a dazzling super-miracle — astonishing as that is. Its colossal importance lies in what it means. The significance and value of the cross can be grasped only through Christ’s rising from the dead.

Resurrection as History’s Hinge

Before turning to that significance directly, it is worth pausing on just how transformative this event proved to be in practice:

‘When Jesus was executed, despair engulfed this follower: they seemed to have a dead leader and a lost cause. It was Jesus’ resurrection from the dead that transformed these broken and despairing people into the fiery apostles and martyrs of a new faith – a faith that within three centuries, and despite vigorous persecution would conquer the whole Roman empire. In the thought and preaching of the early church, the resurrection was seen as God’s mighty vindication of all Jesus’ claims: he really was the long-promised Messiah of Israel, the Son of God, the Saviour of sinners, the source of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to all who obeyed him (see for example, Acts 2:33-36; 4:10-12; 13:30-39; 17:30-32, and Rom 1:3-4). So, whichever period of church history we are student, it is always worth pausing and reminding ourselves of this: the entire history of the Christian church is rooted in one central reality – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If Jesus of Nazareth had not risen, there would be no church history. The rest of the story … flows out of the resurrection.’⁸

This vindication was not only the hinge of history, then — it was, and remains, God’s own answer to the world’s verdict on Jesus:

‘The resurrection of Jesus is an act of triumphant vindication which overcomes the world’s judgement on God’s Kingdom and his King. It is God’s ‘yes’ in answer to man’s ‘no.’ On the day of Pentecost the apostle Peter put the contrast starkly: “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up …” (Acts 2:23–24).’⁹

Vindication and the Value of the Cross

If Jesus’ crucifixion — being hanged on a tree — signalled his bearing rejection and curse (Deut. 21:23), then Jesus’ resurrection — God raising him up — declared his vindication. Indeed, ‘the resurrection was not just an event that happened to Christ, for it corresponded to the kind of Person he was in his own Being.’¹⁰ The resurrection was simultaneously a revelation of who Jesus is and an expression of the value and worth of his blood-soaked, sin-bearing, punishment-averting death. Paul makes this connection explicit, tying the reality of the resurrection directly to the efficacy of the cross:

‘Without the resurrection there would be no guarantee that the death of Christ had accomplished the atonement for our sins. Paul says that without it we would be still in our sins (1 Cor 15:17) and Jesus was “raised for our justification” (Rom 4:25). Jesus’ great victory over death occurs by the destruction of sin as “the sting of death” (1 Cor 15:56).’¹¹

This vindication was accomplished on three counts. First, in raising Jesus from the dead, God gave an absolute and final affirmation — a Divine ‘yes’ — to Jesus’ claim to absolute kingship (Mark 14:62). Second, far from signalling abandonment, the resurrection expressed God’s acceptance of Jesus’ death as a fully sufficient bearing of sin. Third, the resurrection was the prelude to Jesus’ exaltation to the throne-room of the universe — his ascension and reign at the Father’s right hand.

What the Resurrection Does — and Does Not — Prove

The first count deserves closer attention, since the resurrection’s relationship to Jesus’ own identity is easily overstated:

‘Jesus himself linked his claims to his resurrection from the dead (John 2:19). His identity as “Son of God” is powerfully declared by that fact (Rom 1:3–4). It is true to say that we should understand this not as an adoption, for he was sent into the world as the Son (Gal 4:4; Rom 8:3), but rather as his coronation (Heb 2:9). We should be careful here. Contrary to much modern apologetic practice, the New Testament does not actually point to the resurrection of Jesus as proof of his Divinity. It vindicates the claims he does make, but in and of itself it does not prove that he is God. (After all, there are other resurrections in the New Testament: Lazarus, the son of the widow of Nain, Jairus’ daughter, and others were resuscitated, and in the wake of Christ’s crucifixion others were raised’).¹²

That last claim finds striking confirmation at the very moment of Jesus’ death:

‘the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many’ (Matt 27-50-54).

But taken together, this first movement of exaltation — resurrection — vindicates the worth of his death: sin is overcome, judgment is settled, death is beaten, and the devil is disarmed.¹³

Jesus’ Full Appointment as Messiah Dates from his Resurrection

Crucifixion alone would have rendered Jesus of ‘no account’ — but resurrection declared him to be ‘the cornerstone’ (Acts 4:11). Having been executed at the hands of religious and political powers, his raising from the dead indicated that ‘God exalted him to his right hand as Ruler and Saviour, to grant repentance … and forgiveness of sins’ (Acts 5:31). Resurrection demonstrated beyond all doubt that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Lord, the Saviour, the King of God’s Kingdom — and was itself a Divine investiture.

This investiture, moreover, was not a terminus but a threshold: his resurrection issued in further exaltation, and his enthronement at the right hand of God constituted his ultimate glorification — a glorification that encompassed his dominion over ‘all people’ (John 12:23, 32). On the basis of his death and resurrection, therefore, Jesus established the saving power of the Kingdom of God, exercising ‘all authority in heaven and on earth’ (Matt 28:18). By ‘his resurrection from the dead’ he was declared ‘the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness’ (Rom 1:4) — and this, Paul affirms, is the very centre and substance of ‘the gospel of God’ (Rom 1:1).

This raises a question worth pressing further: was the resurrection simply the moment when an already-established status was publicly confirmed, or did it accomplish something more? The resurrection, then, was no mere confirmation of a status Jesus already held; it was itself constitutive of that status. Passages that express this include Matthew 28:18, in the context of the whole chapter; Acts 17:31; and Romans 1:3-4. As Seccombe puts it, ‘the resurrection is more than a demonstration of Jesus’ messiahship; his appointment as Messiah and investiture with the full power of office dates from the resurrection.’¹⁴

This appointment, furthermore, carries a corresponding claim on every hearer — for an appointed Judge cannot be ignored: ‘By raising Jesus from the dead God has identified him as the one to whom he has given the authority to judge both the living and the dead (Acts 17:30–31). There is no excuse for continued defiance once the Judge has been made known.’¹⁵

Starting Point of the Eternal Kingdom and the New Creation

The power of resurrection (Phil 3:10) is nothing less than God’s renewing, life-giving capacity — his energy of recreation and new creation at work in the world. In raising Jesus from death and elevating him to his right hand, God announced the inauguration of the long-promised transformation and glorification of all things. This transformation, moreover, is cosmic in scope — not the mending of a fallen order but its remaking:

‘Heaven and earth will become one. In the book of Revelation we notice that there is no longer any distinction between them. God’s dwelling will be with humans forever. Again, it is not less than natural but supernatural, not beyond the reach of matter but beyond the reach of sin and death.’¹⁶

Jesus’ rising from the dead was the ‘firstfruits’ of resurrection for all the dead (1 Cor 15:20). As he was made alive again, so shall all those who are ‘in Christ … be made alive’ (1 Cor 15:22). This is not simply a private hope for individual believers, however; it is an event of cosmic and ultimate scope, one that resets the timetable and goal of history:

‘Against the Old Testament expectation, the resurrection of Jesus can clearly be seen as an eschatological event. Jesus’ resurrection refocuses that expectation of the great end time general resurrection of all men and women. The Last Days have arrived. His resurrection is the firstfruits of the harvest. This means that his resurrection marks the arrival of the new age: the resurrection has begun with Jesus (John 11:25).’¹⁷

If Jesus’ resurrection marks the arrival of the new age, a question naturally follows: what, then, of everyone else — of those who have not yet risen? The answer lies not in a different kind of resurrection, but in a different moment within the one resurrection already under way:

‘According to God’s plan, not everyone rises at the same time. There is an order – Jesus now, we at his coming again. But that does not alter the fact that sin has been dealt with and resurrection has come. Therefore the Kingdom – the new creation – has come in power. Christ’s resurrection initiates and proclaims this.’¹⁸

This order — Christ’s resurrection then, with ours to follow — does not leave believers merely waiting on the side-lines in the meantime. Even now, those who having ‘shared in the Holy Spirit’ are in Christ — believers united and joined to him, with him bound and united to them — already share in the reality of the age to come, whether they live or die. Dead or alive, we are taken up to taste ‘the heavenly gift … the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come’ (Heb 6:4–5).

Jesus’ Atoning Death Was Decisive

Through his own atoning death, Jesus dealt decisively with the sin, guilt, death, and Divine judgment that otherwise lie upon all human beings. The cross remains primary in the gospel, for Jesus’ propitiation ‘by blood’ is the basis, mass, and weight of his entire saving work (Rom 3:25). It is ‘by his blood’ that we are justified before God (Rom. 5:9), and his death ‘for our sins’ (1 Cor 15:3) is God’s foundational and irreplaceable saving act.

The depth of what the cross accomplishes should not be underestimated: the atonement tells us ‘the very fact that God himself has to descend into our bottomless pit of evil and guilt in order to construct continuity between us and God.’¹⁹ Without the cross of Christ, there is neither relationship nor unity between humanity and God.

Yet Scripture does not let the cross stand alone: in the same breath that Paul speaks of Jesus’ death, he speaks also of his rising. Jesus ‘was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification’ (Rom 4:25) — a pairing worth pausing over: ‘In other words, he was raised in order to justify us (highlighting his role as the Judge who vindicates those who are his).’²⁰

This justification carries immediate, practical consequence: the forgiveness of our sins means that the legal position of sinners as sinners in relation to God has been overturned in favour of innocence, acceptance, reconciliation, and adoption as the Father’s beloved children. God’s gift of righteousness to us — justification, being put right with him — is thus established as a result of both Christ’s crucifixion and his resurrection together. With reconciliation and adoption, atonement and resurrection accomplish their ultimate objective in Christ: ‘union with the Father, in peace … communion with the life of God.’²¹

That objective — relationship restored forever — is worth dwelling on further, for it reaches beyond the forgiveness of individual sins to the very reconstitution of what it means to be human before God:

‘It is in the resurrection, then, that the ultimate content and purpose of the atonement and reconciliation come to fruition and to view—in the recreation of man in communion with God. This involves the restoration of true creaturehood to man, the affirmation of man in the fullness of his human existence and reality. This is the ontological side of redemption, the healing and restoring of being in relation to the creative Source of all being.’²²

But the main point here is that everything that follows his dying for our sins — his resurrection, ascension, gift of the Spirit, intercession, glorious return, the resurrection of the dead, and the regeneration of the entire cosmos — is on account of it and consequent upon it. His death was the cost of his everlasting Kingdom; his decisive victory was achieved in obedience unto death. All God’s blessings in salvation, and the completion of his eternal purposes, flow from what that death accomplished.

His Resurrection Signals Victory, Rule, Restoration, and Renewal

Victory Over Sin, Death, and the Devil

Having said this, the apostolic preaching of the gospel frequently led with the assertion of Jesus’ resurrection — and for good reason: it ‘demonstrates that Jesus’ had perfectly conquered death and its consequences’²³ (Rev 1:18). Few voices have stated the logic of that victory more forcefully than this:

‘If any man doubt of this victory, let Christ’s glorious resurrection declare him the thing. If death could not keep Christ under his dominion and power, but that he rose again, it is manifest that death’s power was overcome. If death be conquered, then it must follow that sin, for which death was appointed as the wages, must also be destroyed. If death and sin be vanquished away, then is the devil’s tyranny vanquished, which had the power of death, and was the author and brewer of sin, and the ruler of hell. If Christ had the victory of them all by the power of his death, and openly proved it by his most glorious and valiant resurrection, as it was not possible for his great might to be subdued by them; and then this is also true, that Christ died for our sins, and rose again for our justification; why may not we, who are members of true faith, rejoice and boldly say with the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul, Where is your sting, O death? Where is your victory, O hell? Thanks be to God, they say, who has given us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ.’²⁴

Resurrection declares Christ’s victory and rule and, therefore, the certain prospect of creation’s restoration and everlasting human renewal. It announces a sure and ‘living hope’ (1 Pet 1:3) focused on the final phase of God’s Kingdom: yet to be completed, due in the future, ushered in at Jesus’ return.

