The Ascension Of Jesus Christ

Our Father, we do thank you for the gift of life. Even today, you have renewed unto us your mercies, and great is your faithfulness. We thank you for preserving and keeping us this past week. And this is a new week, the first day of that week, and we give you praise and glory and honor and blessing.

In and through the name of the Lord Jesus, we come to you asking for you to please bless us. Remember us today as we come to the house of the Lord with a desire to worship and adore and exalt the Lord our God.

Teach us, we pray, from your word this morning in this class, and may Jesus Christ be praised. We ask it in his name, amen. Alright, in 1 Timothy chapter 3 will be one of the first verses that we look at, but I want to start the class this morning by asking you a question.

Where Jesus Is Now: The Ascension

Now I'm not asking you to enter into any type of idolatrous practice when I ask you this question, but what is it that you picture in your mind when you think of where Jesus Christ is right now? Where is the Lord Jesus right now?

What do you picture? What do you think? James? Ascended? Okay. You read the bulletin, didn't you? We're good, brother. Bruce? The right hand of the Father. The right hand of the Father. You looked at the bulletin also, didn't you?

You know what the class is going to be about, all these good doobies in the class. No, I'm kidding. It's correct. Any other thoughts? I mean, some people think, you know, they concentrate on Jesus in the manger, little baby.

True. Some people think of his earthly ministry, him walking about on the earth and doing good, as it says in Acts, and that's right also. Some think of him crucified and on the cross, and sadly, some religions keep him there, but there's more to it, right?

Some think of him being raised again, resurrected from the grave, and that is correct too. But as James and as Bruce said, there's more to it. Some think, you know, earthly ministry, death, burial, resurrection, when you think of what's the gospel?

The death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus, and then you don't hear too much more after that. I mean, really think about it. How often, and the subject, of course, this morning is the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How often do we hear about the ascension? Look in 1 Timothy 3, the very last verse, I believe it is, "...great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He," this is speaking of Jesus, "...was manifested in the flesh.".

What doctrine is that? Jesus came in the flesh, the incarnation. Jesus was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen of angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and here it is, taken up to glory.

There it is, the ascension, taken up to glory. There's more beyond the grave. There's more beyond the resurrection when Jesus was raised by the Father, was raised by the Spirit, was when he raised himself from the grave.

There's more after it. That's what I hope that we'll look at this morning, and it'll be an encouragement to us. Let me give you a definition. I got this out of a very small paperback book called Theological Isms, a layman's reference guide to theological terms by Randy Smith, and he put it this way.

The ascension is the act of the resurrected Lord Jesus. See, he's already resurrected, there's more. The act of the resurrected Lord Jesus where he ended his post-resurrection appearances to his disciples and departed to heaven where he will remain seated at the right hand of God until he returns in the clouds for the church at the rapture.

So it's Jesus' work after his earthly ministry, after his death, after his burial, after his resurrection raised up into heaven, and is that it? Is he not doing anything? It's all over. He's just watching, and everything is unfolding before him, and he's inactive, he's uninterested in the church, he's uninterested in Christian lives.

No. There's a work that's ongoing, and that's what we're going to look at this morning. We're going to see some of the practical implications for us. Let's see. If you would then now turn to Colossians, go back just a few books to the left and look in Colossians, maybe it's just a couple of books to the left, Colossians chapter 3.

When Jesus was taken up to glory, where did he go? Well Colossians 3, beginning in verse 1, I'll read there, it says, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, set your minds on the things above, not on the things of the earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

So it says that Jesus Christ is above, so he's in heaven, but the place where he is is that, as Brother Bruce, I believe, said, he is seated at the right hand of God. This imagery comes from the ancient practice where if a person became highly favored of a king, that person would be allowed to sit next to the king and actually sit to the king's right, and it was a place of honor, it was a place of exaltation, and it was a place of honor for that person in the kingdom of that king.

