Christ: The State of Exaltation

Christ: His Exaltation

Who is Jesus?

The Doctrine of Christ

Introduction

We’ve spent weeks answering one question: Who is Jesus?

Last week we studied the state of Christ’s humiliation: incarnation, suffering, death, and descent into hades. This week, we consider the state of Christ’s exaltation: resurrection, ascension, and session.

The story of Jesus does not end in the tomb, but neither does it end on Easter Sunday. The resurrection of Christ is only the first of three steps up in the exaltation of Christ. He was raised on the third day, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

Raise the Need, State the Destination, Give Signposts:

If Christ’s humiliation answers the question, “How can guilty sinners be redeemed,” His exaltation answers the question, “How can redeemed sinners live victoriously now and forever?” In other words, if the cross is the payment for sin, the exaltation of Christ is the proof that the payment was accepted—and it’s the power that makes that payment effective for us today. Without the resurrection, ascension, and session of Christ, the cross would be tragedy, not triumph.

We give so much attention to the nativity and crucifixion, but the early church gave as much attention to his exaltation. They understood that because Christ was raised, our justification is assured. Because He ascended, we have access to God. And, because Christ is seated on the throne, he will protect us.

Belief in the humiliation of Christ gives you immense personal comfort for your own sins. Belief in the exaltation of Christ will turn you out, towards the world and make you bold in witness. It will make you patient in suffering. It will make you laugh at your own death.

1. The Resurrection: Christ Raised as Firstfruits
2. The Ascension: Christ Enthroned in Heaven
3. The Session: Christ Reigning and Interceding

The Text

Philippians 2:9-11 (981)

⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Acts 2:32-35 (910)

³² This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. ³³ 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. ³⁴ For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

                  “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,

                  “Sit at my right hand,

         ³⁵      until I make your enemies your footstool.”

1. The Resurrection: Christ as Firstfruits

The resurrection is not just a happy ending to the crucifixion story. Neither is the resurrection a mere return to mortal life. When Jesus raised Lazarus, he simply reunited Lazarus departed soul with his lifeless body.

But Scripture speaks of Christ’s resurrection higher terms. In 1 Corinthians 15:20 Paul says that Jesus Christ’s resurrection is, “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Likewise, Colossians 1:18 calls Jesus “the firstborn from the dead.” And to explain what that means, the Apostle Paul says the resurrection of Christ transformed his human body in four ways. He says Christ’s resurrected body is incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual. (1 Cor. 15:42-44)

Incorruptible – no longer subject to sickness, aging, or death.

Glorious – radiant with heavenly splendor.

Powerful – Jesus’ body can now appear in the middle of a room full of disciples.

Spiritual – not ghostly, but perfectly adapted to the Spirit.

In other words, a flawless body. One stripped of all the weakness that we still bear.

And Paul says that his resurrection is the “firstfruits of those who are fallen asleep.”

Imagine you’re a gardener who’s spent months sowing tomato seeds indoors, transplanting them outside, watering daily, weeding around them, patiently waiting. And one morning you look out the window, and in the middle of this bushing green vine, you see the first red ripe tomato. That single tomato is the firstfruits of your harvest. It’s not the whole crop. It’s just the beginning. But it’s special because it’s the promise and guarantee that more tomatoes just like this one are coming

Christ’s resurrection is the first ripe fruit from the dead. His risen body—real, transformed, and glorious—is the guarantee that the full harvest of resurrection will follow for all who belong to him, and that their bodies will be raised and transformed to be like his glorious body. As Lewis said, “Christ is the ‘pioneer of life.’ He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man.”

Years ago, I planted daffodil bulbs in the woods behind my house. They spring up before any of the leaves come out on the trees in spring. And the moment I saw the first green rising out of the brown leaves I know that Spring was coming and the entire woods would be filled with yellow.

Friend, Jesus Christ was crucified in a world of cold, cold, miserable death, a Winter of ice and barrenness. But three days later, the first green of an eternal Spring shot out of the ground, and one day the entire world will be a meadow of yellow flowers.

The resurrection carries doctrinal weight as well. The resurrection is the Father’s public declaration that Christ’s sacrifice for our sin was accepted. It’s like the Father’s stamp of approval, his heavenly endorsement that Christ’s work has accomplished all of our salvation. Romans 4:25 says he was “raised for our justification.”

Friend, because Christ is risen, your sins can be forgiven. You can receive his new life. You and be assured of your own resurrection!

2. The Ascension: Christ Enthroned in Heaven

Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus led his disciples out to the Mount of Olives. He commissioned them to that the gospel to the ends of the earth, and then Acts 1:9 records,

⁹ 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.

The cloud that received him was no odd weather anomaly. It was the glory cloud of God’s presence, receiving the resurrected and glorified Christ into heaven. The ascension means at least two things. First, it means that Christ is enthroned, and second, it means we have access to God.

First, it means that Christ is enthroned.

Go back to the original creation of man in the garden. Man was made to be God’s kingly representative on earth. Man, in God’s image was to rule over the earth under God’s delegated authority. Psalm 8:5 says:

⁵ Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet,

Adam was made in the garden to be God’s vice-regent. To have dominion over every living thing on the earth. And sadly, Adam through sin lost dominion. Christ’s ascension to heaven, means that Christ—as a man—now sits enthroned over creation. Christ recaptures the dominion that Adam lost.

