Please turn to the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1. We will read the first eleven verses.
I composed the first treatise, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach,
until the day in which He was received up, after that He had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom He had chosen:
to whom He also showed Himself alive after His passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God:
and, being assembled together with them, He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said He, ye heard from Me:
for John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence.They therefore, when they were come together, asked Him, saying, Lord, dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
And He said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within His own authority.
But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.And when He had said these things, as they were looking, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? This Jesus, Who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.
By the grace of God, we have been considering together the matter of the reality of Christ. The reality of Christ must be known in two ways: we must know Christ in history, and we must know Christ in revelation. History gives us the background, and revelation gives us the insight.
So, brothers and sisters, as we consider together, we need to see these two sides. There is a historical background, a fact; and then, based upon the fact, the Holy Spirit brings the meaning to us and makes the fact of Christ a living experience to us who believe.
We mentioned in the past that, to know Christ, we have to go back to eternity past, because He is the Word. The Word was with God in the beginning, and the Word was God. We have to know Him in prophecy, because before His coming to this earth, God spoke in many parts and in many ways through the prophets to our fathers, concerning just one Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must know Him in His birth, because His birth is unique. The Word became flesh and dwelt among men, full of grace and truth. We must know Him in His life on this earth: how He lived for thirty years in a hidden way, and then during over three years how He manifested Himself before men.
We do praise and thank God that this life is not only a declaration, showing us Who God is and what God is; it is also a demonstration, demonstrating to the world the Man that God is really after. And thank God, it is more than a demonstration: it is a fellowship, because the life that He lived on earth is the very life that He has given to all who believe in Him. As He lived because of the Father, we shall live because of Him.
Last night, we considered together the death of our Lord Jesus. His death is unique, because no one was able to take away His life. He laid down His life of Himself, and He took it up again of Himself. His death is voluntary. His death is a love offering for the sins of this world.
The death of our Lord Jesus is all-inclusive. The death of our Lord Jesus is universal in character. That is to say, when He died on the cross, He died to sin; He died to the world system; He died to the old creation; and He died to all the powers of darkness and overcame them.
Because He has died, we too have died in Him. His death is universal. In His death, we die. We die to sin—not only that our sins are forgiven because of the shedding of His blood, but we die to sin as to its power, because our old man was crucified with Him.
We are crucified with Christ. No longer do we live; it is Christ Who lives in us. As He died to the world as a system, we died to the world. So far as the world is concerned, we are crucified; and so far as we are concerned, the world is crucified.
On the cross, our Lord Jesus set aside the whole old creation, the whole Adamic race. Therefore, we were set aside, and we can now live in newness of life. On the cross, He destroyed the power of darkness and completely destroyed the enemy. Therefore, His victory through death is our victory. We can tread upon serpents and scorpions. God shall bruise the enemy under our feet. It is a glorious death.
Now, this morning, we would like to continue in knowing Christ in resurrection, ascension, and return.
In human history, it usually begins with birth and ends with death. But in the history of our Lord Jesus, you have to begin from the very beginning, and you have to continue on after His death, because He is risen from the dead.
The records of the Bible show us that after He died, Joseph of Arimathea asked for His body, and He was buried in a new tomb.
But on the third day, when some of the beloved women brought spices to embalm the body of our Lord Jesus, they spoke among themselves on the way: “Who will help us to roll away the stone that covers the entrance of the tomb?” It was a huge stone, and these women did not have the strength to roll it away.
But to their surprise, when they arrived at the tomb, they found that the stone had been rolled away. An angel of the Lord had appeared and rolled away that stone. They entered into the stone tomb and found that it was empty.
A man in white appeared to them and said, “You come to seek Jesus of Nazareth. He is no longer here. He is risen, as He said. Go and tell His brethren to meet Him in Galilee.” The Lord had risen.
It was so unusual that these women could hardly believe it. They believed it, but they could hardly believe it. On their way to the disciples, they met the Lord. The Lord appeared to them.
They went to report to the disciples, but the disciples would not believe it. John and Peter ran to the tomb to see what had happened. John, being younger, ran faster and arrived first; but, being timid, he did not go in.
When Peter arrived, he went straight into the tomb. There they found the napkin that had been around His head, rolled up in the same way as when Jesus was buried; and the grave clothes were there in the same form. But there was no body. The Lord has risen.
The resurrection of our Lord Jesus is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter and the eleven preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to those assembled there. You find that resurrection is a central theme. When Peter came to the house of Cornelius in Acts 10, again you find that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the central theme of the gospel he preached.
