18. The Work of Christ in His Exaltation
8. What role does Christ's suffering play in the completion of His work, and why was it necessary for Him to be perfected through suffering (Hebrews 2:10)?
Discuss the theological significance of Christ's suffering and how it contributes to His role as our Savior.
9. How does the doctrine of Christ's threefold office provide a comprehensive understanding of His work, and what are the practical implications for believers?
Reflect on how viewing Christ as prophet, priest, and king helps believers appreciate the fullness of His redemptive work and how it impacts their faith and daily life.
10. How does Christ's humiliation and ultimate exaltation provide a model for Christian humility and obedience?
Consider how Christ's journey from humiliation to exaltation serves as an example for believers in terms of humility, obedience, and trust in God's plan.
18. The Work of Christ in His Exaltation.
The benefits Christ has secured for us through His immense love are so abundant that they are nearly impossible to list exhaustively and can never be fully appreciated. They encompass nothing less than
complete and total salvation, involving the redemption from the greatest evil—sin and all its consequences of misery and death—and the bestowal of the highest good—communion with God and all its blessings. Though these benefits will be explored in greater detail later, it is necessary to mention them here to provide a deeper understanding of the profound significance of Christ's work.
Among all the benefits stemming from Christ's profound humiliation, reconciliation stands paramount. The New Testament expresses this concept with two terms, unfortunately rendered the same in our translation. The first term (or rather, related terms from the same root) appears in Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17, and 1 John
2:2, 4:10. It translates a Hebrew word that originally means to cover and subsequently signifies the reconciliation effected by the sacrifice.
The idea is that the sacrifice, particularly the sacrificial blood—for the blood, being the seat of life, becomes the actual means of atonement when poured out and sprinkled (Lev. 17:11; Heb. 9:12)— covers the sin (guilt, impurity) of the sacrificer before God, thus nullifying its power to provoke God's wrath. Through the pouring and sprinkling of the blood, into which the life, the soul of an innocent and unblemished animal, is poured out, God renounces His wrath, changes His disposition towards the sinner, forgives the transgression, and restores the sinner to His presence and fellowship. The forgiveness that follows reconciliation is so complete that it is described as an erasing (Ps. 51:1, 9; Isa. 43:25; 44:22), a casting behind the back (Isa. 38:17), a casting of sins into the depths of the sea (Mic. 7:19). The atonement removes sins as completely as if they had never been committed; it dispels wrath and makes God's face shine with fatherly favor and delight upon His people.
In the Old Testament, all these symbols and sacrifices pointed forward to the future sacrifice of Christ; in the New Testament, they find their complete fulfillment in Him. Christ is the High Priest who, through His sacrificial blood, covers our sins before God, turns away
His wrath, and bestows upon us His grace and favor. He is the propitiation (Rom. 3:25), the atoning sacrifice (1 John 2:2; 4:10), who intercedes for us with God as the High Priest, making atonement for the sins of the people (Heb. 2:17). Some reject the idea of such an objective reconciliation of Christ with God on our behalf, arguing that God is love, that He does not need to be reconciled, and that this concept belongs to a lower, legalistic, Old Testament view of God, which is supposedly condemned and set aside in the New
Testament. However, they forget that sin, not only in the Mosaic law but also before and outside it, as well as in the New Testament, due to its guilty and unholy nature, arouses God's wrath and deserves punishment (Gen. 2:17; 3:14ff; Rom. 1:18; 5:12; 6:23; Gal. 3:10; Eph.
2:3). Christ and His sacrifice are not only a gift and revelation of God's love but also of His righteousness (Luke 24:46; Acts 4:28;
Rom. 3:25). The forgiving love of God does not exclude atonement; it presupposes and confirms it. Forgiveness is always an entirely voluntary and gracious act of God. It is based on the premise that God has the right to punish, and it consists in a remission of the penalty that upholds and acknowledges that right. To deprive God of the right to punish is to undermine the guilty and unholy nature of sin and to diminish the gracious and forgiving love of God, reducing it to a mere natural process. Scripture, however, teaches that Zion is redeemed by justice and that Christ, by His sacrifice, satisfied God's justice and reconciled His displeasure with sin (Isa. 1:27; Rom. 5:910; 2 Cor. 5:18; Gal. 3:13).
From this objective reconciliation, which Christ accomplished for us with God, we must distinguish another aspect indicated in the New
Testament by a distinct term. This term appears in Romans 5:10-11 and 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, and it originally means exchange, substitution, or settlement. In these passages, it refers to the new, gracious disposition God has assumed toward the world based on Christ's sacrifice. Because Christ, by His death, covered our sins and averted God's wrath, God establishes a different, reconciled relationship with the world and proclaims this to us in the Gospel, which is therefore called the word of reconciliation.
This reconciliation, too, is an objective reality; it is not something brought about by our faith and conversion, but it rests on the atonement made by Christ, consisting in the reconciled, gracious relationship of God to us. It is received and accepted by us through faith. As God has renounced His hostile disposition because of Christ's death, so we are exhorted to renounce our enmity, to be reconciled to God, and to enter into the new, reconciled relationship
God has established with us. Everything has been accomplished; there is nothing left for us to do. We may rest with our whole soul and for all time in the perfect work of redemption that Christ has performed. By faith, we may accept that God has renounced His wrath and, in Christ, is a reconciled God and Father to guilty and unholy sinners.
Whoever believes this Gospel of reconciliation with all his heart immediately receives, in principle, all the other benefits acquired through Christ. For in the state of peace, in which God places
Himself in relation to the world through Christ, all other goods of the covenant of grace are included. Christ is indivisible; the chain of
salvation is unbreakable: those whom God predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified (Rom. 8:30). All who are reconciled to God through the death of His Son receive the remission of sins, adoption as children, peace with God, the right to eternal life, and a heavenly inheritance
(Rom. 5:1; 8:17; Gal. 4:5). They have fellowship with Christ, having been crucified, buried, resurrected, and seated in the heavens with Him, and are becoming more and more conformed to His image
(Rom. 6:3ff; 8:29; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 4:22-24). They receive the Holy Spirit, who renews them, leads them into all truth, testifies to their adoption, and seals them until the day of redemption (John 3:6;
16:13; Rom. 8:15; 1 Cor. 6:11; Eph. 4:30). In this fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, believers are free from the law
(Rom. 7:1ff; Gal. 2:19; 3:13, 25; 4:5; 5:1) and are exalted above all powers of the world, death, hell, and Satan (John 16:33; Rom. 8:38; 1
Cor. 15:55; 1 John 3:8; Rev. 12:10). God is for them; who can be against them? (Rom. 8:31).
The perfect sacrifice Christ offered on the cross is of infinite power and dignity, abundantly sufficient for the atonement of the sins of the whole world. Scripture consistently connects the entire world with redemption and re-creation. The world has been the object of God's love (John 3:16); Christ came not to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17; 4:42; 6:33, 51; 12:47); in Him, God has reconciled the world, all things in heaven and on earth, to Himself (John 1:29; 2
Cor. 5:19; Col. 1:20). As the world was created by the Son, it is also destined for the Son as its heir (Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; Rev. 11:15). It is the Father's will that in the fullness of time, all things should be united in Christ, both in heaven and on earth (Eph. 1:10). Times of restoration are coming; according to God's promise, we await new
heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells (Acts 3:21; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1).
Because of the abundant sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice for the whole world, the Gospel of reconciliation must be preached to all creatures.
