WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.839
<v Speaker 1>What is Jesus doing now? I want to answer that

2
00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:08.640
<v Speaker 1>question for you. I hope it will be enlightening, as

3
00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.240
<v Speaker 1>it was for me many moons ago. I still remember

4
00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:15.000
<v Speaker 1>sitting in my first year of seminary in a class

5
00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:20.960
<v Speaker 1>on theology in which the professor was pontificating beautifully on

6
00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:26.239
<v Speaker 1>the glorious ascension of Jesus, and being completely undone by it,

7
00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:29.440
<v Speaker 1>because I recognized right then and there that I was

8
00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:34.359
<v Speaker 1>completely ignorant of the details of the ascension, the significance,

9
00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:38.719
<v Speaker 1>the theological significance. I had grown up as a Presbyterian boy,

10
00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:42.520
<v Speaker 1>going to church every Sunday, going to church camp and

11
00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:46.920
<v Speaker 1>learning things, and I could not explain the ascension to anyone.

12
00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:50.560
<v Speaker 1>And I felt so well humbled and at the same

13
00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:57.320
<v Speaker 1>time so excited, so enthused, in lumened encouraged by learning

14
00:00:57.399 --> 00:00:59.320
<v Speaker 1>the truth about Jesus' ascension.

15
00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.320
<v Speaker 2>I thought, how could I have reached this point.

16
00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:05.040
<v Speaker 1>I was in my mid twenties, I guess early twenties,

17
00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:09.439
<v Speaker 1>then early twenties, and I had never really understood the

18
00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:13.439
<v Speaker 1>theological significance of the ascension, I thought, really looking back,

19
00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:17.400
<v Speaker 1>the ascension took place forty days after the resurrection. The

20
00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:19.879
<v Speaker 1>resurrection took place on Kitriyaki, the day of the Lord.

21
00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.439
<v Speaker 1>Sunday ascension falls on a Thursday. Presbyterians don't go to

22
00:01:24.519 --> 00:01:29.680
<v Speaker 1>church on Thursday, because, like most Protestants, we had scrapped

23
00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:32.319
<v Speaker 1>the ecclesiastical or liturgical calendar.

24
00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:33.799
<v Speaker 2>We went to church every Sunday.

25
00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:38.120
<v Speaker 1>But if something significant, like the ascension of Christ to Heaven,

26
00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:45.719
<v Speaker 1>something of immense significance sealvific significance, well it fell on

27
00:01:45.879 --> 00:01:49.239
<v Speaker 1>a Thursday, forty days after the resurrection, and since we

28
00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:51.040
<v Speaker 1>didn't keep the calendar, we didn't go to church on

29
00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:55.560
<v Speaker 1>those days. This is a consequence of my Protestant experience.

30
00:01:55.799 --> 00:01:58.159
<v Speaker 1>The ascension is the window to which to understand what

31
00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:02.560
<v Speaker 1>Jesus is doing now, not what he has done to

32
00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:09.680
<v Speaker 1>save us, not his incredible incarnation, his humble, canotic descent

33
00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:14.120
<v Speaker 1>to become a human being without ceasing to be God's son,

34
00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:18.000
<v Speaker 1>to become the theanthropos. We know the great love that

35
00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:20.800
<v Speaker 1>drove him and the great humility that drove him to

36
00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:23.439
<v Speaker 1>become a man in order to rectify human nature, to

37
00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:28.560
<v Speaker 1>cure us from our diseased and sinful condition, taking humanity

38
00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:32.599
<v Speaker 1>upon himself, establishing it by his righteous life and its

39
00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:38.360
<v Speaker 1>correct orientation. In natures, then as the god Man, defeating Satan,

40
00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:45.840
<v Speaker 1>crushing sin, overcoming death, his precious Cross. All of those

41
00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:50.599
<v Speaker 1>things he's done in the past. But what is he

42
00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:54.960
<v Speaker 1>doing now? What is Christ doing now? And where did

