Pauls Epistle to Colossians (14)

Well, let's turn to Colossians 2 once again.

I'm enjoying our study through this book, the Christ

-centered message that we have before us.

We have addressed this paragraph of Colossians 2, 6 through 15 for, well, the past three Lord's

Day.

And we desire to move on today, beginning with verse 16 to the end of the chapter, verse 23.

However, it's not gonna happen.

Because the passage that we've been considering is so rich with theological and practical lessons for us,

I'm reluctant to move ahead until we address, you know, as

many perspectives or avenues that we can find.

And so I want to deal today with what is suggested by these verses, but we, and we've, we certainly have

alluded to, to this matter, but we haven't addressed it directly.

And that is both the humiliation and the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But before we do so, let us rehearse from our passage what we have learned with regard to the Christian's new life in Christ.

It's important that we understand what's being set forth here.

Last Lord's Day, we gave attention to the believer's union with Jesus Christ in his death barrel and his resurrection.

And this union is set forth particularly in verses 11

through 13, in which the apostle described the spiritual experience of these

Christians in the church at Colossae.

In him also, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting

off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful

working of God who raised him from the dead.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,

God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.

From these few verses, we considered when this union with our Savior takes place,

God brings his people into this state of blessedness, their union with Jesus Christ, at the time of their regeneration.

The regeneration of the sinner that is the new birth takes place, of course,

due to the grace of God.

And here it's described as a circumcision made without hands.

It's a work of God's grace in those whom the Father has purposed to save.

It is upon the transforming event of the new birth that people are united with Christ in his death.

And verse three expresses this by the circumcision of Christ.

And that's a reference to the crucifixion of Christ, the circumcision of Christ here.

But believers are not only united with Jesus Christ in his death, but they are also united with him in his resurrection.

And this is set forth in verse 13.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him,

having forgiven us all our trespasses.

And so our new life in Christ, even as we died to our former life in this

world, our new life in Christ has established a new relationship

between Christians and a new relationship with regard to the fallen world in

which we live.

Now, again, it's through union with Jesus Christ in his death that every Christian died.

In other words, was severed or separated from his former life.

You're not the same person you were before you became a Christian because of your union with

Christ.

And that's what is meant by putting off the body of the flesh.

That's describing your life as you were before you were a Christian.

You've put that off.

That's not who you are any longer.

Our former life came to an end because of our union with Jesus Christ in his death.

And so this changed the way we relate to the fallen world in which we live.

We are no longer bound to its rules or ways of the fallen world.

And really that's the basis of the next two paragraphs that we'll get into next week, Lord willing.

Verses 16 through 23.

We're no longer bound by the world's rules or ways for we have been delivered or transported into another realm, even

the kingdom of God over which the Lord Jesus Christ reigns.

And the Lord Jesus accomplished this for us by what we read in verses 14 and 15.

By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with his legal demands.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

And he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.

Actually, when I started out studying, I wanted to address what those two verses dealt with

and specifically teach about those.

We'll probably have to do that maybe in the first part of next week.

But what Paul is asserting here is that it's because of our union with Jesus Christ that our former relationship with the fallen

world came to an end.

And this is the basis for what Paul argues in these next paragraphs, verses 13

through 23.

We might read them.

Therefore, there's a word, he's drawing a conclusion based on the truth that we have

declared.

Therefore, there's this practical understanding that we should have with regard to our relationship to the world

and how the world would have us live.

Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or

with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism and worship of angels going on in

detail about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind and not

holding fast to the head.

That's Christ's capitalized head from whom the whole body nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments

grows with a growth that is from God.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you

submit to regulations?

Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used

according to human precepts and teachings.

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self -made religion and asceticism

and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

And yet that's exactly what so many do, churches do.

They promote this kind of Christianity.

You know, here are eight or 10 steps on how to do this or that.

And they bring it forth from the Bible.

It seems very practical, but they lose sight of Christ and our

union with Christ, which instructs us and guides us in the way we should view

ourselves and the world.

