Two thousand years or so ago there was a man who lived on earth, and this man’s life and work changed the course of human history. He did not “deliver the whole nation from the enemy” neither did He “fight wars and was victorious in battles with many heroic acts”. Rather, He was a God-man – God incarnated in the flesh – and He lived a normal human life of expressing God, speaking God’s word, doing God’s work, and seeking God’s glory.
Then, He was unrighteously put to death by His countrymen, some of whom were jealous of Him, and He died. Seemingly, everything was over; after the death of a human being all things related to that human being are done away with. But with this One things did not end there; after three days of being in the tomb, Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and became a life-giving Spirit, and He regenerated many believers to be the sons of God.
Fifty days after His resurrection, Christ ascended to the heavens and was inaugurated as the Lord of all, the Christ, the Leader and Savior, the Ruler of the kings of the earth, the Head of the church, the Minister, and the High Priest. Jesus Christ as a Man was approved by God and thus God raised Him from the dead, and in His ascension Jesus was exalted by God to the highest point in the universe and was given the name which is above every name! Wow!
In His ascension Christ was enthroned to execute God’s universal administration and to carry out God’s New Testament economy. Jesus Christ, the God-man, is now in heavens on the throne, administrating the whole universe in order to carry out God’s economy, and in His ascension He does mainly one thing: Christ propagates Himself through His believers to produce the churches as the kingdom of God on earth.
This Man who changed the course of history, overturned empires, revolutionised the human living, lived a life of the highest morality, died in a shameful way on the cross, was resurrected by God, and ascended to the heavens – this One now works as the Head of the Body through all the members of His Body (the many believers in Christ) to propagate Himself all over the earth for the raising up of the local churches as the kingdom of God on earth.
In His Ascension Christ Propagates Himself through His Believers to Produce the Churches as the Kingdom of God
What does Christ mainly do in His ascension? He administrates the entire universe for God’s purpose and carries out God’s New Testament economy, but all these are for one thing: for His work of propagation. After He was inaugurated as the Lord of all and the Christ, He poured Himself forth as the Holy Spirit upon His believers to be the power for them to propagate the resurrected Christ all over the earth (Mat. 28:19; Acts 1:8).
He joined and mingled Himself with His believers in and by the Spirit, and He transmitted and made available for their partaking and enjoyment as their portion all that He has attained and obtained in the heavens.
This One, the ascended Christ, went through a long process of creation, incarnation, human living, and crucifixion, and in His resurrection He was brought into a new existence as the firstborn Son of God; furthermore, in His ascension He was officially appointed by God to be the Christ, the One who carries out God’s economy.
Now in His ascension, Christ poured Himself out as the Holy Spirit upon His chosen elect, and He baptised them in one Spirit into one Body; now the Body of Christ is carrying out the work of the propagation of Christ on earth alongside with Him, one with Him, and fully joined to Him.
First we are regenerated with His divine life for our life and existence, and then He pours Himself out upon us as the Holy Spirit for our work and ministry.
The book of Acts, the backbone of the New Testament, speaks of the propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension by the Spirit through the disciples for the producing of the churches – the kingdom of God.
The ascended Lord is now not mainly fighting but propagating Himself throughout the earth; He came as a Man to sow the seed of the kingdom, and through His Body He continually sows the seeds of the kingdom of God through their cooperation with Him to preach the gospel; the result is the producing of the many local churches – one church in each locality – as the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God today is on the earth in the church life in all the local churches, and our work needs to be in oneness with the ascended Christ to propagate Him all over the earth for the increase of His kingdom through the church. We propagate Christ and preach the high gospel in His ascension by the economical Spirit so that the churches as the kingdom of God would be produced.
Every church should be established and raised up by believers who are one with Christ in His ascension, those who not only have God’s life within them but also have His authority upon them, being one with the Head and standing one in the Body of Christ.
The churches are the kingdom of God, and we spread the seed of the kingdom all over the earth by preaching the gospel of the kingdom until there will be a harvest: the manifestation of the kingdom of God!
The result of the propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension is the churches (Acts 8:1; 13:1; 14:23); God wants many churches on earth – one church in each locality – to be His kingdom among men.