43
00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.759
<v Speaker 1>he go when he ascended? I want to tell you

44
00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:02.840
<v Speaker 1>an answer to that question and four simple points. The

45
00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:05.960
<v Speaker 1>first is that the ascension is the glorification of our

46
00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.159
<v Speaker 1>Lord Christ. Just before he went to the cross and

47
00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:13.159
<v Speaker 1>his magnificent high priestly prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter

48
00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:17.680
<v Speaker 1>of Saint John's Gospel, Jesus said, this, Father, the hour

49
00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:21.759
<v Speaker 1>has come. Glorify thy son, that the son may glorify THEE.

50
00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.439
<v Speaker 1>I glorify THEE on the earth, having accomplished the work

51
00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:26.759
<v Speaker 1>which thou hast given me to do.

52
00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:29.400
<v Speaker 2>Now, Father, glorify.

53
00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:31.919
<v Speaker 1>Me together with thyself, with the glory which I had

54
00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:36.680
<v Speaker 1>with THEE before the world was. The ascension is the

55
00:03:36.840 --> 00:03:43.479
<v Speaker 1>glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ the humiliation came to

56
00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:48.199
<v Speaker 1>an end, having humbled himself to the very lowest point

57
00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:51.280
<v Speaker 1>and loved us to the end, giving his very life

58
00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:55.280
<v Speaker 1>for us on the precious Cross. His father raised him

59
00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:59.560
<v Speaker 1>from the dead, and then after forty days Jesus ascended

60
00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:02.439
<v Speaker 1>from the mouth of Olives and was glorified before the

61
00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:06.879
<v Speaker 1>eyes of his disciples, taking humanity where humanity has never gone,

62
00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:12.800
<v Speaker 1>blowing through the atmospheric heavens that had been previously dominated

63
00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:15.280
<v Speaker 1>by Satan and the demons that Saint Paul call the

64
00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:18.120
<v Speaker 1>Prince of the power of the air. Now humanity is

65
00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:24.879
<v Speaker 1>taken right through that domain and planted in heaven. Now

66
00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:28.240
<v Speaker 1>the dust of the earth, which is what we are,

67
00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:31.839
<v Speaker 1>the dust of the Earth, is enthroned on the King

68
00:04:31.959 --> 00:04:34.240
<v Speaker 1>in the Kingdom of Heaven number two. It is his

69
00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:38.560
<v Speaker 1>coronation as the King of kings. It is the fulfillment

70
00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:42.839
<v Speaker 1>of the prophecy of the exaltation of the King of

71
00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:45.600
<v Speaker 1>the Great Christ, the Messiah at the right hand of

72
00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:50.399
<v Speaker 1>the Father. As such, it is the greatest, most significant

73
00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:54.720
<v Speaker 1>political action that has ever taken place. All other enthronements

74
00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:58.160
<v Speaker 1>of earthly kings, who are sinners, as glorious as they

75
00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:02.879
<v Speaker 1>may be throughout human hand, are nothing compared to the

76
00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:07.639
<v Speaker 1>glorification and enthronement of the Lord Christ, who is the

77
00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:11.160
<v Speaker 1>King of all living kings and the Lord of all

78
00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:16.279
<v Speaker 1>living lords, the one who holds all providential power and

79
00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:20.680
<v Speaker 1>government in the world, all authority in heaven and on

80
00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:23.600
<v Speaker 1>earth has been given to him, and the success, the

81
00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:27.800
<v Speaker 1>rise and fall of nations depends upon their orientation to him.