A Bodily Hope, A Full Humanity

That hope, however, is not for the soul alone. Future hope is not merely spiritual — it is bodily, rooted in the physical nature of Jesus’ own rising. That his whole Person — body and soul — left the tomb empty may strike some as madness (Acts 17:32; 26:25). But the reality is otherwise:

‘Because Jesus’ death was physical, a complete victory over death requires physical resurrection. The whole Christ died to restore whole men. What is not raised is not redeemed. … The resurrection emphasises the fact that Jesus did not shed his humanity to simply return to his pre-incarnate state. The reality of the incarnation is thus affirmed. The human and the Divine are inseparable in Christ. The risen Lord possesses a full humanity. Again there is great significance in the fact that his resurrection was not merely a spiritual resurrection. He rose from the dead “with flesh and bones”’²⁵

Far from a new claim, this inseparability of the human and Divine in the risen Christ is, in fact, simply the resurrection’s confirmation of what the incarnation had already established. As the Word became incarnate to dwell among us (John 1:14), we must attend to both sides of the full mystery – the man Jesus of Nazareth is ‘God without reserve, man without reserve, the eternal truth in time, the Word of God made flesh. … God in time, God as man, God active in history.’²⁶ The Lord Jesus is ‘God acting as man, from both the Divine and human side for us.’²⁷ In Jesus Christ, God’s reality and human reality ‘intersect and overlap.’²⁸

It is this same full humanity, taken up into resurrection life, that becomes the ground of our own hope. Because he was raised as a man — ‘by a man has come … the resurrection of the dead’ (1 Cor 15:21) — his resurrection is the firstfruits of humanity’s own resurrection ‘at his [second] coming’ (1 Cor 15:20, 23).

But this first fruits language points to something more than sequence — it points to likeness. If Christ’s resurrection is the pattern for our own, then the kind of body he rose with matters for the kind of hope we hold. On this point:

‘Christ came back from the dead with the same body in which he was crucified, which is an important point. Salvation is not the casting off of what we have in order to receive something entirely new and different. Rather is it the transformation of our present reality into something which stands in direct continuity with it but which is made perfect by being cleansed of all sin. In Article 4 of the Thirty-Nine Articles “perfection” does not refer to sinlessness because Jesus was sinless already. It refers instead to the fullness of his human nature. There have always been people who have been tempted to regard matter as evil or inferior to the spiritual side of our being, and so have been inclined to view the resurrection as an exclusively spiritual affair. But Christians believe in the redemption of matter as well as of spirit, and the resurrection affects the body as much as the soul. … [S]alvation touches every aspect of our being, and … no part of us will be ignored, detached or left behind in the resurrection.’²⁹

Already, But Not Yet: The Renewal of Creation

‘Because Christ is risen bodily, everything united to him must be raised as well.’³⁰ We ‘will appear with him in glory’ (Col 3:4). The gospel tells of ‘hope laid up for [us] in heaven’ (Col 1:5). The resurrection of Jesus embodies the real, objective presence in the world of Christ’s coming Kingdom — and its conclusive fulfilment, in history, of God’s purposes in creation and salvation. His rising from the dead is the ‘living hope’ (1 Pet 1:3) and the sure ground upon which believers ‘wait’ for his eventual appearing ‘from heaven’ (1 Thess 1:10). The hopelessness that death imposes is answered — and set aside — by a resurrection-oriented gospel.

This hope, however, is not for the rescue or improvement of the present world as it stands, but for something more radical still — its death and re-creation, on the pattern already set by Christ’s own body:

‘Jesus did not come to earth to make the world better, but to make it new. We need to give up not on this world but on any hope that we can save it or ourselves. We should not want to indefinitely extend our lives nor the condition of the world under the curse. At some point we must die. This world in its present condition must die. It does not pass away. It does not get recycled into the circle of life. It dies so the very same body and very same world created by God can be raised in newness. After his resurrection Jesus ate fish, but he did not experience temptation and suffering, nor did he continue to bear the sins of his people. All of that he left in the tomb.’³¹

Yet this hope, real as it is, is not yet fully realised — and Scripture is honest about the tension that creates:

‘In light of the Old Testament expectation of the great resurrection at the end of the age (John 11:24), the resurrection of Jesus poses a problem. The end of the age does not immediately follow. All the dead are not raised immediately. All trace of suffering is not immediately removed. What has happened? An interim has begun, a pause in the great eschatological event of the resurrection. The old age and the new age exist side-by-side; a tension which waits to be resolved at the return of Jesus. Salvation has been made actual but is not yet complete. There is still a place for hope.’³²

Present Power for Present Living

This tension between the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’ is not merely a future hope, however; it is a present power, reshaping the believer’s life here and now. In Philippians 3:7–10, Paul points out that ‘the power of the resurrection is a transforming power in the life of the believer.’ This may be summarised: ‘The resurrection of Jesus is a source of new life. There has been a death to sin and now there is a new life to God.’³³

Paul develops this same connection at greater length in Romans 6, where ‘he insists that our newness of life in line with our death to sin is linked to [Jesus’] resurrection following his death for sin (v. 4). Indeed, the connection between justification and sanctification is Christ himself: the Christ who died to deal with sin rises to give us new life. It is important for our identity and the shape of the Christian life that Jesus not only died but was raised up (vv. 10–11).’³⁴

This same confidence — that the risen Christ supplies the very strength his people lack — has stirred Christian preachers across the centuries:

‘Truth it is that sin is strong, and affections unruly. Hard it is to subdue and resist our nature, so corrupt and leavened with the sour bitterness of the poison which we received by the inheritance of our old father Adam. But yet take good courage, says our Saviour Christ, for I have overcome the world and all other enemies for you. Sin shall have no power over you, for you are now under grace, says St. Paul. Though your power be weak, yet Christ is risen again to strengthen you in your battle; his Holy Spirit shall help your infirmities.’³⁵

The Gospel’s Word to Today’s World

This same risen Christ who transforms believers in the present is the one who, in John’s first vision in the book of Revelation, speaks a word of comfort that only the conqueror of death could speak: ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and hades’ (Rev 1:17–18).

David Seccombe draws together the full scope of what this resurrection gospel means for the contemporary world, and why it remains the church’s urgent and most sufficient word to it:

‘The gospel of the resurrected Christ is exactly what modern man needs to hear. It is not a philosophy in the sense of a humanly constructed theory of reality – though it will have enormous implications for people’s thinking. It is not a religion in the sense of a community of rituals and a way of life – though some of these will grow out of it. It is a gospel: a significant announcement about something extraordinary that God has done. … Christ and the resurrection of the dead meet the doubts of the modern world about whether there is a God. It answers the question whether all religions are the same – placing Jesus at the centre of God’s plans for the future world. The resurrection answers the modern uncertainty about life after death. It says no to the dream that somehow death may just be the stripping away of the husk from the indestructible human spirit, but yes to Jesus’ great act of disempowering death and bringing life and immortality to light in the gospel. Resurrection places Jesus’ Kingdom mission in centre place. It forces us to revise our human-centred individualistic notions of salvation, and pay attention to his plan for the eternal future of the whole creation. … [T]he resurrection of Christ was the cutting edge of the gospel in the New Testament, and can be so again today. Nevertheless, we should beware of losing sight of the cross. It is always the resurrection of the crucified King we preach. Moderns may be more reachable through their fear of death than their sense of sin, but they cannot embrace the resurrected Lord without coming to terms with him as the one who died for their sins. Guilt is the root cause of the world’s suffering. Sin is the sting of death. These things must be acknowledged if a person would be saved.’³⁶

The Good News of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

Christ Crucified

Paul’s core message concerning Christ moved – very naturally – between crucifixion and resurrection.³⁷ Jesus’ resurrection was understood as God’s chosen means of restoring his humanity — and ours — to life and immortality. As Paul expresses it, ‘Jesus our Lord … was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification’ (Rom. 4:25). This justification, moreover, is no bare legal fiction, but is as real and substantial as the resurrection that secures it: as his resurrection ‘is an actual event in the raising of Jesus Christ in the fullness of his humanity from corruption and death, then justification must correspondingly be [not merely legal but also] a creative, regenerating event.’³⁸ Or, put more strikingly still: ‘If death is the penalty for condemnation, then immortality and glorification are the prize for justification.’³⁹

Yet if asked to name the gospel’s centre of gravity, Paul’s answer is unhesitating: it is ‘the cross of Christ’ (1 Cor 1:17). It is ‘the word of the cross’, Paul insists, through which works the saving ‘power of God and the wisdom of God’ (1 Cor 1:18, 24). To ‘preach the gospel’ is to ‘preach Christ crucified’ (1 Cor 1:17, 23). Indeed, ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (1 Cor 2:2) is to be the exclusive emphasis if Christian ‘speech and … message’ is to bring about ‘a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that … faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God’ (1 Cor 2:4–5).

This raises a natural question about how such a message should be delivered — and Paul is equally clear on this point. The impact of the good news about the Lord Jesus relies not on rhetorical power, command of language, style of delivery, or particular forms of words — though it should be said that the gospel’s effect need not necessarily exclude eloquence, nor every ordinarily effective means of communication. Certainly, the communication of the gospel ought never to be formulaic. But this is not to say that there are no guiding principles, standards, checks, or balances in its communication.

Rather, it is Christ-oriented, cross-centred content and substance that counts most. It is the message of the crucified Saviour — moved, mediated, and applied by the energy of God’s Spirit — which brings God’s saving work most powerfully to bear upon the hearts and minds of individuals. The goal is to share the gospel in such a manner that listeners are less struck by the style of delivery, the display of learning, verbal heroics, or affected profundity — what Paul calls ‘human wisdom’ — and most arrested by the ‘faith’ element (1 Cor 2:5) and the actual substance of the message itself: God’s magnificent goodness and greatness in Jesus Christ.

Christ Raised

If the cross were the whole of Paul’s gospel, however, his letters would read very differently. Alongside his relentless focus on ‘the cross of Christ’ stands an equally relentless insistence on the Lord’s resurrection. In what is perhaps the most compressed definition of the gospel Paul provides, he bluntly tells his protégé Timothy: ‘Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel’ (2 Tim 2:8). If the cross of Christ expresses the cost and price of the good news of salvation, the resurrection declares its value and validity. Very often in apostolic preaching, the announcement — breaking news — concerning Christ finds its cutting edge and climax in the resurrection, for it is there that we encounter God’s definitive word declaring the worth and significance of Jesus’ Person and work.⁴⁰ The resurrection, as it were, displays the full implication and accomplishment of Christ’s incarnation, life, mighty miraculous acts, teaching, passion, and crucifixion.