Now, last Lord's Day, we also gave attention to the fact that the apostle connects the experience of salvation, which involves a new

birth, with baptism.

In a number of places in the New Testament, baptism is so joined with the initial experience of coming to salvation, it's

seen as one event.

Regeneration, repentance, faith, baptism, all together.

And so the new birth, which results in repentance and faith is shown forth in one's confession in baptism.

It was one event, however, all happening together.

And by the way, from this passage, I would argue in Paul's reasoning about burial with Christ, being raised with

Christ, the mode of baptism is set forth as immersion.

It seems to me so obvious, so clear, you wonder how anyone can question that.

But many who practice paedo -baptism advocate sprinkling as a mode of baptism, and they deny

immersion.

And it's really quite amazing to me to read their efforts to explain away

immersion in this passage and other passages like it, but they do.

William Hendrickson does, who's a great commentator, he's a paedo -baptist, but he says,

basically, we can't go forth from this passage without addressing the mode of baptism.

And he basically says, even though baptism is set forth as burial and resurrection with Christ, it really doesn't speak about immersion,

which is incredible to me.

By the way, I'm beginning to work through a massive book by a paedo -baptist,

and it's on baptism in the early church.

It was referred to Ross and me in our conference out in Sacramento, and so I ordered it when I was out there, it came.

And I'm on about page 100 of about 850 pages.

It is the authoritative statement on baptism in the early churches.

And although he's a paedo -baptist himself, he reasons, I've already read the conclusions.

He addresses the New Testament, he addresses Judaism before the first century and their view of baptism.

He addressed the exterior literature, the post -apostolic literature of

the early church, and he very clearly said immersion was the universal practice of the early church.

And although infant baptism and that by sprinkling is mentioned toward the end of the second century for the

first time with certainty and clarity, it really wasn't practiced until

the third or fourth century widespread widely.

And this is a conclusion of a paedo -baptist.

And so clearly immersion is set forth here by Paul's, in Paul's language.

Now, we have dealt with this passage with attention, again, to the believer's union with Jesus Christ in his

death, burial, and resurrection.

But as we consider the spiritual lessons and practical instruction for Christian living before us, I believe it's

important for us to take some time and rehearse some truths about our Lord Jesus

Christ himself that underlies everything in this passage.

And how he represented his people in his life, death, and resurrection.

And that's how it brings benefit to his people.

And so what I want us to consider today is what is commonly described or defined as the humiliation

and the exaltation of the Son of God.

And what is meant by that?

And what's involved in that when we speak of our Lord Jesus and his

humiliation and his exaltation?

Let's first consider his humiliation.

What is that talking about?

Where do we begin?

Well, a very good place is the Westminster Shorter Catechism which is a good resource.

And question 27 addresses the matter.

Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

Answer, Christ's humiliation consisted in his being born and that in

a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life,

the wrath of God, the cursed death of the cross, in being

buried and continuing under the power of death for a time.

And so this question and answer sets forth the historic understanding of Reformed Protestants

regarding this matter of our Lord's humiliation.

Now, when we consider the different manner in which the Son of God has existed through history,

before the incarnation, during his earthly ministry, and

since his resurrection, it's common to think of him in three different states that we just

described.

And technically a state is one's position or status in life and particularly their forensic

or legal relationship in which one stands to the law.

If you broke the law and you were found guilty, then you would stand in a state of condemnation.

Most argue that Christ should be understood to have existed in three states.

Again, these would first be his pre -existence as the eternal God.

Second, the earthly state of his incarnation from the incarnation to his death and burial.

And third, his present heavenly state of exaltation.

Some reduce that to two states, before his incarnation and after his incarnation.

And I understand that.

But it would seem that three, I think is a proper way to delineate the

experience of our Lord Jesus.

By the way, these different states of the Lord are certainly reflected in passages of scripture.

And we've sat down a few of these, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, that would be in his

pre -incarnate state before he became a man.