In Jesus Christ, of course, if you look in Hebrews chapter 1, turn to the right now, to the book of Hebrews, we're going to be looking at a lot of scripture, because I want you to see, there are some people who believe that because you only see and hear about the ascension in the book of Luke, at the end of Luke, and you hear it at the beginning of Acts, and Luke wrote both Luke and Acts, that Luke is the only writer that spoke of this, but we just, we read out of Colossians, there's the Apostle Paul, we're reading out of Hebrews now, in Hebrews chapter 1, notice what it says in verse 3, Hebrews 1 .3, and this is speaking of the Lord Jesus, of course, from verses 1 and 2, we see that there, speaking of his son, God speaking of his son, Hebrews 1 .3, he is the radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Notice this in verse 4, I mean, yeah, at the end of verse 3, after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Charles Hodge said of this verse, that Christ was exalted for two reasons, and he said that Christ was exalted, one, because he possessed, as it says in here, all divine attributes, it says he is the radiance of God's glory, the exact imprint of his nature, so he possesses divine attributes, which has entitled him to divine honor, he's been exalted, after he was taken up, and he's seated at the right hand of God, it qualified him then to exercise absolute universal dominion.

And then he's also exalted here, because you notice it says, after he made purification for sins, or after his sacrifice on our behalf, it says here, and he paid for our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, and I'm going to deal with that a little bit later, but God accepted Christ's work on the cross, and raised him from the dead.

Now, there's another New Testament passage that speaks of Jesus' exaltation, after it speaks of him, where it says that he did not think of robbery to be equal with God, if you remember that passage, you remember the passage says that he emptied himself, and then it says he became obedient unto death, it's in Philippians chapter 2, right?

And then at the end, after all of that about his work, it says, and then God gave him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, everything in heaven and on the earth and under the earth should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of the glory of God the Father.

Now in that text, it doesn't say that he was ascended on high, but it's implied there that this exaltation is after the finished work of the Lord Jesus when he became obedient unto death. So we see that the Bible has many different passages that speak of the ascension of Christ, but let's go back to one of the familiar ones in Luke chapter 24.

The Ascension in Luke 24 and the Promise of Heaven

If you turn with me to the end of the gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 24, and before we begin reading in this passage around verse 44, I want to ask the question, how many have ever heard a sermon or you have attended a Sunday school or heard a radio broadcast on the ascension?

Let me see, raise your hand if you've heard one. One, two, three, I only see three, maybe four, maybe four or five, six at the most hands here. Interesting, isn't it? It's not a subject that we hear too much about.

And I said, I want us to change our thinking a bit because what happens is when someone says, encapsulate the gospel for me, would you? And you say Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, he was buried and raised again the third day according to the scriptures and we kind of just stop there, right?

But it's almost like a Paul Harvey moment, isn't it? There's the rest of the story. There's more to it. There's the Bible records and we have one here in Luke chapter 24, which speaks of this great doctrine.

I have heard messages before on this, but I was particularly stirred and the seed for this Sunday school class came in February of this year when we were in Israel and we were on the Mount of Olives and Pastor Pat Abendroth, Mike Abendroth's brother, taught at the Mount of Olives and he brought up this subject of the ascension.

And ever since then, I've been thinking that would be a great, great subject to teach about. And here we are in July and the Lord has allowed us to be able to hear about this great truth. I hope to bring some practical examples of how this truth of Christ's ascension can affect the believer's walk.

It has a significance in our lives. It speaks of the ongoing work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, sometimes we limit that work and we don't have the full picture and there's more. He has ascended on high.

He has seated at the right hand of God, as we saw in Colossians 3 .1. And he is actively engaged in work on behalf of believers. If anything, that should encourage us. There's something the Lord Jesus is doing, but it's great to find out what he's doing.

It's one thing to know that Jesus ascended on high and in heaven, but it's even better to know what is the Lord Jesus doing on our behalf right now and what's the significance of his ascension. Let's learn more of that.

In Luke 24, let's see one of these great first gospel examples of where this truth is portrayed. Luke 24, 44. This is, of course, the account of the two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus after that Jesus had been crucified.

