The Ascension of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, and His Exaltation to the Right Hand of God the Father

The subject of this chapter is, The Ascension of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, and His Exaltation to the Right Hand of God the Father. This is a subject regarding which very little is said in most of our present day preaching. We do not in these days hear as much as we ought about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, nothing like as much as was heard in the days of the apostles, and we hear practically nothing at all about His Ascension into Heaven. The Bible, however, has much to say about it, and what it has to say is not only very instructive but also very cheering, encouraging, gladdening and thrilling. If one wishes to “play the Glad Game”’ with thorough and continuous success, he needs to reflect much and often on our ascended Lord seated at the right hand of God the Father in the eternal glory.

At the very outset let us look at ten passages of Scripture. First, Luke 24: 50-53:

“And He led them out until they were over against Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped

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Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, blessing God.”

In our second passage we are told of this same incident by this same person, Luke, with other suggestive and instructive details added. You will find the account in Acts I: 7-11:

“And He said unto them, It is not for you to know times and 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 Judea 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.”

We turn now to Heb. 1: 1-4:

“God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in His Son, whom He appointed Heir of all things, through Whom also He made the worlds; Who being the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become by so much better than the angels, as He hath inherited a more excellent name than they.” Our fourth text is also from the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb. 10: 10-13:

“By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: but He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; henceforth expecting till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet.”’

You will find our fifth text in Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, Eph. 1: 15-23:

“For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the ezceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ, when

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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 world, 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 fullness of Him that filleth all in all.”

Now let us look at three passages all from the same book, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the book that has perhaps more to say about the Ascension and Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of God, than any other book in the Bible.

Heb. 6: 18-20:

“That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us: which we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and stedfast and entering into that which is within the veil; whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”

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“By so much also hath Jesus become the surety of a better covenant. And they indeed have been made priests many in number, because that by death they are hindered from continuing: but He, because He abideth for ever, hath His priesthood unchangeable. Wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them, For such a high priest became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people: for this He did once for all, when He offered up Himself. For the law appointeth men high priests, having infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was after the law, appointeth a Son, perfected for evermore,” Heb. 9: 21-24:

“Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry he sprinkled in like manner with the blood. And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission. It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us.”

For our ninth passage we turn to the Gospel of John, qno. 14712

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father.”

The last passage is the one that sets forth most vividly and luminously the heights from which Jesus, the Chiist of God, descended when He came into this world, the depths to which He descended in order to save you and me, and the heights to which He is now exalted, Phil. 2: 6-11:

“Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. 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 1s Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

That we have so many passages, and in some cases such long passages, may indicate to you how full the Bible is of this interesting and important subject; but even so I shall have to refer to still other passages before we get through. What we shall have to say on this vitally important subject we will group under four heads:

I. The Fact of the Ascension and Present Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible.

II. The Manner of the Ascension and Present Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible.

III. The Purpose of the Ascension and Present Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible.

IV. The Results of the Ascension and Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, or What the Ascension and Present Exaltation and Glory of Jesus Christ Means to You and Me.

I cannot hope to tell you all that the Bible has to say on this great and glorious subject, but I do expect to tell you enough to cause you to arise from reading this chapter with a very glad and jubilant heart, and with an increased sense of what a wonderful Saviour we have, and with an increased desire to serve Him, and with a very vivid realization of the great power for service that is at the disposal of the weakest believer in Jesus Christ, our risen, ascended and exalted Lord and Saviour.

I. THE FACT OF THE ASCENSION AND PRESENT
EXALTATION OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF GOD.

First of all then, let us look at the Fact of the Ascension of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, and of His Present Exaltation and Glory. Let us read again the first four of the passages cited. Luke 24: 50-53:

“And He led them out until they were over against Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, blessing God.”

Acts 1: 7-11:

“And He said unto them, It is not for you to know times and seasons, which the Father hath set within His Own authority. But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon

THE: CHRIST) ORV BIBICE

you: and ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea 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.”

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“Who being the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become by so much better than the angels, as He hath inherited a more excellent name than they.”

Heb. 10: 10-13:

“By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: but He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; henceforth expecting till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet.”