He became poor, there you come into a second state, the state of humiliation,

assuming our human nature.

So that through his poverty, we might become rich.

So really there's only two stages mentioned there in that verse, isn't there?

Galatians 4, 4 and 5, but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son,

born of a woman under the law.

There you have two stages, before and after.

In order to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Philippians 2, 6 through 11 is one of the clearest passages.

Christ being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, or perhaps better, did not

see equality with God something to be grasped or hung on to.

But rather made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, coming in the likeness

of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death,

even the death of the cross.

And therefore God also has highly exalted him, given him a name, which is above every name, that at

the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, those in heaven, those on earth, those under the earth,

that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

There you see three states, don't you?

Prior to the incarnation, during his earthly ministry, and then his glorification.

Hebrews 2 .9, the writer says, but we see Jesus, we don't see all things subjected to

mankind, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels.

In other words, he was above the angels at one point, wasn't he?

Then for a time, he was made lower than the angels, his incarnation, for the suffering of death, and

then crowned with glory and honor.

So there you have the three stages of our Lord's existence, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death

for everyone.

And so his state of humiliation is the second stage of his existence.

Now, as we consider our Lord's state of humiliation, we should understand it as having two elements, two

major aspects to it.

When the Son of God left his state of glory to become a man, he first,

he emptied himself, that's an old King James terminology,

and secondly, he became subject to, that is under the law of God.

Before he issued his law, during his incarnation, he was subject to that

very law.

With regard to the first, he emptied himself, he emptied himself in that he assumed a human nature, coming into this

world in the form of a servant.

The eternal Son of God, who is the eternal Word of God, surrendered his divine majesty as ruler

over creation, and assumed our human nature, coming in the form of a servant.

And then with respect to the second element, in his incarnation, the Son of God had become, in Jesus

Christ, subject to both the rule of the law as well as the curse of the law,

assuming the curse of the law upon fallen man.

This is great humiliation, is it not?

Now, Reformed theology historically has understood the scriptures to set forth Christ's humiliation in five stages,

and here they are.

These include, one, his incarnation, assuming a human nature.

That was a stepping down in a wonderful and great way.

Secondly, his suffering in this life was an aspect of his humiliation.

Thirdly, his death upon the cross.

Fourthly, his burial, and then fifthly, a matter that is greatly debated

in history, his descent into Hades, or Sheol.

Let's consider each of these, our Lord's humiliation.

First, Christ's humiliation included his incarnation, him assuming a human

nature.

Now, first, let's affirm that it was the second person of the Holy Trinity that assumed a human nature, whereby

he who was God also became a man.

I react a little bit when it says God became man, because that can suggest that God transformed

into a man, and that's not true.

He continued to be God.

He assumed a human nature in addition to his divine nature.

And that's why Louis Burckhoff, by the way, whom I greatly used and appreciated through this, said, rather than

saying, you know, in the incarnation, God became man, it's better to say the word became flesh.

And he argued why, and I think that's a good thing, and I think I'm going to use that expression more in the

future.

It was not God the Father or God the Holy Spirit who became a man, but the Son of God only.

And so it's been suggested, rather than describing God as becoming man, the triune God did not become man.

The second person of the Holy Trinity became man.

Nevertheless, all three persons of the Trinity had a part in the incarnation of the Son of God.

And so we read of God the Father's role in the incarnation for what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh.

God did, and this would be God the Father, by sending his own Son.

See, it was the Father who sent his Son to become incarnate.

He was involved in the incarnation.

And we also, of course, read of the involvement of the Holy Spirit, talking about Joseph.

While Joseph thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.

Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy

Spirit.

Clearly, the Holy Spirit had a very vital role in the incarnation.

He caused Mary to conceive as a virgin.

The humiliation of the eternal Son of God in the incarnation involved the infinite God entering the finite world of

time and space.

That is an amazing concept that we cannot get around.

God is not subject to time, he created time.

God is infinite, outside of time.