When Paul began to preach the gospel in Acts 13, at Antioch in Pisidia, again you find that it is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Here, brothers and sisters, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus is the central theme of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You remember in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul said:
For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;
and that He was buried;
and that He hath been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
The gospel tells us not only of the death of our Lord Jesus—Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was buried. His death was real. But according to the Scriptures, He was raised from the dead. It is central to the gospel.
In Romans 10:9, we read:
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord,
and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
In order to be saved, we need to do two things. We need to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and we need to believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead. It is essential. It is vital. It is the very center of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Why is it that the resurrection of our Lord Jesus is the very center of the gospel? First of all, let us see Romans 1:4:
Who was declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ must be raised from the dead because, in resurrection, He is marked out as the Son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness.
Our Lord Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He is the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father, and that is always true. Yet it is in resurrection that He is proved to the world to be indeed the Son of God. It is proved in power, according to the spirit of holiness.
In Psalm 2:7, we read:
I will tell of the decree:
the Lord said unto Me, Thou art My Son;
this day have I begotten Thee.
Of course, we know that our Lord Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He is eternally begotten. But here we find, “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.” This day refers to the day of His resurrection.
It is on the day of resurrection that the Lord Jesus is proved beyond any doubt to be the Son of God. God cannot die. God is holy. Death has no part in God. He died because He died for us; but so far as He Himself is concerned, there is a spirit of holiness in Him. He is God Who cannot die. Therefore, He must be raised from the dead. In being raised from the dead, He is proved to be the Son of God.
Acts 2:24 says:
Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death:
because it was not possible that He should be holden of it.
Christ must rise from the dead. Why? Because it was not possible that He should be held by the power of death. He is the resurrection and the life. He entered into death in order to destroy death of its power. He entered into death to destroy the one who has the power of death. Death has no power to hold Him there.
Dear brothers and sisters, everyone, when he or she goes into death, death has the power to hold that person in its grip. But there is one Man upon Whom death has absolutely no power. He destroyed death of its power. It was not possible for death to hold Him. So Christ must be raised from the dead.
In John 10:17-18, the Lord said:
Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again.
No one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment received I from My Father.
The death of our Lord Jesus is a voluntary death. No one had power to take away His life. He laid it down of Himself. In the same way, death could not hold Him, because He had authority to take it up again. He received the commandment from the Father. He could not be held by death.
In 1 Corinthians 15:14, Paul says:
And if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain.
If Christ did not rise from the dead, then our preaching is in vain, and our faith is also in vain. How do we know that God has accepted Him as our sin offering? How do we know that the work of redemption is fully accomplished?
If Christ died and did not rise again, there would be no way to tell whether His offering of Himself for us was accepted by the Father, or whether the work of redemption was done. But thank God, as He is risen from the dead, it is proved that His offering to the Father has been accepted, and that the work of redemption is indeed completed. Our preaching is not in vain, and our faith is not in vain.
The resurrection of our Lord Jesus is a fact. It is a historical fact. The empty tomb is there. He is living. But what is the relationship between His resurrection and us? What does the resurrection of our Lord Jesus mean to us?
He is risen from the dead, but what has that to do with us? Thank God, as we read the Word, we find that His resurrection has everything to do with us.
Before our Lord Jesus was crucified, in John 14, 15, and 16, He talked to His disciples. The disciples knew that He was leaving them, and they were grieved in their hearts. So the Lord tried to comfort them—not with empty words, but with a promise.
The Lord said, “Yes, I am going, but I am coming back. As I go, I will send to you another Comforter, Who is just like I am. He will not only be with you, but He will be in you.”
The Lord Jesus said that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. So He would be in them. In that day, they would ask in His name, and whatever they asked, the Father would hear them, that the Son might be glorified.
In these three chapters of the Gospel according to John, the Lord Jesus said, “Yes, I go, but I am coming.” Remember that John is not dealing primarily with historical events. John always deals with spiritual reality.
It is true that the Lord will one day come back. But “in that day,” in John 14 through 16, does not refer to the second coming of Christ. It refers to the day of His resurrection.
He said, “I am leaving you. I am going to die. But it will be just for a very short time, because I am coming. My going is as if I am coming. When I go, I go as One Who is alongside you, your Comforter. But when I come back, I will be in you—not only with you. I will come back in the Spirit, and I will be in you, and you will be in Me.”
The first consequence of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus is that a new relationship is established.