The promise of the Gospel is that everyone who believes in the crucified Christ shall not perish but have eternal life; this promise must be preached and presented indiscriminately to all peoples and individuals to whom God sends His Gospel according to His will, with the command of repentance and faith (Canons of Dordt II.5).
Scripture leaves no room for doubt in this regard. Even in the Old Testament, it is stated that the Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desires their repentance and life (Ezek. 18:23; 33:11) and that all nations will one day share in Israel's blessings (Gen.
9:27; 12:3; Deut. 32:21; Isa. 42:1). The missionary idea is already embedded in the promise of the Old Testament covenant of grace. It is clearly and unequivocally expressed when Christ Himself appears on earth and completes His work. For He is the light of the world, the Savior who gives life to the world (John 3:19; 4:42; 6:33, 51; 8:12), who has other sheep besides Israel that He must bring (John 10:16), and who foretells and commands that His Gospel shall be preached to the whole world (Matt. 24:14; 28:19; Mark 16:15).
When the apostles, from the day of Pentecost onwards, bring this Gospel to Jews and Gentiles and establish congregations worldwide, it may well be said that their voice has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world (Rom. 10:18), that the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men (Titus 2:11). Even prayers and intercessions for all people, especially for kings and those in authority, are pleasing to God, who desires all people to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). The delay in Christ's return is a testament to God's patience, as He does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Pet.
3:9).
This general proclamation of the Gospel holds immense advantages for the world at large, including those who may never believe in Christ as their Savior. Through His incarnation, Christ bestowed honor upon the entire human race, becoming a brother to all men according to the flesh. The light shines in the darkness, and His coming into the world illuminates everyone; the world was made through Him and remains His creation, even though it has not recognized Him (John 1:3-5). By issuing a call to faith and repentance to all who live under the Gospel, Christ bestows numerous external blessings in family and society, in church and state, which are also enjoyed by those who do not respond with faith.
They are influenced by the Word, shielded from grievous sins, and, unlike heathen nations, share in many external privileges. It must also be remembered that Christ, through His suffering and death, has secured the liberation of mankind from the bondage of decay, the renewal of heaven and earth, and the reconciliation of all things, including angels and men. In Christ, the organism of the human race, the world as God's creation, is preserved and restored (Eph.
1:10; Col. 1:20).
However, while this universal proclamation of the Gospel and the offer of grace must be firmly upheld, it must not be inferred that the benefits of Christ are acquired and intended for every individual, head by head. This is conclusively refuted by the fact that in the days of the Old Testament, God allowed the Gentiles to walk in their own
ways and chose only the people of Israel for Himself. Furthermore, in the fullness of time, despite the fundamental universality of the Gospel proclamation, God limited the promises of His grace to a small portion of humanity throughout all ages.
The general statements occasionally found in Scripture, such as Romans 10:18, 1 Timothy 2:4, Titus 2:11, and 2 Peter 3:9, cannot be understood in an absolute sense but must be interpreted relatively.
These passages were written under the profound awareness of the transition between the Old and New Covenants. The apostles, who had been raised within the confines of Judaism, deeply felt the significant change Christ brought about in the relationship between nations. They repeatedly spoke of this as a great mystery, hidden for ages but now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ. The middle wall of separation has been broken down; the blood of the cross has made peace; in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian nor Scythian; all distinctions of nation, language, descent, and color, of age and sex, of time and place, have been abolished. In Christ, there is a new creation; the church is gathered from all tribes, languages, peoples, and nations (Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 1:10; 3:3-9; Col. 1:26-27; 2 Tim.
1:10-11; Rev. 5:9).
But as soon as Scripture addresses the question of for whom Christ acquired His benefits, to whom He bestows and applies them, and who therefore actually partakes in them, it always directs His work towards the Church. Just as there was a distinct people in the Old
Testament, chosen by God as His inheritance, this concept of a special people of God continues in the New Testament. Certainly,
this people no longer coincides with the fleshly descendants of Abraham; rather, it is now called and gathered from Jews and Gentiles, from all nations and from all peoples. This congregation is the true assembly of God's people (Matt. 16:18; 18:20), the New
Testament Israel (2 Cor. 6:16; Gal. 6:16), the true seed of Abraham (Rom. 9:8; Gal. 4:29). For this people, Christ shed His blood and secured salvation. He came to save His people (Matt. 1:21), to give life to His sheep (John 10:11), to gather all God's children into one
(John 11:52), to give life to all those given to Him by the Father and to raise them up on the last day (John 6:39; 17:2), to purchase the Church of God with His blood and to cleanse it with the washing of water by the word (Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25-26). As High Priest, Christ does not even pray for the world but for those whom the Father has given Him and who will believe in Him through the word of the apostles (John 17:9, 20).
There is, thus, the most perfect harmony between the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As many as were chosen by the Father are redeemed by the Son, and reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Scriptures explicitly tell us that these are many, very many (Isa. 53:11-12; Matt. 20:28; 26:28; Rom. 5:15, 19; Heb.
2:10; 9:28). And it teaches us all this, not so that we might limit and shrink this number according to our imperfect understanding and arbitrary measure, but so that in the midst of all the strife and waste, we might be firmly assured that the work of salvation is God's work from beginning to end, and therefore, in spite of all opposition, it continues and will be completed. The pleasure of the Lord prospers in the hand of His servant (Isa. 53:10).
Since the work of salvation is God's work and His alone, the benefits of Christ could not be ours if He had not been raised from the dead and exalted at God's right hand. A dead Jesus would suffice for us if Christianity were nothing more, and needed to be nothing more for our salvation, than a doctrine to be instilled in our minds, or a moral precept and example to follow. But the Christian faith is something else and much more than that; it is the complete redemption of all mankind, of all the organs of humanity, and of the whole world.
Christ came to earth to save the world in this fullest sense. He did not come merely to secure the possibility of salvation for us, leaving it to our free will whether we should avail ourselves of that possibility. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, to make us truly, perfectly, and eternally blessed.
That is why His work did not conclude with His death and burial.
Indeed, in His high priestly prayer, He declared that He had finished the work the Father had given Him to do (John 17:4), and on the Cross, He proclaimed, "It is finished" (John 19:30). Yet, these statements pertain to the work He was tasked to accomplish on earth, specifically His work of humiliation, the procurement of our salvation. This work is indeed complete, finished, and perfect; salvation has been so fully obtained through His suffering and death that no creature can or needs to add anything. However, the application and distribution of this salvation are distinct from its acquisition. This latter part is no less crucial than the former. What benefit would there be in a treasure that remains out of reach and never becomes our possession? What profit is there in a Christ who died for our sins but was not raised for our justification? What use is a Lord who died but was not exalted to the right hand of the Father?
But now, as Christians, we confess and glorify a crucified and risen Savior, a humbled and exalted Savior, a King who is the first and the last, who was dead but now lives forever and holds the keys of hell and death (Rev. 1:18). In His exaltation, He raises and completes the edifice whose foundation He laid in His crucifixion. He is exalted far above all rule, authority, and power, given to the Church as its head, that He might fill all in all (Eph. 1:20-23). He was made Lord and Christ, Prince and Savior by the resurrection, to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel and to place all His enemies under His feet (Acts 2:36; 5:31; 1 Cor. 15:25). He is exalted by God and given a name above all names, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11).