But when he became one of us, he entered into history, he entered into

time, and he also entered into space because he is spirit

and he is omnipresent, isn't he?

And so in the incarnation, the infinite creator became one of and one with his creatures.

That's an amazing thing when you consider it.

He came to be one of us, who is also frail and weak, who would experience emotions and

trials as we do, who would be subject to pain, hardship, suffering, and death,

just like each one of us.

And as the eternal Son of God, he had never encountered those things.

He does as the Son of God in this world, in his human nature.

And yet it's important, we recognize that the incarnation did not change the divine nature of Jesus

Christ at all.

God is immutable, he changes not.

And so the divine nature, the Son of God, added a human nature to

himself, but it did not change his divine nature in any way whatsoever.

He was the same after the incarnation as he was before.

His divine nature underwent no change.

Rather, the divine Son of God took upon himself in addition to his divine nature, his human nature,

whereby he, as the eternal Son of God, in addition, became fully man.

And he remains, he remained the unchangeable Son of God in his incarnation.

And that's what question and answer 21 says in our Westminster Catechism.

Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer of God's elect.

Who, eternal God, took upon himself a human nature,.

Becoming man.

I twisted that, I'll have it right by next Sunday morning.

And so forever, with two distinct natures in one person, and that's Jesus Christ,

his divine nature did not change.

It's not like God became man, lived out 33 years, and then went back to being God full -time

after his resurrection.

But some people think of Jesus in those kind of terms, and this is not the case.

In his divine nature, he's unchangeable, he's infinite, and continues to be, and was, during

this earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secondly, Christ's humiliation included his sufferings in this life, both spiritual and physical.

He had never been subject to such things in eternity.

In his human nature, he was.

Not his divine nature, but in his human nature.

Technically, if we had time, we could go into it.

God, in his divine nature, is impassable.

That is, he's not subject to emotions.

Emotions don't control God like they control you and me as humans.

But when the Lord Jesus assumed a human nature, the Son of God assumed a human nature,

then in his human nature, he was changeable.

He grew in wisdom and stature with man, we read in the scriptures.

He experienced things, and through his sufferings, he became a perfect high priest to us.

He wasn't a perfect high priest until he had underwent his life of suffering and difficulty in the death of the

cross.

This perfected him so he could be the high priest that we were in need of.

Certainly, his sufferings were intensified in his passion, but his sufferings were encountered throughout life.

He was the holy one, living in a fallen sin, indulgent world of sinners.

We read in the scriptures that God delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked.

For that righteous man dwelling among men tormented his righteous soul from day to day, seeing and hearing their lawless

deeds.

And you and I can relate to that, can't we?

As our world is in a free fall, it would seem, culturally.

And we're grieved about it each and every day, as Lot was, because he was a righteous man.

If Lot's righteous soul was pained by daily interaction with the wicked souls of Sodom, what must a son of

God experience as he moved about in this fallen world among fallen sinners?

That was suffering.

That was a humiliation on his part to put up with it.

You know how children are, when they start getting a little older, they begin to see the flaws and faults in their parents.

And sometimes they get kind of impatient with the parents because they see these things.

Can you imagine the Lord Jesus?

And yet he always responded appropriately and rightly, didn't he?

Christ suffered in both his body and soul.

He was troubled outwardly, he was pained inwardly.

Some tend to emphasize his physical sufferings only as great as they are.

The movie, The Passion of Christ did that, his physical sufferings.

But the sorrow of his soul was far greater, it could be argued.

And as Christ lived out his life knowing what sufferings were before him, he must have

cowered under it.

It must have been quite daunting to him as he anticipated what was before him.

He knew the nature and intensity of his struggles in both body and soul, that he would suffer and come to

suffer.

And he lived his life much alone.

No one understood him, no one really could share with him in his sufferings.

His hometown friends had rejected him, his family stood aloof from him, and even his own disciples

could not enter into a true realization of the nature and extent of his sufferings.

He was alone even when he was among his closest friends.