You remember, on the day of His resurrection, when He appeared to the disciples, He breathed into them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” There are different interpretations concerning this passage. I am not interested in interpretations, but to me, at least, I feel that it is not symbolic. To me, I feel that it is real.
When the Lord Jesus came back to them, He breathed into them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” This goes back to John 14, 15, and 16. In other words, after He had risen from the dead, He came to indwell His own by the indwelling Holy Spirit. He is now in them, and they are now in Him, as He is in the Father and the Father is in Him.
Before His resurrection, the whole relationship was external. No matter how close you were to Him, it was external. The Lord, in His physical body, could stand by you, but He could not be in you. You could be with Him, but you could not be in Him.
There would be times when He sent His disciples out, and the Lord was not with them physically. They had to rush back if they had a problem. But, dear brothers and sisters, how much better it is because of His resurrection. He comes back to us in the Spirit. His life is in us, and His Spirit is in us. The Spirit of life is in us.
There is an inwardness in our relationship. Often we hear people say, “Oh, how good it would be if I had lived two thousand years ago! How good it would be if I had been born in Judea or Galilee! How good it would be if, when Christ was on earth, I was there and one of His disciples!”
Nothing could be better than that? Dear brothers and sisters, there is something far better. Even though we do not see Him with our naked eyes, yet we know that He is in us, and we are in Him. It is based upon His resurrection. He is in us by His Spirit. He is our Comforter. He never leaves us nor forsakes us.
We are in Him. In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, and we are complete in Him. Brothers and sisters, this is what we have out of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus: there is a new relationship, an inwardness between us and the Lord. Therefore, nothing can separate us from the love of God, because we are in each other.
In death, we died. In His resurrection, we are raised from the dead.
In Ephesians 1, we find how God raised Him from the dead. Then, in Ephesians 2, we find how God, in His grace and mercy, has not only quickened us but has raised us up together with Him. In other words, His resurrection is our resurrection. As His death is our death, so His resurrection is our resurrection.
In incarnation, He came to identify Himself with us; but in His death and resurrection, we are made to identify with Him. We are not only joined to the Lord in His death, but we are also joined to the Lord in His resurrection.
For this reason, we can now live and walk in newness of life, in newness of the Spirit. How can we live as Christians? This is a very serious question.
Before we believed in the Lord Jesus, we did not care about the will of God. We cared only how to please ourselves. We knew how to live. But after we are saved, we know that we are the Lord’s. We know that we must know the will of God and do it. We know that our lives on earth are to please God. We want to live as He lived.
Here, brothers and sisters, we find it so difficult. We try to live. We try to walk in newness—not in oldness of the letter—but we cannot, because we do not know that He is risen from the dead.
Christ indeed has risen from the dead. The Scripture says that in Adam all die, but in Christ all shall be made alive. We are identified with His resurrection. He lives; therefore, we live. We live because He lives in us.
That beautiful hymn says, “How do we know that He lives? We know because He lives in me.” That is true. Dear brothers and sisters, resurrection is life released and given to us. The life that is in us is resurrection life. By the power of this resurrection life, we can walk in newness of life.
It is true that by ourselves we cannot live in newness of life. But by Christ in us, by the power of His resurrection, we can live in newness of life.
So far as fact is concerned, His resurrection is our resurrection. That is a fact. When God raised Him from the dead, God raised us together with Him from the dead. That is a fact.
He is the resurrection and the life, and He is in us as life and resurrection. That is a fact. God has done it. But so far as we are concerned, when we come down to experience, how do we experience Him as our resurrection? How do we come to know the power of His resurrection?
This was the passion and desire of Paul: to know Him and the power of His resurrection. How do we know it?
This is a life out of death. This is a life that goes into death and comes out victoriously on the other side. That is resurrection.
How do we know His resurrection? How do we experience the power of His resurrection? Brothers and sisters, often God, by His Spirit, through the arrangement of the Holy Spirit, leads us into a situation of death.
As we enter into that situation, we enter with fear and trembling, because we think that will be our end. Thank God, that is our end. That is what is meant to be.
But the wonderful thing is this: when you enter into the death situation and you really die, so far as you are concerned, suddenly you find there is something in you that conquers death and comes out on the other side. You get through—not by your own life, but by His resurrection. That is the way you come to know His resurrection.
How often we still live in the energy and strength of our own flesh. Let us use an illustration that everybody will understand: patience.
Everyone probably feels that he or she needs patience. Oh, how we need to be patient! We need to be patient with our dear ones, with our brothers and sisters, and with our environment. Especially after we are saved, now we are Christians. One characteristic of the Lamb is patience, so we try to imitate Christ.