They do not understand the whole record of what took place. They're discouraged. They don't know. They thought Jesus was going to be the Messiah. He was maybe going to deliver them from the Roman oppression.

And Jesus meets up with them and we have a piece of this account here, verse 44. Jesus is speaking to them. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, and notice this here, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer. And on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

And while he blessed them, notice this phrase, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Now out of this text here, what I wanted to look at is where did it say that he was carried up to?

Heaven. What verse is that? Verse 51, right? That's the Bible, right? We're looking at the Bible, right? This is the word of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus, after he was resurrected, crucifixion, resurrection, he was taken up into heaven, carried up into heaven.

And the implication for us here is that this confirms to us that heaven is a real place and that Jesus is in heaven. And what else does it, what else, what other confirmation or affirmation or joy or comfort would you think that a believer could get in those words?

Is a room, a place prepared for us, right? Jesus said in John 14, around verses 2 or 3, he says, I go and prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, Jesus said, there you may be also.

Heaven's a real place. Jesus is there. And the implication to us is that our ascended Lord has gone into heaven and heaven is not a myth. Heaven is not a fable. And again, according to John 14, 2 and 3, Jesus is now performing a work on our behalf.

And one of the works that he's performing as our ascended Lord is that he's preparing us a dwelling place, a place for us to abide eternally. And if you are a person in this room here who's called upon the name of the Lord, you've turned from your sins, repented and called upon Christ and God has saved you by his mercy, by the work of Jesus Christ, then the promise of Jesus is that we'll be in heaven with him.

And he's there. This comforts my heart. This brings me some peace. This brings me some great joy when I know that this is one of the truths of the word of God. Also, you noticed here that when Jesus said these words, he says, thus it is written that Christ should suffer.

Well, there are a lot of Old Testament prophecies and scriptures which speak of the suffering Messiah just right off Isaiah 53. You could read that chapter and see how that he would be bruised for our iniquities.

He would be chastened for our sins and the chastisement of our punishment would fall upon him. And that took place. But it says it's written that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise again. And as he's speaking of this, there are also Old Testament scriptures.

And if you don't have to turn there, but I'll read it for you just as one example. And I'm not going to really, I have to, there's a limited amount of time. I'm only going to be able to deal with the New Testament.

But in Psalm 110, here's an example. Psalm 110 verse one, it says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. There is a reference in the Old Testament that the Messiah would sit at the right hand of God.

And of course, we see that in other places, first Corinthians chapter 15, where it speaks of the end times and what's going to take place and, and Jesus's enemies being put underneath him. But there's a reference there that this is a fulfillment of the Old Testament Miss Messianic prophecy that Jesus would sit at the right hand of God.

But even better yet, there are New Testament verses that we have because we have the, we have the New Testament scriptures. There are New Testament verses, the promises of Jesus. And if you're in Luke, just turn to the very next book, just a few chapters to the right in John chapter six, and look what Jesus said.

These are the words of Jesus himself in John six, there's some very strong teaching that's going on here. And, and by around verse 66, there are some that say, Hey, I, this is just too much. We're out of here.

But in John six in verse 60 says, when many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying who can listen to it. But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this said to them, do you take offense at this?

Notice where it says in verse 30, 62, then what if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before Jesus even says here that he came down from heaven. Of course he was in incarnated. He'd be, God took on flesh.

Jesus came down, but he said, what would it be? It's no nothing. If, if, if he was ascended up into heaven, we, we see the same writing when he's talking to Nicodemus and John chapter three, talking about that.

No man has, has, uh, ascended to heaven, but the son of man who, who, who has, has come down from heaven. Notice in John chapter 16, here's another example. We see this from the words of our Lord Jesus himself in John 16, look with me in verse four, John 16, four, but I have said these things to you, Jesus speaking that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.

I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me. He's foretelling of his death and he's saying that he's going to be leaving them. And they said, where are you going?