The exaltation of Christ is therefore not an incidental appendage or arbitrary addition to His humiliation in the days of His flesh. Rather, it is, like His humiliation, an indispensable part of the work of redemption that He must accomplish; in His exaltation, His humiliation receives its seal and crown. The same Christ who descended to the lowest parts of the earth has also ascended above all heavens, that He might fulfill all things (Eph. 4:9-10). He must do it; it is His work; no one else can accomplish it. The Father exalted
Him precisely because He humbled Himself so profoundly (Phil.
2:9). He has given all judgment to the Son because He desired to become the Son of Man (John 5:22). The Son is exalted and continues His work in exaltation to demonstrate that He is the perfect, true, and almighty Savior. He will not rest until He can hand over the kingdom to God the Father, complete and perfect, and present the Church to Him as His bride, without spot or wrinkle (1
Cor. 15:24; Eph. 5:25-27). The honor of Christ Himself depends on the completion of this work of salvation; His own name and fame are at stake. He exalts His own and brings them to where He is, that they may behold His glory (John 17:24). He will return at the end of the ages to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed (2 Thess. 1:10).
The exaltation of Christ began, according to the Reformed confession, with His resurrection, but according to many other traditions, even earlier, with His descent into hell. However, this is interpreted in various ways. The Greek Church understands it as Christ descending into the underworld with His divine nature and human soul to liberate the souls of the holy patriarchs and bring them, along with the penitent thief on the cross, to paradise.
According to the Roman Church, Christ indeed descended into the underworld with His soul and remained there as long as His body rested in the tomb, in order to liberate the souls of the pious who had remained there painlessly until salvation was attained, from the state of death, bringing them to heaven to share in the beatific vision of God. The Lutheran Church differentiates between the actual resurrection of Christ and His rising from the grave, teaching that Christ, during this brief interval, went specifically to hell with both soul and body, to proclaim His victory to the devils and the damned.
Many theologians, especially in recent times, interpret the Article as meaning that Christ descended to the underworld before His resurrection, either with the soul or the body, to preach the Gospel to those who had died in their sins, giving them an opportunity for repentance and faith.
The great diversity of interpretations indicates that the original meaning of the phrase "descended into hell" has been lost. We do not know the origin of the article, nor what was precisely meant by it.
Furthermore, Scripture does not support a literal, real, or local descent of Christ into hell. In Acts 2:27, Peter applies the words of Psalm 16 to Christ: "You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow Your Holy One to see corruption." However, the annotation rightly notes that "Hades" should be understood as "grave"; while
Christ was in paradise in soul, He was in the grave in body, and between His death and resurrection, He was in the state of death. In Ephesians 4:9, Paul states that the One who ascended first descended to the lower parts of the earth; this does not refer to a descent into hell but either to the incarnation of Christ on earth or His death, in which He descended into the grave. In 1 Peter 3:19-21, the Apostle speaks not of what Christ did between His death and resurrection, but either of what He did before His incarnation by His
Spirit in the days of Noah or of what He did after His resurrection, being alive in the Spirit. There is no scriptural basis for the doctrine of a local descent of Christ into the underworld or hell.
The Reformed Church has thus abandoned this interpretation of the Article, either understanding it to mean the infernal anguish and pain Christ suffered before His death in Gethsemane and on Golgotha, or the state of death in which Christ found Himself while
He lay in the grave. Both interpretations find unity in the scriptural notion that Christ's surrender in death was the hour of His enemies and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53). Christ knew this hour would come and voluntarily surrendered to it (John 8:20, 12:23, 27,
13:1, 17:1). In that hour, when He manifested the highest spiritual power of His love and obedience (John 10:17-18), He appeared
utterly powerless; His enemies did with Him as they pleased; darkness seemed to triumph over Him; indeed, not in a local sense, but in a spiritual sense, He descended into hell.
Yet, the power of darkness was not autonomous; it was permitted by the Father (John 19:11). Christ's enemies did not comprehend that they were merely instruments, unknowingly and unwillingly fulfilling what God's hand and counsel had predetermined (Acts 2:23; 4:28).
Even in His humiliation, Christ was the mighty One who voluntarily gave up His life and offered His soul as a ransom for many. The hour of the power of darkness was His own (John 7:30, 8:20); in His death, He conquered death through the power of His love, His complete self-denial, and His absolute obedience to the Father's will.
Therefore, it was not possible that He, the Holy One, should be held by death or abandoned by God to decay (Acts 2:25, 27). On the contrary, the Father raised Him up (Acts 2:24, 3:26, 5:30, 13:37;
Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:14, etc.), and Christ Himself rose by His own right and power (John 11:25; Acts 2:31; Rom. 1:4, 14:9; 1 Cor. 15:21; 1
Thess. 4:14, etc.). He is the Son of God. The pangs of death were, as it were, the birth pangs of His new life (Acts 2:24); Christ is the firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18).
This resurrection entailed the quickening of His dead body and His rising from the grave. The adversaries of the resurrection are confronted with no small dilemma concerning this event. In former times, they attempted to explain away this narrative by asserting that Jesus had merely appeared to be dead, or that His body had been stolen by His disciples, or that the disciples were deluded, imagining they saw Him. Yet, these hypotheses have been successively abandoned, and presently many turn to spiritism, deeming it a
convenient explanation for Christ's resurrection. They claim that something objective indeed transpired; the disciples saw something
—an apparition of the deceased Christ, who, though dead in body, lived on in spirit. They propose that the spirit of Christ manifested itself to the disciples, revealing His continued existence. Some even assert that God Himself caused Christ's spirit to appear to the disciples to lift them from their sorrow and to make them aware of victory over death and the immortality of life. These appearances of Christ, they say, were akin to a "telegram from heaven," a divine message of Christ's spiritual power.
However, this entire spiritist explanation is unworthy of the Scriptures and directly contradicts their testimony. According to all the Evangelists, the tomb was found empty on the third day, and the first appearance occurred that very day (Matt. 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke
24:3; John 20:2; 1 Cor. 15:4-5). The Evangelists and Paul, without providing a systematic or exhaustive list, recount that Jesus appeared to the women, particularly Mary Magdalene, to Peter, to the disciples with and without Thomas, and to many others, including over five hundred brethren at once. These appearances happened first in and around Jerusalem, and later in Galilee, where, as Mark explicitly notes, He went ahead of them (Mark 16:7). All accounts agree that Jesus appeared in the same body that had been laid in the tomb. It was a body of flesh and bones, not merely a spirit, as Luke attests (Luke 24:39); it could be touched (John 20:27) and could consume food (Luke 24:41; John 21:10).
Nonetheless, Jesus made an entirely different impression after His resurrection compared to before His death; those who saw Him were terrified and awestruck, fell before Him, and worshipped Him (Matt.
28:9-10; Luke 24:37). He appeared in a different form than previously shown (Mark 16:12) and was sometimes not immediately recognized (Luke 24:16, 31). There is a significant difference between the resurrection of Lazarus and that of Jesus; Lazarus returned to his former, earthly life, whereas Jesus did not return but continued on the path from resurrection to ascension. When Mary thought she had regained her Master and Lord from the dead and sought to renew her previous relationship with Him, Jesus declined and said, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God" (John 20:17). After His resurrection,
Christ no longer belonged to the earth but to heaven. Hence, His form had changed, even though He had taken on the same body that had been laid in the tomb. Paul encapsulates this by stating that a natural body is sown at death, but a spiritual body is raised at the resurrection (both of Christ and the faithful) (1 Cor. 15:44). In both instances, it is a body, for "spiritual" is not opposed to "material" but to "natural." In the natural (psychic) body received by the first man, there exists a large sphere of life that operates independently of the spirit's dominion; in the spiritual body, however, stomach and food are no longer necessary (1 Cor. 6:13), and all material aspects are entirely subject to and serve the spirit.