Let me add to these a passage which I did not cite before, Eph. 4: 8-10:

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“Wherefore He saith, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now this, He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)”

The first of these verses is a quotation from the Sixty-eighth Psalm, the eighteenth verse, where we have an Old Testament prediction of the future Ascension of the Christ of God. In all of these passages taken together we have a plain declaration from God Himself, that His Christ, the only true Christ, Christ Jesus, after having descended into the earth in order to make atonement for our sins, having fully accomplished that atoning work, has ascended and been received into Heaven again and is now seated in the place of authority and power, “on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Some of the professedly and supposedly “‘scholarly’ modernists tell us that the Ascension of the Lord Jesus is mentioned only in two obscure passages, which they try to discredit and explain away. By saying this they simply illustrate anew their dense ignorance of the Book upon which they seek to discourse in such a learned way. Even though it were mentioned only once, if that passage were to any candid mind perfectly clear in its meaning, that would be enough to establish the fact. But in point of actual fact the Ascension or Exaltation of Jesus Christ is spoken of thirty-three or more times in the New Testament. Yes, BEYOND ANY INTELLIGENT DOUBT THERE IS A MAN TO-DAY UP

YONDER IN THE GLORY seated “on the right hand of the Majesty on high.’ And that Man is the One Who became Man in order that He might bear our sins in His Own Body on the cross and thus put them away forever. And He is the One Who was our Representative when He died on the cross, and so we died in Him; and just so now He is our Representative and we, every one of us who is united to Him by a living faith, are seated up there in Him. That is our real position even while we tarry here a while. Are you not glad that you believe in Him? And you who are not united to Him by a living faith, will you not put your faith in Him right now?

II. THE MANNER OF THE ASCENSION AND EXALTA-TION OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF GOD.

Now let us consider the Manner of the Ascension and Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible.

1. In the first place, Jesus Christ was taken up into heaven while the disciples were looking and received out of their sight: that is to say that, The taking up of Jesus into heaven was a literal, visible taking up of His Resurrection Body into Heaven. ‘This we are told in Luke 24:51 and in Acts 1:9.

These are Luke’s words:

“And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He parted from them, and was carried up into heaven.”

“And when He had said these things, as they were looking, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”

He was carried up by a power from without, the power of God; the same hand and the same power that raised His body from the grave, exalted Him and carried that body up to His Own right hand in the glory.

2. In the second place, The glory to which Jesus, the Christ of God, has been exalted is the same glory that He had with the Father from all eternity until He voluntarily chose to give up that glory and to empty flimself and come down to this world to die a felon’s death on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. This we see from the prayer He Himself offered on the night before His crucifixion, Jno. 17:5:

“And now, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine Own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.”

Thank God, my Saviour now has back again the Divine glory that He gave up to redeem and save me. Oh, sometimes when I think of what Jesus sacrificed and suffered for me, when I see Him on the cross, suffering, tortured, deserted of all friends, and mocked at by that heartless, cruel mob, deserted even of the Father because He took my place, heart breaking under the strain, my heart is filled with agony; and then I hear that triumphant cry from the cross, “It is finished,” and then I see Him risen from the dead, ascending into Heaven and then seated in the glory, on “the right hand of the Majesty on high,” again on the right hand of the Father, and then relief and joy and jubilant exultation at His Exaltation fills my heart. How much we miss by not thinking more about it.

He is no longer on the cross, no longer even walking this earth as the risen One: No, He is seated up yonder at the Father’s own right hand, far above all heavens (Eph. 1:20; Heb.) 7212654; 24) payne do R.V.), He is now exalted “far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (all the heavenly hierarchies of angelic hosts), and all things have been put “in subjection |! under THis) feet.?)4 GE phy) 1320-22) 2:Q-11). Praise God!

IlI. THE PURPOSE OF THE ASCENSION AND EXAL-TATION OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF GOD.

Now let us consider the Purpose of the Ascension and Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible. Here we shall not be able to say all that might well be said,* but some things we must mention.

1. In the first place, Jesus Christ was exalted to enter heaven as a Forerunner for us and to open to us the gates of heaven by presenting His atoning blood in Heaven, and by His high-priestly intercession. This we are told in Heb. 6: I9, 20:

“Which we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and stedfast and entering into that which is within the veil; whither as a Forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”’

Jesus entered Heaven nearly nineteen centuries ago

1T have gone into it fully and in detail in “What the Bible Teaches.”