82
00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:30.800
<v Speaker 1>This is what the Psalms tell us, right. Just think

83
00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:34.879
<v Speaker 1>of Psalm too. Do homage to the Sun, yet, kings,

84
00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:39.279
<v Speaker 1>lest he become angry with you and you perish in

85
00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:42.879
<v Speaker 1>the way. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

86
00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:46.879
<v Speaker 1>The Lord laughs at those who oppose him. That Psalm says,

87
00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:49.639
<v Speaker 1>those who rise up against him are no threat to

88
00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:53.959
<v Speaker 1>his rule, not at all. Or think of that incredible

89
00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:56.800
<v Speaker 1>text Psalm one nine or one to ten if you're

90
00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:00.319
<v Speaker 1>reading it in a typical Western Bible, not number into

91
00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:02.920
<v Speaker 1>the ALEXX to the septuagen.

92
00:06:02.519 --> 00:06:03.600
<v Speaker 2>Psalm one O nine.

93
00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:06.519
<v Speaker 1>Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine

94
00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:09.720
<v Speaker 1>enemies a footstool for thy feet. This is the most

95
00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:12.800
<v Speaker 1>quoted Old Testament text in the New Testament. Four times.

96
00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:15.480
<v Speaker 1>It's quoted in the New Testament, applied to Christ, the

97
00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:18.120
<v Speaker 1>Father speaking to the son, Sit thou at my right

98
00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:21.639
<v Speaker 1>hand on the throne prepared for you, until I make

99
00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:25.040
<v Speaker 1>thine enemies a footstool for thy feet. That's a lens

100
00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:27.680
<v Speaker 1>through which to understand all of human history. It is

101
00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:33.480
<v Speaker 1>the process of Jesus extending his loving reign, conquering the

102
00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:40.160
<v Speaker 1>enemies of the human race, until every last enemy, every demon,

103
00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:44.120
<v Speaker 1>every sin, is made a footstool for his feet. And

104
00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:46.560
<v Speaker 1>then comes the end, and God is all and in

105
00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:50.519
<v Speaker 1>all number three. The ascension is the prelude to Pentecost.

106
00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:54.519
<v Speaker 1>It is the necessary movement and step. Now that Christ

107
00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:57.399
<v Speaker 1>is glorified, now that he is enthroned in heaven as

108
00:06:57.439 --> 00:06:59.720
<v Speaker 1>the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He

109
00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:04.000
<v Speaker 1>said as a coronation gift, as a great love gift,

110
00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:07.000
<v Speaker 1>the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, ten days later,

111
00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:11.399
<v Speaker 1>without the glorification of Christ, no outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

112
00:07:11.639 --> 00:07:15.000
<v Speaker 1>This is exactly what Jesus promised, that he would ascend

113
00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.879
<v Speaker 1>to his Father, and he would send the other comforter.

114
00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:20.480
<v Speaker 2>Christ, of course is our comforter.

115
00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:23.240
<v Speaker 1>But he prophesied that he would pour out upon the

116
00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:27.800
<v Speaker 1>disciples him who would be the other comforter, the peraclet,

117
00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:34.240
<v Speaker 1>who would bring great, empowering, consolation, joy, beautiful fruits to

118
00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:38.040
<v Speaker 1>his church. That's the significance also of the ascension. It

119
00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:42.600
<v Speaker 1>was the prelude to the outpouring, the democratization of the

120
00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:45.360
<v Speaker 1>Holy Spirit in the church. It's the Holy Spirit being

121
00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:49.839
<v Speaker 1>poured out as the means by which Jesus's presence is

122
00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:53.800
<v Speaker 1>realized in each believer and in the corporate Church. And then, lastly,

123
00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:57.439
<v Speaker 1>but not least, the ascension is the movement of Christ

124
00:07:57.560 --> 00:08:01.839
<v Speaker 1>up into the Holy of Holies in the great Heavenly

125
00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:06.199
<v Speaker 1>Temple that was revealed by God to Moses when Moses

126
00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:10.519
<v Speaker 1>was on the top of the Mount Sinai, and where

127
00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:13.639
<v Speaker 1>Christ now has gone as our forerunner, as our great

128
00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:18.360
<v Speaker 1>High Priest, to stand before God, as the eternally slain