We try to be patient. The wonderful thing is that before you try to be patient, you seem to be patient. But after you begin trying to be patient, you discover that you are very impatient. The more you try, the more impatient you get.
You grit your teeth, and you try to put down that thing which is coming up within you. Maybe you succeed once or twice; but when it begins to burst, it is really a bomb. Then you feel defeated, completely defeated.
You go to the Lord and say, “Lord, what happened? What happened? I do not understand. It seems to be worse than before I was saved.”
After you have been defeated again and again, you begin to realize, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1, that the sentence of death is upon you. Dear brothers and sisters, do you see that there is a sentence of death upon you?
In other words, when Christ died on the cross, God said, “You die. You are no good. I do not expect anything from you. I do not expect you to be patient. You cannot.”
After we have entered into death and seen the sentence of death upon us, we give up. We give in. We give to God. Then, “Our Lord, You have to be that patience in me.”
Do you know one thing? When you let go, He comes in. It is at that point that you begin to know Him as resurrection. Dear brothers and sisters, resurrection is not just a doctrine. Resurrection is a living, daily experience.
God will bring us to death in order that that life, which is resurrection life, may come out of death and prove itself.
The same thing is true with ministry. How can we minister to the Body? How can we minister in the Body of Christ?
In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
Phillips’ translation says:
We are handicapped on all sides, but not frustrated;
perplexed, but never in despair;
persecuted, but never deserted;
knocked down, but never knocked out.
Is that not strange? We have the treasure in earthen vessels. The treasure is the resurrection life of our Lord Jesus, but we are the earthen vessel—opaque, fragile in one way, and yet stubborn in another way.
Here you find that the power of His resurrection is being imprisoned in our flesh. We say we can do it. We say we can walk it. We say we can live it. When we are doing that, there is no opportunity for the power of His resurrection to be manifested.
So the Holy Spirit arranges our circumstances. He puts handicaps on all sides. You go to the north, and there is a wall. You go to the south, and there is a wall. You go to the west, and there is a wall. You go to the east, and there is a wall. You are handicapped and handicapped.
Brothers and sisters, when you are handicapped, you feel frustrated. Oh, how you feel frustrated! “Why can I not get through it? Why can I not overcome that situation?” Yet Paul says, “Handicapped on all sides, but not frustrated.”
Who is not frustrated? Of course, you are frustrated. But when you are frustrated, then that treasure within you begins to shine forth.
Perplexed—oh, how often we are perplexed—but not in despair. Perplexity usually leads to despair. But when we enter into perplexity, can you find there is hope coming up within you?
Persecuted, but we are not alone. He is with us. Knocked down—oh, how often we are knocked down—but never knocked out, because resurrection life in us always comes out in victory.
In 2 Corinthians 4, this does not refer merely to spiritual life; it refers to spiritual ministry. Of course, ministry comes out of life. We bear about in the body the dying of Jesus; we are delivered unto death again and again, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in us—and not only in us, but through us.
What is spiritual ministry? Spiritual ministry is not a passing on of information. Spiritual ministry is the imparting of the life of Christ. How can we impart the life of Christ? It has to be imparted in the power of His resurrection.
Aaron’s rod budded. It is only with a budded rod that we can minister to the Lord and to His people.
We are only mentioning a few things concerning the resurrection—the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and how real it is. It is not only a historical fact, which is real and took place two thousand years ago. It is a living reality which is real daily. We can experience His resurrection every day, in every situation.
As a matter of fact, we live by His resurrection.
As our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, for forty days He appeared to His disciples. Then He took them to the Mount of Olives, and there He was taken up to heaven.
A large number of the brethren were gathered there to see Him. I wonder whether what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:6—that at one time five hundred brethren saw Him—was probably at that time. But, anyway, the Lord Jesus was taken up.
They looked at Him and saw Him being taken up. Then a cloud received Him, and they could see Him no more. They were still looking, when suddenly two men in white appeared and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you look up? This One Who has been taken up from you will come back in like manner.”
How do we know that our Lord Jesus arrived in heaven? The disciples saw Him taken up, but only to the cloud. Then He was enshrouded by the cloud. How do we know that He arrived in heaven? What happened when He arrived there?
In Revelation 5, John, when he was in exile on Patmos, saw a vision. In Revelation 4, he saw the vision of the Creator, the glory of the Creator: “For Thy will all things were created.”
