As we live the last days toward the end of this age, we need to see a vision of Christ in His ascension and enthronement; Christ as the worthy Lion-Lamb is the center of God’s administration according to God’s eternal economy, and He is saving us to the uttermost to bring us with Him on the throne! Hallelujah!
As believers in Christ we look not only at what we can see outwardly in the world situation but we look to the Lord in prayer; we realize that there is a spiritual scene behind the world situation, and we persevere in prayer for God to carry out His purpose.
All the events, the signs, and the things happening in the world situation today point to the fact that we are at the final part of this age, at the end times; we realize that today we live in the age of Revelation.
We no longer are in the days of the Gospels (which are long gone) or even in the days of the Epistles – we are now in the days of the book of Revelation!
So on one hand we need to see Christ and know Him as revealed in the Gospels and in the Epistles, but even all the more we need to see Him and know Him as revealed in the book of Revelation.
In the Gospels we see a wonderful, sweet, caring, and loving Christ, who is God becoming a man to care for man, shepherd man, tend to man’s needs, bring life to man, and bring man to God. What a wonderful Christ we see in the Gospels!
He is the King-Savior in Matthew, the Slave-Savior in Mark, the Man-Savior in Luke, and the God-Savior in John; He has so many wonderful aspects, so many great deeds, and He accomplished so much for us.
Furthermore, in the Epistles we see an even more rich Christ, even a Christ as the Spirit who came to indwell us and live in us; this Christ is revealed in us, He lives in us, He makes His home in us, He is one spirit with us, and He is formed in us to be manifested through us.
He is real, subjective, sweet, experiential, and so ready for us to enjoy, eat, drink, experience, live, and express.
There’s so much we can see of Christ in the Gospels (in His earthly ministry) and in the Epistles (in His heavenly ministry), but today we need to see even more concerning Him – we need to see Christ in the book of Revelation, who as the worthy Lion-Lamb is the center of God’s administration according to God’s eternal economy.
May the Lord uplift our vision of Christ and may we realize we don’t merely live in the days of the Epistles but in the days of the book of Revelation, and now our Christ has a different status and function.
Seeing Christ in His Ascension as the Enthroned God-man who Executes God’s Administration
When John saw Christ in Rev. 1, he fell to the ground as dead, for he has never seen such a One; our vision of Christ needs to be uplifted, strengthened, and intensified as we see Christ in His ascension at the end of the age.
Christ is the center of God’s administration according to God’s eternal economy (Rev. 5:6; 22:1).
He is no longer merely in His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, or resurrection; He is now in His ascension, and He has been enthroned to execute God’s administration, his governmental operation (Heb. 12:2; Rev. 3:21; 22:1; 5:6).
He endured the cross, suffered the shame, and after He was resurrected and ascended He sat down on the right hand of the throne of God! Christ overcame Satan through His death on the cross and sat down with His Father on the throne!
Now our Christ is the overcoming One, the victorious One, a Christ in ascension.
We all appreciate and love the crucified Jesus who died for our sins by shedding His blood for us; we appreciate His life, His living, and His indwelling, but we need to know Him in His ascension as the victorious One who has been given God’s authority to be the ruler over the kings of the earth and execute God’s divine administration.
Christ is now on the throne not only as God but also as a man; He is the God-man, the man-God, the mingling of God and man; Stephen saw Him as the Son of Man at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56).
Christ came to be a man, lived on earth as a man for thirty-three and half years, He died on the cross as a man, on the third day He resurrected as a man, and in His ascension He is still a Man!
He didn’t put off His humanity as He went through all these processes; rather, right now in the heavens on the throne there is a God-man, a man-God, Jesus Christ!
After He was crucified and buried, God resurrected Him and set Him at His right hand, making Him the Lord of all the universe (Acts 2:34-36; Phil. 2:5-11).
Christ was the Lord of all from eternity past in His divinity, but after He became a man, suffering the woes of the human life, was crucified and resurrected, in His ascension He brought His humanity into divinity, and now He is the enthroned God-man in the heavens as the Lord of all – a Man is Lord of all!
We know that God is in the heavens and He rules over all things, but now we can boldly say that there’s a Man in the heavens – Jesus Christ the God-man, the man-God, who was enthroned overall things to be Lord of all, the one who executes God’s administration in the universe!
So we who are men, we are not only men but also God-men – we are regenerated with His life and nature, and we are in Him and one with Him as the Body of Christ!
The One who is enthroned is not just Christ but also us, Christ and the church, the Head and the Body!
We are not just poor sinners saved by grace left on earth but God-men regenerated by Christ, and we were crucified with Him, we rose together with Him, we were ascended with Him, and now as His Body we are enthroned with Him in the heavens! Hallelujah!
We praise You Lord Jesus for being the God-man on the throne in the universe, the One enthroned by God to execute God’s administration, His governmental operation! Hallelujah, the One on the throne is not merely God but also a man – Jesus Christ as the God-man, the man-God, is the Lord of all and the enthroned One to execute God’s administration! And as His Body, we are one with Him – we have been enthroned with Him to rule together with Him over all things! Hallelujah, what a fact! Amen, Lord, we stand one with You in Your enthronement and we exercise Your authority over all things in prayer!
The Enthroned Christ is the Worthy Lion-Lamb who Defeats the Enemy and Saves us to the Throne
In Rev. 5 there is a scene in the heavens where the living creatures ask, Who is worthy to open the scroll and its seals?
This scroll is the scroll of God’s economy, the new covenant; the seven seals are the contents of the scroll, and the scroll is the new covenant enacted with the blood of the Lamb.