And so in many ways, his sufferings were far more than any man has or ever could experience.

Charles Spurgeon always has a way, doesn't he?

Here it is.

I call your attention first to the feeling that is here expressed, and that he himself has suffered

being tempted, referring to the Lord Jesus.

Many persons are tempted, but do not suffer.

In being tempted.

When ungodly men are tempted, the bait is to their taste, they swallow it greedily.

Temptation is a pleasure to them.

Indeed, they sometimes tempt the devil to tempt them.

They're drawn aside of their own loss and enticed.

And so that temptation, instead of being suffering to them, becomes a horrible source of pleasure.

But good men suffer when they're tempted, and the better they are, the more they suffer.

I know some children of God to whom temptation is their constant misery day and night.

If it took the form of external affliction, they would bravely bear it.

But it takes the shape of evil suggestions and profane insinuations, which leap into their minds

without their will, and though they hate them with their old heart.

These suggestions continue to annoy some dear saints whom I know, not only daily, but nightly.

And that month after month, these thoughts beset them as a man may be surrounded by swarms of midges or

flies from which he cannot get away.

Such brethren are tempted, and they suffer being tempted.

Our Lord Jesus Christ enters into this trying experience very fully, because his suffering through being

tempted must have been much greater than any suffering that the purest -hearted believer can know, seeing that he

is more pure than any one of us.

That shows you why he's a qualified high priest.

He knows what we endure.

It was a trying thing to the blessed Christ, even to dwell here among men.

He behaved himself with most condescending familiarity, but he must have been greatly sickened and

saddened by what he saw in this world of sinners.

They were no fit company for him, for their views of things and his were as different as possible, and they had no

points of agreement in character with him.

They were as much company for him as a patient may be to a surgeon.

Nay, not so much as an imbecile may be to his teacher, or as a madman to his keeper.

They could not come much closer until his grace changed and renewed them.

Our Lord and Master had such a delicate sensitiveness of soul with regard to holiness that the sight

of sin must have torn him as a naked man would be torn by thorns and thistles and briars.

There was no callousness about his nature.

He had not made himself familiar with sin by the practice of it, as many have done, and neither had he

so associated with those who indulge in evil as to become himself lenient towards it.

That happens, doesn't it?

We inherit the customs of our ancestors and do not raise questions about what is commonly done.

We begin at an evil point, start from a wrong point in morals, but it was not so with our Lord.

He had no original or inherited or birth sin, neither did he learn evil in his bringing it up.

We also commit sin through a comparative ignorance of its evil, but he knew the horror of it.

He felt within his soul the shame, the wrong, the inherent baseness of sin against a holy law and a

loving God.

His infinite knowledge helped him to understand and measure the heinousness and held desert of it, and

hence to be in contact with it must have been a perpetual sorrow to him.

He suffered in being placed where he could be tempted, hence his

humiliation.

Thirdly, Christ's humiliation included his physical death on the cross, of course, obviously.

And of course, the death of the cross was itself a humiliating way to die.

The Lord probably hung naked upon his cross after he'd been derided and mocked by the crowds, as well as the

Roman soldiers.

And all who saw him hanging there assumed God had forsaken him.

For it was reasoned that if God were in the least bit favorable toward this man, God would not allow him to suffer such a

shameful death as crucifixion.

This was everybody's attitude toward him.

And of course, when our Lord hung on the cross, he did so bearing the guilt and weight of the sin of the world upon him.

He died as a man.

He tasted death for every man.

That's not talking about an atonement paid for every man, but he tasted death for the world and every man.

He bore in body and soul the wrath of God against sin of the whole human race.

And it was God the Father that heaped his eternal wrath upon the sin bearer.

The Lord, that's the Father, has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

In that context, it's particular redemption to the sheep.

Now, many weeks ago, we read the question and answer to number 37 of the Heidelberg Catechism.

It expressed the nature of the sufferings of our Lord.

What does it mean he suffered?