With the good news of Jesus, then, crucifixion and resurrection are of one piece. The message of his death assumes his rising from the dead, whilst the news of his resurrection presupposes his prior death. Neither, properly preached, can be separated from the other: ‘What we must affirm is that the character of his death would be altered if there were no resurrection and that it is the whole complex of life, death and resurrection which secures our redemption.’⁴¹

Death and Resurrection: One Gospel, Undivided

Calvin counselled wisely on the same point:

‘Let us remember that whenever mention is made of his death alone, we are to understand at the same time what belongs to his resurrection. Also, the same … applies to the word “resurrection”: whenever it is mentioned separately from death, we are to understand it as including what has to do especially with his death.’⁴²

The gospel of Jesus Christ is thus preoccupied, on the one hand, with the saving substance of the Lord’s suffering as a substitute for sinners — his death as the required cost of bearing our sins and bearing away God’s judgment and wrath toward them. At the same time, though, the constant main business of the gospel of Jesus Christ concerns the saving significance and weight of the Saviour’s resurrection and exaltation as demonstration and proof beyond doubt that his crucifixion satisfied retributive divine punishment for human hostility and rebellion — being ‘the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for the sins of the whole world’ (1 John 2:2).

Synopsis of a Purer Theology (1620-25). On Jesus Christ in His State of Exaltation. Disputation 28:3-7.⁴³

Four leading 17^th century professors at Leiden University in Holland offer a summary of key aspects of our understanding of the Bible’s teaching on the resurrection, an expansion of some points, and corrections to misunderstandings that are still with us today.

The Synopsis itself, composed between 1620 and 1625,‘gives a full yet compact summary of theology as it was understood in the years after the Synod of Dort which was held between 1618 and 1619.’⁴⁴ The authors were Antonius Thysius (1565-1640), Johannes Polyander (1568-1646), Andreas Rivetus (1572-1651), and Antonius Waleus (1573-1639).

Here are nine sections highlighting five important aspects:

True Bodily Resurrection, Against Phantom-body Errors

3. Contrary to the Marcionites, Libertines, and men of similar ilk, who dared to attribute to Christ a phantom body and phantom actions, we define Christ’s resurrection from the dead as his true and actual resuscitation to life, whereby his body, which really had been separated from his soul and had been kept for a three-day period in the grave with no natural decay, was truly and naturally reunited with his soul which had spent the entire time of his death in Paradise, and was brought back to this same lie (in the proper sense of the word), although it has obviously put aside mortality and the other weaknesses of this life.

Human Nature Retained: Infirmities Removed, Essence Preserved

4. Those infirmities which Christ laid aside with his resurrection are of two kinds: to some of them the human nature is subject by virtue of the first creation into this life as a human being (and the apostle deals with them in 1 Cor 15:44 and elsewhere in Scripture). Other infirmities are the particular ones to which Christ on account of our sins subjected himself as our surety, “having been tempted like us in everything, sin excepted” (Heb 4:15).

5. However, we state that Christ did not therefore lay aside the essence (or the essential properties) of human nature by his resurrection – no more than we shall lay them aside after this life. For our bodies will be conformed unto his glorious body (Philippians 3:21), just as after his resurrection Christ himself bore witness to his disciples that his body consisted of flesh and bones, and accordingly it was exposed to sight and touch (Luke 24:39).

Errors Refuted: The Nature of Christ’s Risen Body

6. Hence we see how badly they err who hold that Christ after his resurrection received a body of the sort that lacked any size or measurable shape, but like a ghoast entered into any other bodies whatsoever without them giving way or opening up [for him]. And we see how even more badly they err who imagine that his body is present in many places at once in the same moment of time (something that is granted not even to ghosts) through reproduction (as contemporary Jesuits call it). For “take away their space from bodies and there will be no place where they exists, and because they’ll not exists anywhere, they will not exist at all. Take away the bodies from the qualities of the bodies and there will not be anything where [the qualities] are – and so it must be that they do not exist,” as Augustine says, in accordance with nature and with Scripture (Epistle 57, to Dardanus).

The Cause and Fruits of Christ’s Resurrection

7. The principal efficient cause [of Christ’s resurrection] is God the Father through his Spirit (Rom 8:11), who for a display of his truth and righteousness made Christ to be alive from the dead, which was not able to keep its hold on him (Acts 2:24). The Son himself is also the principal efficient cause, so that he powerfully declares himself to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of sanctification (Rom 1:4), and so that he might show that he had laid down his life for us by his own will (in keeping with the Father’s command), he now as victor over Satan and sin through death (Heb 2:14) called himself back to life by his own, Divine power, as he himself testifies (John 2:19 and 10:18).

8. In Christ’s resurrection there are several diverse goals, which may also be called its effects of fruits: (1) to testify by this victory over his death that the fullest satisfaction has been made for our sins and that eternal righteousness has been restored (Rom 4:25; 1 Cor 15:17, and 57); (2) so that just as by the power of his death our old man was put to death, so too by the power of his resurrection is the new man brought to life in us, thus restoring God’s image (Rom 6:4); (3) so that his resurrection might be a very sure pledge and cause for our resurrection (1 Cor 15:22); and finally, (4) that through his resurrection he might open the way for himself to the other offices that he was going to execute for us, whereby as our Prophet, Intermediary, and King he might apply the power of his death and sacrifice to us for eternity (Rom 14:9).

His Body, Our Hope: The Resurrection Applied

9. From this it obviously follows that Christ arose in his own body, the body still marked with traces of the wounds he had received on the cross as proof that it was his real body. In the same way our very same bodies, too, will be restored to life before the final judgment, just as they are, contrary to what the Marcionites, some Anabaptists, and like-minded heretic think. “For Christ has been raised up from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20).⁴⁵

Christ’s Ascension

Beyond the Empty Tomb: The Ascension and Heavenly Session

The resurrection was never the end of the story. Even in the garden, on the morning of his rising, Jesus himself pointed his disciples beyond the empty tomb to what still lay ahead: ‘Jesus said to her [Mary] “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’

Calvin draws out the significance of this moment:

‘in this way he [Christ] pointed out that the purpose of his resurrection was quite different from their fancy about it. He was to come to life again not to triumph in the world, but rather to ascend to heaven and to take possession of the Kingdom which had been promised to him; to reign over the church at the right hand of God, in the power of his Spirit … In short, with this word, the apostle forbids us merely to stop with the resurrection. He bids us to go forward until we arrive at the spiritual Kingdom, at heavenly glory, at God himself. … Now, Christ declares that he is about to ascend on high; therefore, let us also rise with him, if we would not be separated from him. Furthermore, when he adds that he will ascend, he quickly dispels the anxiety and sadness of his disciples because he was to leave them behind. He wants them to know that by his Divine power he will always be with them. Ascend indeed implies distance places; but even though Christ is absent bodily, because he is with God, his spiritual power, which works everywhere, shows clearly that he is present with us. Why indeed did he ascend to the Father, except seated at this right hand, to reign in heaven and on earth? Finally, with this statement Jesus intended to commend the Divine power of his reign, so that his bodily absence might not trouble his disciples.’⁴⁶

The ascension, then, is not merely Christ’s departure but the beginning of his enthronement — and with it, a new phase of his work on behalf of his people. As Gerald Bray summarises:

‘In the heavenly session, Christ has begun to administer the new covenant, incorporating, indwelling, instructing, and interceding for his pilgrim people. He makes a heavenly presentation of his once-for-all sacrifice, and he becomes the life-giving head of a new social body, reconstituting a remnant of Israel and incorporating gentiles.’⁴⁷

‘The words of Christ on the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30) are often misinterpreted. They are used by many to emphasise that his atoning sacrifice is completed by his death, which is true, but they unfortunately leave the impress that his work is over at that point, when in fact his work has continued in another form. When he ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father, he took his sacrifice with him. In his heavenly state he uses it to plead for us before the Father’s throne, and it is on that basis that we gain admittance to the Father’s presence. It is nonsensical to suggest that this sacrifice can be repeated or “re-represented” by some priest here on earth who is empowered to bring Christ’s body back to us by the supposed miracle of transubstantiation. That view which was strong in the middle ages and is still the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, which was rejected by the Reformers, and Anglican liturgies of holy communion have usually taken great care to avoid any such idea.⁴⁸ But the reason for this is not that his sacrifice was a past even with no relevance to us now. On the contrary, it is an event that happened once in time and space but that has now been taken into eternity, where we too are “seated … in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6).’⁴⁹

This heavenly ministry, however, is not only a matter of Christ’s ongoing work for us — it also secures something for those united to him. For

‘[t]he ascension is the sign that we have moved into another dimension of being and that our life is now hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:13), making it safe from attack by hostile forces that might cause us to lose our salvation.’⁵⁰

He Has Gone Ahead: The Fact and Significance of the Ascension

The Forty Days: His Bodily Departure

For forty days after his resurrection, Jesus then underwent a period of transition. He came and went, moving between earth and heaven, appearing on numerous occasions, proving himself alive by many means, preparing his disciples for his departure, and speaking to them about the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). Then, as foretold, he physically left the earth — an event reported in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:1–12, and predicted in John 6:62; 13:3, 33; 14:28; 16:5, 10, 17, 28.⁵¹

A Real Departure: The Place and Nature of the Ascension

The ascension is a change of bodily location, ‘defined as the local passage of the Person of the Mediator, according to his human nature, from earth to heaven.’ Scripture identifies the exact place from which he ascended: Bethany (Luke 24:50), or more precisely, ‘the mount called Olivet’ (Acts 1:12). It was here, on that same hillside, that ‘the intersection between two states and two ages’ took place.⁵²

The ascension accordingly marked the conclusion of Jesus’ earth-bound career at the same time as repeating and reinforced his often-promised future final return (Matt 16:27; 24:3, 27, 30-31, 37, 39; 25:31-46; 26:64; Mark 8:38; 13:24-27, 32-37; 14:62; Luke 9:26; 12:35-48; 17:22-37; 18:8; 21:25-28, 34-36; John 14:3, 18; 21:22-23). Now, ‘Christ’s human body and soul are really located in the highest heaven.’⁵³

Forerunner: Christ’s Humanity Taken into Heaven

When he ascended, returning to God the Father, Jesus took his whole humanity — body and soul — with him into heaven. Hebrews especially stresses this: that Jesus’ human nature, with all its human experiences which he shares with each of us, remains with him there. As we see in Paul’s paralleling of Adam and Christ in Romans 5:12-21, the one who has ascended is Jesus who is the second Adam, who through his life, death, and resurrection is the re-founder of the human race, the bringer-in of the new creation.

‘It is the ascension of representative Man in whom all humanity is gathered up and made participant in his self-offering, so that in his ascension Christ is installed as Head of the New Humanity, the Prince of the New Creation, the King of the Kingdom which he has won and establish through his incarnate life and passion.’⁵⁴

The ascension stands as the counterpart to the incarnation — the Son’s return to heightened glory mirroring his original descent into flesh — a movement traced in passages such as Philippians 2:5–11. It is precisely his human nature and experiences, held in union with his Divine nature, that equip him to fulfil his heavenly office as Prophet, Priest, and King (Heb 2:14–18; 4:14–16).⁵⁵

Jesus ascended as ‘a forerunner’ (Heb. 6:20) — that is, his ascension is preliminary and preparatory to ours. He has gone ahead; we shall in due course follow. As Bavinck puts it:

‘his association and contact with [us] is not weakened by his physical disappearance but confirmed and heightened. Now [we] are unable to touch him, but when he has ascended, then communion with him will be confirmed and reinforced by the Holy Spirit. Physically and locally restricted, time-and-space-bound contact [with Jesus] will then make way for spiritual, inward, deep, unbreakable, and eternal fellowship.’⁵⁶

Absence and Advantage: The Ascension and the Spirit’s Coming

‘The ascension means the establishment of a church in history, within space and time on the historical foundation of the apostles and prophets.’⁵⁷

It is worth noting that the ascension does mark a real separation of Jesus from his disciples in his bodily state, even as it inaugurates a new mode of spiritual presence with them.

