Knowing the Son as Redeemer in His Exaltation (Faith in Theology Series 4 of 6)
Having examined the Son’s work of humiliation as our Redeemer in his birth, life, and death, we turn now to consider his work of exaltation in his resurrection, ascension, and return.
His Resurrection
When describing Jesus’ resurrection, the Creed says, The third day he rose again from the dead.[1] Luke writes:
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. (Luke 24:1-3)
Jesus’ tomb was empty and no one could produce his body.[2] During the next forty days, the resurrected Jesus presented himself to the Apostles with “many proofs” as he was “speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3, Luke 24:25-27). Paul describes several of Jesus’ appearances, which were usually to groups from 2 to 500, including his appearance to Paul after Jesus’ ascension (Acts 9:1-9). Paul writes:
He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive … Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1 Cor. 15:5-8)[3]
At Pentecost, Peter proclaims the resurrection of Jesus as proof that Jesus is God’s promised Son of King David. (Psalm 16:8-11, Acts 2:14-32)[4] The Scriptures give us several perspectives on the meaning and significance of Jesus’ resurrection.[5] The resurrection:
declares Jesus to be Lord and God’s Only Son (Acts 2:29-39, Acts 17:30-31, Rom. 1:4)
proves Jesus’ atoning death is accepted by the Father (Rom. 4:24-25, Phil 2:8-9)
declares Jesus as firstborn from the dead (Rom. 8:29, Col. 1:18)[6]
reveals Jesus as the firstfruits inauguration of God’s kingdom on earth (1 Cor. 15:20-28)[7]
demonstrates Jesus’ victory over Satan, sin, and death (Acts 2:24)
guarantees us forgiveness and justification (1 Cor. 15:17, Rom. 4:25)
provides us assurance that Jesus now lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25)
brings us, by God’s Spirit, into resurrection life now (Rom. 6:3-5, Eph. 1:18-20, 1 Pet. 1:3)[8]
guarantees our future deliverance from death (1 Corinthians 15:18)
promises our future resurrection body and everlasting life (Rom. 8:23, 1 Cor. 15:20, 23, 49)
Paul teaches that the bodily resurrection of Jesus is central to our faith. He writes, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” (1 Cor. 15:7) Because Jesus is risen, God promises all who repent and believe in the resurrected Christ:
1) a new standing before God by forgiving their sins,
2) a new heart from God by giving them his indwelling Holy Spirit, and
3) a new world with God when Jesus returns to raise them from the dead and give them resurrected bodies like his through which they will reign with him on a new earth forever.
His Ascension
The Creed’s next affirmation about Jesus Christ is that: He ascended into heaven, [and] he is seated at the right hand of the Father. In Jesus’ last meeting with his disciples, forty days after his resurrection, he tells them that they will receive power to be his witnesses when his promised Holy Spirit comes upon them. (Acts 1:8) After Jesus tells them these things, Luke records:
As they (the disciples) were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?” (Acts 1:9-11)
The word heaven in Scripture has several meanings, including the sky with clouds, God’s presence (his dwelling place), and the state of angels and humans as they share God’s presence. In this account of Jesus’ ascension, heaven refers to both the sky and God’s invisible presence.
Heaven is glorious but it is not the ultimate destination of Jesus and his followers. The two men in white robes (presumed to be angels) at the scene after his ascension said, “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11b). Heaven is a temporary, “intermediate state,” after the believer’s death, that awaits Jesus’ return and the final resurrection when we’ll have renewed bodies on a renewed earth forever.[9]
Early in his ministry Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). As the eternal Son of God, Jesus’ divine nature always has all authority. But the Father did not give all authority to the person of Jesus Christ as the God-man (Greek: theanthropos) until after his resurrection. Before Jesus gave his disciples the Great Commission, the resurrected God-man told them: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18).
In his ascension, Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father to complete the Father’s mission as his Redeemer-King to redeem and restore fallen humanity and creation.[10] In his divine nature as the eternal Son of God, he always rules sovereignly over all things along with the Father and the Spirit. But now Jesus rules as the ascended God-man at the right hand of God the Father.
