As believers in Christ, we are witnesses of the ascended Christ who was exalted by God to be Lord of all!
The Christ whom we witness is a resurrected and ascended Christ, and we bear a living testimony of the ascended Christ who has been enthroned above all things to rule over all and administrate the whole universe for God.
As those living in the continuation of the book of Acts, we are witnesses of Christ. God didn’t call us or send us to be preachers or pastors but to be His witnesses. He appears to us through the gospel and through His word, and we simply testify of the Christ whom we see, experience, and enjoy.
However, what kind of Christ do we see and enjoy? Is our Christ merely the One revealed in the Gospels, the One who lived a perfect life on earth and accomplished redemption for us?
Or do we see that Christ has been resurrected and ascended, and He is now at the highest point in the universe, on the throne of God, ruling and reigning over all things in the universe?
This One has indestructible life, but He delivered Himself to death, and He could not be retained by death – He rose up from the dead, and in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit, a realm of resurrection where we all as His believers can enter!
Whenever we call on the name of the Lord, we enter into another realm, the realm of resurrection, and here Christ as the Spirit is everything to us. He has defeated Satan, the world, the flesh, and everything negative, and now He brings us into this experience by our being in the spirit and walking according to the spirit.
We need to know Christ in the power of His resurrection, in the sphere and element of His resurrection, and as we know Him and experience Him in such a way, we will be His living testimony on the earth.
God glorified Jesus Christ, His servant, through His resurrection and ascension, and now there’s a man in the glory, a God-man on the throne, and He rules and reigns over all things.
In His resurrection He regenerated us for His body by imparting the divine life into us, and in His ascension He seated us with Christ on the throne, and God gave Christ to be Head over all things to the church. Praise the Lord!
When we experience the resurrected Christ, we live in spirit and by the spirit, and we witness of the resurrected Christ.
Today we want to see even more that Christ is in ascension, and thus we have been empowered to witness the ascended Christ through our work, for this One gives us the authority to speak the word with boldness.
The Christ we Propagate and Witness is in Ascension Carrying out His Heavenly Ministry with Authority
The Christ revealed in acts, the Christ whom the disciples propagated and were witnesses of, is a Christ in ascension (see Acts 1:9-11; 2:32; 5:31).
Whereas His resurrection is a matter of life, bringing us into the realm of the divine life, Christ’s ascension is a matter of position, and position is a matter of authority.
If Christ were only resurrected, we could be regenerated with His divine life imparted by Himself as the life-giving Spirit, but we wouldn’t have the authority to propagate Him or spread Him.
In order for us to testify and be a witness of Christ, we need to have the divine authority, the authority given to Christ in His ascension. In His ascension Christ was inaugurated into His heavenly office, into the position of authority, ruling, and administration.
Christ’s ascension was His inauguration in His heavenly ministry. In His resurrection Christ entered into the realm of the Spirit, and in His ascension He entered into the realm of authority and heavenly ministry.
Christ now is living and active in the heavens, carrying out His heavenly ministry and we as members of His body have His authority to be His witnesses on earth. We were raised up with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenlies, we were positioned with Him on the throne, so that we may enjoy His authority.
We have to see the ascended Christ and see ourselves as the church in an ascended position.
If we see the ascended Christ and our position as the church, our witnessing of Christ and our prayer meeting will be different, for we will no longer earnestly beg the Lord to do this that, but we will be one with Him in the heavens to pray.
When we realise that the position of the church is ascension, we will realise that we are on the throne with Christ, and we will pray down from the heavens, no longer praying begging prayers up from the earth but claiming the authority that Christ has obtained.
Our position is to be one with the Lord in the heavens, and we claim His authority as we go to be witnesses of the resurrected and ascended Christ. When we have such an experience, we will witness not only to man but also to all the authorities and powers in the heavenlies, testifying that Jesus has ascended!
Lo, in heaven Jesus sitting – Christ the Lord is there enthroned! Based on this, the church works, preaches the gospel, and serves.
The Lord’s ascension was His initiation into His living and ministry in the heavens; this initiation brought Him into a new realm, that is, into the heavens where He now has His living and is ministering there.
First, He entered into the realm of the Spirit; now in ascension He entered into the heavenly realm. Praise the Lord, there’s a God-man sitting in the heavens on the throne, and He executes God’s economy and administrates God’s government!
Praise You Lord Jesus for being ascended to the highest point in the universe and being given the Lordship, the kingship, and the authority over all things! Hallelujah, we were seated together with Christ in the heavenlies, and Christ was given by God to be Head over all things to the church! Amen, Lord, we stand on Your accomplishment in ascension and we claim Your authority to go and be witnesses of the ascended Christ. Make us Your living testimony on the earth, those who work, preach the gospel, and serve in the authority of the ascended Christ!