So, if Christ is enthroned, then why is the world so messed up? It’s because Christ’s rule is made visible in this age in the church. He rules and reigns over his church as He establishes it by the preaching of his law and gospel in every nation.

Do you want to see Christ’s rule in this age? Look to the church. The church is where you will hear His law proclaimed, His precepts taught, His truth heralded, His authority visibly exercised in the churches that preach His Word and administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s table. Christ is building his church. And when his church is full, he will come again and his reign will be visible in all the earth.

Second, the ascension means we have access. Hebrews 4:14 says:

¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God… ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The Old Testament high priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year with fear and trembling. If you study the Old Testament Tabernacle you learn the Most Holy Place symbolized heaven. The veil covering it was blue like the skies and covered with angelic beings. The Ark of the Covenant inside the veil was in the shape of a footstool at the base of a king’s throne. When the resurrected Christ ascended, he didn’t enter a physical veil, but the heavens. He didn’t go into a copy of a throne, but to the spiritual throne of God itself.

Because Christ has ascended, we can draw near. In other words, because Jesus Christ, our representative stands in heaven, in the presence of the Father, and because we are united with him—we too have access.

In heaven there is a throne, and for those who are in Christ, it is a throne of grace. It is a throne of mercy. A throne that you can approach with confidence and boldness. You can run in, plead your case, and the one who sits on the throne bends his ear down to hear your every single request.

Not because you have earned your way into his presence, but because you are united to one who has—Jesus Christ.

3. The Session: Christ Reigning & Interceding

The word “session” ought to remind you of a court being in session. The judge has taken the bench. That’s the idea. When Christ ascended, he didn’t wander the halls of heaven aimlessly. He took his place at the right hand of the Father, the place of authority, the place of affection, the place of rule, and from there he reigns over creation.

Several Scripture passages speak of Christ’s session:

Hebrews 1:3

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high

Hebrews 10:12

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God

1 Petter 3:22

has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Psalm 110:1

The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

But what does the session of Christ mean? Here’s what it means… though Christ, by virtue of his divine nature always and forever ruled over all creation, according to his human nature he now sits as the sovereign protector over his church and is our intercessor before God.

He rules and protects his church. He has all of the forces of heaven at his command. His angels are messengers and servants to us, as one theologian said, “always ready to convey his blessings to the saints, and to guard them against surrounding dangers.” (Berkhof)

But not only does he rule as king, he also serves as our priest and intercessor. Though his suffering was finished on the cross, Christ ever lives to plead for his saints. He is continually presenting his finished sacrifice to the Father and the sufficient basis for God’s pardoning grace to us. He is constantly, through his Spirit which he sent, applying his finished sacrifice to us, making it effective in our justification and sanctification. Friend, if you have believed upon Jesus, it is because the Spirit of the seated Christ has been sent to you to give you ears that might hear, eyes that might see, and a heart that might love and believe the truth.

And his work is not done yet! He accomplished our salvation on the cross, he applies that salvation by the Spirit he sends, and he intercedes for us continually. Daily. Moment by moment. He is, right now, making the prayers of every Christian acceptable to God the Father.

Have you ever tried to pray and felt like a complete failure? I have. Have you ever prayed and felt like the words bounced off the ceiling? I’ve been there plenty of times. And I used to be so frustrated at the feebleness and weakness and shortness of my prayers. I felt there was no way God would listen to me.

And then I read Romans 8:34 which says that Christ Jesus was raise and is at the right hand of God interceding for us.

Let me explain what that means with a story. Have you every frosted a cake? I’m not much of a baker, but I’ve watched real bakers frost a cake. They mix up a giant bowl of frosting, grab a piping bag, and start spooning in great globs of frosting. But at the end of that piping bag is a decorative tip. That frosting goes in like a giant mess, but as soon as it passes through that decorative tip it’s perfectly shaped into swirls, and leaves, and ribbons.

That’s what it’s like for your prayers, as gloppy and messy as they are, to pass through your intercessor, Jesus. The truth is we don’t know what to prayer for as we ought. But Jesus does. We don’t pray as often as we ought. But Christ never ceases to pray. We do not know the mind of God, and surely, if we did, we would change many of our requests. But Jesus knows the mind of God, and he takes all of our weak, short, ignorant, doubting prayers, and makes them powerful, wise, true, and faithful prayers that he then offers to the Father who answers them all according to his purposes.

Conclusion

Church, behold your exalted Savior!

He was raised as the firstfruits—sealing your justification and your resurrection.

He ascended into heaven— granting you access to the Father!

He is seated at the right hand – reigning as King, interceding as Priest!

The God-man who humbled himself has become highly exalted—for your salvation and his glory! Rest in his work. Draw near with confidence. Live boldly under his rule.

Because he reigns, you can face suffering without fear, witness without shame, and even die without despair. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father! Bow now in faith. Rise now in hope, and wait eagerly for the returning king and judge.