That all the time he lived on earth, but especially at the end of his life, he bore in body and soul

the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race in order that by his passion as the only

atoning sacrifice, he might redeem our body and soul from everlasting damnation and obtain for

us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life.

It said in four lines what we're saying.

40 minutes.

And of course, when the Lord Jesus died upon the cross, he paid the full debt to God, owed by all his people for all their

sins that they had committed against God.

So in his death, the sentence of the law of God against sinners was executed upon him.

That was a great humiliation.

Fourthly, Christ's humiliation included his burial in the tomb of his body.

The returning of our bodies to the earth is the punishment for sin.

God had said to Adam, in the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground or out of it you are taken.

For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.

And there are verses in scripture that suggest that when the Savior was buried, put in that tomb, it was an

aspect of his humiliation.

We read of our Lord's prophetically spoken in Psalm 16 of the time he would be in the grave.

He said to his father, you will not leave my soul in shale, nor will you allow your holy one to

see corruption.

Being in the grave is a manifestation of humiliation on his part.

And this verse is also quoted in Acts, actually in several places.

For our Lord's body to be laid in the tomb in his death was itself one manifestation of his humiliation that he

was buried.

And then fifthly, and this is one that's debated quite a bit, interestingly, Christ's humiliation

included his soul's descent into Hades, or the other word, shale.

Shale is a Hebrew word, Hades is a Greek word that's translating the Hebrew word shale.

Shale should be understood as the abode of the dead, whether redeemed or not, shale.

That doesn't mean that everybody's in the same place, but that they are all equally in a disembodied

state.

The soul is separated from the body, the body goes in the grave, the soul goes to shale or

Hades.

The souls of the unrighteous are in a place of punishment and torment, awaiting judgment.

The souls of the righteous are in a place of rest, awaiting the future

resurrection and exoneration on the day of judgment.

The verses that we considered above could be cited regarding the matter of our Lord's soul upon his death in shale.

Again, Psalm 1610 reads, "'For you will not leave my soul in shale.'".

Now, there are some that deny when he died, his soul went to shale.

I don't know how they get around this phrase, this clause.

It was in the same way, he knew that his father would not allow him to remain in the grave, his body in the grave.

Father wouldn't allow his soul to continue in shale.

That is in his human nature, of course.

Some have argued that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, he went to Hades.

And in the Apostles' Creed, it's translated as hell.

And so this doctrine has followed all the way through church history.

And there's those who teach it today.

When Jesus died on the cross for three days, he went to hell and suffered the pains of fire, eternal fire,

in order to fully pay for man's sin.

And that ended after three days when he was resurrected.

And that's terrible error.

The Lord Jesus paid for sin on the cross.

And when he died upon the cross in his human nature, the payment of sin was fully paid and

satisfied.

And yet, interestingly, there are others, again, that deny that his soul went to shale.

In fact, some, and it's pretty common among reformed theologians earlier, including John Calvin, that when it

says, I shall not leave my soul in shale, they say that's a reference to his sufferings on the cross

that he experienced.

I don't see that.

I don't see how they see it.

But on the other hand, they're pretty sharp.

And I'm not gonna pass judgment on it all that quickly until I research it a little

further.

But it seems to me that the Lord Jesus, his body went into the tomb, his soul went to where

the righteous dead are.

And I suspect that's in the presence of God.

Jesus, of course, told the thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise.

Now, the body went in the tomb for three days.

And so Jesus was talking about his soul, and his human nature, his soul.

But there was an end to the humiliation of Jesus Christ.

And this is, of course, when he was exalted, resurrected and exalted.

And so secondly, let's conclude by considering our Lord's exaltation.

Again, the Westminster Catechism can be cited.

Question 28, wherein consisteth Christ's exaltation?

Answer, Christ's exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in

ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at

the last day.

Now reflected in this statement is the historic reformed understanding that Christ's exaltation

should be understood in four stages.

And you see that very clearly set forth.

These include his resurrection, secondly, his ascension, thirdly, his session.

And that describes his present activity in heaven.