Because I have said these things unto you. Sorrow to you. Sorrow has filled your heart. Notice in verse seven, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.

But if I go away, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict and so on. The ministry of the Holy spirit. Jesus here is speaking the fact that he is going away and in order for him, what's, what's the implication here then?

Where, where is the Lord Jesus Christ right now? We've already answered the question, but just kind of think it through again in your mind. Is Jesus walking upon the earth? No, he's not. Does Jesus know what's going on on the earth?

Yes, he's God. He knows that, but his ministry is not on the earth. And sometimes we get the, we get the, in our mind that, that Jesus is, is walking on the earth, but he did walk upon the earth, but now he's ascended into heaven.

Now there is, there is truth. Jesus, you know, Jesus is with us. As it says in John chapter, I mean Matthew chapter 18 for where two or three are gathered together in my name. And when it comes to church discipline, the Lord Jesus is with us, but he's with us by his spirit.

The spirit of God was sent by Jesus to be here upon the earth and to minister amongst the church and to teach us and to lead us and to guide us and to strengthen us and to help us. But without the, the, the implication then is, is that we would not have had the spirit of God if Jesus had not first ascended.

So that had to take place and it all kind of fits together. We think about it. It's good for us to think biblically when it, when it comes to what is God doing right now? What is going on in the world?

How is it that God is dealing with us? Well, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the father. He is there in dominion and rule and power and authority. But the spirit of God is since the beginning of the church, Acts chapter two, that's where we see that it is the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ moving upon the world, working, convicting of sin, saving centers.

And he's, and he's bringing people to Jesus Christ. Let me, let me get it this way. Let me think of it this way. Did, did the father, was the father crucified for us? God, the father was God, the father crucified for us.

No, right? It was Jesus. That was Jesus's work. Uh, was it the spirit of God who gave us believers to Jesus? No, it was the father who did that, right? So you see that though there is one God, three persons, one God, one in essence, one in nature, yet they all have a role.

They all have their work that they're doing on our behalf. And it's wonderful if you think about it, it's wonderful to know that God is concerned with us and he cares for us. But it's good for us to think that it's the spirit of God that's working.

Jesus is seated at the right hand of the father. And part of his, there's, there's another part of his work. Well, the part of his work that he did there when he ascended on high was that he sent the Holy Spirit.

And, um, let's see. Well, I kind of did that one out of order, so I messed up my notes. Maybe I'll get to it later. That's all right. But the spirit of God was sent by Jesus Christ. So the first, one of the first implications is, is that this is a fulfillment of the promise of Jesus and every word that he speaks comes, comes to pass.

It is part of the Bible. It is a biblical truth. And you ask somebody, do you believe in the ascension? Well, if you're a believer, you, you need to, because it's, it's in, it's in the scripture. Another practical implication about the ascension is, um, that the ascension means, and this might seem so basic, but the ascension means that Jesus was raised from the dead, right?

He couldn't have ascended if he hadn't been raised from the dead. And so this proves to us, or this bolsters the truth that unlike false religions where you have the, the Mary, um, Baker, Eddie, Patterson, Eddie's, the, you have the, um, the, the leaders of these false religions, they've dead, they've died and they're in their grave.

Actually, they're not even in their grave because there's more to the story, right? They're suffering in hell until the day when hell will be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever because they rejected Christ.

They, they were sinners who are responsible for their sin before God, but we serve a risen savior. They're, they're, they're saviors, they're leaders dead and no more, but ours, the Lord Jesus has been raised and we know that he's been raised because he's ascended as the Bible says, sitting at the right hand of the father.

And if Jesus was raised from the dead and as ascended on high, what does that say about us? Well, in Hebrews chapter six, you can write this down. If you like Hebrews chapter six and verse 20, it says that he was the forerunner for us.

We have a hope. We have an anchor for the soul. Jesus who suffered for us and he died. It says in that verse that he was the forerunner. He, he actually, in the book of Hebrews, it has this great picture of Christ going into the Holy Holies in heaven.