129
00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:24.360
<v Speaker 1>but standing living Lamb of God, who sacrifice has made

130
00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:27.399
<v Speaker 1>atonement for the sins of the whole world, who stands

131
00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:31.720
<v Speaker 1>before his Father constantly pleading and interceding for the good

132
00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:35.120
<v Speaker 1>of his Church, as our great High Priest, the one

133
00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:39.000
<v Speaker 1>whose priesthood is shared with those ordained to the sacred

134
00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:43.000
<v Speaker 1>priesthood on the earth, who speak not for themselves, who

135
00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:46.000
<v Speaker 1>minister not for themselves, but function as Saint Paul says,

136
00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:50.879
<v Speaker 1>as the stewards of the mysteries of God, representing Christ.

137
00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:53.919
<v Speaker 1>This is why we priests are our clothes we are

138
00:08:53.960 --> 00:08:56.840
<v Speaker 1>we hide ourselves. We all dress the same way. We

139
00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:01.720
<v Speaker 1>have beards and chassocks and hold the True High Priest

140
00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:07.720
<v Speaker 1>on our chests, because we stand as his representatives, his stewards,

141
00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:11.000
<v Speaker 1>in his house, the Church. He is the Great High Priest,

142
00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:15.320
<v Speaker 1>constantly making intercession for us Hebrew seven twenty five.

143
00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:18.440
<v Speaker 2>He is able to save to the uttermost.

144
00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:22.919
<v Speaker 1>Here that emphasis on the present outworking of our salvation,

145
00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:25.679
<v Speaker 1>not just a past event. He is able to save

146
00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:29.360
<v Speaker 1>to the uttermost those who come to Him to God

147
00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:34.480
<v Speaker 1>through him, since he always lives to make constant intercession

148
00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:40.039
<v Speaker 1>for us. Dear ones, praise the name of our Lord,

149
00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:44.840
<v Speaker 1>Jesus Christ. Glory and honor, dominion and power be to

150
00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:50.080
<v Speaker 1>him forever and ever, because he hasn't just conquered all

151
00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:53.240
<v Speaker 1>of our enemies in the past, but he ever lives

152
00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:59.840
<v Speaker 1>and is presently serving us, presently being glorified, presently ruling,

153
00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:02.919
<v Speaker 1>King of kings and Lord of lords. He's the one

154
00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.799
<v Speaker 1>who poured out the Holy Spirit and through whom through

155
00:10:05.799 --> 00:10:08.080
<v Speaker 1>the Holy Spirit, is governing the Church now. And he

156
00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:12.039
<v Speaker 1>is the one who is interceding constantly in the Great

157
00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:18.240
<v Speaker 1>Heavenly Temple as our Great High Priest, saving us, guiding

158
00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:23.000
<v Speaker 1>the church, bringing to pass his wonders until the whole

159
00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:27.080
<v Speaker 1>world is full of the glory of God. As the

160
00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:30.279
<v Speaker 1>waters cover the sea. May it come to pass. May

161
00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:33.360
<v Speaker 1>we all be wise to do what the Psalmist says,

162
00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:37.600
<v Speaker 1>all of us believers, all those who are outside the church,

163
00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:42.960
<v Speaker 1>all rulers and governors. May we kiss the sun. May

164
00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:48.440
<v Speaker 1>we bowed down before his footstool, voluntarily, voluntarily or involuntarily.

165
00:10:48.679 --> 00:10:51.399
<v Speaker 1>All will do so, and He will be all in all,

166
00:10:53.159 --> 00:10:56.519
<v Speaker 1>God be with you. Hey everyone, I hope you've downloaded

167
00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:59.600
<v Speaker 1>the Patristic Nectar app on your phone. It is a

168
00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:04.120
<v Speaker 1>treasure trove of soul nourishing content, and I hope you'll

169
00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:07.960
<v Speaker 1>consider becoming a regular donor to Patristic Nectar today.