Christ’s accomplishments and attainments in His ascension are very high and awesome, and we will spend eternity enjoying all that He is and has done.
Our achievements may be enjoyed only by us or our family or workmates, but Christ’s achievements in His resurrection and ascension are in the Spirit with our spirit for us all as believers in Christ to partake of, enjoy, and apply to our daily life. In Col. 1:18 and Eph. 1:23 we see that in His ascension Christ was made the Head of the church, which is His Body – so that He may express God in His fullness.
This means that we as the many members of the Body of Christ have Christ as our Head, and by allowing Him to make His home in our heart we can apprehend with all the saints what the universally vast dimensions of Christ are, and we will be filled unto all the fullness of God (see Eph. 3:16-19). Christ as the Head of the Body expresses God in full through His Body as each member remains under the constant transmission and dispensing of the Triune God every day.
Also, according to Heb. 2:17-18, in His ascension, Christ was made the High Priest in the heavens to bear us in God’s presence, care for all our needs, and minister to us for God’s economy to be accomplished.
Oh, what a Christ we have! He is both the High Priest in the heavens interceding for us individually and for the churches corporately, and He is the High Priest moving in and among the churches to care for them so that they may shine out for God’s corporate expression on the earth (see Rev. 1:13). Hallelujah for our Christ in ascension!
In His Ascension Christ was Made the Head of the Church, His Body, to Express God in His Fullness
According to Eph. 1:23 and Col. 1:18, in His ascension Christ was made by God the Head of the church, which is His Body, so that He may express God in His fullness. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 1:19; 2:9), and He is the Head of the Body.
On the one hand, Christ is in the heavens, far above all, seated at the right hand of God; on the other hand, Christ is in us as our Head, and we are the many members of the Body of Christ. With Him there’s no limitation of time or space – Christ is both on the throne above all and in each one of His believers as the Head and life of the Body of Christ.
In the divine life and in the divine Spirit, we the believers are one with Christ and one with one another. From the divine viewpoint, we are one with the ascended Christ, and His ascension is ours (Eph. 2:6). Our real situation and position is not what we can see outwardly – it is what the Bible says: we are one with Christ, seated with Him in the heavenlies, enjoying all He has accomplished in His ascension.
Seeing the ascended Christ, enjoying Him as such a One, and speaking the truth concerning this Christ becomes a great protection against any leakage of faith. Instead of criticizing or murmuring, we will be full of praise and full of faith!
Our real situation and position is that we are in ascension with Christ, and here we express Him in His fullness! Right now, at this very moment, Christ is transmitting all He is into us, and His transcending transmission includes all the rich dispensing of the Triune God to make us all – as members of His Body, the church – the fullness of Christ for His corporate expression (see Eph. 1:22-23; 3:19, 8).
As we allow Christ to make His home in our hearts by receiving His fine, constant, sweet, pleasant divine dispensing, we are full of strength to apprehend together with all the saints what the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth of Christ are, and we are filled unto all the fullness of God to express Him corporately on earth!
This is what Christ in ascension as the Head of the Body is doing today – He as the fullness of God is duplicating and reproducing Himself in His Body so that all the believers in Christ who are built up as His Body may express God corporately in all His fullness. Wow! Hallelujah!
Dear Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You right now. Cause our heart to be open and soft toward You. Make Your home in all our heart, Lord, that we may know with all the saints what are the universally vast dimensions of Christ, and that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God! We open to You as the Head of the Body that all Your riches and attainments would be transmitted into us and become our reality.
In His Ascension Christ was Made the High Priest in the Heavens to Care for All our Needs
In His ascension Christ was inaugurated into His priestly office – He is the High Priest in the heavens to bear us before God and to care for all our needs (see Heb. 2:17-18; 4:14-15; Psa. 110:1-4; Heb. 5:6; 7:26). We have such a great High Priest, one who has passed through the heavens and is at the right hand of God, Jesus, the Son of God (see Heb. 4:14).
The Lord Jesus came to us from God through incarnation and then He went back from us to God through resurrection and ascension – bearing us in the presence of God and caring for our needs as our High Priest.
On the one hand, Christ is so high, so awesome, so highly exalted, and on the other hand, He is full of feeling about us and our situation, being able to sympathize with us, knowing our weaknesses…so then let us, therefore, come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help, and that we may be one with our High Priest!
Our High Priest is interceding in the heavens for the churches (see Heb. 7:25-26; Rom. 8:34), and at the same time He is moving in and among the churches to care for the churches and for all His believers. As He cares for us, He ministers to us the heavenly things by His divine dispensing and transmission, and He makes us the same as He is for God’s corporate expression.
As the Lord Jesus as our High Priest is caring for us and interceding for us, we slowly are joining ourselves to Him to have a genuine burden and care for the saints. He strengthens us to the uttermost that we may cooperate with Him and be one with Him in His heavenly ministry.
We also become like Him: we enjoy Christ in ascension, are filled with Him, and express Him, and at the same time we are full of compassion and care for the fellow brothers and sisters (and all men) that we may care for them with the care Christ showed us.
Our Christ really cares for us, and He cares most of all for God’s economy. In His care for us, Christ accomplishes God’s economy and strengthens us from within that we may also cooperate with Him for the fulfillment of His economy.
Oh, what a Christ! How we love Him as our great High Priest in the heavens (and in our spirit) bearing us in the presence of God and caring for all our needs!
Lord, we love You as our High Priest in the heavens taking care of all our needs and bearing us before God. Thank You for ministering to us the heavenly things by dispensing all that You are into us. Lord, as You are ministering and caring for all the churches, we want to join ourselves to You in Your care and burden. Shepherd us and care for us that we may shepherd and care for others. Make us those who join You in Your intercession for all the churches and all the saints!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration (besides the Word of God and my Christian experience): bro. Dick Taylor’s speaking in this message and portions from, Life-study of Luke (pp. 665-669), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Entering into the Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life to Arrive at a Full-Grown Man for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose, week 3 / msg 3, The Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life (2) – Knowing the Ascension.
- Hymns on this topic:
# The Church is Christ’s own Body, / The Father’s dwelling-place, / The gathering of the called ones, / God blended with man’s race; / Elect before creation, / Redeemed by Calv’ry’s death, / Her character and standing / Of heaven, not of earth.
# Since such a treasure I possess, / My heart doth sing for joy; / And I must sing, and sing again; / Oh, what a Christ have I!
# Built up in love together, / Not one would criticize; / To perfect one another, / We all would exercise. / Each one from self delivered, / The natural life forsakes; / In grace each trained in spirit / The Body-life partakes.
# Fight the battle in the Body, / Never fight it on your own; / With the Body to the Head joined, / Fight the battle on the throne. / Fight the battle in the Body! / By the virtue of the Head; / Standing firmly with the Body, / Into vict’ry you’ll be led.