Then he continued into Revelation 5. What did he see?
And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures,
and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain,
having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.
And He came, and He took it out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne.
And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb,
having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:
for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth.
Here, brothers and sisters, connect these two scenes. In Acts 1, our Lord Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives, and then the cloud received Him. In Revelation 5, John in vision saw the Lamb Who had been newly slain standing before the throne. He arrived there.
He took from the One Who was upon the throne that book, and the whole creation burst forth in worship and praise: “Thou art worthy.” He arrived.
How do we know He arrived? Because on the day of Pentecost, one hundred and twenty people were gathered together in that upper room. Suddenly there came a sound like a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the place where they were sitting. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. In one Spirit, they were baptized into one Body.
When the rumor began to spread, people came together. It could not have remained in the upper room, because that room could not hold thousands of people. I suppose it must have moved to Solomon’s porch. There, thousands of people gathered, and Peter and the eleven stood up and spoke.
In Acts 2:33-36, Peter said:
Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted,
and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit,
He hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear.For David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself,
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand,
till I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet.Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly,
that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus Whom ye crucified.
When Christ ascended into heaven, God anointed Him with oil. God crowned Him with glory and honor. The oil came upon His head, and then began to flow down to the earth. On the day of Pentecost, that same anointing which anointed Him as Head came down to the Body. It proves that He had arrived.
The ascension of our Lord Jesus is a fact. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool.
What happened when He arrived in heaven? First, when He arrived in heaven, He received from the Father all power, dominion, and authority.
Ephesians 1:20-23 says:
Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead,
and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come:
and He put all things in subjection under His feet,
and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
God raised Him from the dead, ascended Him, and made Him sit down at His right hand in the heavenlies—above every principality, authority, power, dominion, and every name named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. He put all things under His feet.
When He arrived in heaven, He was given that place, that name, which is above everything. He was made Head over all things.
Psalm 2:8 says:
Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;
Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
When our Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven, He asked of the Father, and the Father gave Him the nations for His inheritance, and for His possession the ends of the earth. He was made heir of all things.
Philippians 2:9-11 says:
Wherefore also God highly exalted Him,
and gave unto Him the name which is above every name;
that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
There are many other passages that show us that, at His ascension, He was given the nations for His inheritance and the ends of the earth for His possession. When He arrived in heaven, He was given a name above every name. At that name every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
At His ascension, He was given all power, authority, dominion, and rule. He sits at the right hand of the Father, waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool.
But what has that to do with us? Our brother has already mentioned it; I will just briefly say that His ascension is our ascension. His ascension has a universal character. Not only has He ascended, but we too have ascended with Him.
As we find in Ephesians 2, we are seated with Him in the heavenlies. Where He is, there we are.
Do you know, dear brothers and sisters, that Christ must return to heaven? In Acts 3, we find that heaven must receive Him until the restoration of all things. Heaven must receive Him.
He came out of glory, and now, after He has accomplished everything, He has returned to glory. But there is a difference. When He came out of glory, He came out in the glory of God. But when He returned into glory, He returned not only as the Son of God to the glory which He had with the Father before the foundation of the world; He returned with added glory. He returned with the glory of the Son of Man.
There is a Man in glory.
No one can stand before God. Who can stand before the eternal light? No one can. In Psalm 24, we find this declaration:
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in His holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
And hath not sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Brothers and sisters, whose hands are clean? Whose heart is pure? Who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity? Who has not sworn deceitfully? No one is fit to stand before God, much less to dwell in His presence.
But, dear brothers and sisters, there is a Man in glory. He entered the glory without the need of any help. He is worthy. He lived a perfect life, the life that God desired. He accomplished a perfect work, the work that God had given Him to do. He overcame the enemy completely. By right, He entered into heaven as the Son of Man.
There is a Man in glory. But He is there not only for Himself. We are in Him.
On the one hand, we are already seated in the heavenlies. He is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenlies, and we are seated in the heavenlies with Him. Colossians 3 says that our life is hidden with Christ in God.
So far as we are concerned, our bodies are still on this earth, and yet we are already in heaven. That is the reason why we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth. Our citizenship is in heaven. Because of that, seek the things that are above, not the things that are below, because our life is hidden with Christ in God.
In one sense, we are already in the heavenlies. We are seated with Him. That is our position.
But, on the other hand, so far as our daily experience goes, Christ entered into heaven as our Forerunner. Because He has arrived, He is a Man in glory. Therefore, one day He will lead many sons into glory. He is there at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us, that He may save us to the uttermost.