The bodily resurrection of Christ is not an isolated historical fact but is inexhaustibly rich in meaning and of the greatest significance for Christ Himself, for His congregation, and for the entire world. It fundamentally embodies the victory over death. Death entered the world through a human being; the transgression of God's commandment opened the door for death to enter the realm of humanity, for death is the wages of sin (Romans 5:12, 6:23; 1
Corinthians 15:21). Even if an angel or the Son of the Father had descended into the realm of the dead and then returned to heaven, it would be of no benefit to us. But Christ was not only the Father's only begotten, but also truly and fully human, God's and man's Son.
As a man, He suffered, died, and was buried, but also as a man, He rose again and returned from the realm of the dead. The resurrection of Christ proved that there was a man who could not be held by death, whom Satan, who wielded the power of death, could not control, who was stronger than the grave, death, and hell. Indeed, in principle, Satan no longer possesses the power and dominion of death; Christ conquered him through death (Hebrews 2:14). The gates of the kingdom of the dead, which had closed behind Him, had to be opened at His command. The ruler of the world had nothing on Him (John 14:30).
If this is so, it is evident that the resurrection of Christ pertains to the physical resurrection. A spiritual resurrection would not have sufficed; it would have been incomplete and, in fact, not a victory at all but a defeat. Then, not the whole man, not man in both soul and body, would have been freed from the dominion of death; Satan would have remained victorious in a significant domain. To demonstrate His power over death, He had to return physically from the realm of the dead, thereby revealing His spiritual power in the world of matter. In His bodily resurrection, it was first shown that by His obedience unto death and the grave, He had completely conquered sin with all its consequences, including death, casting it out of the world of men and bringing to light a new life in immortality. Thus, through a man, death entered the world, and through a man, the resurrection of the dead is assured (1 Corinthians
15:21). Christ Himself is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).
This general significance of Christ's resurrection is already profound, but its implications can be further detailed. Firstly, for Christ
Himself. If death on the cross had been the end of Jesus' life and not followed by resurrection, the Jews would have been justified in their condemnation. Deuteronomy 21:23 states that a hanged man is accursed by God, which is cited as the reason why the corpse of a criminal must not remain hanging on the wood after death but must be buried the same day, lest it defile the land God has given His people. Although the Mosaic law does not include crucifixion as a penalty, Jesus, delivered to the Gentiles (Matthew 20:19) and crucified by the unrighteous (Acts 2:23), was, before and in His death, an example of the law's unyielding severity and a curse before God. To the Jews, who knew the law, crucifixion was not only a painful and shameful punishment but also proof that the crucified one bore God's wrath and curse. Jesus, the hanged man on the tree, was a scandal and anathema in the eyes of the Jews (1 Corinthians
1:23, 12:3).
But the resurrection reverses all judgment. He who was made sin for us knew no sin. He who became a curse for us is the blessed One of the Father. The one abandoned by God on the cross is the Son in whom the Father delights. The one cast out from the earth is crowned in heaven. The resurrection is thus the proof of Christ's
Sonship; He, who was of the seed of David according to the flesh, was declared the Son of God with power by the Spirit of holiness
(Romans 1:3-4). Christ spoke the truth and made the right confession before Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate when He testified to being the Son of God. It was not the Jews and Romans who were justified in their judgment and sentence, but Christ is the Righteous
One, crucified and slain by the hands of the unrighteous. The
resurrection is the divine revision of the judgment the world passed on Jesus.
In this demonstration of His Sonship and Messianic nature, the resurrection is not an end but the gateway for Christ into a wholly new state of existence, marking the commencement of His everincreasing exaltation. Not only in eternity (Hebrews 1:5) and at His ordination to the priesthood (Hebrews 5:5), but also at His resurrection (Acts 13:33), did God declare to Him: "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee." The resurrection is the day of Christ's coronation; He was already Son and Messiah before He became man;
He remained so even in His humiliation, though His true nature was veiled under the guise of a servant. Now, however, He is openly proclaimed by God as Lord and Christ, Sovereign and Savior (Acts
2:36, 5:31, Philippians 2:9). He now reassumes the glory He had with the Father before the world was (John 17:5), adopting a different form, a new stature, and a transformed way of being (Mark 16:12).
He is the Prince of life, the source of salvation, and the appointed judge of the living and the dead (Acts 3:15, 4:12, 10:42).
Moreover, the resurrection of Christ serves as a fountain of salvation for His congregation and for the entire world. It is the Father's
"Amen" to the Son's accomplishment. Indeed, Christ was delivered up for our transgressions and raised for our justification (Romans
4:25). Just as our sins are intimately linked with Christ's death, so too is there a profound connection between Christ's resurrection and our justification. Our sins necessitated His death, and so our justification necessitated His resurrection. He did not obtain our justification by His resurrection, but by His death (Romans 5:9, 19), for that death was a sacrifice that fully atoned for our sins and
provided eternal righteousness. But because He had secured complete atonement and forgiveness of all our sins through His suffering and death, He arose and had to rise. In the resurrection, He
Himself and we with Him were justified; His resurrection from the dead is the public proclamation of our acquittal. Furthermore, Christ was raised for our justification in the sense that He might personally appropriate the acquittal contained in His resurrection. Without the resurrection, the reconciliation effected by His death would have remained without effect and application; it would have been like a dead capital. But now Christ, exalted by His resurrection as Lord,
Prince, and Savior, can make the acquired reconciliation part of us through faith. His resurrection is both the proof and the source of our justification.
If Christ rose to personally appropriate the acquired reconciliation and forgiveness for us, then another benefit is inherently included.
Just as there is no forgiveness without prior reconciliation, there is no forgiveness without subsequent sanctification and glorification.
The objective basis for this inseparable connection of justification and sanctification lies in Christ Himself. For He has not only died but also been raised; and what He died to, He died once for sin (to atone for it and to remove it), so that what He lives, He lives to God
(Romans 6:10). Therefore, when Christ grants man the fruits of His death in faith—namely, atonement and forgiveness of sin—He also grants him new life at that same moment. He cannot divide Himself, cannot separate His death from His resurrection; indeed, He can only divide and apply the fruits of His death because He Himself was raised; as the Prince of Life, He alone dispenses the benefits of His death. Therefore, as He died once for sin, that henceforth He might live for God alone, so He died for all, that those who live (by dying
and rising with Christ) might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them (2 Corinthians 5:15, Galatians
2:20).
Similarly, from the subjective side, there is an indissoluble connection between the forgiveness of sins and the renewal of life.
For he who accepts the forgiveness of sins with a believing heart has, at that same moment, like Christ in His death, broken off all relation to sin. He has ceased to have any fellowship with it, for sin that has been forgiven, and whose forgiveness has been accepted in faith with great joy, cannot but be hated; he has, as Paul says, died to sin
(Romans 6:2) and therefore can live in it no longer. He has entered the fellowship of Christ through faith and through baptism as its sign and seal, having been crucified, died, and buried with Him, that he might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4).