Jesus himself anticipated this paradox or tension in his final discourse with the disciples. He spoke of his departure in terms of absence — ‘a little while, and you will see me no more’ (John 16:16) — yet in the same breath insisted that this going away was to their benefit, for it was the necessary condition of the Spirit’s coming: ‘it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper [the Holy Spirit] will not come to you’ (John 16:7).

Pentecost completes this shift toward the presence and power of the Spirit in the present age. The ascension announces Christ’s transition into a new dispensation of his prophetic office, and this office is now exercised through the Spirit’s presence within Christ’s body on earth: the Spirit guided the church in writing Holy Scripture, continues to enlighten and shape the church’s interpretation of that canon, and equips the church with the gifts by which she sustains, nourishes, and extends her life and ministry. The Spirit’s work ad extra in the present age is that of ‘the Spirit of Christ’ (Rom 8:9), and the ‘Spirit of the Son’ (Gal 4:6). The new nature and shape of Jesus’ ongoing heavenly life and ministry, announced at the ascension, thus defines and fills the Spirit’s present ministry. Where God once spoke through the prophets, he has now spoken more fully and finally through his Son (Heb 1:1–2); and Jesus himself names the Spirit ‘the Helper… the Spirit of truth,’ who will testify about him (John 15:26).⁵⁸

‘The ascension is [therefore] the transitional point that moves from the past complex of events, the cross and resurrection, into the present process that unfolds during Christ’s heavenly session.’⁵⁹ It forms the connection between his incarnate earthly life and ministry with his incarnate ongoing heavenly life and ministry; the ascension adds up to the change and transformation from here to there.

This tension, though, is not a contradiction to be resolved but a mystery to be held together. As Peter Jensen explains it, the incarnation continues because the resurrected Lord remains a fully embodied physical and spiritual human being:

‘at the same time it tells us clearly that Jesus remains both true man and true God, and his withdrawal is not to be regarded as the loss of his true humanity, but its transference to another place of existence, in glory, to his Father (John 20:17; 1 Tim 3:16). It speaks also of his continued triumph (Eph 4:8-10) and reminds us that Jesus is Lord of this present age.’⁶⁰

So the ascension proclaims Christ’s ultimate glorification and the beginning of his heavenly reign. It also anticipates the final proclamation of his completed kingdom at his return, heralded by the archangel’s voice and a trumpet call (1 Thess 4:16).

Attested Throughout Scripture

In the New Testament record of apostolic gospel preaching, heavy stress was laid upon Jesus’ resurrection — yet in that same message, resurrection combines with ascension in one massive motion of super-exaltation. Together with the resurrection, the meaning and implications of the ascension features prominently in apostolic proclamation. The historical reality of Jesus’ bodily resurrection is thus of a piece with the historical reality of his bodily ascension. These two events together constitute the physical — and visible — exaltation of Jesus.

Luke gives us a narrative account of the event itself, first in brief compass at the close of his Gospel, then at greater length as he opens the book of Acts. Following forty days of appearances we read:

‘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’ (Luke 24:50–51).

‘So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 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”’ (Acts 1:6-11).

Yet the ascension is far more than a scene narrated twice and then left behind; it becomes a settled conviction woven through the rest of the New Testament witness. ‘This portrayal of the ascension echoes Daniel’s vision of the Son of Man in Daniel 7, coming/going on the clouds to the Ancient of Days: it is a moment in which authority is bestowed on Jesus, a crowning moment.’⁶¹

Although only two passages describe the details of the event of Christ’s ascension (Luke 24:50–51; Acts 1:9–11), its reality and significance receive rich reflection throughout the rest of the New Testament. No fewer than eleven documents by seven different authors refer to this feature of the gospel about Christ (Matt 26:64; John 6:62; 13:3, 33; 14:28; 16:5, 10, 17, 28; [possibly 17:24]; Acts 2:33–35; 3:21; 5:31; 7:56; [implied in 13:30–37]; Eph 4:8–10; Phil 1:23 [implied]; 2:9; 3:20; Col 3:1; 1 Thess 1:10; 4:14–16; 1 Tim 3:16; Heb 2:9; 4:14; 6:19–20; 7:26; 9:24; 10:12–13; 12:2; 1 Pet 3:21–22; Rev 1:13; 5:6; 14:14; 19:11–16; 22:1).

This pervasive attention is no accident, for the ascension stands at the heart of the church’s earliest preaching about who Christ is and what he has accomplished. As one source puts it, ‘The exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of the Father is a basic component of the NT preaching of the Person and work of Christ. In fact, the gospel declaration – “Jesus is Lord” – is a declaration of Jesus ascended: that the story of Jesus did not finish with his bodily resurrection but is ongoing, for he reigns.’⁶²

Absolute Supremacy: The Meaning of the Ascension

The significance of Jesus’ ascension lies in this: it raises him to sit at the Father’s right hand, where he assumes his proper role as Leader and Saviour (Acts 5:31)—the sovereign and supreme Lord over all (Acts 2:33–36; Eph 1:19–23). Through his ascension into heaven, the crucified one who had ‘humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death’ (Phil 2:8) is lifted by God not merely from the grave, but to the highest possible place of executive authority and government, wielding a gracious power and dominion that extends across the cosmos.

This session—his sitting—marks an ongoing state of dignity and glory far surpassing that of any creature, for ‘he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’ (Heb 12:2). There he will remain ‘until the time for restoring all things’ (Acts 3:21). As Bavinck summarizes: ‘A Priest-King is seated on the throne of the universe and is still looking forward to his greatest exaltation when he comes again for judgment.’⁶³

Seccombe captures the scope of this cosmic commission with precision: ‘The new thing we discover in the gospel is that God has committed the execution of his plan entirely to his now-human Son, raising him up both to sit at his right hand, and to “fill the universe” [Eph 4:10], subjecting everything in the universe to his control.’⁶⁴

This same pattern of humiliation followed by exaltation governs Paul’s account in Philippians. As Messiah, King, and Saviour, the one whose humility extended to ‘even death on a cross’ was afterwards exalted into heaven and thereupon given ‘the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow — in heaven and on earth and under the earth — and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Phil 2:8–11; cf. Eph 1:19–21). As Daniel Treier observes, ‘For Jesus to share in the name that is above every name exalted a human life to inaugurate our promised participation in God’s reign.’⁶⁵

Enthroned at the Father’s Right Hand

The one who had been crucified, God ‘made … both Lord and Christ’ (Acts 2:36). As discussed earlier, the title ‘Lord’ (kurios), deployed more than one hundred times in the New Testament, asserts Jesus’ eternal deity — his nature and status as full and true God, co-equal with the Father. Immediate and timely recognition of this absolute Divinity is seen in the disciples’ worshipping him once ‘he had departed from them and was carried up into heaven’ (Luke 24:51–52).

Yet it was his ascension that signalled the crowning moment of Jesus’ kingship. Enthronement finalized his ascension. With its background in the Enthronement Psalms (2, 24, 68, 110), the ascension marked the beginning of his new phase of rule as King and Lord, confirming God the Son’s full installation by God the Father into the messianic office — occupying unqualified authority over God’s universal Kingdom of salvation and judgment. The ascension is therefore God the Father’s own Divine act, whereby Jesus — having perfectly completed his God-given task — ‘was taken up into heaven’ (Mark 16:19; cf. Luke 24:51; Acts 1:2, 9, 11, 22; 1 Tim 3:16), admitted and welcomed into the Father’s immediate presence, taking up the chief position at the Father’s side: ‘seated at the right hand of the power of God’ (Luke 22:69); ‘he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high’ (Heb. 1:3); and he remains now ‘seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places’ (Heb 8:1–2; cf. John 3:13; 6:62; 20:17; Acts 22:34; Eph 1:20; 4:8; Heb 1:3; 10:12; 12:2).

To sit at the Father’s right hand is equivalent to calling Christ ‘the Father’s deputy, who has in his possession the whole power of God’s dominion.’⁶⁶ Yet it is equally true that the ascension was not merely something done to Christ but by him. As Bavinck explains:

‘The ascension was also his own deed. He had the right to it and the power to do it. He went up in his own strength (John 3:13; 20:17; Eph 4:8-10; 1 Pet 3:22). His ascension is a triumph in an even stronger sense than the resurrection. In it he triumphs over the whole earth, over all the laws of nature, over the gravity of matter. What is more, his ascension is a triumph over all the hostile diabolical and human forces which were robbed by God of their armor in the cross of Christ, were exhibited in their helplessness, and bound to Christ’s chariot of victory (Col 2:15). They are led away now as captives by Christ himself (Eph 4:8; cf. 1 Pet 3:19-22).’⁶⁷

The Savior’s Omnipotence

Both resurrection — the reversal and overthrow of death by new creation — and ascension are manifestations of God’s everlasting Kingdom. The ascension of Jesus the Saviour is the revelation of his ultimate dominance: his kingly office is one of total and absolute omnipotence, entailing ‘rule and authority and power and dominion … not only in this age but also in the one to come’ (Eph 1:21). ‘Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end’ (Isa 9:7).

Christ Jesus, the Savior of the world, is the Master of universal history. He governs all things, directing and ordering the entire cosmos for the saving reconciling welfare and benefit of his people as well as the good of the whole creation.

This provides a much-needed clue to history. The universe-embracing government of Jesus Christ ensures direction and meaning to the drama, conflicts, and contradictions of history (Rev 5:1–5; 6:1–17). Much of the process remains impenetrable to us, hidden from us in the present, to be fully clarified and revealed only at the last — yet the vision of Christ’s unchallenged eternal Kingdom as the overarching goal of all things gives sense and weight to the business of each moment. Yet for the time being many – most – of the actual realities, though utterly real, are hidden from us. ‘Yet King of kings and Lord of lords he is, and one day it will all be clear.’⁶⁸

The sovereignty and power of Jesus over all people and nations — in all times and places — is the sovereignty and power of a King who suffered and died, who was crucified for the everlasting good of those over whom and for whom he governs and reigns. The endless expansion of Christ’s Kingdom proceeds through the communication, promotion, and distribution of ‘the gospel of peace’ with God (Eph 6:15), ‘the gospel of the grace of God’ (Acts 20:24).

Guiding and driving forward the lives of individual persons and the course of world history toward its promised conclusion, the Kingdom of God over which Jesus reigns is a Kingdom marked and moved by unconditional generosity, provision, patience, mercy, care, goodness, and welcome offered to all — just and unjust alike (Matt 5:45; cf. Acts 14:17; Rom 9:22–24; 13:1–7; 1 Tim 2:1–4). Not that this love of God is accepted by all. Although God loves all people in some measure, many persist in rejection of it. Yet God’s love toward others — those whom, in love, he determined from before the foundation of the world to be his own – belonging to him (Eph 1:3–4; Rev 13:7–8) — is constantly extended and received in its fullness.

Either way, the authority of Christ over the world is an authority built upon costly service and grounded, supremely, upon his self-sacrificial death as ‘the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world’ (1 John 2:2).

