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 2 - Morning Nourishment Phil. 2:8-10 And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. In his Gospel Luke displays and presents to us mainly five crucial and excellent aspects concerning the Man-Savior: His birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension....His resurrection was God’s vindication of Him and of His work, His success in all His achievements, and His victory over the universal enemy of God. His ascension was God’s exaltation of Him. In ascension He was made the Christ of God and the Lord of all (Acts 2:36) to carry out His heavenly ministry on earth as the all-inclusive Spirit poured out from the heavens upon His Body composed of His believers (Acts 2:4, 17- 18). (Life-study of Luke, pp. 480-481) Todays Reading In ascension Christ is the God-exalted One, the One who has received the name which is above every name....How marvelous Christ is! He humbled Himself to the uttermost, but God exalted Him to the highest peak. The name referred to in Philippians 2:9 is the name of Jesus, as indicated in the following verse. From the time of Christ’s ascension, there has never been a name on earth above the name of Jesus. God has exalted Jesus to be the Lord of all. Therefore, it is altogether right for us to call “O Lord Jesus.” We need to confess the Lord’s name openly. In the New Testament there is the clear word that we are to call on the Lord’s name (Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13). By His exaltation the Lord has been given a name which is above every name. There has never been a name in history higher than the name of the Lord Jesus. The highest name in the universe, the greatest name, is the name of Jesus. In Philippians 2:10 are the three levels of the universe: heaven, earth, and under the earth. Those who are in heaven are angels, those who are on earth are men, and those who are under the earth are the dead. The day is coming when those on every level will bow their knees and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To openly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord is to call on the Lord (Rom. 10:9-10, 12- 13). The Lord Jesus as a man was made the Lord in His ascension by God. Thus, every tongue should confess that He is Lord. This confession is to the glory of God the Father. The Greek word rendered “to” in Philippians 2:11 means “resulting in.” Our confessing that Jesus is Lord results in the glory of God the Father. In ascension Christ is the One who has been crowned with glory and honor. Hebrews 2:9 says, “We see Jesus, who was made a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” Here glory and honor are considered a crown. Glory is the splendor related to Jesus’ person; honor is the preciousness related to Jesus’ worth (1 Pet. 2:7). As the ascended One crowned with glory and honor, Christ is in a state of glory and has a rank of honor. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 342-343, 336-337) In Christ’s ascension God inaugurated Him into the headship of the universe. Acts 2:36 says, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified.” This verse indicates that in Christ’s ascension God completed the headship of Christ. In the heavens today there is a man, a man of Nazareth, a man by the name of Jesus. This man is not an ordinary man; He is an extraordinary man. He is God who became a man and died on the cross to accomplish God’s eternal purpose and destroy His enemy. He has two natures—the divine nature and the human nature. He is now in the heavens not only as God but also as man. In His ascension this man Jesus was made Head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:22). The Head of the whole universe today is Jesus. (Crucial Principles for the Proper Church Life, p. 46) Further Reading: Life-study of Luke, msg. 55; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 31 © 2014 Living Stream Ministry. All rights reserved. You can get this book online via lsm.org.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:08:36 +0000
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