And then fourthly, his return to judge the world.

Let's take each of these in turn.

First, Christ's exaltation involves the resurrection of his body.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a reuniting of soul and body, thereby coming back to

life.

It was not a mere reversal of death, however, say as Lazarus coming forth from the grave, restored to

life.

It wasn't the same kind of life as before his crucifixion.

Rather, his body was raised to a higher level than before.

When he came forth from the tomb, his body was in a state of glorification.

Prior to his death, the body of the Lord Jesus was subject to weakness and death, suffering and pain.

But the resurrected body of our Lord was incorruptible, incapable of death or decay or suffering.

His body was of a nature that is far different and better than our natural physical bodies.

He could transport himself from one place to another instantly.

He could appear in a room with the doors locked.

He could ascend into the sky, into a cloud.

He could eat and drink as before.

He could have table fellowship with his disciples, Luke 24, the road to Emmaus.

But clearly his glorified body was far superior to theirs and different from theirs.

The resurrection of Christ from the dead brought forth three important realities.

First, the resurrection was God the Father asserting that in his death, death had been

defeated.

The penalty of sin paid for and God's condition was met so that everlasting life could

be granted to his people.

Secondly, his bodily resurrection set forth what God purpose would happen to his mystical body, the church.

He was the first fruits.

The members of his body would be justified and glorified in their future resurrection and judgment.

His resurrection assured that.

And thirdly, his resurrection affected and secured the redemption of his people.

In other words, it was necessary for him to rise in order for the benefits of his death to be applied to us.

He was raised for our justification, Romans 4 .25.

Now he died, you know, through his death, his payment of our sin that our

justification was secured, but he was raised because of our justification

to impart our justification to us.

We shall be saved by his life.

It took a risen savior to mediate for us and apply the benefits of his death to us.

But not only is the bodily resurrection one stage of his glorification or his exaltation, but

secondly, Christ's exaltation involves his ascension.

I have an excellent little book I bought years ago called The Ascension of Christ, written by Peter Toon.

And he was very right, and he showed that really the ascension is one movement of the grave to the throne of God.

And Murkoff explains, that's why you don't find a lot of information about the ascension itself in the New Testament,

because it's assumed that really in the resurrection, there is that movement of ascension right to the throne of

God.

And I think he's right on that.

But we can distinguish between them.

His exaltation involves his ascension to the throne of God.

In fact, I quoted Murkoff here, didn't I?

The ascension may be described as the visible ascent of the person of the mediator from earth to heaven according to his human nature.

It was a local transition, a going from place to place.

This implies, of course, that heaven is a place as well as earth is.

But the ascension of Jesus was not merely a transition from one place to another.

It also included a further change in the human nature of Christ.

That nature now passed into the fullness of heavenly glory and was perfectly adapted to the life of heaven.

The ascension of Christ has three important messages to us.

It shows that the sacrifice on the cross was accepted by God and has secured our Lord's

enthronement, which is a universal kingdom that is over all creation.

And secondly, his ascension was prophetic, a prophetic declaration of the future exaltation of

all believers.

We're reigning with him now.

That's what it means to be seated together in heavenly places.

But one day that'll be fully realized when we're glorified.

And his exaltation secured a place for his people who would follow him.

When he says in John's gospel, you know, I go to prepare a place for you, he wasn't saying I'm

gonna go up there and build mansions for you, you know, in order to get ready for you to come.

When he says, I believe he says, when I go to prepare a place for you, I'm going to

make room for you so that you can join me, is what he's saying.

I go to make a place for you so you can be with me where we'll be together.

He's not talking about, you know, employing his experience as a carpenter to build us mansions.

Thirdly, Christ's exaltation involves his present session or his service in heaven.

When the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, God, his father, gave him authority to reign as king

and provided access to God, of course, as high priest to his people.

And also it gave him authority to serve his people as their prophet through the Holy Spirit he

gives to his people.

He became, of course, the king who was promised in the Old Testament.