To this sanctification is further linked glorification. Indeed, through the resurrection of Christ, the faithful have been born again into a living hope (1 Peter 1:3). Through this, they have received the irrefutable assurance that the work of salvation has not only been initiated and sustained but will be brought to completion. In heaven, an immortal, incorruptible, and undefilable inheritance is preserved for them, and on earth, they are kept by faith through the power of God for the salvation that will be revealed in the last time (1 Peter
1:4-5). How could it be otherwise? God has confirmed His love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more, then, having been justified by the blood of Christ, we shall be saved from God's wrath, especially that wrath which will be manifest in the last judgment.
For those who are in Christ, there is no wrath and no condemnation, but only peace with God and the hope of His glory. In the past, when they were still His enemies and subject to His wrath, God reconciled
Himself to them through the death of His Son. Now that God has renounced His wrath against them and bestowed His peace and love upon them, they will be much more saved through the life that Christ now shares through His resurrection and in which He acts as their intercessor with the Father. The resurrection of Christ thus continues for all eternity; in due time, it brings with it the resurrection of the faithful, the renewal of heaven and earth, and the victory of the Holy
Spirit (Acts 4:2, Romans 6:5, 8:11, 1 Corinthians 15:12ff).
Only when we understand the rich, eternal significance of the resurrection of Christ can we comprehend why the apostles, particularly Paul, emphasize its historical character so strongly. All the apostles are witnesses to the resurrection (Acts 1:21, 2:32). Paul argues that without the resurrection, the preaching of the apostles is vain and false; the forgiveness of sins, based on the atonement and accepted in faith, has not occurred; and the hope of a blessed resurrection is groundless. With the resurrection, the divine Sonship and the Messianic dignity of Christ stand affirmed, and all that is left of Him is not merely a teacher of virtue but the Redeemer of sins, the Prince of Life, and the Savior of the world.
The resurrection is the beginning of Jesus' exaltation, followed forty days later by the Ascension. Its event is recounted briefly in Mark
16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:1-12. But it was foretold by Christ (Matthew 26:64, John 6:62, 13:3, 14:28, 16:5, 10, 17, 28) and forms a core component of apostolic preaching (Acts 2:33, 3:21, 5:31, 7:5556, Ephesians 4:10, Philippians 2:9, 3:20, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:14-
16, 1 Timothy 3:16, 1 Peter 3:22, Hebrews 4:14, 6:20, 9:24, Revelation 1:13, etc.). Everywhere, the apostles start from the idea that Christ is now in heaven according to His human nature, both in body and soul. In fact, the forty days Christ spent on earth after His resurrection were already a preparation and transition to His ascension. Everything showed that He no longer belonged to the earth. His appearance was different from before His death. He appeared and disappeared mysteriously. The disciples felt that their relationship with Him was very different from their previous one.
His life no longer belonged to the earth but to heaven.
In the Ascension, therefore, He does not become invisible through a process of spiritualization or deification, but changes place. He was on earth and went to heaven. He ascended from a specific place, the Mount of Olives, a quarter-hour from Jerusalem in the direction of Bethany (Luke 24:50, Acts 1:12). Before He separated from His disciples, He blessed them. Blessing, He left the earth, and blessing,
He ascended into heaven. That is how He came, lived, and went again. He is Himself the embodiment of all God's blessings, the acquirer, possessor, and distributor of them (Ephesians 1:3).
His ascension was therefore also His own act; He possessed both the right and the power to accomplish it, ascending by His own might, as attested in John 3:13, 20:17, Ephesians 4:8-10, and 1 Peter 3:22. In this event, He triumphed over the whole earth, over all the laws of nature, and over the entire gravity of matter. Furthermore, His ascension represents a triumph over all hostile, demonic, and human powers, which God, in the Cross of Christ, stripped of their armor, exhibited in their powerlessness, and bound to Christ's chariot, as noted in Colossians 2:15. These powers are now carried off by Christ
Himself as captives, Ephesians 4:8. Peter articulates the same idea by declaring that Christ, after His resurrection, ascended in spirit to heaven, proclaimed His victory to the spirits in prison, and took His seat at God's right hand, while angels, powers, and forces were made subservient to Him.
The ascension, Christ's own act, is also a divine taking up into heaven, as recorded in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, Acts 1:2, 9, 11, 22, and 1 Timothy 3:16. Having fully accomplished the Father's work, He is not only raised by the Father but also admitted into His immediate presence. The heavens are opened to Him, the angels meet and lead
Him in (Acts 2:10). He has passed through the heavens and ascended far above them all (Hebrews 4:14, 7:26, Ephesians 4:10) to sit at God's right hand on the throne of His majesty. The highest place next to God belongs to Christ.
Just as the resurrection prepares the ascension, so it leads to the seating at the right hand of God. The Old Testament promises this place to the Messiah (Psalm 110:1). Jesus repeatedly foretold that He would soon be seated on the throne of His glory (Matthew 19:28,
25:31, 26:64), and after His ascension, He took possession of that place (Mark 16:19). In apostolic preaching, this sitting at the right hand of God is frequently mentioned and shown to be of great significance (Acts 2:34, Romans 8:34, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Ephesians
1:20, Colossians 3:1, Hebrews 1:3, 13, 8:1, 10:12, 1 Peter 3:22, Revelation 3:21, etc.).
The Scriptures use various expressions at this stage of Jesus' exaltation. Sometimes it is said that Christ Himself has sat down
(Hebrews 1:3, 8:1), sometimes that the Father has said to Him, "Sit
at My right hand" (Acts 2:34, Hebrews 1:13), or has placed Him there (Ephesians 1:20). The act of sitting down is emphasized (Mark
16:19), as well as the state of being seated (Matthew 26:64, Colossians 3:1). The place where Christ is seated is described as at the right hand of power (Matthew 26:64), at the right hand of the power of God (Luke 22:69), at the right hand of the majesty in the highest heavens (Hebrews 1:3), or at the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens (Hebrews 8:1), or at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2). Though He is usually said to be seated, He is also sometimes standing (Acts 7:55-56) or walking among the seven golden lampstands (Revelation 2:1). Always, the idea is the same: Christ, after His resurrection and ascension, holds the highest place next to God in the entire universe.
This idea, however, is expressed in the form of an image derived from earthly relations; we can only speak of heavenly things in human terms, through parables. Just as Solomon honored his mother Bathsheba by placing her at his right hand (1 Kings 2:19), the sitting at the right hand of God indicates that Christ, by virtue of His perfect obedience, has been exalted to the highest sovereignty, majesty, dignity, honor, and glory. He not only received back the glory He had with the Father before the world existed (John 17:5), but we now see Him crowned with honor and glory according to His humanity (Hebrews 2:9, Philippians 2:9-11). All things are subject to His feet, except Him who has subjected all things to Him (1
Corinthians 15:27). Although we do not yet see all things subject to Him, He will reign as King until He has put all enemies under His feet (Hebrews 2:8, 1 Corinthians 15:25). His sitting at the right hand of God and His entire exaltation culminate in His Second Coming in judgment (Matthew 25:31-32).
In this state of exaltation, Christ perpetuates the work He initiated on earth. Undoubtedly, there exists a profound distinction between the work Christ executed in His humiliation and that which He performs in His exaltation. As His person now manifests in a different semblance, so too does His work assume a new form and character. Following His resurrection, He is no longer the suffering servant, but the exalted Lord and Prince. Consequently, His work is no longer the sacrificial obedience perfected on the Cross, yet the Mediatorial role of Christ continues, albeit in a transformed manner.