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that I too might enter Heaven some day. He went there as my “Forerunner,” and some day I am to sit down with Him upon His throne even as He now has sat down with the Father on His throne. Listen to what He Himself says in Rev. 3: 20-22:

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with Him, and He with Me. He that overcometh I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.”

I would like to linger here, but we must pass on.

2. In the second place, Jesus Christ is ascended into heaven to prepare heaven itself as an abode for His Own. This our Lord Jesus Himself declared to His disciples for their comfort the night before He left them. You will find His words in Jno. 14:1, 2:

“Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.”

The question at once arises in our minds, How does the ascended Christ prepare heaven for His blood-bought people? God’s Own answer to this question is found in Heb. 9: 21-24:

“Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry he sprinkled in like manner with the blood. And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart

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from shedding of blood there is no remission, It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us.”

It is evident from these words, to say nothing of other passages where it is plainly taught, that heaven itself has been defiled by sin and must be sprinkled with blood to be fitted to be the abode of blood-sprinkled sinners, and that Jesus entered into heaven to present His cleansing blood there, just as the high priest, once a year, entered into the Holy of Hollies, the type of heaven. There may be, for all I know, other ways also in which Jesus, our Forerunner and High Priest, is getting heaven ready for you and me.

3. In the third place, Jesus Christ ascended and entered into heaven to now appear before the face of God in our behalf, 1.e., to act as High Priest on our behalf, to present His blood, the blood of atonement, and make intercession for us. This, we are told in Heb. Q: 24:

“For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us.”

4. In the fourth place, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and sat down on the right hand of God to expectantly await the complete subjection of Hts enenues and the restoration of all things. This, we are told in a number of passages, for example, Heb. IG Te yrR’

“But He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; henceforth expecting till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet.’

We learn the same great truth from Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2: 34, 35:

“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.”

Peter declared the same truth again in the next chapter, Acts 3: 19-21:

“Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send the Christ Who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets that have been from of old.”

When the time of the complete subjection of the enemies of Jesus Christ and of the restoration of all things arrives, Jesus, the Christ of God, will come forth and His enemies shall be quickly subdued unto Him.

5. In the fifth place, Jesus Christ ascended far above the heavens that He might fill all things. This we see in Eph. 4: 10:

“He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.”

By His descending into the earth, and then after His death into Hades, and then by His Return from Hades and the Resurrection of His Body, and by His Ascension in His resurrection body into Heaven, He became Lord of heaven and earth and hell.

6. In the sixth place, God highly exalted our Lord Jesus and gave unto Him a name which 1s above every name in order that at 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 1s Lord to the glory of God the Father. This we are told in Phil. 2: 9-11:

“Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which 1s above every name; that at 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.”

IV. THE RESULTS OF THE ASCENSION.AND EXAL-TATION OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF, GODe OR: WHAT THE ASCENSION OF JESUS VCHRIS® MEANS TO US TO-DAY.

We come now to the last division of our subject, and the one that is of the greatest practical importance to us, and the one that must thrill our hearts with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and fill them with boundless hope, and stir them with enthusiastic determination to go forth and work as never before for our Crucified, Risen and Ascended Lord, now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high: the Results of the Ascension and Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of God, or What the Ascension of Jesus Christ Means to Us To-day.

I. In the first place, In the Ascension and E-xaltation of Jesus Christ we see the exceeding greatness of God’s power to us-ward. This Paul tells us in Eph. I: 18-20:

“Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of His might 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.”

Do you want to know what God can do for every one who is in Christ, what He can do for you, if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ? If you do, just look at what He has already done in Jesus Himself when He raised Him from the dead, carried Him up bodily into Heaven, and made Him to sit at His own right hand in the heavenly places. That shows “the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who beheve,’ the exceeding greatness of His power toward you and me, what He can do for you and me, and what He will do for you and me. Does it not take your breath away? But however overwhelming and incredible it may appear, that is what the Book says. Compare that with the vague and vapory future in store for you of which Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle try to descant in such eloquent language. And yet Sir Arthur Conan Doyle says that his man-made religion, or demon-made religion, is better and loftier than Christianity. He says that “Christianity is dead,’ poor, deluded, spiritualistic dupe.