Three Great Things About the Dominion of Jesus

Having said all this about Jesus’ absolute Divine sovereignty, it is critical to register that the New Testament’s emphasis in speaking of the ascension is ‘that it is Jesus, the man, Jesus of Nazareth who has ascended and sits now at the right hand of the Father as Ruler over God’s world, and as our human, empathetic High Priest constantly intercedes for us.’⁶⁹

Each of these three things — the exaltation of our humanity into God, the establishment of Christ’s church in history, and the hidden government of Christ behind the events of the world — deserves to be drawn out and held before us in turn:

‘For us, the churches who are the body of Christ, the ascension is decisive. First, the ascension means the exaltation of mankind into the life of God and onto the throne of God. In Christ, it is true that a human being sits on the throne of God in his full humanity. He is our complete Mediator. Second, the ascension means the establishment of a church in history, within space and time on the historical foundation of the apostles and prophets. Acts 1 [Jesus’ ascension] is needed for Acts 2 [the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the commencement of the church] to take place. Although in a manner absent … Jesus really remains present with us by the Word and Spirit. Third, the ascension of Jesus Christ and his session at the right hand of God the Father is behind world history. Even in the terrible events of world history the Kingdom of Christ is operative through all nations and peoples and all ages.’⁷⁰

Synopsis of a Purer Theology (1620-25). On Jesus Christ in His State of Exaltation. Disputation 28:10-20.

Again, four leading 17^th theologians in Holland offer both a summary of key aspects of our understanding of the Bible’s teaching on the ascension, and also corrections to misunderstandings that are still with us today.

10. Christ’s resurrection is followed by his ascension into heaven. For after his resurrection our Savior spent forty days continuously with his disciples. He explained to them more fully the things that pertain to setting up his spiritual Kingdom (Acts 1:3), and instructed them with renewed authority to extend it among all peoples throughout the whole world (Mark 16:15). And then, when leaving the world behind at last, as his disciples were looking on and angels were bearing witness, he conveyed his human nature into the heavenly sanctuary.

11. In this ascension of Christ three things should receive special consideration for a good understanding of this article: (1) the place to which he ascended; (2) the form or manner in which he ascended; (3) the goals or fruits of his ascension.

The Place to Which He Ascended

12. By consensus of all the Gospel-writers, the place to which Christ ascended is heaven. By this we do not mean the air or visible skies, for Heb 4:14 states that he traveled through them. Nor do we mean only a glorious and celestial state, which the Ubiquitarians⁷¹ have dreamt up, contrary to the unanimous consent of all antiquity. But he went to the actual and glorious dwelling-place of the blessed spirits, which Scripture locates above and beyond all the visible heavens. It is to this place that Enoch and Elijah went on ahead by the power of the ascension of the coming Christ (Heb 11:5; 2 Kgs 2:21), and the place where our own bodies will be received after they will be united again with their souls by the power of that same ascension of Christ (John 14:2; Phil 3:21).

13. Besides the literal, genuine meaning of the gospel-history, the names whereby the Scriptures designate this heaven into which Christ ascended demonstrate this. John 6:58 calls it ‘the heaven from which Christ came down,’ and ‘the place where Christ was before’ (i.e., before it came into the world, John 6:62). John 14:2 calls it ‘the Father’s house, where Christ went in order to prepare a place for us.’ Eph 4:10 says that ‘he ascended higher than all the heavens,’ The ending of Phil 3[:20] calls it ‘heaven, where our citizenship is.’ Heb 11:16 calls it ‘a supercelestial fatherland,’ and 12:22, ‘the heavenly Jerusalem.’ 2 Cor 12:14 calls it ‘Paradise,’ and verse 2, ‘the third heaven,’ whereunto Paul was caught up and where he beheld and heard Christ. All these and similar passages in the Scriptures are usually understood to concern no other heaven than that eternal seat and dwelling-place of the blessed.

The Form or Manner in Which he Ascended

14. The manner of Christ’s ascension was real, bodily, as the whole gospel-history testifies; it was not only some ‘disappearance’ into thin air before the eyes of the disciples, as the Ubiquitarians imagine. For that is how Christ would have ascended before he actually did ascend, since he was miraculously removed from the disciples’ sight on several occasions even before he truly ascended into heaven, as can be seen from Luke 24:31. Nor is it the glorification of the Christ’s body itself, because even before his suffering Christ was transfigured for a time (Matt 17:2). If so, it would follow from this that he had ascended into heaven for a period of time and then came down again, before his actual ascension. All of this is nonsense and obviously foreign to the manner in which Scripture speaks.

15. Also the kinds of expressions that Scripture everywhere employs for this ascension of Christ into heaven prove that this ascension was true and real. Mark 16:19 has ‘he was taken up into heaven;’ Luke 24:51: ‘he was carried up into heaven;’ Acts 1:9: ‘he was taken up on high,’ and verse 11: ‘This same way you have seen him go into heaven.’ And so the apostle says in Heb 9:12 that our High Priest ‘entered into the holy place once and for all.’ But according to [the Ubiquitarians] he would have entered heaven more often, in fact whenever he (in their opinion) appeared on the earth and then disappeared again. And verse 24 states: ‘For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands, which was only a copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself now to appear before his Father’s face on our behalf.’ Indeed, in John 16:28 Christ testifies that he is not only ‘going to the Father, but that he is leaving this world’ – which can only be taken to mean a real change of place.

16. However, it does not therefore follow that if this ascension were a real change of place Christ required a vast amount of time to complete his journey to heaven (as one of them has foolishly concluded. For if even the highest of stars, and whatever parts of the moving heaven, in their natural movement can cover as much distance as there is between the highest heaven and earth in the space of only four hours (as we know from the proportion of the radius and circumference of a circle), how much less a space of time did the now immortal and glorified body of Christ require to be drawn by his Divine power from earth up to heaven, which is what Scripture testifies occurred as the apostles were looking on (Acts 1:10).

17. Some debate whether Christ ascended into heaven all by himself or actually with a retinue in attendance, and in triumph. Acts 1 makes mention of that retinue, but there are some theologians of great renown who conclude this from a comparison of some other place. They are of the opinion that those saints who arose from the dead along with Christ (in Matt 27:53 also ascended into heaven with him, like witnesses and partakers of his life-giving resurrection. For this some others even refer to the place in Eph 4:8: ‘While ascending into heaven he led captivity captive,’ that is, leading a multitude of captives from death. But as this place permits also other orthodox explanations, we prefer to reserve judgment on this point. Yet we do not doubt that Christ’s entry into heaven, as in what happened at his birth, was filled with glory and congratulation of the celestial spirits, as is clearly described – albeit allegorically – in Psa 68:18; Dan 7:13 and elsewhere.

The Goals or Fruits of his Ascension

18. However, over against the papal theologians we deny that the souls of all the fathers who had died before Christ’s ascension had been kept in some otherworldly Limbo until this time and only then did Christ himself set them free and bring them over to heaven. For there is not any reason and also no place in Holy Scripture that gives proof of this. We have shown the contrary that Enoch and Elijah were transported to heaven, as 2 Kgs 21:1 and 11 assert with so many words. And Christ, long before his death, promised that there would be ‘a reward in heaven’ (Matt 3:10 and 12) for all who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness; and to the robber who was hanging on the cross, he promised that ‘on this same day he would be with him in Paradise’ (Luke 23:43).

19. And even though it states in the Acts of the apostles that even after his ascension into heaven Christ sometimes appeared to his disciples, and particularly to the apostle Paul, we nevertheless deny that his body was therefore actually outside heaven, because those appearances were either in a trace, or in dreams, or as the heavens were opened. But Scripture expressly testifies that Christ himself will remain in heaven until he come to judge the living and the dead (Acts 3:21, and the ending of Phil 3, and elsewhere).

20. There are many great fruits of Christ’s ascension. For with his entry he opened the heavenly sanctuary for us (John 14:2; Heb 9:8); he ensure the hope of our future inheritance in our head [Christ], and our being seated with his in the heavenly place (Eph 2:6). He obtained for us the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (John 16:17); and lastly, by his power our hearts and desires are lifted up into heaven, so that we no longer seek the things that are on earth but the things which are in heaven (Col 3:1-3).

Christ’s Heavenly Session

The Current Phase of Christ’s Kingdom

The Christian good news is then not that Jesus was Lord — in the past, some two thousand years ago, during his earthly life, or even through his death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven; though all of that is claimed to be the case. Nor is it that Jesus will be Lord — at some future point, when he returns to bring history to its close, raise the dead, pronounce final judgment, and renew the whole creation in perfection; though that too is said to be certain. Rather, the Christian gospel declares that ‘Jesus is Lord’ — that he is Lord now, today, at this very moment, this morning, this afternoon, this evening; and equally tomorrow, and always into the everlasting future. ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever’ (Heb 13:8).⁷²

But where is this Lord now, and what does his present rule look like? The written Gospels offer no description of Jesus’ physical appearance during his earthly life. In John’s vision of the exalted Christ, however, we are given a glimpse of his appearance in heaven:

‘clothed with a long robe and with a gold sash around his chest. The hairs of his head … white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes … like a flame of fire, his feet … like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice … like the roar of many waters. In his hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not …”’ (Rev 1:13-17).

Commentators differ on how far the various elements of this description — body, clothing, hair, eyes, feet, and voice — are literal or symbolic, but are united in reading the whole as a portrait of utmost glory and power:⁷³ awesomeness, dignity, majesty, purity, truth, strength, radiance, fearsomeness, absolute sovereignty — ruler, judge, and Lord of all. The glorified Lord Jesus bears total and universal authority, directing and governing our ‘inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God’ (Eph 5:5). This is the manner in which God has opted to reign ‘in the present age’ (Titus 2:12).

That being so, certain questions arise: where is the Lord Jesus now? What is he doing? And why? Before taking a deeper dive into some of these questions, it may help to set out some initial orienting thoughts.

We begin with the word ‘session’ itself, since it names the doctrine at stake. ‘“Session” is a technical word for the judge or ruler who is seated to exercise his or her official prerogatives. Even today, we may speak of a court or parliament as being ‘seated’ or ‘in session.’⁷⁴

Since his ascension, then, the Lord Jesus Christ has been – and currently is:

Seated on God’s throne in heaven at the Father’s right hand
Pouring out his Spirit
Directing a worldwide mission to gather his church
Building a community which will one day possess the universe
Interceding for, protecting, and preparing a place for his people
Restraining enemies
Maintaining the lives of countless others
Governing the nations
Driving history to its appointed goal⁷⁵

Seated on God’s Throne in Heaven at the Father’s Right Hand

Jesus’ Present Location: Heaven and Earth

At all points, the New Testament proceeds ‘from the idea that Christ according to his human nature, in body and soul, is in heaven.’⁷⁶ But this does not mean that the Person of Christ is absent from the earth. According to his Divine nature, and in the Holy Spirit’s power, the Lord Jesus Christ remains present with us — personally, spiritually, ‘always, to the end of the age’ (Matt 28:20).

Yet the one who is ever-present with his people ‘also possesses a human nature. A Person is therefore with us who at the same time is human, but he is not with us according to his humanity.’⁷⁷ For after his ascension, Christ’s human body was no longer on earth — from that moment, it was, and it now is, located in heaven. And it is worth pausing on that word: in Scripture, heaven is the place (1) where God himself dwells, (2) where his will is perfectly done, and (3) which is the destined home of his people.

The Posture of the Exalted Christ: Seated, Standing, Walking, and Riding

A few passages picture the ascended Lord Jesus standing (Acts 7:55-56; Rev 5:6; 14:1), walking (Rev 2:1), or riding a horse (Rev 19:11, 21). But the dominant posture in descriptions of his current heavenly position is one of being seated (Matt 26:64; Eph 1:20; 2:6; Col 3:1; Heb 8:1; 12:2; Rev 4:2, 9, 10; 5:1; 6:16; 14:14; 19:4; 20:11; 21:5). We are told explicitly that, following his bodily ascension into heaven, Jesus sat down (Mark 16:19; Heb 1:3; 10:12; Rev 3:21).