Jesus’ rule at the Father’s right hand reflects the model of kings and emperors in the ancient world where lesser kings would rule as vassals over various portions of a great kingdom, always rendering service and paying tribute to the one great high king. Therefore, at the end of time, when all things have been placed under his feet, Jesus will then subject himself and all things to the Father. (1 Cor. 15:28)
In Acts 2:33-36, Peter proclaims the good news of Jesus’ ascension to God’s right hand by reminding his hearers about Psalm 110 in which David’s promised Son (Jesus) is also David’s Lord who is now seated and ruling at the great high King’s right hand.[11]
When Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father in Heaven, he and the Father poured out his promised Holy Spirit on his Church, to make God’s invisible kingdom visible on earth, not only in human hearts, but also in every sphere of life until it reflects the order of heaven. The outpouring of God’s Spirit is both for our personal salvation and for the empowerment of his Church to fulfill God’s mission on earth.[12]
Peter explains that the miraculous outpouring of God’s Spirit which they all experienced at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13) was evidence that the resurrected, ascended Jesus is now seated (enthroned) and ruling at God’s right hand, by his Holy Spirit, to bring all God’s enemies under his feet.[13]
Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. (Acts 2:33)
Paul’s explanation of the gospel extends beyond Jesus’ death and resurrection in the past (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) to include Jesus’ present and future rule as the ascended King over all things by the Spirit. (1 Cor. 15:25-28) Jesus will continue his rule until he completes the mission that God the Father gave him to make all things new.
The good news is not only what Jesus did, but also who Jesus is because of what he did. Because of Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension, he is now reigning at the right hand of God as Lord and Savior of the world. In the New Testament this fundamental affirmation is that “Jesus is Lord!” (Rom. 10:9, Phil. 2:9-11)
His Return
The final section on Jesus’ exaltation in the Creed says, “He will come to judge the living and the dead.” The Nicene Creed later adds the biblical truths: “He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end.”[14]
For forty days after his resurrection, Jesus continued “speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). So just before his ascension, his disciples asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). It was not yet the time for Jesus to restore the fullness of God’s kingdom on earth, so he answered them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:7).[15]
Jesus followers soon learned that they were living in a period between his ascension and return to restore the fullness of God’s kingdom on earth forever. During this interim period, Jesus told them, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Earlier Jesus taught them, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14).
As the enthroned Lord and Christ, Jesus is now continuing his Father’s mission of bringing God’s kingdom to earth by the power of his Holy Spirit and through his Church. Jesus will continue his rule until he completes the mission that God the Father gave him at the end of time. Paul writes:
Then comes the end, when he (Jesus) delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Cor. 15:24-26)
At the Father’s appointed time, when the work of his church is done, Jesus will return with glory to restore the Father’s kingdom on earth in all its fullness and his kingdom will never end. Paul describes this glory: “[W]hen the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thess. 1:7-8).[16]
God’s final judgment will include both “the living and the dead,” meaning everyone who is alive on earth when Jesus returns, and everyone in all of history who has died. Prior to God’s final judgment, the Scriptures teach there will be a bodily resurrection of everyone. (1 Cor. 15:50-52)[17]
Then comes God’s final judgment when all people, believers and unbelievers, will stand before Jesus Christ as their Judge. To his followers Jesus will say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). But to the unbelievers Jesus will say, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).[18]
Martin Luther beautifully summarizes the meaning of our belief in God the Son’s humiliation and exaltation as our Redeemer in these five statements:
I believe that Jesus Christ---true God, Son of the Father from eternity, and true man, born of the Virgin Mary---is my Lord.
At great cost he has saved and redeemed me, a lost and condemned person.
He has freed me from sin, death, and the power of the devil---not with silver or gold, but with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death.
All this he has done that I may be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally.
This is most certainly true.[19]
Footnotes:
[1] In the first century, the term “third day” does not refer to three 24-hour days, but to three subsequent days, i.e. Jesus was crucified on Friday, remained dead on Saturday (the Jewish sabbath), and was raised from the dead on Sunday morning (the first day of the week that became the Christian Sabbath).
[2] Even though Jesus spoke about his resurrection often (Matt. 17:22; 26:61; Mark 8:31; 14:58; Luke 9:22; John 2:19), his followers were surprised by it.
[3] In 1 Corinthians 15:4, Paul adds to his phrase “he was raised on the third day” the phrase “in accordance with the Scriptures referring to God’s promises in the Old Testament Scriptures to send Israel a Ruler in the line of King David who would deliver his people from their captivity to Satan, sin, and death. The Nicene Creed also adds Paul’s phrase: “The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.”
[4] In Acts 2:14-32, Peter proclaims the good news of Jesus’ resurrection by reminding his hearers about the Old Testament Scriptures (Psalm 16:8-11), in which David spoke in the first person as one whom God would not allow to stay dead and decay: “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.” Peter reminds them that David died and his tomb was with them as proof of his death. He explains that David was speaking as a prophet in the first person in Psalm 16 about the Christ whom God swore to David would be one of his descendants, who would rule on God’s throne to bring God’s kingdom to earth forever. (2 Sam. 7:11-16, Ps. 78:60-72) Jesus of Nazareth, the man who performed many miracles in their midst, the man whom they killed, is God’s promised King in the line of David whom God did not allow to stay dead and decay. Peter proclaims “This Jesus God raised up.” (Acts 2:32a) Then, to bolster the physical reality of his claim, Peter refers to Jesus’ many post-resurrection appearances to his disciples, many of whom were with Peter as he was preaching. Peter proclaims, “We all are witnesses.” (Acts 2:32b)
[5] Since the Bible presents Jesus’ death and resurrection as his unified saving work (Rom. 4:24-25), we must understand the blessings of his resurrection as always integrally linked to the blessings of his saving death and vice versa.
[6] Paul describes the resurrected Christ as the “firstborn from the dead” (Rom 8:29) referring to all those who will follow Jesus by their resurrection in the new age to come and rule with him in all areas of life forever.
[7] The good news of Jesus’ resurrection reveals the inauguration of God’s kingdom coming on earth in a new way. Paul writes, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20). The firstfruits are offered at the beginning of the harvest as a sign that there is much more to come later. Paul presents the resurrected Jesus as having gone ahead of us who will follow him later when Jesus returns. We now live in between Jesus’ resurrection and our future resurrection. Until our resurrection, we are called by God to “his resurrection project” of bringing his sovereign and saving rule as Lord to bear on all things.
[8] Through our union with Christ we experience the benefits of his death and resurrection. Paul writes, “We were ... buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection” (Romans 6:4-5).
[9] In the New Testament, death is a temporary separation of the soul from the body. The physical body deteriorates, while the believer’s soul is in conscious fellowship and bliss in God’s presence awaiting the return of Christ and the resurrection when the soul will be reunited with the resurrected body. (Luke 23:43, Rom. 8:18-23, 2 Cor. 5:3-8, Phil. 1:23-24, 1 Thess. 4:14-17)
[10] Following the example of the ancient world in which kings also served as priests (Melchizedek in Gen. 14), the Bible refers to Jesus’ seat at the right hand of the Father as being both our King (Acts 2:30-36, Ephesians 1:18-23, Hebrews 1:3-9, 1 Peter 3:21-22) and our Priest who intercedes for us. (Rom. 8:34 and Heb. 7:25, 8:1) In Hebrews 7:25 we read, “Therefore he [the ascended Christ] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” At the Last Supper, Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31-32).
[11] At Pentecost, Peter proclaims that David was not raised from the dead, but David’s promised Son, Jesus, was raised from the dead in fulfillment of God’s promise in Psalm 16. Then Peter proclaims that David did not ascend to the right hand of God (For David did not ascend into the heavens), but David’s Son, Jesus, did ascend to God’s right hand in fulfillment of God’s promise in Psalm 110. Using Psalm 110, Peter proclaims that David’s promised Son was also David’s Lord. Peter quotes David’s words, “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ In this verse, the Hebrew word for the first LORD is Yahweh (יהוה) referring to God’s personal name he first revealed to Moses in Exodus 3. The Hebrew word for the second Lord is Adonai ( אדני) referring to the title, Lord (i.e. Christ). Therefore, David is saying: “‘The LORD (Yahweh) said to my Lord (Adonai i.e. Christ), “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool”’ (Ps. 110:1).
[12] The Father and the Son graciously sent the Spirit to apply the riches of Christ’s redemptive work to all things lost in the Fall in order to redeem and restore them to God’s original design. The Holy Spirit’s transforming presence will one day fully restore fallen humanity and creation, freeing them from all the effects of sin at the coming of the new heaven and new earth. In the meantime, God has given Jesus authority, through his Spirit, to form a new corporate humanity, the Church, to embody and bear witness to God’s kingdom on earth in word and deed. We’ll study the person and work of the Holy Spirit in greater detail in the next section.
[13] We address the subject of tongues and prophecy in the book and course on “Revelation in Theology” in this series. A balanced approach can be found in J. I. Packer’s Keep in Step with the Spirit (Revised, Enlarged edition). Baker Books. (2005)
[14] We’ll examine in more depth the biblical concept of God’s coming kingdom in “the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting” in the Creed’s next section on the Holy Spirit.
[15] Then he tells them, “’But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.’” (Acts 1:8-9)
[16] Jesus first came as God’s humble, suffering servant, but at his second coming, he will come as God’s righteous Judge. Paul writes, “He [God] has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).
[17] We’ll study the biblical teaching on the end times and the final resurrection (I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting) in more depth in the next section of the Creed on the Holy Spirit as Restorer.
[18] Martin Luther writes, “And all this, in order to become my Lord; for He did none of these for Himself, nor had He any need of it. And after that He rose again from the dead, swallowed up and devoured death, and finally ascended into heaven and assumed the government at the Father's right hand, so that the devil and all powers must be subject to Him and lie at His feet, until finally, at the last day, He will completely part and separate us from the wicked world, the devil, death, sin, etc.” The Large Catechism – Book of Concord, Article II, section 31.
[19] Martin Luther’s Small Catechism: The Creed, The Second Article.