2. In the second place, Because of the Ascension and Exaltation of Jesus Christ, we have a High Priest Who “ever liveth to make intercession for us’ and Who can “save to the uttermost all those that draw near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us.” This precious truth is set forth and emphasized in Heb. 7:25:

“Wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

The words, “to the uttermost,’ are very expressive. Their literal force is “unto all completeness.’ Salvation is begun by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, it is continued and completed by the Resurrection and Ascension and consequent Intercession of Christ. We have not only a Saviour Who died and in that way made a perfect atonement for our sins, but we have also a Saviour Who arose and ascended into heaven, and carried the blood He had shed on the cross into the Holy of Holies, into God’s Own very Presence, and He presents it there and He ever lives to plead our cause in every new case of failure. As John putsitin 7 Yno.<2e1:

“My little children, these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

He always lives to plead our cause (if we are believers in Him) and so we are forever safe, for the Father heareth Him always (Jno. 11:42). In this unceasing intercession on our behalf of the risen and ascended Christ lies our abiding security and our assurance of the ultimate perfect completeness of Christ’s work in us.

3. In the third place, Through the Exaltation of Jesus Christ we have an High Priest Who has passed through the heavens and is now in the very Presence of God, and therefore we can hold fast our confession and draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace. Let me read it to you from God’s Own Word. Heb. 4: 14-16:

“Having then a great High Priest, Who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but One that hath been in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.” 3

Have you any temptation in these times of apostasy when so many (even many church members and church

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officers and even preachers and theological professors ) are becoming traitors to our Divine Lord, to join the boastful and boisterous gang and forsake your Lord with this pretentious pirate crew? Remember your Lord Jesus, not only risen, but ascended into the glory, seated “at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” and “hold fast (your) confession.”

Are there times when you try to draw nigh to God in prayer and when Satan whispers (or hisses) into your ear, “You are not fit to draw near to God, He won’t hear your prayers”? Remember your High Priest, Jesus in the glory, in the very Presence of God, pleading for you, and tell Satan to his face, “No, I am not worthy; but He is worthy and He can be and is ‘touched with the feeling of my infirmities,’ and HE is in the very Presence of God pleading for me,” and then, turning your back upon Satan, “draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that (you) may receive mercy and may find grace to help (you) in time of need.”

If ever we have any hesitation or fear in our approach to God, all we have to do is to remember our risen and glorified Saviour, bearing in mind He is our great High Priest in the very Presence of God, at the very “right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Heb. 8:1).

4. In the fourth place, Because of His E-xaltation, Jesus Christ has received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit and has poured Him forth upon His believing and obedient children, thus giving gifts for service unto men, Read Jesus’ Own Words and John’s comment on them in John 7: 37-39:

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, from within shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.” But He is glorified now.

And read also our Lord Jesus’ Words in John 16:7:

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send Him unto you.”

Now listen to Peter as he spoke on the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2:33:

“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.”

Put alongside of these words of Peter, Paul’s words also, in Eph. 4:8:

“Wherefore He saith,

When He ascended on high, he lled captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men.”

IT IS THE ASCENDED CHRIST WHO BAP-TIZES WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND IT IS
NOW POSSIBLE FOR EVERY ONE, EVEN
THE HUMBLEST BELIEVER IN JESUS
CHRIST, TO BE BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY
GHOST BECAUSE HE IS ASCENDED, AND

WE DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT AS DID THE APOSTLES ‘AND THEIR: ASSOCIATES TEN DAYS TIEL (PENTECOST) EAD tah Cee COME.” PENTECOST NOW HAS ALREADY COME. Jesus Christ is now in the glory, He has already received the Holy Spirit for us and can shed Him forth upon us the moment we fulfill the conditions, without any hypnotic “tarrying meetings,” or tarryings of any kind whatever. I have seen multitudes in America and in Japan and in Germany (in one of the Royal chapels in Berlin) filled with the Holy Ghost the moment they believed.

