Lord's Day 18:
Scripture Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Colossians 1:13-23; 1 Corinthians 15:25-28
Question 46. What do you mean by saying, "He ascended to heaven"?
Answer. That Christ was taken up from the earth into heaven before the very eyes of his disciples and remains there on our behalf until he comes again to judge the living and the dead.
Question 47. But isn't Christ with us until the end of the world as he promised us?
Answer. Christ is truly human and truly god. In his human nature Christ is not now on earth; but in his divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit he is never absent from us.
Question 48. If his humanity is not present wherever his divinity is, then aren't the two natures of Christ separated from each other?
Answer. Certainly not. Since divinity is incomprehensible and everywhere present, it must follow that the divinity is indeed beyond the bounds of the humanity which it has taken on, and is nonetheless ever in that humanity as well, and remains personally united to it.
Question 49. How does Christ's ascension to heaven benefit us?
Answer. First, he is our advocate in heaven in the presence of his Father. Second, we have our flesh as a full guarantee in heaven that Christ our head, will also take us, his members up to himself. Third, he sends us, as a guarantee on earth, his Spirit by whose power we seek what is above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God, and not things that are on earth.
For Study & Discussion:
Why is it so important that Christ sits at God's right hand?
In what ways is this doctrine misrepresented or simply not believed today?
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