Lord Jesus, we as the Body are one with You as the Head in Your work in ascension today. Lord, propagate Yourself through Your believers all over the earth for the producing of the churches, the kingdom of God. All authority on earth and in heaven was given to You, and we stand one with You, being fully joined to You in the work You are doing in ascension today. Lord, may we all GO and preach the gospel in ascension to propagate the resurrected Christ to all the nations for the producing of the churches, the kingdom of God!
Being one with the Lord in His Ascension to Carry out the Work of Propagating Christ
When the Lord Jesus was on earth and spoke concerning the kingdom of God, many did not understand; the kingdom was a mystery to them, even though the Lord Jesus was right there with them. After His resurrection and ascension, Christ continued to do the work of spreading the kingdom of God on earth, but now He does it through His Body, the church.
Christ as the Head is intimately related and connected to the Body of Christ on earth; He carries out the work of propagation on the throne in the heavens, and the believers need to be one with Him in His ascension to carry out on earth the work of propagating Christ (Acts 2:33, 36; Heb. 12:2; Rev. 5:6).
The ascended Christ is administrating all things, circumstances, and events, including the rise and fall of nations and people, so that He would be propagated on earth through His believers.
He raised up the Roman Empire, He brought in the Reformation, He allowed Spain to be defeated and Great Britain to rise in power, and He raised up the United States of America for His move and spread on earth. He raised up the nation of Israel and solidified them to be God’s earthly people after more than 1900 years of almost complete obliteration, and He allows the European countries to be joined and formed as the land of Antichrist.
The ascended Christ ordains and arranges and executes all these things for the preparing of the ground for Christ to be propagated on earth. People on earth today are confused, puzzled, and perplexed when it comes to the world situation: why are things this way, what’s going on in the world today, and what is happening?
We as believers in Christ know why (though we may not fully understand): it’s all for God’s move to propagate the resurrected Christ in His ascension all over the earth for the raising up of the churches as the kingdom of God.
Seeing that the ascended Christ arranges all things and situations for this, we need to be one with Him in His ascension and do a work in ascension to propagate Him on earth. The ascension is the nature and sphere of the Lord’s work on earth.
Too much “Christian work” has been done in a natural way with the earthly element; we need to see what the Head is doing and be intimately joined to Him and to His Body to do a work in ascension, a work that has the heavenly nature and is in a heavenly sphere to propagate Christ! Our work of preaching the gospel should be in the atmosphere and condition of ascension, one with Christ.
We should deny ourselves, be one with Christ, and be brought into resurrection and ascension to do the work of the Lord one with the Head for His spreading and propagation all over the earth so that the churches may be produced as the kingdom of God.
Lord Jesus, may our preaching the gospel be in the atmosphere and condition of ascension. Save us from doing a natural and earthly work for You; make us fully one with You in Your ascension to propagate You on earth for the producing of the churches as the kingdom of God! Lord, we take You as our ascended Head and are joined to You in spirit to be in ascension as we go out to propagate You on earth! May our work be in oneness with You in ascension for Your propagation on earth to produce the churches as the kingdom of God.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Acts, msgs. 1-2 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection and Ascension, week 4 / msg 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.
- All verses are taken from, Recovery Version Bible.
- Hymns to strengthen this matter:
# By this outpour, His descension / On the Church was realized; / ’Tis by this, that in His Spirit / All the Church He hath baptized; / Thus the baptism of the Spirit / Was forever actualized. (Hymns #277)
# Campus, homes, and nations, / Whole earth propagation; / Glory and praise to His name, / To all the earth proclaim. (Song on Propagating Christ)
# Lord we yearn for Your display / On the earth as Your abode, / Your authority and grace / In the churches, in Your home. / Every nation, every place, / May Your name, Lord, be extolled / That Your kingdom may increase, / That Your glory may be told. (Song on Increasing God’s Kingdom)
About aGodMan
It is in His ascension that Christ is propagating Himself. We know that His ascension came after His death and resurrection. Christ’s work in His ascension takes place in the nature of His resurrection. Therefore, this work is not natural; it does not have anything of the natural man. Rather, it is of the divine life in resurrection, and it is carried out in the atmosphere and condition of His ascension. Where are we working today? We all should be able to say that we are working in Christ’s ascension. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Acts, pp. 11-13)