There is no conflict between the different postures attributed to Christ. ‘We can on no account imagine the humanity of the Lord as immovable and unchangeable in one place. Standing, for example, expresses readiness to help and to protect, and to receive into the eternal dwelling places (e.g., Acts 7:55-56]).’⁷⁸

It is right to say that ‘sitting down signifies that the painful labors of Christ’s humiliation are finished’ (Heb 10:11-14).⁷⁹ Yet the expression’s main force is one of high exaltation (Phil 2:9). The point is that, following his bodily transition from earth into heaven, Christ’s elevation and honor reaches its zenith: ‘after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high’ (Heb 1:3). He is now ‘exalted at the right hand of God’ (Acts 2:33; cf. Psa 110:1-7; Matt 22:44 // Mark 12:36; Acts 2:25, 34); for ‘God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior’ (Acts 5:31).

The Significance of Sitting: Exaltation and Authority

Why did Jesus sit down? To receive full honor, lordship, majesty, and Kingdom power from the Father – to exercise full authority and command for the Father, ruling over the God’s Kingdom on the Father’s behalf. ‘The right hand is the seat of power. … Thus to sit at God’s right hand is for all things to be in the closest communion with his Divine power and might. … Thus Divine authority and Divine power flow over, as it were, into Christ.’⁸⁰

In the handful of Scriptural reports in which Christ appears visibly in his current state, it is precisely this – sheer, transcendent Divine majesty – which comes across and overwhelms those who encounter him. Paul, on the road to Damascus, and John, on the isle of Patmos, were both floored, laid low, overcome, utterly overpowered, by the overwhelming magnificence of Christ. One fell to the ground, blinded (Acts 9:4, 9); the other ‘fell at his feet as though dead’ (Rev 1:17).

Seated Above Angels, Priests, and All Creatures

‘Sitting is something other than standing.’⁸¹ In Scripture, angels are ordinarily depicted as standing in the presence of God (Luke 1:19; cf. Isa 6:2; 1 Kgs 22:19), and priests likewise stand in their service before him (Heb 10:11). The ascended Christ, by contrast, sat down (Heb 1:3)—a posture that sets him apart from angels and priests alike and signals a dignity and authority belonging to God alone.

This sitting, moreover, carries judicial significance. Several passages associate a seated posture with the exercise of judgment (Psa 9:4; Joel 3:12; Matt 19:28), and Christ’s judgeship is indeed integral to his kingly rule. Taken together, then, the session of Jesus conveys the kind of sovereignty, authority, power, and lordship that belong to the Kingdom of God alone.

Where did Christ Sit down? The Right Hand of God

Most directly and simply, the ascended Lord and Savior sat down ‘at the right hand of God’ (Mark 16:19; Acts 2:33; 5:31; 7:55-56; Rom 8:34; Col 3:1; Heb 10:12; 1 Pet 3:22). But the same reality is variously expressed: as ‘seated at the right hand of Power’ (Matt 26:64; Mark 14:62); ‘at the right hand of the power of God’ (Luke 22:69); ‘at [God’s] right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is name, not only in this age but also in the one to come’ (Eph 1:20-21); ‘at the right hand of the Majesty on high’ (Heb 1:3); ‘at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven’ (Heb 8:1); ‘at the right hand of the throne of God’ (Heb 12:2); and, from the seated Christ’s own lips, ‘with my Father on his throne’ (Rev 3:21).

That Christ sits at God’s right hand signifies more than spatial location. It declares that he reigns as Lord and Saviour; it portrays the dignity, mastery, power, and rule that are inherent in his kingly office.

On What Does He Sit? The Throne of God

One passage pictures the ascended, glorified, and soon-returning Lord Jesus seated on a cloud (Rev 14:14), and two others have him riding on a white horse (Rev 19:11, 21). Most relevant statements, however, tell us plainly and unambiguously that Christ is seated on ‘the throne of God’ (Rev 22:3; cf. Heb 12:2; Rev 1:4; 3:21; 4:2–10; 5:1–13; 6:16; 7:9–17; Luke 1:32; 22:30; Acts 2:30; Heb 1:8; 4:16).

The Session: Definition and Dignity

Based on the image of Jesus seated at God’s right hand, the present phase of his rule over the Kingdom of God is sometimes called his session — from the Latin sessio, ‘a sitting’. Christ’s session began when, following his bodily ascension into heaven, he sat down at the right hand of God the Father; it continues now, and will do so until he returns bodily in visible glory to resurrect the dead, judge the living and the dead, and regenerate the world (Matt 19:28).

To be seated on the Father’s right hand means that Christ is supreme in relation to earth, and in terms of honor, influence, and privilege second only to the Father himself. On the basis of his obedience in suffering and death, he now occupies ‘the highest place beside God in the whole universe.’⁸²

The Threefold Office of Prophet, King and Priest⁸³

Jesus’ work in his ascension can be understood according to the threefold office as prophet, king and priest. An ‘office’ is a position of authority or service, typically one of a public nature.

Prophet. Christ is the final teacher and revealer of God’s grace and truth. As the Word of God, the ascended Jesus continues to reveal God to human beings (John 1:1-18, 14:25-26, 15:26). By his Spirit he empowers the preaching of the gospel of himself (John 16:1-15). Clement of Rome called the gospel the sceptre by which Christ now rules over the nations and over all history. And the body of Christ, the ones gathered in his name, are equipped to proclaim the word and teach the Scriptures until he comes to judge and renew his creation.

King. The Old Testament pictures ‘the LORD sitting on his throne’ (1 Ki 22:19), signifying his holy, absolute, and unchallenged rule of the world (Psa 2:4; 47:8; 99:1; Isa 6:1-4). Psalm 110:1-7 portrays the Messiah taking his appointed position alongside the LORD, seated as his ‘right hand,’ sharing in God’s own kingly rule ‘in the midst of enemies’ – and doing so as Mediator, Priest, and Judge (cf. Mal 3:3).

Christ is the supreme, spiritual king who governs and protects his people. Christ ascends to the throne; but he does so as the slain Lamb of God (Rev 5:1-14). Even in his ascension, the power of Christ, his kingship, is exercised through his atoning sacrifice.

Priest. Hebrews is our chief text here. Jesus is truly God and truly man, our perfect mediator between us and God and God and us (Hebrews chapters 1 and 2). He is our elder brother who prays for us at the right hand of the Father (Heb 2:11-18, 7:25, 9:24; Room 8:31-35; Lk 22:31-32). Jesus’ ongoing intercession for us is also expounded in the Johannine material. The work of sacrificial mediation is ongoing, though the sacrifice that was once for all:

‘My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1). Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. (Rom 8:34) For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself’ (Heb. 9:24-26).

The continuing advocacy of Christ before the throne of God is the basis of our prayers. When we pray, we are joining in his prayers for us.

Can we understand Jesus’ prayer for his disciples of John 17 as a prayer he continually prays for us now? The practice of praying through Jesus Christ reflects this aspect of the work of the ascended Christ (Jude 1:25, Heb. 13:21, 1 Peter 4:11).

Christ’s session at the position of supreme honor and power is therefore both the outcome and the heavenly continuation of the lordship, the prophetic work, and priesthood which he began on earth through his life and death. As our High-Priestly King (Heb 2:17), seated on the throne of the universe, he intercedes for his people (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25) until — by final judgment — all that stands opposed to him yields to the full and consummated implementation of his absolute dominion (Heb 10:13).

The Present Reign: Now, and Not Yet Fully Revealed

Our present historical moment—situated between Jesus’ ascension and return—falls within his current heavenly session. Jesus reigns in heaven right now, seated at the right hand of God. He has reigned thus since his ascension, and he will continue to do so until he comes again in glory at the end of history. As Bavinck explains:

‘Christ on the basis of his perfect obedience has been exalted to the highest sovereignty, majesty, dignity, honor, and glory. He has received not only his glory once more, which according to his Divine nature he had with the Father before the world began (John 17:5), but was now crowned with honor and glory according to his human nature (Heb 2:9; Phil 2:9-11). All things have been subjected to him, except him who did put all things under Christ (1 Cor 15:27). And even though we do not now see that all things are subjected to him, we know that he will reign as King until he has put all his enemies under his feet (Heb 2:8 and 1 Cor 15:25). That will take place at his return when he comes to judge the living and the dead. His being seated at the right hand of God and the whole of his exaltation ends and reaches its pinnacle in the return for judgment (Matt 25:31-32).’⁸⁴

Having thus conquered through his incarnate life, death, resurrection, and ascension, the Lord is seated there now. At this very moment he sits on his throne ‘together with’ God the Father at his right hand—the Father who is himself seated ‘on his throne’ (Rev 3:21).

This is precisely what the gospel announces. The good news declares to all living creatures that Jesus Christ reigns now, today, throughout the visible and invisible cosmos, sharing God’s own throne. Seated together with his Father, the Son of God and Son of Man occupies a position of ultimate rule across the entire creation, wielding supreme authority over every realm and sphere that exists. He is, at this moment and in every moment that follows, ‘ruling all things in his Father’s name and with his Father’s Almightiness for the long-term good of his people.’⁸⁵ Across the world, in our present experience as Christians of at times predatory and vicious persecution, of constant temptations to not love our neighbours as ourselves, to lose sight of God by collapsing in ourselves in the vain pursuit of the ‘Big Me,’ Jesus present rule as our prophet, king and priest is good news indeed. ‘Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end’ (Isa 9:7).

That Jesus Christ is seated in heaven now, on the throne of God, at the Almighty Father’s right hand, means that—despite the continued presence and activity of principalities and powers of darkness—he really does rule over and within God’s world. To us on earth, that supremacy remains hidden and invisible. But it is merely a matter of time until his true rule is finally and fully revealed.

This strange in-between moment—the certainty of victory coexisting with the reality of ongoing conflict—is well captured by the following analogy:

‘God’s war with Satan is now like a chess game in which the result is sure but the losing player has not yet given up, or like the last phase of human hostilities in which the defeated enemy’s counter-attacked, though fierce and frequent, cannot succeed, and are embraced in the victor’s strategy as mere mopping up operations.’⁸⁶

The Moral Virtue of Christ’s Power

The energy and vigour of Christ’s ongoing reign is both grounded in the achievement of his atoning work and characterised by continuing priestly intercession. His atonement accomplished, his sitting therefore combines kingly power with advocacy: in fulfilment of Zechariah 6:13, a priest of royal honour sits and rules on the throne of God. It is to this place—won by his sacrificial, priestly death—that Jesus Christ ascended and was enthroned (Heb 1:3; 10:12; 12:2).

Christ’s sitting down, then—his right to wield all the might that God possesses—results from ultimate virtue, not bare authority. As A. A. Hodge puts it, ‘His atonement is the foundation of his royal right to his people and his royal administration in their behalf.’⁸⁷ Christ’s power is, in this sense, the power of moral perfection.

It is founded on self-sacrifice, on self-sacrificial love; it is power for saving good; it is the power of saving grace. Or, as A. A. Hodge again puts it, ‘His kingly office is essentially the royal dispensation of grace by him as Saviour.’⁸⁸ This is power flowing from his atoning death—absolute power, to be sure, but gracious and honourable power: wise, compassionate, merciful, and perfectly just. It is based upon and expressed by the supreme excellence and virtue of saving work, whereby believers—though deserving the opposite—forever receive his inexhaustible favour and gifts (Eph 1:20–22; Heb 1:3–4).

