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That brings us now to the fifth installment in this series “Who is Jesus: according to the Bible” where we will discuss what the Bible has to say about Jesus’ ascension, exaltation, His current position in heaven, His dominion over creation.
OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT ITSELF: Our first examination will be of the event of the ascension itself. We have accounts given of this by both John and by Luke. Luke, the Doctor/Historian perhaps goes into more detail in his investigated report of the events. As I’ve mentioned in prior podcasts, Luke is the author of both the Gospel of Luke and Acts and some believe that Acts is really just a continuation from his Gospel account. The first point I would like to bring out about the writings of Luke is his meticulous methodology in recording the events from verifiable eyewitnesses take a look at:
"Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3 it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; 4 so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught."
Now who was this “Theophilus” to whom Luke addresses both his Gospel and as we’ll see in a minute his book of Acts? Some say he was most likely a high ranking Roman official as Luke addresses him with the same title “Most Excellent” that Paul used when addressing Felix and Festus – two Roman officials – later in the book of Acts. Others think he might be one of a couple Jewish high-priests to succeed Annas in Jerusalem – either around 44AD or the second Theophilus in about 65AD. The dating of Luke’s writings do concur with the second Priest however, I find this I find to be highly unlikely as Luke was a Gentile and the language of his work was clearly written with a view to reaching a Greek speaking culture/audience. Most likely Theophilus was a high-ranking or influential Gentile whether Greek or Roman for whom Luke wanted to provide a detailed, historical account of Christ and the spread of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. Most specifically “so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught”
Now in subsequent podcasts we’ve covered the life, ministry, crucifiction, and resurrection of Jesus so lets fast-forward through the Gospel of Luke and pick it up toward the end of the resurrection appearances with a view to the event of the ascension itself in:
And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising God.
Again, Luke’s book of Acts picks up right where the Gospel of Luke left off and Luke reiterates his methodology for compiling the facts he was about to report. Take a look in
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Just another quick note here – we see that Jesus presented Himself ALIVE after His suffering by MANY INFALLIBLE PROOFS, this wasn’t an apparition, nor a delusion – as it lasted for FORTY DAYS! And it certainly wasn’t the swoon deception that Muslims accuse Jesus of in faking his own death and then appearing to the disciples as “alive” only to disappear FOREVER after just 40 days. This is all verifiable to the audience of Luke so they could rest assured that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead and as we see reported here in verse 2 – “He (Jesus) was taken up” after his time with the apostles.
And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)
Now that we’ve discussed Jesus ascension, let’s take a look at His exaltation in heaven where He veils Himself no longer and reveals His true glory and position at the right hand of the Father and His dominion over all God’s creation – where He was before and during His incarnation:
Jesus Unveiling: Return to His pre-existing glory: We discussed the Glory of the pre-incarnate Jesus on earlier podcasts – Jesus is reported in Scripture as “veiling Himself” when he came to earth. He didn’t “cease” to be God, He didn’t “forget” that He was God and then have to “relearn” everything. Yes He grew in knowledge and stature before God and man – of course He did as a man or he wouldn’t nor couldn’t be called “fully man” which is indeed what He was/is. He simply veiled/hid His glory from all mankind. All the spirit realm: angels both holy and fallen recognized Him for who He was and often tried to give Him away – which is why He rebuked them so sharply when identified Him (and also why they immediately obeyed without Him asking a second time)
Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
We revisit the passage in Hebrews which we also cited on an earlier podcast in demonstrating the superiority of Jesus to the angels and refuting the erroneous Christology of Jehovahs Witness but this time lets focus on v3-4 and then v8 to see just what took place after His ascension: (To differentiate who is speaking in the text where the pronoun “He” is used, I have put either “Jesus – God the Son” or “God the Father” this is clearly laid out in the passages leading up to verse 3 but the notes are meant to clarify without posting the entire 9 verses here)
When He (Jesus - God the Son) had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels did He (God the Father) ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him And He shall be a Son to Me”? 6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” 7 And of the angels He (God the Father) says, “Who makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire.” 8 But of the Son He(God the Father) says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.9 “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”
Here we see the author of Hebrews utilising Scripture to demonstrate exactly what Jesus was talking about in John 17 when He said, restore Me to the glory that I had before the world was
In this next passage we have John bearing witness to an encounter with the resurrected, ascended, glorified Christ in heaven, he writes in the book of Revelation:
"...and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a Son of Man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength."