The new covenant is a scroll covering the redemption of the church, Israel, the world, and the universe.
Such a scroll is a mystery to all mankind, and John wept when there was no one found in heaven or on earth to open it; but praise the Lord, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals (Rev. 5:5).
And when John turned to see this Lion from the tribe of Judah, he saw a Lamb standing as just having been slain (v. 6). Wow! So this enthroned One, Christ as the God-man and man-God, is the worthy Lion-Lamb who can open the scroll of God’s economy!
The enthroned Christ, the heavenly Administrator in God’s universal government, is the worthy Lion-Lamb, the overcoming Redeemer (Rev. 5:1-14).
As the Lion, Christ is the One who fights against the enemy, Satan, and He defeats him; as the Lamb, He is our Redeemer. Christ is both a lion to defeat and crush Satan and a lamb to us for the accomplishing of God’s redemption.
Because Christ has solved the problems of the rebellion of Satan and the fall of man, He is worthy to open the scroll of God’s economy.
God today has two problems: the problem of His enemy Satan who always opposes Him, and the problem of sinful and fallen man who was spoiled by Satan.
So Christ came as the worthy Lion-Lamb to defeat Satan and destroy him on the cross and to redeem man back to God. Through His death Christ both defeated Satan (He is the Lion) and redeemed man (He is the Lamb of God).
As the Lamb of God, He shed His blood for our sins on the cross; as the Lion, He defeats Satan and destroys him. The Lamb, the Redeemer, the One slain on the cross for our sins, is now on the throne to carry out God’s administration over the universe.
Christ is not only the Lamb on the cross who cam to take away the sin of the world; He is the ascended Lamb of God sitting with God on the throne – Christ is the Lamb on the throne carrying out God’s administration over the whole universe. Wow, what a worthy Lion-Lamb!
When He was on the cross, Christ stripped off the rulers, authorities, and powers in the air who were hanging on Him, and He made them a display of them openly, putting them to shame, triumphing over them on the cross.
On one hand Christ was the sacrificial Lamb hanging on the cross, and at the same time He is the fierce, victorious Lion defeating Satan; now He sits on the throne!
We need to realize that the Lord of the universe is a man, the God-man, the man-God, Jesus Christ, who is the worthy Lion-Lamb (Ezek. 1:26)! Hallelujah!
This has very much to do with us, for this One is not just God but also man; He is not only saving us from sins or supplying us with nourishment, growing in us, and transforming us, but He is also bringing us all the way to the throne together with Him!
Christ saves us to the uttermost, to the point that we are ruling and reigning together with Him so that we can join Him in His lordship and headship over the whole universe!
Jesus the Man today is not just the Head but also the Body – we as His believers are the regenerated sons of God and members of the Body of Christ, and today this corporate Christ is the Head and the Body on the throne, ruling over the whole earth!
If we see this, we will realize what an important position we have and what a great responsibility lies on our shoulders; when we pray, we will exercise our ministry as the church to pray not merely from earth but by being joined with Christ in the heavens on the throne!
Hallelujah, as the church we are joined to Christ in the heavens on the throne to execute what God wants to carry out, and we do this in prayer!
We are not poor, pitiful sinners asking God for help; we are one with the worthy Lion-Lamb on the throne, we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies as His Body!
Hallelujah, we are a corporate God-man, a universal one new man executing God’s command on earth through prayer.
If we see this, our prayer life will be uplifted; the way we pray will be revolutionized, and we will be joined to our ascended Head in the heavenlies – in the position of ascension and enthronement to execute God’s administration in the universe! Wow, Hallelujah!
We praise You Lord Jesus as the worthy Lion-Lamb, the overcoming Redeemer, who is both our life and also our Head! Hallelujah, we are joined to the enthroned Christ to share in His position in the heavenlies! All that Christ, the Head, has accomplished and attained in His ascension and enthronement is ours as the Body of Christ! Hallelujah, Christ as the Lamb was slain on the cross for our sins, and now He is on the throne to carry out God’s administration over the entire universe! And we are one with Him, joined to Him in spirit, sharing in His kingship and authority! Amen, Lord, we pray one with You in the heavenlies for the carrying out of God’s administration on earth! We stand in prayer as the universal one new man to execute God’s command on earth! Hallelujah!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 31, 77, 405, 415-416 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery (2020 Memorial Day Conference), week 2, Seeing a Vision of the Throne of God, the Spiritual Scene behind the World Situation, and Christ as the Center of God’s Administration.
- Hymns on this topic:
– The universe, mysterious, / Would be in darkness still, / Could none break through to open / The scroll, to show God’s will; / But, lo, the worthy Lion / Of Judah hath prevailed / The seven seals to open, / And have the scroll unveiled. (Hymns #1092)
– And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb / And by the word of their testimony, / And they love not their soul-lives unto death. / Praise You, Lion-Lamb / Our Captain of salvation. / You have fought the battle / And destroyed the Devil. / You took away our sins / And accomplished redemption. (Song on, Worthy is the Lamb)
– But then the angel said, ’Weep not! / Behold, the Lion has prevailed / To take the scroll and loose its seals; / He has the mystery now unveiled!’ / So, John looked up the Lion to see, / But, lo, he then beheld a Lamb; / Christ both o’ercame the enemy, / And wrought redemption’s work for man. / The angels fall before His throne, / Four living creatures offer praise, / All glory to the Lion-Lamb; / Let us with theirs our voices raise! (Hymns #1093)
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