Synopsis of a Purer Theology (1620-25). On Jesus Christ in His State of Exaltation. Disputation 28:21-36

Again, these four leading 17^th theologians in Holland offer a summary of key aspects of our understanding of the Bible’s teaching on the ascension, an expansion of some points, and also corrections to misunderstandings that are still with us today.

‘The Right Hand of God’: A Royal Metaphor

21. The final step of Christ’s exaltation is his sitting down at God’s right hand, and we shall deal with it in what follows.

22. On this point ‘the right hand of God’ cannot be taken in its literal sense, because God is Spirit and so he lacks flesh and bones; rather, it is taken metaphorically, to stand for that highest step of glorification to which the Father raised Christ up after his passion and ascension into heaven.

23. Moreover, this metaphor is derived from the practice of kings and rulers whose custom it is, when they take their seat upon the throne and administer justice before their court of law, to give a place at their right hand to people on whom they bestow the highest honour (next to their own), or whom they make partakers of their kingly rule, as this is the convention in all dominions. And so when king Solomon sat down on his throne he placed his month at his right hand (1 Kgs 2:19). Similarly, in Psa 45:10 the queen is placed at the right hand of her king. In this way also the mother of the sons of Zebedee in Matt 20:21 desired of Christ that in his Kingdom the one might sit at his right hand and other at his left.

The Kingdom of the Mediator

24. And so this sitting down of Christ at the right hand of his Father does not strictly mean that glory and natural Kingdom which the Son of God shares with the Father from eternity, for it that were the case then also the holy Spirit should have his sear at the right hand of God. But it means the economic and voluntary Kingdom in which Christ was established as the God-and-man and our Mediator, for the gathering and defence of the church. Therefore, the apostle Paul asserts that ‘the Father has put all things under his feet, except him who has made all things subject to him’ (1 Cor 15:27).

Glory and Power: The Content of Christ’s Session

25. And so the sitting down by Christ at the Father’s right hand encompasses these two things: first, that glory and supreme honour whereby he has received the name that surpasses every name, and whereby he was raised up far above the angels and all other creatures and became their heir and head, as the apostle clearly explains (Eph 1:20-22; Phil 2:9-11; Heb 2:7-8 and elsewhere). For this reason, also Heb 1:3 speaks of the ‘right hand of the majesty,’ and Heb 8:1, ‘the righthand of the majesty of the throne,’ and Heb 12:2, ‘the right hand of the throne of God.’

26. This glory of Christ as Head is not merely in name only, but it is also accompanied by power and rule over all creatures. With this, as the King and Ruler over all things, he effectively gather the church out of the world by his Word and Spirit, and by his power he keeps it safe and guards it against the world and against Satan, and he does so until he will triumph completely over all his enemies.

27. In addition to the places cited above this actual power and rule is demonstrated by a comparison of Psa 110:1 and 1 Cor 15:25. For the words that are expressed as follows in Psa 110:1: ‘Sit at my right hand until I shall make your enemies a footstool for your feet,’ are given by the apostle this as an equivalent substitute: ‘For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet’ (1 Cor 15:25). Therefore, also Matt 26:64 and Mark 14:62 call it ‘the right hand of God’s power’ and Matt 28:28, ‘all power in heaven and on earth.’

Questions of Nature, Merit, and Ubiquity⁸⁹

28. At this point, the question arises: in which nature did Christ, strictly speaking, sit down at the right hand of God? And the correct answer is: in both natures. For just as Christ was established as Mediator in both natures (as each nature, the Divine and human, performed what belonged to it), so he was established as our King in both natures, albeit with the difference that his Divine nature received no new gifts here, other than a renewed use and manifestation of the glory and power which he had from eternity, according to the Father’s will and the economy of our salvation, as Christ himself asks in John 17:5: ‘Father, glorify in your present with the glory I had with you before the world began.’ Yet it was his human nature that received both from the Father, the glory and the power (as well as the use of them), as can be gleaned from Matt 28, Phil 2, Heb 2 and other places.

29. The question also arises, whether it was strictly speaking through his passion and death that Christ merited this glory for his human nature. And whereas we really do not wish to enter into a dispute with those who make this claim, since Christ certainly did obtain it for us by the worthiness of what is merited, yet we are of the opinion that the opposite point of view, which is shared by many Reformed writers, rests upon arguments that are stronger. The chief one of these is that his glory was owed to Christ by the right of his hypostatic union,⁹⁰ and as the Son’s rightful inheritance (Psa 2:7-; Heb 1:2). And so, by the consensus of all theologians, that hypostatic union does not follow upon any merit, nor the things which necessarily and by God’s decree followed it – which is why the apostle Paul also uses the word ‘to bestow a gift’ in this context (Phil 2:9).

30. But as to the fact that some of the Ubiquitarians maintain that by this sitting down at God’s right hand Christ’s body became present in all places in heaven and on earth, besides the fact that it fundamentally overturns other Ubiquitarians who derive this imaginary omnipresence from the hypostatic union, they are in disagreement with various obvious places in Holy Scripture, as these mention only one return of Christ into this world, i.e., when he will appear in glory at the end of the age.

Fruits of Christ’s Session for the Church

31. Every day the church experiences the fruits and effects of Christ’s sitting down at the Father’s right hand; and the enemies of Christ, including even Satan himself, whether they like it or not, marvel at it, and tremble. For Christ gather his church by his Word and Spirit, while they vainly resist; he preserves it against the tyranny of the whole world and the gates of hell, and he destroys the Antichrist by the Spirit of his mouth. And just as he daily more and more unfolds his kindness and the riches of his grace to those who are true members of the church (both in their consciences and in their outward status), so he daily manifests the clear signs that the judgment is coming against a great many of [the enemies].

32. What is more, all these fruits rest upon that intercession whereby Christ interceded before the Father not just in his state of humility but especially in that state of his glorification.

Christ’s Heavenly Intercession as a Priestly Act

33. And this intercession by Christ in heaven at God’s right hand is not the only, single action of Christ as Priest, as the godless Socinus imagines,⁹¹ but it is one of his [many] priestly] actions. By this, after he offered himself on earth outside the heavenly sanctuary as the atoning sacrificial victim for our sins, he also appeals in the presence of the Father’s countenance in heaven. And he does so against Satan and all his instruments, and on behalf of the church and its members, in the manner of which Zech 3:2ff. presents us with an outstanding example of each.

34. And this intercession, or appeal, by Christ consists of these three feature: (1) that Christ has brought his atoning sacrifice into the very sanctuary of heaven to sanctify it for us, and there to appear before the face of God on our behalf (Heb 9:23-24). (2) that by his will and burning desire, just as he had done earlier while on earth (John 17:11, 15, 24, etc.) so also in heaven with the Father he asks earnestly that the power and efficacy of his death be applied to us for our salvation, as can be seen from Zech 1:12 and John 14:16 as well as Acts 2:33. Finally, (3) that by what he has merited and his own desire, he cause the prayers that we pour out in his name to be pleasing and acceptable to God the Father (John 14:6 and 13, likewise 1 John 2:1-2).

35. The entry by the great High Priest into the holy of holies on that day of atonement formed a representation of all these features [Leviticus 16], as the apostle … himself points out in Hebrews 7 and 9. For (1) the atoning sacrifice was offered outside the sanctuary and then his blood was taken from there into the sanctuary by the same Person. (2) the incense was joined to his blood, as it was a symbol of the offerings and prayers, as Rev 8:7 explains. And he also bore on his shoulders and breast the names of the tribes of Israel, for whom the foreshadowing atonement was obtained.

The Final Act: Christ as Judge

36. The final deed of his reign as Priest will be the last judgment, when he will come again from heaven to judge the living and the dead, and all people, good as well as evil, shall be gathered together to appear before his judgement seat, for everyone to give an account of what he has done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor 5:10). And then, at the last, when he lays aside his reign as formed by this economy, like a victor of all things and a conqueror he will first hand himself, and then his reign, over to God and the Father, that God may be all in all (1 Cor 15:24, 28).

