All truth is valuable, but some truths are particularly significant and meaningful.
One such is the description of our Lord Jesus Christ as 'the Man in glory'. It is not a biblical title but it sums up biblical truth.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul affirms of our Lord Jesus Christ, 'In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily' (Colossians 2.9). His use of the present tense is important, since he was writing a number of years after the Ascension. The Greek present tense may be used, as a perfect tense in that language is normally used, to express the continuance in the present of a state begun in the past. Its employment here is telling. All Deity lives in 'the Man in glory' - our Ascended Lord Jesus - as it was embodied in the Incarnation. He is not only God, but God clothed in our nature. His humanity continues to give meaning and significance to his heavenly existence.
In other words, the Lord Jesus did not put off his humanity in assuming his rightful place in glory. In becoming man - genuinely human, apart from sin - for the sake of our salvation, the Lord Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, became what he never was before. He remains so forever.
A new experience for our Saviour's humanity
Our Lord's visible ascent from earth to heaven was in a manner appropriate to his human nature. He was exalted to the place in the universe that he laid aside when he humbled himself to take upon himself our humanity (Ephesians 4.9,10). Something startlingly new and significant happened at our Lord's Ascension. He took his human body (our humanity) with him to heaven. As Rabbi Duncan expressed it, 'The dust of the earth is on the Throne of the universe.' While he had always been with the Father before his incarnation, enjoying perfect fellowship with him, he had not before been in heaven as the Word made flesh. This was a completely new experience for him as our Emmanuel, God incarnate for us.
He retains the body he offered for us when he bore our sins on the Cross. During his earthly ministry Jesus' body was in a state of humiliation, in that it was subject to the limitations our human bodies know, including death. This was followed by a state of resurrection during the 40 days. His body was the same but different. It was the same in that he could eat with his disciples (Luke 24.41f) and yet different in that, for example, he could suddenly stand among them when the doors were locked (John 20.19). At His Ascension his body passed into its glorified state.
We cannot understand the wonders of this glorified state now. However, 'we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is' (1 John 3.2). Our Lord's Ascension into heaven in his human nature is a fundamental of the Christian faith.
The occasion of our Saviour's glorification
When our Lord Jesus carried his humanity back to heaven, He was highly exalted and glorified in doing so. 'God ... glorified his Servant Jesus' was the apostolic testimony (Acts 3.13). The Father has honoured him with the highest standing as the Word made flesh returned to heaven. The title 'Servant' in the apostolic testimony is significant because it relates specifically to our Lord's Incarnation and saving work. It is as the Servant - the Messiah - that the Father has glorified him.
His position is different
At his Ascension he resumed his position of glory (John 17.5). Eternally divine, his essential glory has not increased. Nothing can be added to divine perfection. His Ascension however revealed his 'official glory' as the triumphant Servant of the Lord. He came to be the Saviour, the one Mediator between God and man.
During his time in this world, however, he was not appreciated by those he came to save. But now his believing people delight to recognise the glorious office he holds as the exalted Emmanuel. The Church is now a unique instrument to proclaim and express his glory. His people delight to honour him. His unique glory is that of the obedient suffering Servant of the Lord who perfectly fulfilled the Father's will in the divine plan of salvation.
The powerful truth of our Saviour's sympathy
To become our great High Priest and Saviour, the Lord Jesus participated in our nature of flesh and blood (Hebrews 2.14-18). He was made like us in every way, apart from sin, so that he might become a merciful and faithful High Priest. He experienced life in a human body (Hebrews 2.14). He was made perfect through the experience of suffering: 'Though he was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered' (Hebrews 5.8). We may feel rather uncomfortable at first with such an expression. But the fact that it is used shows how clearly the writer perceived the genuineness of our Lord's humanity. It was because he was absolutely sure of it that he could speak of it in this way.
The writer to the Hebrews' use of the word 'obedience' does not imply that our Lord was ever rebellious or disobedient. Rather it emphasises that while he always possessed the disposition to obey, he could possess the virtue of obedience only as that disposition was put to the test. The particular reference is to our Lord's agony in the Garden. We cannot enter into the sufferings of his soul as he contemplated the Cross. Being sinless, the contemplation of bearing the sin of the whole world upon him was awesome, and he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. It was by such severe testing that our Lord was 'perfected' (9) - another daring phrase. This does not imply that our Lord was previously imperfect, and that he was brought out of a state of imperfection. We get the better sense if we substitute the word 'complete'. It was by such testing that our Lord was made 'complete' in that thereby he demonstrated that he possessed every necessary qualification to be the High Priest - and the perfect sacrifice - we need. Our Lord always possessed the disposition of obedience, as we have said, but for him to possess the virtue of obedience, testing was necessary - and he was proved perfect! Genuinely man, he was tempted in every way as we are (Hebrews 4.15). He prayed with loud cries and tears (Hebrews 5.7).
As a wonderful consequence of our Lord's taking His glorified humanity into heaven, 'we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin' (Hebrews 4.15). This assurance makes even more meaningful the knowledge that the Lord Jesus treats us as family, as brothers and sisters (Psalm 22.22; Hebrews 2.11,12). He totally identifies Himself with us. He knows what we need, and how we feel. His perfect sensitivity and awareness of our situation always leads to the most appropriate action on our behalf. He is utterly faithful to us and our interests. Our Saviour's 'unfinished' work in heaven is His keeping, helping, and perfecting us until our sanctification is complete, as it will be when we arrive where he now is. Our Lord's retention of his humanity makes even more wonderful and potent his ability to sympathise in all our moments of human desperation whether on account of weakness, suffering or difficulty.
Assurance of our future human glorification
The Ascension was not only the exaltation of our Lord Jesus as man, but also the elevation of our humanity in him. The Lord Jesus has carried our nature to the right hand of the Father. As we think of our own physical nature of flesh and bones present there in our Lord Jesus, we have the glorious prospect of our bodies being there too (Philippians 3.20,21). Behind this glorious assurance is the work of our Lord Jesus Christ as the last Adam. He became what the first Adam was intended to be. He is the new man, the beginning of God's new creation. Little wonder Augustine (354-430) said: 'My thoughts, and the deepest places of my soul are torn with every kind of tumult until the day when I shall be purified and melted in the fire of your love, and wholly joined to you.'
This is an abridged chapter from The Ascension - the Shout of a King by Derek Prime, published by Day One Publications.
