The evidence of our Lord’s ascension is ample. He ascended in the presence of many witnesses, who stood gazing after him till a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, two angels appeared to them, and talked with them of what they had seen. Soon afterward, on the day of Pentecost, he fulfilled, in a remarkable manner, the promise which he had made to his people:—“If I go away, I will send you another Comforter, who shall abide with you for ever.” Stephen, the first of his disciples that glorified the Master by martyrdom, testified to his murderers—“Lo, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!” And John, “the beloved disciple,” while an exile “in Patmos, for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ,” beheld him “in the midst of the throne, as a Lamb that had been slain!” These are the evidences that our Lord is in heaven; these are our consolations in the house of our pilgrimage.
The apostle speaks of the necessity of this event:—“Whom the heaven must receive.”
Divine necessity is a golden chain, reaching from eternity to eternity, and encircling all the events of time. It consists of many links, all hanging upon each other; and not one of them can be broken, without destroying the support of the whole. The first link is in God, “before the world was;” and the last is in heaven, when the world shall be no more. Christ is its Alpha and Omega, and Christ constitutes all its intervenient links. Christ in the bosom of the Father, receiving the promise of eternal life, before the foundation of the world, is the beginning; Christ in his sacrificial blood, atoning for our sins, and pardoning and sanctifying all them that believe, is the middle; and Christ in heaven, pleading the merit of his vicarious sufferings, making intercession for the transgressors, drawing all men unto himself, presenting the prayers of his people, and preparing their mansions, is the end.
There is a necessity in all that Christ has done as our Mediator, in all that he is doing on our behalf, and all that he has engaged to do—the necessity of Divine love manifested, of Divine mercy exercised, of Divine purposes accomplished, of Divine covenants fulfilled, of Divine faithfulness maintained, of Divine justice satisfied, of Divine holiness vindicated, and of Divine power displayed, Christ felt this necessity while he tabernacled among us, often declared it to his disciples, and acknowledged it to the Father in the agony of the garden.
Behold him wrestling in prayer, with strong crying and tears:—“Father, save me from this hour! If it be possible, let this cup pass from me!” Now the Father reads to him his covenant engagement, which he signed and sealed with his own hand before the foundation of the world. The glorious Sufferer replies:—“Thy will be done! For this cause came I unto this hour. I will drink the cup which thou hast mingled, and not a dreg of any of its ingredients shall be left for my people. I will pass through the approaching dreadful night, under the hidings of thy countenance, bearing away the curse from my beloved. Henceforth, repentance is hidden from mine eyes!” Now, on his knees, he reads the covenant engagements of the Father, and adds:—“I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Now glorify thou me, according to thy promise, with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Father, I will also that they whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Thine they were, and thou hast given them to me, on condition of my pouring out my soul unto death. Thou hast promised them, through my righteousness and meritorious sacrifice, the kingdom of heaven, which I now claim on their behalf. Father, glorify my people, with him whom thou lovedst before the foundation of the world!”
The intercession of Christ for his saints, begun on earth, is continued in heaven. This is our confidence and joy in our journeyings through the wilderness. We know that our Joshua has gone over into the land of our inheritance, where he is preparing a place of habitation for Israel, for it is his will that all whom he has redeemed should be with him for ever!
The text speaks of the period when the great purposes of our Lord’s ascension shall be fully accomplished:—“until the times of restitution of all things.”
The period here mentioned is “the dispensation of the fulness of time,” when “the fulness of the gentiles shall come in,” and “the dispersed of Judah” shall be restored, and Christ shall “gather together in himself all things in heaven and in earth,” overthrow his enemies, establish his everlasting kingdom, deliver the groaning creation from its bondage, glorify his people with himself, imprison the devil and his angels in the bottomless pit, and punish with destruction from his presence them that obey not the gospel.
To this glorious consummation, the great travail of redemption, and all the events of time, are only preparatory. It was promised in Eden, and the promise was renewed and enlarged to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. It was described in gorgeous oriental imagery by Isaiah, and “the sweet psalmist of Israel;” and “spoken of by all the prophets, since the world began.” Christ came into the world to prepare the way for his future triumph—to lay on Calvary the “chief corner-stone” of a temple, which shall be completed at the end of time, and endure through all eternity. He began the great restitution. He redeemed his people with a price, and gave them a pledge of redemption by power. He made an end of sin, abolished the Levitical priesthood, and swallowed up all the types and shadows in himself. He sent home the beasts, overthrew the altars, and quenched the holy fire; and, upon the sanctifying altar of his own divinity, offered his own sinless humanity, which was consumed by fire from heaven. He removed the seat of government from Mount Zion in Jerusalem, to Mount Zion above, where he sits—“a priest upon his throne”—drawing heaven and earth together, and establishing “the covenant of peace between them both.” Blessed be God! we can now go to Jesus, the mediator; passing by millions of angels, and all the spirits of just men made perfect; till we “come to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel.” And we look for that blessed day, when “this gospel of the kingdom” shall be universally prevalent; “and all shall know the Lord, from the least even to the greatest”—when there shall be “a new heaven, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”—when both the political and the moral aspects of our world shall be changed; and a happier state of things shall exist than has ever been known before—when the pestilence, the famine, and the sword shall cease to destroy; and “the saints of the Most High shall possess the kingdom,” in “quietness and assurance for ever.” “Then cometh the end,” when Emmanuel “shall destroy in this mountain the vail of the covering cast over all people, and swallow up death in victory!”
But what will it avail you to hear of this glorious restitution, if you are not partakers of its incipient benefits, and happily interested in its consummation? Has it begun in your own hearts? Are you restored to God in Christ? Have you a place in his house, and a name among his people? Are your feet running the way of his commandments, and your hands diligent in doing his work? If not, “it is high time to awake out of sleep.” “Repent and believe the gospel!” “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, who will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon!”