—

1
Richard Taverner, ‘Of the Resurrection of Our Saviour Jesus Christ. For Easter Day,’ The Second Book of Homilies, 14, in The Two Books of Homilies, appointed to be Read in Churches (Oxford University Press, 1859), 429; also published in Gerald Bray, The Books of Homilies: A Critical Edition (James Clark and Co., 2015), 417. For a part-edition in today’s language, see Lee Gatiss ed., The First Book of Homilies: The Church of England’s Official Sermons in Modern English, with a foreword by George Whitefield (Church Society, 2026). ↩︎
2
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, 4; Van Dixhoorn ed., Creeds, 116. See Gerald Bray, The Faith We Confess: An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles (The Latimer Trust, 2009), 33-35. ↩︎
3
Mark D. Thompson and Robert C. Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant: 2 Systematic and Historical Reflection.’ Unpublished Lecture, 1; slightly amended. ↩︎
4
The present section is initially guided by David Seccombe, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 151-186. For more comprehensive consideration, see Benjamin Dean, Great Truths – The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Part II, ‘The Significance of Jesus’ Resurrection: God Declared the Full Identity of Jesus,’; https://www.greattruthsglobal.org/the-resurrection-of-jesus-christ-part-ii/. ↩︎
5
See Howard Marshall, ‘Acts (Book of),’ in T & T Clark Companion to Atonement, 361-64. On the historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, see Benjamin Dean, Great Truths – The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Part I – The Reality of the Resurrection, section 7, ‘The Reality of Jesus’ Resurrection; https://www.greattruthsglobal.org/the-resurrection-of-jesus-christ-part-i/; and in shorter more popular form https://www.greattruthsglobal.org/the-reality-of-jesus-resurrection/. Then to Garry Habermas’ massive work, On the Resurrection, Volumes 2 and 3, Evidences and Refutations (B& H Academic, 2024). Also, see Michael Licona, Raised on the Third Day: Defending the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus (Lexham Press, 2020). Then refer to Ross Hastings, The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Exploring its Theological Significance and Ongoing Relevance (Baker Academic, 2022). ↩︎
6
Seccombe, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 157; italics supplied. ↩︎
7
See Benjamin Dean, Great Truths – The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Part I, ‘The Reality of the Resurrection,’ https://www.greattruthsglobal.org/the-resurrection-of-jesus-christ-part-i/; for a shorter simplified form also see Benjamin Dean, The Reality of the Resurrection, https://www.greattruthsglobal.org/the-reality-of-jesus-resurrection/ ↩︎
8
Nick Needham, Two Thousand Years of Christ’s Power, Volume 1, The Age of the Early Church Fathers. Revised Edition (Christian Focus, 2016), 47-48. ↩︎
9
Mark D. Thompson and Robert C. Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant: 2 Systematic and Historical Reflection.’ Unpublished Lecture, 1. ↩︎
10
T. F. Torrance, Space, Time, and Incarnation (T & T Clark, 1976), 60; emphasis supplied. ↩︎
11
Mark D. Thompson and Robert C. Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant: 2 Systematic and Historical Reflection.’ Unpublished Lecture, 2. ↩︎
12
Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 2. ↩︎
13
See Paul Molnar, ‘Resurrection and Atonement in the Theology of Thomas F. Torrance,’ in T & T Clark Companion to Atonement, 57-76. ↩︎
14
Seccombe, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 164. ↩︎
15
Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 2; slightly amended. ↩︎
16
Michael Horton, Recovering Our Sanity: How the Fear of God Conquers the Fears That Divide Us (Zondervan, 2022), 117. ↩︎
17
No reference. ↩︎
18
Seccombe, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 167. ↩︎
19
T. F. Torrance, Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ (IVP Academic, 2009), 4. ↩︎
20
Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 5. ↩︎
21
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 67. ↩︎
22
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 79. ↩︎
23
Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 1. ↩︎
24
The Second Book of Homilies, 14, ‘Of the Resurrection,’ 431-32; language slightly updated. ↩︎
25
Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 1-2. ↩︎
26
T. F. Torrance, Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ (IVP Academic, 2008), 3. ↩︎
27
Molnar, ‘Resurrection and Atonement,’ 58. ↩︎
28
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 72. ↩︎
29
Bray, Faith we Confess, 33; cf. Bray, God is Love, 593-97. ↩︎
30
Horton, Recovering Our Sanity, 115. ↩︎
31
Horton, Recovering Our Sanity, 116. ↩︎
32
Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 2. ↩︎
33
Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 2. ↩︎
34
Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 5. ↩︎
35
Homilies, 14, ‘Of the Resurrection,’ 437-38. ↩︎
36
Seccombe, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 184-86. ↩︎
37
See Benjamin Dean, Great Truths – The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Part I, ‘The Priority of Jesus’ Resurrection – Crucifixion and Resurrection,’ https://www.greattruthsglobal.org/the-resurrection-of-jesus-christ-part-i/ ↩︎
38
Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 63. ↩︎
39
Horton, Recovering Our Sanity, 115. ↩︎
40
See Benjamin Dean, Great Truths – The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Part I, ‘The Priority of Jesus’ Resurrection – The Gospel of Resurrection,’ https://www.greattruthsglobal.org/the-resurrection-of-jesus-christ-part-i/ ↩︎
41
Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 5. ↩︎
42
Calvin, Institutes, 2.14.13; 521. Again, see Benjamin Dean, Great Truths – The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Part I, ‘The Priority of Jesus’ Resurrection – Crucifixion and Resurrection,’ https://www.greattruthsglobal.org/the-resurrection-of-jesus-christ-part-i/ ↩︎
43
Translated and edited by William Den Boer and Riemer A. Faber (Davenant Press, 2023). To aid the reader, all paragraph headings here and elsewhere below are mine. ↩︎
44
(‘A Brief Introduction,’ in Den Boer and Faber eds., vii). ↩︎
45
Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Volume 1, Disputations 1-31, eds. William Den Boer and Riemer A. Faber, trans. Riemer A. Faber (Davenant Press, 2023), 318-319. ↩︎
46
Calvin, Commentaries, Haroutunion ed., 169-70. ↩︎
47
Treier, Lord Jesus Christ, 283. ↩︎
48
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1376 (Christ is present ‘truly, really, and substantially,’ in the Eucharist), and 1413 (‘By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about’). Article 28 of the Thirty-Nine Anglican Articles states that ‘Transubstantiation (or change in the substance of the bread and win) in the supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ [Scripture], but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthrows the nature of a sacrament, and has given occasion to many superstitions.’ For clear and detailed commentary on Article 28, ‘The Lord’s Supper,’ see Bray, The Faith We Confess, 158-166. For broader Reformed confessional teaching on the Lord’s Supper consult, refer to Belgic Confession (1561), 35; Heidelberg Catechism (1563), QQ.75-82; Second Helvetic Confession (1566), 21:1-14; Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), 29:1-8; Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647), QQ. 96-97; Westminster Larger Catechism (1648), QQ. 168-174. Joel Beeke and Sinclair Ferguson offer an edited coordination of these (excluding the Anglican Articles) in Reformed Confessions Harmonized: With an Annotated Bibliography of Reformed Doctrinal Works (Baker, 1999), 220-29. ↩︎
49
Bray, Faith we Confess, 33-34. ↩︎
50
Bray, Faith we Confess, 34; Bray, God is Love, 596-98. ↩︎
51
Markus Bockmuehl considers some of the tensions between Jesus’ absence and presence following his resurrection in ‘The Gospels on the Presence of Jesus,’ in The Oxford Handbook of Christology, ed. Francesca Aran Murphy (Oxford University Press, 2015); online edition. On Christ’s ascension more broadly, see Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 379-385; John Calvin, ‘A Sermon on the Ascension, (Acts 1:9-11)’ in Crucified and Risen: Sermons on the Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ, trans. Robert White(Banner of Truth, 2020), 157-168; Crowe, Lord Jesus Christ, 281-82; Hammet and Quarles, Work of Christ, 314-312; Horton, ‘Atonement and Ascension’ in Locating Atonement, 226-250; Peter Orr, Exalted Above the Heavens: The Risen and Ascended Christ (Apollos, 2018), 77-98; Treier, Lord Jesus Christ, 282-288. Notice that Heinrich Bullinger includes Jesus’ ascension in his definition of the gospel (The Fourth Decade, Sermon 1, ‘Of the Gospel of the Grace of God,’ 3-4, 28; also see Bullinger’s exposition of the Apostle’s Creed in The First Decade, Sermons 7-9). Refer as well to Heidelberg Catechism, 49-51; Second Helvetic Confession, 11; Westminster Shorter Catechism 28; Westminster Larger Catechism, 53. A ground-breaking and (relatively) recent treatment of Jesus’ ascension is T. F. Torrance,‘The Ascension of Jesus Christ’, in Space, Time, and Resurrection, 106-122. Also important (though technical) is Douglas Farrow, Ascension and Ecclesia: On the Significance of the Doctrine of the Ascension for Ecclesiology and Christian Cosmology (T & T Clark, 1999). Refer as well to the advanced treatments by David M. Moffitt, Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Supplements to Novum Testamentum 141 (Brill, 2011); idem, ‘Atonement at the Right Hand: The Sacrificial Significance of Jesus’ Exaltation in Acts,’ in New Testament Studies, 62.4 (2016). ↩︎
52
Jensen, Life of Faith, 202. ↩︎
53
Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:904. ↩︎
54
T. F. Torrance, ‘The Ascension of Jesus Christ’ in Space, Time and Resurrection, 112. ↩︎
55
See Benjamin Dean, Great Truths – Christ the Lord: Jesus’ Person and Kingdom, Part 5, Prophet, Priest, and King; available at https:greattruthsglobal.org ↩︎
56
Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 2:443-44. ↩︎
57
Torrance, ‘The Nature of the Ascension Event’, in Space, Time and Resurrection, 136. ↩︎
58
M. A. Bowald, ‘Ascension,’ in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Second Edition, 88. ↩︎
59
Treier, Lord Jesus Christ, 283. ↩︎
60
Jensen, Life of Faith, 203. ↩︎
61
Michael P. Jensen and Robert C. Doyle, ‘The Ascension of Jesus Christ and Present Heavenly Session.’ Unpublished Lecture, 1. ↩︎
62
Jensen and Doyle, ‘The Ascension of Jesus Christ and Present Heavenly Session.’ Unpublished Lecture, 1. ↩︎
63
Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 2:447. ↩︎
64
Seccombe, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 230. ↩︎
65
Treier, Lord Jesus Christ, 283. ↩︎
66
Calvin, Institutes, 2.15.5; Battles ed., 500. ↩︎
67
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 373. ↩︎
68
Seccombe, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 230. ↩︎
69
Doyle, Evangelical Doctrine of the Church, 265. Doyle points to the use of the unadorned name ‘Jesus,’ the personal first name of the incarnate Son of God, regards to the ascension event in Luke 24:2, 15, 19, 36-53, and Acts 1:1-2, 10-11. On the sympathetic intercession of the ascended Jesus, see Heb 2:9-18; 3:1; 4:14-16; 7:22-25. ↩︎
70
Doyle, Evangelical Doctrine of the Church, 281. Refer also to Thomas F. Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection, 141-58. See also Torrance, Space, Time and Resurrection, 137-139. ↩︎
71
The Ubiquitarians, a 16th-century Lutheran theological party associated especially with John Brenz, held that Christ’s human nature partakes of Divine omnipresence, and so is present everywhere — including, crucially, in the Eucharist. See Synopsis of Purer Theology, 28:30; Boer and Faber eds., 324-25. ↩︎
72
In the first instance, refer to Hammet and Quarles, Work of Christ, 322-326; T. F. Torrance, ‘Lord of Space and Time,’ in Space, Time, and Incarnation, 159-194; Treier, Lord Jesus Christ, 284-88. ↩︎
73
The passage contains eight Old Testament images. (1) Long robe and golden sash (Exod 28:4; 29:5; 39:29; Ezek 9:2). (2) White head and hair (Dan 7:9). (3) Blazing eyes (Dan 10:6; repeated Rev 2:18; 19:2). (4) Bronze feet (Dan 10:6; Ezek 1:7; repeated Rev 2:18). (5) Powerful voice (Ezek 1:24; 43:2; repeated Rev 14:2); (6) Stars in his right hand (Psa 110:1; Job 38:7; cf. Matt 26:64; Rev 9:1). (7) Sword from his mouth (Isa 11:4; 49:2; repeated 1:16; 2:12, 16; 6:8; 19:15, 21; cf. Luke 2:25; also, Rev 9:17-19l 11:5; 12:15-16; 16:13; 19:15, 21). (8) Radiant face (Exod 34:29; Psa 84:11; Isa 13:10; 60:19; Ezek 32:7; Joel 2:10). ↩︎
74
Jensen, Life of Faith, 203. ↩︎
75
The paragraphs in this section roughly track the citation above, repeated here: ‘The simple formula, “Jesus is Lord” carries a heavy payload. Aside from his earthly career, death, resurrection, ascension, and coming again, we have a King on the throne in heaven, who is building a community which will one day possess the universe. He is also directing a world-wide mission, pouring out his Spirit, restraining enemies, interceding for and protecting his people, maintaining the lives of countless others, governing the nations, and driving all history to its appointed goal. All this is implicit in the gospel of the Kingdom, though of course it is more than can ever be served up in one helping’ (Seccombe, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 233). ↩︎
76
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 372. ↩︎
77
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 596. For careful detailed Biblical exegesis concerning the location of Christ, see Orr, Exalted Above the Heavens, 77-97, 115-132, 133-154. ↩︎
78
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 600; slightly amended. ↩︎
79
Beeke, Reformed Systematic Theology, 2:904; emphasis supplied. ↩︎
80
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 598. ↩︎
81
Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 599, who develops this point. ↩︎
82
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 374. ↩︎
83
Calvin, Institutes, Book 2 Chapter 15; Battles ed., 494-503. ↩︎
84
Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 374. ↩︎
85
Packer, Growing in Christ, 64. ↩︎
86
Packer, Growing in Christ, 65. ↩︎
87
A. A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology (The Banner of Truth Trust, 1976 [Orig. 1890]), 227. ↩︎
88
A. A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology, 227. ↩︎
89
Ubiquity: Jesus Christ being everywhere, omnipresent. ↩︎
90
‘Hypostatic’ means ‘person’, ‘hypostatic union’ means that in the person of Jesus Christ are united both his divine and human natures. He is in his one, single person fully God and fully man. ↩︎
91
Faustus Socinus (Fausto Paolo Sozzini), was a 16th-century Italian theologian whose anti-Trinitarian thought became foundational to Socinianism, later shaping Unitarian theology. A nephew of Lelio Socinus, he is chiefly remembered for denying the Trinity. ↩︎

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