Wednesday, August 4, 2010

GONE INTO HEAVEN

" . . . Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him." (1 Peter 3:22, NKJV)

JESUS DID NOT STAY IN THIS WORLD. As soon as His work was completed, He went back to heaven. If we knew nothing more about the world than that, we would know it is not what the flesh thinks it to be. If Jesus left it, it surely cannot be considered the home of His brethren.

THE SPIRIT FREQUENTLY AFFIRMS that Jesus left this world and returned to heaven. "So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God" (Mark 16:19). "And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:51). "Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).

THE CENTER OF DIVINE ACTIVITY is found in heaven, not upon the earth. Jesus was not raised from the dead to remain in the world, but to minister to His people from heaven. He "has gone" where we are going – where our citizenship is presently located. The objective is to get us where He is, not bring Him to where we are (John 14:3). Jesus went back to heaven, because this world was not a suitable place for Him to remain. He is now ministering in prospect of His enemies becoming His footstool, and His children being gathered to Him forever. The church must not lose this perspective.

JESUS IS "AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD." Much is also made of this in Scripture. The Spirit tells us He is presently making intercession for us from that position (Rom 8:34; Heb 8:1). The things He is dispensing from that station are to be sought (Col 3:1). He was seated "at the right hand of the Majesty on high" only after He had by Himself purged our sins (Heb 1:3). If, therefore, He is there, then our sins have been purged! That is how the child of God must reason. A single offering accomplished the purpose. As it is written, "But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God" (Heb 10:12).

THE "RIGHT HAND" OF GOD IS HIS WORKING SIDE. The days when He worked mightily among men are referred to as "the years of the right hand of the most High" (Psa 77:10). Again, it is written, "The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly" (Psa 118:15-16). So far as men is concerned, the significance of Jesus being "at the right hand of God,"is that God is presently working BECAUSE of the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son. Now, He is "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Eph 3:20).

GOD'S "RIGHT HAND" IS ALSO THE PLACE OF FAVOR, confirming that everything Christ did in our behalf has been accepted and is being honored by God. That is precisely why He is "able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God through Him" (Heb 7:25). If He was not in good standing with God, He could not bring many sons to glory.

POWERS HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO JESUS. The range of powers and authorities subject to Jesus is staggering. All angels, principalities, and powers are subject to Christ, whether they are good or they are evil. Holy angels and powers are dispatched by Jesus to minister to the heirs of salvation (Heb 1:13-14). They protect the saints, camping about them (Psa 34:7). Wicked angels bow at the feet of Jesus, and are not able to separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:39). The "principalities and powers" against which we "wrestle (Eph 6:12), are all subject to our Lord. He can rebuke them, and they will obey Him instantly. All powers have been "made subject" to Christ. This is something God has done. It is power or authority that has been "given" to Jesus (Matt 28:18).

ALL OF THIS IS CALCULATED to encourage us to hold up under suffering. Like Noah, we are in the process of building an ark – preparing for the end of the world. When we suffer unjustly, let us remember that Christ suffered for us. When life becomes a burden, consider that Jesus is bringing us to God. Your baptism, prefigured by Noah's deliverance, is a prelude to your coming salvation, to be revealed when Jesus appears again (1 Pet 1:5). Jesus has already been exalted, and He is our "Forerunner" (Heb 6:20). He has arrived ahead of us to ensure that we also arrive. He is exalted, and God listens to, and honors, Him. There is no power or authority that is not under Him; no influence, whether for good or evil, that does not answer to Him – and we are in Him, and He is in us!

THOSE WHO PLACE THEIR FAITH and hope in Christ have every reason to be joyfully optimistic – even in the midst of their suffering. They are intimately identified with the "one Lord," and He is for them, not against them. Even our foes recognize this, and are impotent to change anything about His reign over all, or His personal love and care for us.

– Given O. Blakely

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