And, and as like the old Testament priest did in the, in the past and they went in before the holy place and they sprinkled the blood, Jesus did that before God as an acceptable sacrifice for us. And when he did that, he was doing that in heaven and he did it for us on our behalf.

And he was the forerunner. And if he has gone to heaven, what is the implication there for us church? Are we staying here? No, we're going to write, uh, smiles on the faces. I see a few smiles, even though it's early on the morning on a Sunday morning, first day of the week.

But that is great truth, isn't it? That we too will be raised and we too will, will go to heaven and we too will be with Jesus and see him face to face and he's gone there first for us. But I also, I also mentioned turn with me.

This is one of my favorite chapters in Hebrews. You got to turn way to the right now, Hebrews chapter 10. So it's a fulfillment of scripture. It's a fulfillment of the promises of Jesus because he was, because he was ascended means he was raised.

It, uh, it just bolsters that truth and proves to us that he was raised from the dead. As the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10, look with me in verse 12, Hebrews 10 and in verse 12. Yes, it says, but when Christ had offered for all time, a single sacrifice for sins, what did he do?

He kept working, right? He had more to do or he kind of stepped to the side and he said, okay, now sinners, you need to do the rest. You need to do the rest of the work, right? No. It says there that after he had offered that for all time, a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

And what this means here is that the ascension of Jesus Christ speaks of Jesus's finished work of redemption. If there was more to do, he wouldn't have sat down. You think about the old Testament priests when they were working there, you look, you've, if you've ever studied that, this furniture in the, in the, um, in the arch, this furniture in the tabernacle and in the temple and you see there's a, there's a sacrifice, the animals, there's a labor where they washed, there's a golden, the golden candlesticks, there's a table that has, uh, the showbread on it.

There's a, there's an altar of incense where the incense was burnt, burned up. There's the arc of the covenant inside, right? Where's the couches? Where are the chairs? Where's the easy seat? You know, there isn't any.

Why? Because for decades and hundreds of years, it's sacrifice, it's work on behalf of the priest. Every day sacrificing as a reminder of sin, the, the, the, on the day of atonement, once a year going into the holy place and sprinkling the blood, animals, gallons, millions of gallons of blood and it's work.

And it's, I sometimes thought how just the smell and just the blood and, and the, and cutting up the animals and all of that and the work. And they never, they don't get to sit down and they take their turn, right there.

Each priest would take their turn from the tribe of Levi to do their work, but they didn't get to sit down because it was work all the time to, to do these sacrifices as God had commanded them to, to remind them that they needed mercy from God.

They could not save themselves. And it was all a picture of the Lord Jesus. It was a picture of a perfect sacrifice that was to come. But when Jesus comes on the scene, and I love that phrase here in verse 12, it says, he offered for all time, a single sacrifice for sins.

You know what? That just totally blows out of the water right, right now. I mean, when we were, when we were kids and I don't recommend this for anybody, I don't even know if it was legal in Massachusetts.

I think, I think just about anything was legal fireworks wise when we were kids. Now it's like off limits. We used to put, we used to put cherry bombs that, no, not cherry bombs. They were called M -80s and they had a, they had a, they had a waterproof wick on them and you could tie them to a rock and throw them out in the water and they'd sink and go, and go, go up.

I mean, blow things up, blow things out of the water. Fortunately I, well not fortunately, I don't, I don't like that word, but look back and I can't remember any animals coming to the, coming to the surface.

We used to just love to see, we even did it in our swimming pool when we, when we, when the swimming pool was being decommissioned after 30 something years. And I digress, but we blew water sky high out of that thing.

And I was thinking this truth right here blows the Roman Catholic church out of the water. It just demolishes because what is the priest doing every time in the, in the what? The sacrifice of the mass, right?

Every time when they get together there is a sacrifice of the mass, mass, and that priest is offering a sacrifice hopefully so that people's sins will be taken care of. It's done. There's a song that we used to sing and one of the parts of the chorus goes, cast your deadly doing down, down at Jesus feet, finding him in him alone that he's, that the work is gloriously complete.