At His ascension, He did not enter into a state of inactivity— for the Son, like the Father, always works (John 5:17)—but He now applies the full measure of His acquired benefits to His congregation. Just as Christ, through His suffering and death, was exalted in the resurrection and ascension to the headship of the congregation, so must that congregation now be fashioned into the body of Christ and be filled with the fullness of God. The mediatorial work is one grand, divine endeavor, commencing in eternity and enduring until eternity.
At the moment of the resurrection, this work was divided into two phases: prior to that moment, Christ's humiliation; following that moment, His exaltation. Both phases are equally indispensable to the work of salvation.
Thus, in the state of His exaltation, Christ continued His roles as prophet, priest, and king. From eternity, He had been anointed to these offices; He exercised these ministries during His humiliation; and in a glorified sense, He continues them in heaven.
That He remained a prophet even after His resurrection is immediately evident from the teachings He imparted to His disciples until His ascension. The forty days that Jesus remained on earth
after His resurrection constitute a crucial part of His life and doctrine. These days often receive insufficient attention. However, upon closer examination of Jesus' activities and teachings during this period, it becomes clear that they shed a new and profound light on His person and mission. Though we cannot grasp this as deeply as the apostles, who experienced these events firsthand and whose hope was revived after losing it at His death, the transformation they underwent during this time demonstrates a deeper understanding of Jesus' identity and work.
The resurrection itself cast a radiant light on Christ's death and His prior life. The salvific event did not stand alone; just as it had been foreshadowed, it was accompanied and followed by the word of salvation. Angels at the tomb announced to the women seeking Jesus that He was not there but had risen, as He had foretold (Matthew
28:5-6). Jesus Himself elucidated to the disciples at Emmaus that the Christ had to suffer and thereby enter His glory, explaining this through all the Scriptures concerning Him (Luke 24:26-27, 44-47).
The disciples now perceived Him in a different form than before. No longer the humble Son of Man who came to serve and give His life as a ransom for many, He now appeared in glory and power, having laid aside the form of a servant. He belonged to another realm, preparing to ascend to His Father while the disciples remained on earth with a mission to fulfill. The former intimate relationship they had with Him in His earthly ministry was transformed. Yet, soon they would experience an even more profound fellowship through the Spirit, a relationship entirely different from what they had known. PostResurrection, Jesus revealed Himself with such splendor and
wisdom that Thomas made a confession unprecedented among the disciples, acknowledging Jesus as his Lord and his God.
During these forty days, Jesus not only illuminated His own person and work, but He also elucidated in greater detail the role and task of His disciples. When Jesus was buried and all seemed lost, the disciples might have intended to return quietly to Galilee and resume their previous vocations. However, on the third day, reports of His appearances began to emerge—to Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary (Matthew 28:1, 9; John 20:14ff), to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5), and to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke
24:13ff). Consequently, they stayed in Jerusalem for a time. On the evening of that same day, Jesus appeared to the disciples, except
Thomas, and eight days later, He appeared to them again, this time with Thomas present. Subsequently, they followed Jesus to Galilee, where more appearances occurred (Matthew 28:10; Luke 24:44ff;
John 21). Yet, He commanded them to return to Jerusalem to witness His ascension.
In all these appearances, Jesus revealed to the disciples their future calling. They were not to return to their former occupations but to serve as His witnesses, preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Mark 16:15;
Luke 24:47-48; Acts 1:8). The apostles received various commands (Acts 1:2), were instructed about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3), had their authority delineated (John 20:21-23; 21:15-17), and were focused on preaching the gospel to all creatures. They now knew their mission: first, to remain in Jerusalem until they were endowed with power from on high (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8), and then to act
as His witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
All the teachings from these forty days are encapsulated in the final words Jesus spoke to His disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Though He had previously received authority (Matthew 11:27), He now claims it based on His merits and employs it to distribute the benefits He acquired to the congregation, which He purchased with His blood.
By virtue of this fulfillment of power, He instructs His apostles to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that He commanded. Because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, Jesus claims the discipleship of all peoples. He acknowledges as His disciples those who, through baptism, have entered into fellowship with the God who, in His complete revelation, has made Himself known as Father, Son, and Spirit, and who now walk in His commandments. To encourage them, He finally adds that He will be with them always, to the end of the age.
Physically He leaves them, but spiritually He remains with them, ensuring that it is He, not they, who gathers, rules, and protects His congregation through their words.
Thus, even after His ascension, Christ continues His prophetic work.
The apostles' preaching, both oral and written in their epistles, aligns with the teachings of Jesus—not only those given before His death but also those imparted during the forty days between His resurrection and ascension.
This final point must not be overlooked. It is precisely this understanding that explains how all the apostles were from the
outset convinced that Christ had not only died but had also been raised by God and exalted at His right hand as Lord and Christ,
Prince and Savior. They were assured that in the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, all salvation for the sinner is contained.
The Apostles' preaching not only aligns with Jesus' teaching but also serves as its elucidation and expansion. Jesus Himself continued His prophetic activity through His Spirit within the hearts of the apostles. By the Spirit of truth, He led them into all truth, for that Spirit did not speak on His own but testified of Christ, reminding them of His words and revealing things to come (John 14:26, 15:26,
16:13). Thus, the apostles were enabled to compose the New Testament Scriptures, which, in conjunction with the Old Covenant books, serve as a guiding light for the church across all ages. Christ
Himself gave this Word to His congregation, and through it, He perpetually executes His prophetic ministry on earth. He preserves and propagates it, clarifies and explains it; that Word is the means by which He disciples the nations, drawing them into the fellowship of the triune God and guiding them in His commandments. Through His Word and Spirit, Christ remains with us until the end of the age.
What applies to Christ's prophetic office also pertains to His priestly office. He did not receive it for a time but exercises it eternally. In the Old Testament, the eternal nature of the priesthood was foreshadowed by the consecration of the house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi for temple service. Though the specific individuals performing this service died, they were immediately replaced by others; the priesthood itself endured. The future Messiah, however, would not be an ordinary priest serving for a time and then replaced,
but a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4).
Unlike the descendants of Aaron and Levi, who became many priests because death prevented them from continuing, Hebrews 7:24,
Melchizedek, in his mysterious persona, typifies the eternal duration of Christ's high priesthood. He is a king of righteousness and peace, standing alone in the history of revelation without mention of his lineage, birth, or death; typologically, he was made like the Son of God and remains a priest forever (Hebrews 7:3).
But what Melchizedek was in type, Christ is in reality. Christ could be an eternal High Priest in the fullest sense because He is the Son of God, existing from eternity (Hebrews 1:2, 3). Although He sacrificed
Himself on earth and within time, He was from above, belonging in His essence to eternity, and thus could offer Himself through the eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14). Since Christ, as the Son of God, was prepared from eternity to come into the world and fulfill God's will
(Hebrews 10:5-9), He was already a priest from eternity. In the light of accomplishing God's will in His earthly life, it can be said that Christ's priesthood began on earth (Hebrews 2:17, 5:10, 6:20, 7:2628). This earthly priesthood was the means by which Christ became
High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary through His resurrection and ascension, remaining so eternally. It is a distinctive concept from the letter to the Hebrews that Christ's life and work on earth are not seen as an end but as preparation for His eternal priestly service in heaven.