5. In the fifth place, Because of the Exaltation of — Jesus Christ, those who believe in Him receive power fo do greater works than He Himself wrought during the days of His humiliation. Our Lord Himself told this to His disciples in one of the most remarkable utterances that ever fell from His lips. You will find it in John 14: 12:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father.”

During His life here on earth Jesus, the Christ of God, lived in His humiliation. He is now ascended and in full possession of His Divine glory and “all authority hath been given unto” him in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18, R.V.), and we are now united to an ascended and glorified Christ, Who possesses all power in heaven and on earth, and, therefore, we can do greater things than He Himself wrought during the days of His humiliation, while living here upon

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earth. We may now know Christ, not as He was after the flesh, i.e., as He was in His humiliation, but as He is now, in His glory (2 Cor. 5: 16).

As interpreted by the experience of the apostles, these “greater works’ that the Lord Jesus promised that they would accomplish because of His Ascension to the Father, were not in the line of physical miracles, such as the healing of the sick. In point of fact along that line their works were not comparable to the works of the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry. The “greater works” were along a far higher and far more important line, the line of spiritual healing and spiritual resurrection, the resurrection of the multitude of souls once dead because of their trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-8). Because He had ascended and consequently received the Holy Spirit from the Father and shed Him forth on them at Pentecost, the Apostles won more souls in one day than He won in all the years of His ministry.

Some to-day try to excuse the fruitlessness of their ministry in soul-winning by saying that Jesus Himself had only a hundred and twenty converts, or, at the most, five hundred converts, as a result of His entire ministry; but they forget that at that time He was in His humiliation and that the Holy Spirit was not yet come, because He was not yet glorified, but that He now is in the glory and we are united to an ascended Christ in the glory, Who has received from the Father the Holy Spirit for His people and baptizes His people with the Holy Spirit.

6. In the sixth place, By the Evaltation of Jesus Christ, all things have been put into subjection under

His feet and He has been made head over all things to the church. Here is the way the Holy Spirit speaking through the Apostle Paul, puts it in Eph. 1: 20-22: “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 world, 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.”

We each one of us have as our Saviour, and High Priest, and the Church as a body has as its head, One to Whom all things in heaven and on earth and under the earth are in subjection. Even all the heavenly hosts and the hierarchies of “angels and authorities and powers” have been “made subject unto Him,” as We TEAGsiN I, Peruaiatne ss

“Jesus Christ, Who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.”

By His Incarnation Jesus was made lower than the angels: by His Ascension He was made higher than all the angels, and not only so, but higher than the highest ranks of angelic hosts, “authorities,” and “powers” (all “angels,” all ‘authorities’ and all “powers” have been “‘made subject unto Him’). Hallelujah! what a Saviour! What a contrast between this Saviour, the Christ of the Bible, and the petty “Man of Galilee’ of Unitarianism and “The New Theology”; and yet these puerile dreamers of dreams (largely pipe dreams) call us who preach the fully

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Divine and altogether glorious Saviour, the Christ of the Bible, “obscurantists.””’ This name as applied to us is a glaring lie. We obscure nothing; no, rather we are trying to make clear the full glory of our Divine Lord. They, themselves, obscure the Divine glory of this One Who is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him; they seek to reduce Him to the level of their own paltry and pitiable pettiness.

7. In the seventh place, Because of the Exaltation of Jesus Christ, “in the name of Jesus every knee shall (ultimately) bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue (shall) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” This also Paul declares in Phil. 2:6-I1:

“Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name; that 7m 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.”

Oh, the day of man’s trifling treatment of Jesus,

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the highly exalted Christ of God, will not be long. He is already exalted by God, God has already given “unto Him the name which is above every name’’; and soon the whole universe will see it and acknowledge Him and every “knee (shall) bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth and

. every tongue (shall) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Even the Devil and all demons and all the lost in hell shall bow the knee to Jesus and with their tongues confess that He is Lord. Listen! You who have never yet bowed the knee to Jesus Christ as Lord, you will have to do it some day. You would better do it voluntarily right now while it will bring salvation. If you won’t you will have to do it by compulsion in that Day when you are consigned to an everlasting hell.