It's not a religion of doing, it is done. And that's what he's saying here. And when it was done, Jesus had no more work to do. No more work is necessary. And because of that, he sat down. So when we think of the Ascension, when we think of the Ascension, brother and sister in Christ, what we're, what we're saying is, is that Jesus died for our sins.

He was buried. He was raised from the dead and he's ascended to heaven and he sat down because the work is done. Now that should cause some more smiles in the room this morning, right? What a joy. What a great, what a great truth that we have from the Lord.

The Spirit Sent by the Ascended Christ

Okay, next point. The Ascension practically means to us, and this is going to seem pretty clear and I've already dealt with this and I'm just going to say it to kind of wrap up what I said earlier, but that Jesus is not here now.

Now he's here in that he knows everything. It's kind of, these are kind of the mystery of God. These are the things that we can't fully get our, get our mind around sometimes because sometimes we're thinking that Jesus, that he is here, but he is as far as he knows all things and he's aware of what's going on.

But by I'm saying here, he's not now here now is that it is the spirit of God that is working amongst us and where it is the spirit, it is the spirit of Christ, God, the father, God, the son, and God, the Holy Spirit are well aware of what's going on and they, they are caring for us and, and working on the behalf of the church, but it's the spirit's ministry right now.

Okay. For time's sake, I'm going to move on to the next point, which let me, let me talk about this. Remember when I said the, the imagery of sitting at the right hand of the father, what does that mean?

Well, at the right hand speaks of Jesus's present authority over the world. Do you remember in the great commission in Matthew 28 Jesus said, all what all power, all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

When I think of the Lord Jesus, one of the things that I think of when I think of the Lord Jesus being ascended to heaven and sitting at the right hand of, of God, the father, I think of power. I think of might.

I think of dominion and rule over the, over the world, knowing every single thing that's going on, orchestrating every single minute detail of every government of every person, every nation, language, tribe, and tongue.

He's Lord of every plant of every insect of every human, whether they're lost or whether they're saved. And if you, we don't have time to go there, but if you look in Ephesians chapter one, it says that Jesus was sitting at the right hand of the father and now exercising dominion over the world.

And overall it says their authorities and powers. And when it talks about that, it talks about, you know, how we do not, as it says in Ephesians six, wrestle against flesh and blood, but there's invisible forces.

There's demons, there's aimed, there are, there are fallen angels that are, that are actively working under the dominion of Satan. And yet Jesus is greater than them. He's exercised. They, they are on his chain.

I take our little dog for a walk on the end of the end of the leash. Satan is at the end of God's leash. He can go no further than God will allow him to go. He exercises rule there. And then it says something neat at the end of Ephesians one, it says that Jesus is the head of the church and he's at, he's at the right hand of the father seated there, but he's the head of the church.

He's watching over the church. He's caring for the church, empowering the church. Jesus is building his church is, is he not? And he's doing it from a seat of authority at the right hand of the father.

Jesus is no milk toast. Jesus is not some savior that is disconnected with his people or disconnected with his church, actively engaged in the church, loving the church, watching over us, sending his spirit to work among us.

What a great and glorious truth that is. Okay. I only got six more points to get to. We'll get, we'll get there. Um, the next one, let's see, where did I put that one? Well, I can just touch on this one in, uh, you're in Hebrews, right?

You still in Hebrews? Look at Hebrews chapter 12, just quickly in verse two, it says, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now the writer here is talking about this in terms of, uh, of the believers walk or the believers life. And what he is saying here, I believe the author wants us to learn how to run the race of life with the knowledge that we are following in Jesus' steps and will eventually arrive at the blessings of life in heaven that Jesus is now enjoying.

Jesus promised one day to take us to be there with him. And because of that promise, because he's ascended on high, because he's seated at the right hand of the father, all his well in one day, if we run the race with patience, let's look to Jesus.