2014 Thanksgiving Weekend Conference - The Vision and Experience of Christ In His Resurrection and Ascension Week 4 - The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Ascension (1) Christ Inaugurated, Exalted, and Enthroned to Execute God’s Universal Administration and to Carry Out God’s New Testament Economy through His Body Day 1 - Morning Nourishment Acts 2:33 Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you both see and hear. 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified. The Lord’s ascension was not the end of His activity. Rather, the Man- Savior’s ascension was another initiation....Christ’s ascension was His inauguration, His initiation, into His heavenly ministry....His conception was the initiation of His life and ministry on earth; His ascension was the initiation of His living and ministry in the heavens. Hence, Christ’s ascension was not the termination of His activity; instead, it was His initiation into further activity—His ministry in the heavens. (Life-study of Acts, p. 2) God seated Christ in the heavens, made Him both Lord and Christ, exalted Him to be a Leader and a Savior, made Him the High Priest, and designated Him to be the Judge of the living and the dead. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 193) Todays Reading The ascension of Christ is really the inauguration of Christ. When a president of the United States is elected, he does not officially take office until the day of his inauguration....Before his inauguration he has been elected the president, but it is not official. It is not until the day of his inauguration that he officially becomes the president of the United States. On the day Jesus was born, He was our Savior, but it was not official. There was no inauguration. Even after Christ was crucified and resurrected from the dead, it was not announced to the whole universe. Not until the day Jesus was exalted by the right hand of God to the highest place in the universe did God make the declaration. It was at this time that God inaugurated Christ into His post. Before this inauguration date, and even before the forty days when the Lord was with His disciples following His resurrection, Jesus had a secret ascension. In the morning of His resurrection He went to the Father. Forty days later, Jesus had the public ascension. It was universally open. All the disciples saw Jesus ascending and the angels declaring that He would return in the same manner. It was this declared ascension that was the inauguration of Jesus....Then everything became official. He became the official Savior. Now we know the meaning of the ascension of Christ. It was His official inauguration. First of all, He was made the Lord. As God, before His incarnation, the Lord Jesus was the Lord already. But after His incarnation, this very God became a man. God was the Lord, but man was not. Yet the Lord became a man, and this man was crucified on the cross, buried, and resurrected from the dead. It was at this time that the man Jesus became the Lord. For God to be the Lord, there is no need of any kind of inauguration. But for a small man from a lowly town in a despised country to be made the Lord requires a real inauguration. He was not made the Lord as God. As God He was Lord already. Now this man from Nazareth was inaugurated to be the Lord of all. (The Wonderful Christ in the Canon of the New Testament, pp. 94-95) If we would understand the Man-Savior’s ascension, we need to see that it is His inauguration into His heavenly office. This inauguration required a lengthy process that began with creation and continued with incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. This process involved the Man-Savior as God, man, Creator, creature, Redeemer, Savior, and life-giving Spirit. The Lord Jesus was inaugurated to execute God’s administration and to carry out God’s New Testament economy. In the objective aspect, the Lord’s ascension caused Him to be crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9) and to be enthroned for God’s administration (Heb. 12:2) and made Him the Lord to possess all and the Christ to carry out God’s commission. (Life-study of Luke, p. 641) Further Reading: CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Wonderful Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” chs. 9-10 © 2014 Living Stream Ministry. All rights reserved. You can get this book online via lsm.org.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:01:45 +0000
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