We are Witnesses of the Ascended Christ who was Exalted by God to be Lord of All!
The Lord’s ascension brought Him into a new stage – the stage of a resurrected man living in the heavens as the center of God’s administration (see Rev. 5:6). We are witnesses of the ascended Christ, the One who was exalted by God above all to be Lord of all!
He’s not just somewhere in heavens but at the center, on the throne, and the whole universe is being governed, controlled, and administered by this One. This resurrected One is now sitting in the heavens to execute God’s administration (Heb. 12:2).
We need to exercise our spirit to see this with the eyes of faith. We should NOT look at what’s happening around us in our country or continent, but look to Jesus who is on the throne!
The first world country of United States of America may behave like a third world country, with rage and frenzy going on in Washington, and we may be disturbed and disappointed by the arrogant and rebellious people who reject God and advance a God-rejecting agenda in society….but He who sits in the heavens laughs (Psa. 2:4).
Brexit seems to be such a mess, and everyone’s opinion is conflicting with the other’s, but praise the Lord, Jesus is Lord! God is on the throne, and He has already installed and inaugurated Christ as the Lord of all; though what we see around us in society and politics is terrible and sad, there is a Lord of all!
We shouldn’t look at what’s going on in our country, in our government, or on the earth, but look to Him – Jesus Christ is on the throne, Lord above all, and He is ruling! There’s craziness around us, people come and people go, laws are passed, things are happening, but Someone is in control – Jesus Christ is Lord of all!
Apparently the world is falling apart, but actually God is behind the scenes, for the ascended Christ executes God’s administration in a timely manner to carry out His move on earth.
We are witnesses of the ascended Christ on earth, testifying that Jesus is Lord!
There’s an external history happening around us, but we are living in the internal, divine history, in the invisible realm where Jesus is Lord and He rules over all! Hallelujah, Jesus is Lord in Europe, in Africa, in America, and in Asia!
The resurrected Christ ascended to the heavens to be exalted by God and to be given the kingship, the lordship, and the headship over all things (Phil. 2:9-11; Eph. 1:22). The ascended Christ has also obtained the throne, the glory, and all the authority in the universe (Rev. 5:6; Heb. 1:3; 2:9; Matt. 28:18).
We set our eyes on Him and enthrone Him in our being, in our family life, and in our church life.
Around us people desire to have power and rule, but people come and people go, and God sits in the heavens laughing scornfully; He sees the nations rage, He sees that they want to shake off God’s rule in rebellion, and He realizes that the rebellious man wants to cast God off.
But God is laughing, sitting calmly and undisturbed in the heavens; He knows that vengeance will come and the wrath of God will be unleashed. The ascended Christ is the Lord of all to possess all (Acts 2:36).
The lordship of Christ is one of the most important aspects of what He has obtained in His ascension (Acts 10:36). Praise the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, who has made us witnesses of the ascended Christ on earth!
Since the Lordship of Christ was fully established in His ascension, we – the members of His Body – need to realize this heavenly fact (see Eph. 1:20-21). We are not here to disseminate fake news but to witness the truth and the fact in this universe, which is that Jesus Christ is Lord of all!
What we see around us is deceiving and not real – what the Bible says is true and real, and we are witnesses of the resurrected and ascended Christ!
The ascended Christ is God’s anointed to carry out God’s commission to work out the spreading of the gospel and the building up of the church (Acts 1:8). The Lord wants to propagate Himself on earth, and He does this in His ascension through His many witnesses. Hallelujah!
Hallelujah, the resurrected Christ ascended to the heavens to be exalted by God and was given the kingship, the lordship, and the headship over all things! Praise the Lord, our ascended Christ is the Lord of all to possess all! No matter what is happening today in society and around us, Jesus Christ is Lord, and we are witnesses of the ascended Christ! Lord, appear to us more that we may see You in ascension and be Your living testimony on the earth! Amen, Lord, we claim Your authority to be Your witnesses on earth for the spreading of the gospel and the building up of the church!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 290 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God (2018 fall ITERO), week 3, Being Witnesses of the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lo! in heaven Jesus sitting, / Christ the Lord is there enthroned; / As the man by God exalted, / With God’s glory He is crowned. (Hymns #132)
# Christ the Savior hath ascended / To the heavens far above, / Crowned with glory and with honor / By the Father God in love; / He hath made Him Head of all things, / His supremacy to prove. (Hymns #277)
# Pray to touch the throne of God, / Pray to shake the evil pow’r; / Pray with kingship on the throne, / Pray with Christ this very hour. (Hymns #783)
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