We won't read back in Daniel 7, 13 and 14, but that's fulfilled in our Lord's

present session as king over the kingdom of God.

As we've pointed out, numbers of times in the past, the Lamb of God, as though he were slain, came to the

ancient of days, Daniel 7.

He came up to the father sitting on the throne, Revelation 5, and the father gave him that scroll.

And then the Lord Jesus took that scroll and all of creation

began singing praises to Jesus.

And he was given authority by the father to be king over history, Lord of the kingdom of God.

And he began to open those seals.

And in my understanding, it describes the way the Lord Jesus has been exercising his kingship in history.

All for the last 2 ,000 years, he does so through wars and famines and whatnot.

And so he's bringing judgment upon the wicked in history and he's bringing

salvation to his people.

And that's what he's doing.

And it's gonna come to an end one day when he saves all of his people.

But again, not only is he king, but he also in his session

became a high priest, the order of Melchizedek.

And so he serves as a priest king.

Melchizedek was a priest king, was he not?

He was a priest of the most high.

He was also a king of Salem or Jerusalem, king of peace, king of righteousness,

Melchizedek.

The last letters, Dek, have the idea of righteousness,

Melch king, king of righteousness, Melchizedek.

And he was king of Salem as well.

And so he's serving as king and as priest, but he's also, again, serving as prophet.

And this is seen in his giving forth the Holy Spirit by which he inspired the

scriptures.

He enabled his apostles to recall things and to write things and declare things.

He is with his spokesmen, his messengers throughout this church age declaring his word.

It's Jesus Christ that is revealing himself and the gospel to people

in and through the word by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And you and I, if we come to any kind of clear understanding of the things of God, it's through the prophetic

ministry of the risen enthroned Lord Jesus.

He is our prophet.

He instructs us and guides us.

And so he's the priest who's passed into the heavens, this great high priest.

He's a prophet to his people.

And then lastly, his exaltation should be understood as involving his second coming,

his return to judge the world.

And here it'll be realized fully and finally.

When our Lord ascended into heaven, he was declared to be the one who would one day judge the world, all its inhabitants, as well as angels.

And his service as prophet, priest, and king is not the culmination of his ascension and exaltation, but rather

it's his second coming when he'll judge the world on the last day.

Jesus Christ will return literally, bodily, in great glory.

He'll catch up his people and meet him in the air.

He'll overthrow the wicked in the earth.

He'll summon all before him on that throne when he sits upon that throne.

And he's gonna separate Christians from non -Christians, the sheep from the goats.

And his people, those who were his disciples, those who believed on him, will be granted the grace of

everlasting life.

And those that are damned will be sent to their eternal punishment and their eternal ruin.

And on that day, Christ's exaltation will be fully manifested and seen

in the day of judgment.

And of course, all that Jesus Christ is, all that he's experienced in his humiliation and exaltation is for the glory of

God and also for the glorification of his people in him.

And Paul wrote, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he

became poor, why?

Now you, through his poverty, might become rich.

You and I have no comprehension what awaits us one day.

We're gonna be overwhelmed.

It has never entered into our imagination the kind of glory that awaits

us because of what Jesus Christ secured for us,

because of his humiliation and his exaltation.

May each of us be found in him, for our present existence is a

blessed one in Christ, but our future existence is destined to be glorious.

Amen?

Thankfully.

Father, we ask that you would help us to see the glory of Christ

disclosed in the scriptures in both his humiliation and exaltation,

and help us, our Lord, to understand and take to heart the truth that you have set forth through the

hand of the apostle in Colossians 2, that we are in union with him and therefore

brought to participate in this glorious life of our Lord Jesus,

and that we are going to continue to receive the glorious benefits of this union

throughout eternity.

Help us, our Father, to go forth from this place with a sense of our identity and union with Jesus

Christ, rejoicing, and help us, our Lord, to go forth with the desire

and opportunity to tell others of what they can receive so freely from him

and in him, for we do pray in his name.

Amen.