Some have inferred from this that, according to the letter, Christ was not a priest on earth at all but assumed His priesthood only upon ascending to heaven and entering the inner sanctuary. They argue that Christ was not a priest on earth because the law required priests
from the tribe of Levi to offer sacrifices according to the law, whereas Christ was from Judah and never offered sacrifices as a priest in the Jerusalem temple (Hebrews 7:14, 8:4). Therefore, if Christ was a priest, He could only be one in heaven, and He must have something to offer there (Hebrews 8:3). And what He offered there was His own blood, with which He entered the heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 9:11,
12).
However, this inference is undoubtedly false. For like all other apostolic writings, this letter to the Hebrews places the utmost emphasis on the fact that Christ sacrificed Himself once, namely on the cross, thereby securing eternal salvation (Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 26,
28, 10:10-14). The forgiveness of sins, the great benefit of the New Covenant, was fully obtained by that sacrifice, and the New
Testament, founded in His blood, brought the Old Covenant to an end (Hebrews 4:16, 8:6-13, 9:14-22). Sin, death, and the devil were vanquished by His sacrifice (Hebrews 2:14, 7:27, 9:26, 28), and by His blood, He sanctified and perfected all who obey Him (Hebrews
10:10, 14, 13:12). Precisely because Christ offered this one perfect sacrifice on the cross, He can sit as High Priest at God's right hand
(Hebrews 8:1). There He suffers and dies no longer but sits as a victor on the throne (Hebrews 1:3, 13, 2:8, 9, 10:12). A main point in the apostle's discourse is that we have such a high priest, seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven (Hebrews 8:1).
There can be no question of a sacrifice in heaven, as Christ accomplished on earth.
Yet Christ is and remains the High Priest in heaven; as such, He has been placed by God at His right hand. Indeed, one can say, as the Epistle to the Hebrews suggests, that He first fully embraced His
High Priesthood there, in the order of Melchizedek, and accepted His eternal priestly office (Hebrews 2:17, 5:10, 6:20). He was the Son and had to be so to become our High Priest (Hebrews 1:3, 3:6, 5:5), but that alone was not sufficient; although He was the Son, He had to learn obedience through suffering (Hebrews 5:8). The obedience He possessed as the Son (Hebrews 10:5-7), He had to demonstrate here on earth in His human suffering to become our High Priest (Hebrews
2:10ff, 4:15, 5:7-10, 7:28). All the suffering Christ endured, the temptations He faced, the death He submitted to—everything served in God's hand to sanctify Christ and perfect Him for the priestly service He now performs in heaven. This sanctification and perfection of Christ are not to be understood in a moral sense, as if He gradually became obedient through struggle, but the Apostle is referring to sanctification in a strict, ministerial sense. Christ had to maintain His obedience as the Son in the face of all temptations and simultaneously equip Himself fully for His eternal high priesthood in heaven.
Through obedience, Christ fully attained this high priesthood at God's right hand on the throne of majesty. Based on His suffering and death, based on the one perfect sacrifice, He is now seated at the right hand of His Majesty in the highest heavens. He entered—not with, but by—His own blood, once into the sanctuary (Hebrews
9:12), and is now there, in the true tabernacle built by God Himself, ministering as a liturgist (Hebrews 8:2). Now He is fully and eternally a priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews
5:10, 6:20). Just as the high priest in the Old Testament entered the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement with the blood of the goat slaughtered for himself and the blood of the goat slaughtered for the people, to sprinkle it on and before the mercy
seat, so Christ, through the blood of His sacrifice on the cross, opened the way to the true sanctuary in heaven (Hebrews 9:12). He does not take the blood He shed on Calvary to heaven in a literal sense, nor does He offer and sprinkle it there in an actual sense, but through His own blood, He enters the true tabernacle; He returns to heaven as the Christ who died and was raised, as the Christ who was dead but is now alive for all eternity (Revelation 1:18), and stands as the slaughtered Lamb in the midst of the throne (Revelation 5:6); He is now, in His person, the means of atonement for our sins and for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).
Thus, His high priestly service in heaven consists in appearing before the face of God for our sake (Hebrews 9:24). In all that God does to atone for the sins of the people, Christ shows Himself to be a merciful and faithful High Priest (Hebrews 2:17), coming to the aid of those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:18, 4:15), and leading His children to glory (Hebrews 2:10). Through His obedience, He has become the guide for all who approach God through Him. He is the author of their faith, for He Himself exercised faith and can thus bring others to that faith and preserve it to the end (Hebrews 12:2).
He is the author of their life (Acts 3:15—the same word in Greek translated as 'author' in Hebrews), for He first acquired that life through His death, and now He can bestow it upon others. He is the author of their salvation (Hebrews 2:10) because He paved the way of salvation Himself, and therefore, can lead others there and bring them into the sanctuary (Hebrews 10:20).
Thus, Christ is ever and always our intercessor with the Father. Just as He prayed on earth for His disciples (Luke 22:32), and for His enemies (Luke 23:34), and in His high priestly prayer commended
His entire congregation to the Father (John 17), so He continues this intercession in heaven for all His own. We must not interpret this as if Christ in heaven were on His knees before the Father, pleading for mercy, for the Father Himself loves us and gave His Son as proof of this love. Rather, this love of the Father is always given to us in the Son, who became obedient unto death on the cross. Christ's intercession is not a plea for mercy, but the expression of a powerful will (John 17:24), the Son's demand that the nations be given to Him for His inheritance and the ends of the earth for His possession
(Psalm 2:8). It is the crucified and glorified Christ, the Father's own Son, who was obedient and is now exalted on the throne of majesty; it is the merciful and faithful High Priest, sanctified and perfected for this service in heaven, through whom intercession to the Father is made.
In the face of all the accusations that the law, Satan, and our own hearts can make against us, He takes up our defense (Hebrews 7:25,
1 John 2:2). He aids us in all our temptations, has compassion on all our weaknesses, cleanses our consciences, sanctifies, and completes all those who come to God through Him. He prepares a place for them in the Father's house, where there are many mansions and therefore room for many (John 14:2-3), and preserves for them the heavenly inheritance (1 Peter 1:4). Thus, believers have nothing to fear. They may boldly approach the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16,
10:22), having received from Christ in heaven the Spirit of adoption, which cries out within them, "Abba, Father," and pours out God's love in their hearts (Romans 5:5, 8:15). As Christ intercedes with the Father in heaven, so the Holy Spirit intercedes in their hearts (John
14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). A cornerstone of our Christian confession is that we have such a high priest, who is seated at the right hand of the
throne of majesty in the heavens (Hebrews 8:1); thus, a priest, an offering, an altar, and a temple are no longer needed on earth.
Christ also continues to exercise His royal office in the heavens after His resurrection. There can be no dispute about this, as Christ, by His resurrection and ascension, has been exalted to the position of Lord and Christ, as Prince and Savior, set by the Father at His right hand on the throne, and given a name above all names (Acts 2:36,
5:31; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:3-4). The kingship of Christ shines forth more clearly in His exaltation than in His humiliation.
In this kingship, Scripture makes a clear distinction. There is a kingship of Christ over Zion, over His people, over the church (Psalm
2:6, 72:2-7; Isaiah 9:6, 11:1-5; Luke 1:33; John 18:33), and there is also a kingship He exercises over all His enemies (Psalm 2:8-9, 72:8,
110:1-2; Matthew 28:18; 1 Corinthians 15:25-27; Revelation 1:5, 17:14). The former is a kingship of grace, and the latter is a kingship of power.