We need to see this: He has received all power and glory. God has put all things under His feet. We are in Him. We are joined to Him.
What is it that we are doing on this earth? God has made Him Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.
So far as He is concerned, all things are under His feet. But so far as we are concerned, by the authority and power of the Head, the Body is to exercise power and authority over all things and bring all things into subjection to Christ. This is our work.
Because He has ascended, He has overcome the enemy. Therefore, brothers and sisters, our battle on earth is not fighting to victory; it is fighting from victory unto victory.
In warfare, position is very important. If you try to capture a high place, it is very difficult. If you can occupy a high place, you are in an advantageous position.
In our spiritual conflict, we are on earth. We are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities, authorities, and powers of darkness. But we do not need to fear, because we are not fighting from a lower position. Actually, we are fighting from a higher position.
We are seated with Him in the heavenlies. His victory is our victory. His authority is our authority. His power is our power. His name is our name. In His name, we fight from victory unto victory.
How important it is to see His ascension. His ascension is not merely a historical fact—thank God, it is—but His ascension is also a living reality. It is something that we can experience daily in our life. Most of all, it is for the church, as a corporate Body, to experience His ascension.
Just a few words: He must return. Not only must He be raised from the dead, and not only must He be received by heaven, but thank God, He must return.
He has gone to receive a kingdom, and He will come back to make it real on earth.
It is the prayer of the church through the centuries:
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
In the first century, it was the longing of the early Christians for the return of the Lord. The Lord had gone, and how they looked forward to His return. Especially during the time of persecution, it was the desire of the saints that He would return, because when He returns, everything will be solved.
In the early days, Christians used to greet one another, “Maranatha. The Lord cometh. The Lord is coming.” For twenty centuries, saints in every century have waited for His return. Were they wrong? No, they were right.
Is there any bridegroom who is not anxious to come back to receive his bride? I have yet to see a bride who has to wait for the arrival of the bridegroom at her marriage. I know only one case.
It was Hudson Taylor’s grandfather. Hudson Taylor’s grandfather was a young man. He was a Christian, but he was very careless. On the day that he was to be married, he woke up in the morning and suddenly realized, “I am going to have a family. What a responsibility!” He found that he was not ready for it.
So he went out into the field and prayed. Oh, he really prayed. “Now I am going to have great responsibility.” He prayed and prayed and prayed, and forgot that it was his wedding day.
After praying for a long while, he suddenly realized that it was his wedding day. So he rushed back from the field, and the bride and all the guests were waiting there, wondering where the bridegroom was. That was the only occasion I knew of.
After they were married, on the first night, he told his newlywed, “Let us kneel down and pray, and start our home right.” Now, to that bride, it was really a surprise. But from that came forth the Taylor family.
Our Lord Jesus came to this earth to seek for a bride. Because there was no bride, He had to create that bride. He created a bride out of death, resurrection, and ascension. Oh, how anxious He is to come back to claim His bride.
Who is His bride? The Body of Christ today.
He loved the church and gave Himself for her. He sanctifies her by the washing of water with the Word. He cherishes and nourishes her as His own Body. Why? Because He wants that Body to be fully mature, to grow into the fullness of His stature. Then He can claim that Body as His bride.
It is not because the Bridegroom does not want to come back to receive His bride. It is because the bride is not yet ready. One day, when the bride is ready, Revelation 19 says there will be great glory. Hallelujah! Why? Because the marriage of the Lamb has come. The bride has made herself ready.
It was given to her to be arrayed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. The Lord does not delay His return because He does not want to return. The Lord is delayed because we are not ready for Him.
We have not grown. We have not reached that stature, the fullness of Christ. One day, when the bride has made herself ready, then He will come back and claim her to be His bride. There will be that eternal union.
Ultimately, it will be consummated in that holy city, the New Jerusalem. Oh, what glory! There you find the throne of God and of the Lamb in the midst of the city. The city has the glory of God, and a river flows through that city.
Brothers and sisters, that is the picture of the eternal union of God and man. Thank God, in Christ.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast sent Thy Son into this world to be our Savior and to be our Lord.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou art not only our Savior and Lord; Thou art our Bridegroom. We do desire, Lord, that as Thy redeemed, we may know that Thou art Lord in all things.
May we grow in grace and truth together, that Thou mayest come back soon and claim us for Thyself eternally.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee. Truly, Thou art everything to us. Thou art all in all, to God and to man. To Thee be the praise and the glory forevermore. Amen.