Christ ascended

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I was privileged to provide the "Views" piece for the January-February 2019 Edition of Grace Baptist Partnership's News&Views. It is part of a series of brief commentaries on the Partnership's Statement of Faith. You can read the whole edition at the bottom of the page. To find out more about Grace Baptist Partnership and its important work of leadership training, church planting, and church revitalisation, have a look at their website: http://www.gracebaptistpartnership.org.uk/

Article 9: We believe that God’s Son ascended to the right hand of His Father and is enthroned in glory, where He intercedes on behalf of His people and rules over all things for their sake.

The ascension is rooted in the soil of everything else about Jesus Christ’s life, and bears fruit in and for Christ’s followers.

It recalls the incarnation: “No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven...” (John 3:13). Jesus is God with us, the eternal radiance of the Father’s glory and exact imprint of his nature enfleshed in frail humanity to restore peace between God and man.

It proclaims redemption: Jesus glorifies the Father by purchasing eternal salvation for God’s people, and returns to heaven, mission accomplished (John 17:2-5), joined by “a host of captives” (Ephesians 4:8, Psalm 68:18). The risen Christ in imperial majesty parades through the heavenly streets with sin, fear, death, and the grave in chains, but also leads their former captives captive - into liberty. Those who once were dead in sin, slaves to fear, destined to die, cursed to the grave, without help in life, hope in eternity, or a home anywhere are taken captive by a greater captor, led onward and upward by their triumphant deliverer.

It demonstrates the resurrection: Jesus descended to the grave itself (Ephesians 4:9), but rose up, not in miraculous resuscitation to yet again die, but in unprecedented resurrection to eternal life. Triumphant over death, Christ “rises far above all heavens to fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10), to enjoy the eternal glory of the Trinity from which he had stepped.

It enables intercession. Slavery to sin has ravaged everything about us. We know we are free in Christ, but we must grow in our understanding and experience of Christian freedom. We now follow the ascended Christ, but assimilating into Christ’s kingdom life is a work in progress as we live between present reality and future hope. We are neither abandoned, nor are we exiled: when we don’t know how to act or quite what to pray, the ascended Christ always lives to pray for us (Hebrews 7:25). Christ’s representation is greater than Satan’s accusation. We are now his captives, and he is not letting us go!

It inaugurates our reigning Sovereign. Returning to his place of honour, Christ receives dominion, glory, and a kingdom, “so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him” (Daniel 7:13-14). Unlike the thieving Satanic slave-master of our past, Christ “gives gifts to people” (Ephesians 4:8). These gifts are those of a king to his kingdom: unity, leadership, security, purity, a new social order of goodness, righteousness, and truth opposed to our old, broken systems (Ephesians 4-6). Until Christ’s kingdom is fully established with his return, we continue to pray “Your kingdom come”. Because Christ’s kingdom is begun, we proactively pursue “Your will be done”. We can and must live in distinctive love and teach all things that Christ has commanded, in and with his authority, because we share in Christ’s reign (Ephesians 2:6).

Jesus is ascended, so we can follow him. Jesus is interceding, so we can stay with him. Jesus is reigning, so we can reign with him. It is all for our sake, so let us be all about his service!