Regarding the church, the title of King often alternates with that of Head in the New Testament. Christ stands in such a close relationship to the church, which He purchased with His blood, that one single title is not enough to convey its fullness. Thus, Scripture employs various images to illustrate what Christ is to His congregation. What the bridegroom is to the bride (John 3:29,
Revelation 21:2), the husband to the wife (Ephesians 5:25, Revelation 21:9), the firstborn to His brethren (Romans 8:29,
Hebrews 2:11), the cornerstone to the building (Matthew 21:42, Acts 4:11, 1 Peter 2:4-8), the vine to the branches (John 15:1-2), the head to the body—all these and more is Christ to His congregation.
Particularly, the image of Christ as the cornerstone is recurrent in Scripture. In Matthew 21:42, Jesus Himself declares that the prophecy of Psalm 118:22 has been fulfilled in Him: the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Just as a cornerstone unites and stabilizes the structure of a building, so Christ, though rejected by the Jews, has been appointed by God as the cornerstone to complete the theocracy, God's governance over His people. The apostle Peter reiterates this in Acts 4:11 and further elaborates in his first epistle, connecting it not only to Psalm 118:22 but also to Isaiah 28:16. He portrays Christ as the living stone, set by God in Zion, to which believers are added as living stones (1 Peter
2:4-6). Paul develops this metaphor by describing the church as built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets in their proclamation of the Gospel, with Christ Himself being the cornerstone of this edifice (Ephesians 2:20). Elsewhere, Paul identifies Christ as the foundation of the church (1 Corinthians 3:10), but here in Ephesians, he emphasizes Christ as the cornerstone, signifying that the church's strength lies solely in the living Christ.
Yet, the image of a building, despite depicting Christ as the cornerstone, falls short of expressing the profound union between Christ and His congregation. The connection between a cornerstone and the walls of a building is merely structural, whereas the bond between Christ and His church is one of life. Therefore, Jesus not only describes Himself as the stone set by God as the cornerstone, but also as the vine that brings forth branches and nourishes them with His life (John 15:1-2). Peter speaks of living stones, and Paul frequently employs the metaphor of a body to describe the church, with Christ as the head of this body (Ephesians 2:21, 4:12). Each local congregation is a body of Christ, and its members are
interconnected, needing and serving one another (Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Collectively, the whole congregation of Christ is His body, over which He has been exalted as head through His resurrection and ascension (Ephesians 1:22-23, 4:15-16, 5:23;
Colossians 1:18, 2:19). As the head, He is the life-giving principle of the church; He initiates its life, sustains, nurtures, and protects it. He fosters growth and maturity in each member, uniting them to work for each other's benefit, ultimately filling the church with the fullness of God.
In Paul's time, some erroneous teachers claimed that various spiritual beings emanated from the depths of the divine being in a descending order, collectively forming its fullness (pleroma). Paul counters this by asserting that the entire fullness of God dwells exclusively in Christ and in Him bodily (Colossians 1:19, 2:9, cf. John
1:14, 16). This fullness, in turn, dwells in the church, His body, which is the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23). Every gift, power, office, ministry, faith, hope, love, salvation, and blessedness in the church originates from Christ. This process of filling continues until the church, in its entirety and all its members, is filled to the fullness of God (John 1:16; Ephesians 3:19, 4:13), culminating in the complete formation of the church and God being all in all (1
Corinthians 15:28).
Christ is also termed "head" in another sense. In 1 Corinthians 11:3, Paul states that Christ is the head of every man. In Colossians 2:10, he describes Christ as the head of all principalities and powers, that is, of all angels, because He is the firstborn of all creation (Colossians
1:15). In Ephesians 1:10, Paul speaks of God's purpose to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth, in the fullness
of time. Here, the term "head" differs from when Christ is called the head of His congregation. In the latter case, Paul refers primarily to the organic, life-giving relationship between Christ and His church.
However, when Christ is called the head of man, of angels, or of the world, the emphasis is on His sovereignty and kingship. All creatures are subject to Christ, just as He, as Mediator, is subject to the Father
(1 Corinthians 11:3). While He exercises the kingship of grace over His church and is often called its head, He holds a kingship of power over all creatures and is frequently referred to as King and Lord. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Chief of all earthly kings, and will reign until all enemies are placed under His feet (1
Corinthians 15:25; 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 1:5, 17:14, 19:16).
This kingship of power should not be conflated with the absolute power Christ shares with the Father and the Spirit according to His divine nature. The omnipotence that the Son possesses from eternity differs from the authority granted to Him as Mediator according to both His divine and human natures (Matthew 28:18). As Mediator,
Christ must gather, govern, and protect His church; to do so, He must be more powerful than all His and her enemies. But this is not the sole reason for Christ's kingship of power. He must also vanquish all His enemies. He does not confront or defeat them by divine omnipotence alone; rather, He demonstrates the power He acquired through His suffering and death. The battle between God and His creatures is a battle of righteousness and justice. Just as the church is redeemed through justice, so Christ's enemies will be judged through justice. God will triumph over them through the Cross (Colossians
2:15), not by sheer omnipotence. If God pursued His enemies with omnipotence alone, they could not endure for a moment. Yet, He grants them life, generation after generation, bestows His benefits
upon them, and endows them with all the gifts they possess in body and soul, which they misuse against His name. God can do all this because Christ is Mediator; even though not all things are presently subject to Him, He is crowned with honor and glory, and He will reign as King until all enemies submit to Him. Ultimately, at the end of time, as individuals reflect on their lives and the world's history, recognizing all the material and spiritual gifts granted for the sake of the Mediator, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Christ will pronounce the final judgment as the Son of Man, judging none except those condemned by the Holy Spirit in their own conscience (John 3:18,
16:8-11).
Study Questions for Reflection 1. How does the exaltation of Christ complete and crown His work of humiliation?
Reflect on the significance of Christ's resurrection, ascension, and seating at the right hand of God in fulfilling His mission of redemption.
2. What are the key benefits secured by Christ through His exaltation, and how do they impact believers?
Consider the various benefits such as reconciliation, forgiveness, and adoption as children of God that are made available through Christ's exaltation.
3. How does the concept of reconciliation in the New Testament highlight both the removal of God's wrath and the establishment of a new relationship with Him?
Discuss the dual aspects of reconciliation: the covering of sin and the transformation of God's disposition towards humanity.
4. Why is the resurrection of Christ described as the foundation of our justification and new life in Him?
Reflect on the importance of Christ's resurrection for believers' justification, sanctification, and hope of eternal life.
5. In what ways does Christ's ascension and seating at the right hand of God affirm His authority and ongoing work as our High Priest and
King?
Consider the significance of Christ's position in heaven and how it ensures His continual intercession and reign over all creation.
6. How does the resurrection of Christ serve as the ultimate proof of His divine Sonship and victory over sin and death?
Reflect on the implications of the resurrection for understanding Jesus' identity and the validation of His redemptive work.
7. What is the role of Christ's intercession in heaven, and how does it provide assurance and comfort to believers?
Discuss the nature of Christ's intercession and how it supports believers in their spiritual journey and struggles.
8. How does the concept of Christ as the head of the Church illustrate the intimate and life-giving relationship between Him and His people?
Reflect on the metaphor of Christ as the head and the Church as His body, and the implications for unity, growth, and service within the Church.
9. What is the significance of the universal proclamation of the Gospel in light of Christ's work of reconciliation and exaltation?
Consider the mandate to preach the Gospel to all nations and the promise of salvation to all who believe in Christ.