When Christ returns the second time, which is the event that all genuine Christians look to and hope for, he will not come as the veiled suffering servant – the manner in which he came the first time but at His second coming He will come as we see Him described here – the full glory of His Father and there will be no question as to His being the very Son of God that he and the Apostles declared him to be. He exists now in that very glory in heaven and the Scriptures declare Him to have the following attributes now in His glorified state:
This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Here we see Peter quoting Psalm 110:1 which we covered in a previous podcast. For our next couple verses, we look at the writings of the Apostle Paul. First from his letter to the Ephesians – this is a very warm, encouraging prayer to a relatively young church regarding all that the Apostle wanted for them and by virtue of the fact that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author of this book – what the Holy Spirit wants for these young believers as well, the key verses which illustrates Jesus’ position at the right hand of the Father and Jesus eternal glorification are v20-21 but lets back up a few verses and begin in v15
This is the ultimate place/seat of pre-eminence throughout the universe. Jesus is at the highest place of favor and authority to the Father as together with the Holy Spirit, this Triune God created all things seen and unseen throughout the universe and the heavens by a word of His mouth. “Right hand” is more that of authoritative importance in position rather than a geographical location with respect to God. To see this we return to the passage in Acts where Peter is preaching his famous sermon at Pentecost in which 3000 people were saved look with me in
“...That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Now let’s have a quick look at Paul’s letter to the Romans in a fairly familiar passage which describes the believer’s victory in Christ again the key verse is vs34 but lets back up and start from v31:
What then shall we say to these things? (v30 those whom The Lord foreknew He also predestined, those he predestined he called, justified, and glorified) If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
In this passage alone we are told of Jesus as judge of all mankind, the fact of Jesus resurrection which we covered last time, and Jesus current position – present tense – at the right hand of God. The final words of the text “who also intercedes for us” signifies Jesus role as great High Priest – something we touched on in Hebrews a short while ago but lets take a quick look again at his current, present-tense role of our High Priest after His ascension into heaven and His being seated at the right hand of the Father (i.e. the pre-eminent position over all heaven and earth, things seen and unseen:
Although Jesus veiled Himself in order to perfectly carry out the will of the Father, He still demonstrated repeatedly throughout the Gospels that he had full dominion over creation. This was usually only done in the midst of small groups, usually His disciples although on occasion He would demonstrate this in front of thousands at once.
He showed his dominion over the elements:
"And on that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. 37 And a great windstorm *arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling up. 38 And Jesus Himself was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion; and they *got Him up and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 And He woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you so cowardly? Do you still have no faith?” 41 And they became very afraid and were saying to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash
He demonstrated His dominion over the spirit realm and animals/creation:
“And when He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men confronted Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. 29 And they cried out, saying, “[a]What business do You have with us, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before [b]the time?” 30 Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding at a distance from them. 31 And the demons begged Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32 And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the pigs; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.”
But now that His glory is veiled no longer and He is ascended back to His place on high at the right hand of the Father, it should be clear to all that He still currently possesses this dominion over all things.
“Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
This next passage in 1 Corinthians provides an excellent glance into the process of Jesus Resurrection in the past, to His exaltation and then to His full authority:
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in [h]Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits (THAT IS FIRST IN PRE-EMINENCE NOT CHRONOLOGY AS THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESS CLAIM FOR THEIR FALSE CHRIST), after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27 For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. 28 When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all."
In this passage in Ephesians, Paul is describing the depth of his most-beautiful prayer for believers and caps it off with another glimpse into the current exaltation and authority which Jesus possesses now and His position in eternity future
"These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."
This next passage alone is brilliant instruction from the Apostle Paul regarding the heart we are to possess as Christians – providing the picture of Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection, but in typical Paul style, he also provides a glimpse into the person of the current and future glorified Christ as well:
"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
For this next passage we return to one of our 4 great Christological passages from a previous episode in this series, Colossians 1:
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything."
This final passage pertaining to the glorification again gives us a glimpse of the person of Jesus is clearly above all angels and has had all things put under His authority by the Father:
“What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? 7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him"
Jesus has ascended and has returned to His rightful place of unveiled glory over the universe but He did not want HIs disciples (that includes those of us who are born again believers) to be discouraged as He will send us His Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity who is called the “Spirit of Christ” to dwell in our hearts….
My hope and prayer is that as you listen to this Who is Jesus? According to the Bible series, you will recognise that the true God of the universe has come to earth and revealed Himself to men through His Son, the Lord Jesus through whom, if you put your faith in Him (Jesus of the Bible) for the forgiveness of your sins – calling out on the name of the Lord to have mercy on you and forgive and wash your sins away – that you would come to embrace the God of the Bible in truth – so that you can lay hold of, and lay claim to, an eternity with Him, and either sonship or daughterhood to Him now, today.
And if you are already a believer, my hope is that with this Who is Jesus? According to the Bible series will provide you with a deeper understanding and grounding in God’s word as to what the scriptures have to say regarding the Saviour in whom you’ve come to believe.
No one receives eternal life and eternal presence with God (from Whom all good things come – James 1:17), by belonging to the right church, denomination, world religion, or by having a particular world view. Rather only those who trust in the Lord Jesus (preached by the Apostles in the Bible) for their own sin. We will not trust in a Savior for sins that we either don’t believe we have or that we think aren’t deserving of hell. But the Bible says that ALL have sin and the wages of that sin is eternal separation from God (death). The good news is that the Bible says that you can know that YOU have eternal life. Click the button below to see if you are genuinely saved from your sins according to the Bible:
