Introduction
The Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms refer to the Lord’s states of humiliation and exaltation: how he came down from heaven as one of us and suffered and died on the cross and was buried; and how afterwards, he was raised from the dead and exalted to heaven to sit at God’s right hand side. And the Nicene Creed follows the same pattern in describing the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We’ve already studied the lines of the Creed which deal with his state of humiliation. So, for us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven; and was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary; and he was made man; and he was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; and he suffered and was buried. Those lines of the Creed trace the downward movement of the Lord, who humbled himself in order to lift us from our sin and misery and to give us eternal life in the presence of God.
And the next part of the Creed, which we’re beginning today, deals with his state of exaltation. So, it’s about his resurrection and ascension and his enthronement in heaven and how he will come again to judge the living and the dead; and his kingdom will never end. So, after going down, down, down to death and the grave, he went up, up, up to be enthroned at his Father’s side as king over all.
Biblical witness
All four gospels record for us his resurrection from the dead. They tell us about the women and John and Peter who went to his tomb and found it empty. When the women were there, an angel appeared and told them that the Lord was not there, because he has been raised, just as he said he would. And the gospels record for us how the Lord appeared to various people after his resurrection. He appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden and he appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And then he appeared to the disciples in the upper room. And a week later, he appeared to them again when Doubting Thomas was with them. And then he met them after they had spent the night fishing. And right before his ascension, he met the disciples again and commissioned them to go and to make disciples in his name. And so, the Lord appeared to these people and made clear to them that he really was alive and they were not seeing a ghost.
In Acts 2:24, Peter explains to the crowd in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost that they put the Lord to death by nailing him to the cross, but God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death. And in Revelation 1, the Risen and Exalted Lord Jesus appeared to John in a vision and he said about himself: ‘I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!’ Having been raised from the dead, he now lives for ever as one of us. And the whole of 1 Corinthians 15 is all about the resurrection: our resurrection from the dead in the future which depends on Christ’s resurrection from the dead in the past.
Interestingly, most of the gospels do not record for us the Lord’s ascension to heaven. They end with his resurrection. But Luke records his ascension for us at the end of his gospel and also at the beginning of Acts. In his gospel, Luke tells us that the Lord led them to the vicinity of Bethany, where he lifted his hands and blessed them. And while he was doing so, he was taken up into heaven. In the book of Acts, he tells us that the Lord commissioned the disciples. And then he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight. And then two angels appeared to explain to them that ‘This same Jesus, who was has taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’ And so, the angels made clear that the Lord ascended to heaven. That’s where he is now and he will return from there one day.
And so, in the account of Stephen’s death in Acts 7, we’re told that Stephen looked up to heaven as he was being stoned, where he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Stephen therefore saw the Lord in heaven. And Paul heard the voice of the Lord Jesus speaking to him from heaven in the account of Paul’s conversion in Acts 9,
Then there’s his enthronement in heaven. So, in Romans 8:34, Paul tells us that the Lord Jesus is at God’s right hand, where he’s interceding for us. And in Ephesians 1, Paul describes how God the Father raised the Lord Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in this present age but also in the age to come. And God the Father placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church. Also in Ephesians, Paul writes about the Lord ascending higher than all the heavens. In Philippians 2, Paul describes both the Lord’s descent to the grave and his exaltation to the highest place. Paul goes on to say that he has received the name that is above every name 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 he is Lord. And in Colossians 3:1, Pauls tells us to set our hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 1 that after he provided purification for sins, the Lord sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. And he refers to the Lord’s enthronement in other places in Hebrews. Peter refers to it in 1 Peter 3:22. And in John’s vision of heaven in Revelation 7, he saw a great multitude of people from every nation standing before the throne of God. And the Lamb — Jesus Christ — is with God.
Those are only some of the places in the New Testament where we read about the Lord’s resurrection, his ascension and his enthronement in heaven. But we also read about these things in the Old Testament, which is why the Creed says that Lord rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. For instance, Psalm 16:10 says that God will not abandon the psalmist to the grave; nor will he let his Holy One see decay. That verse is quoted in the New Testament and applied to the Lord Jesus. God did not let him see decay, but raised him from the dead. Isaiah 53, which is all about the suffering of the Saviour, ends with the promise that after the suffering of his soul he will see the light of life. Jonah’s three days and nights in the belly of the fish point forward to the Lord’s resurrection on the third day. In Hosea 6:2 it says: ‘After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.’ Interpreters have often seen in this a reference to the Lord’s resurrection on the third day.
Then Psalm 110 depicts a conversation in heaven where God the Father says to the Lord Jesus: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ It’s a psalm about the Lord’s enthronement in heaven after his resurrection and ascension. And in Daniel 7, the prophet describes a vision he saw when one like a son of man approached the Ancient of Days and received an everlasting dominion. Daniel was seeing into the future and to the time when the Lord — the one like a son of man — was brought into God’s presence in heaven to reign as king over all.
And so, the Old Testament foretells the Lord’s resurrection from the dead, his ascension to heaven and his enthronement at God’s side. And the New Testament describes these things for us.
Significance
Let’s now think about the significance of these things. And I first want to note the significance of the Lord’s resurrection for himself. Romans 1:3+4 can be translated as follows. The gospel, says Paul, is about God’s Son: ‘who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead….’ Paul is contrasting, not the two natures of Christ, but two phases in his incarnate existence. He mentions first his incarnate existence in the weakness of the flesh; and then he mentions his incarnate existence in the power of the Holy Spirit. So, when the Son of God came down from heaven and was incarnate and made man, he experienced the humiliation and weakness and dishonour and death which marks our earthly existence. He suffered and was buried. But now, by his resurrection from the dead, he has left that weak, earthly existence behind to begin a new life of power and glory and honour. He is still the incarnate Son of God. He is still one of us. But his incarnate existence as one of us is very different now. And the turning point was his resurrection from the dead. By his resurrection from the dead, he passed from the state of humiliation to that state of exaltation. He passed from weakness to power and from dishonour to glory.
That’s what the resurrection meant for him. And his resurrection from the dead means something for us. It means that our sins have been paid for in full. If he had not paid for our sins in full, then he would still be dead, because the wages of sin — what sin deserves — is death. But having paid for our sins in full, he was able to be released from death. So, just as a criminal, who has done his time in prison, can be released from prison once the sentence is complete, so Christ was released from the grave because he had — in a sense — done his time and completed the sentence that was against us. And so, Paul wrote: ‘if Christ had not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins’. But Christ has been raised to show that our sins have been paid for and we have peace with God.
And the resurrection of our Lord is the guarantee that we too will be raised. His resurrection was the first-fruits. That is to say, he was the first to be raised from the dead, but he will not be the last. When he comes again in glory and with power, he will say the word and we will all be raised from the dead. Those who did not believe will be raised to suffer everlasting punishment in body and soul, while those who believed will be raised to enjoy everlasting life in body and soul. And so, the Lord said to Martha at the tomb of Lazarus, that he is the resurrection and the life and he who believes will live even though he dies. We will live, even though we die, because he will raise us from the dead.
The Lord ascended to heaven, where he now intercedes for his people here on earth. He does so by appearing continually in our nature before the Father in heaven to declare his will to have the merit of his obedience and sacrifice applied to us. That is to say, because of his sacrifice, our sins are washed away; and because of his obedience, God treats us as if we’ve done everything right. And the Lord Jesus answers every accusation which the devil makes against us. So, he ascended to heaven to intercede for us.
And from his throne in heaven, the Lord Jesus has poured out his Spirit on his people to give us the new birth so that we’re able to repent and believe in the Saviour for forgiveness and eternal life. He sends his Spirit down to us to raise us up to a new life of faith and obedience. And so, when he was still on the earth, he told his disciples that he was leaving them for their own good, because unless he goes the Holy Spirit will not come. And in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, Peter explained that the Lord Jesus has been exalted to heaven and he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured him out on the people. If he had not been enthroned in heaven, he could not send us his Spirit. But having been enthroned there, at the Father’s right hand, he has received the Spirit and given him to us.
And because the Lord Jesus is enthroned over every created power, then his people do not need to be afraid of anyone or anything. This is because no-one can do anything to us without his permission; and nothing happens to us which is not his will for us. And his will for his people is good, because he is good and his love and goodness for his people is overflowing and never-ending. And by his mighty power, he’s able to strength us to face every trial and he’s able to use all things for our good.
And so, there’s no reason for us to be afraid or to worry about anything, because the Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered and was buried, rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures; and he ascended to heaven; and he sits at the right hand of the Father, where he rules over all things for our sake.
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