Selected Scriptures
Well, as I mentioned last week, before closing the book on Luke’s Gospel, I wanted to come back for one more sermon on the Gospel’s final event, which is the ascension of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, you wouldn’t know it unless I told you maybe, but in the exposition I gave last week on the final paragraph, I passed by one significant word in the text and set that word aside so we could address its importance today.
And the word I’m referring to is found in the verse on the ascension itself, Luke 24:51, in which Luke records the fact of the ascension. That verse says, “It happened that while he was blessing them, he parted from them, and then he was carried up into heaven.”
It’s that word, parted, that I skipped last time. “he parted from them.” It’s in the active voice, the word itself. It’s the verb diistemi, and it means to separate, to make a spatial separation, part from. And it’s not in the passive voice, as if Jesus in this scene was being acted upon, as if maybe some external force like a tractor beam pulled him up, took him away from his disciples.
The verb is decidedly in the active voice, and Jesus is the subject. So it’s Jesus who makes the separation. He does the parting, he goes away, he leaves. This is actually, in Luke 24, it’s in contrast to where the other place Luke described the ascension in Acts 1:9 and there he does use the passive voice. So it’s not wholly inappropriate. He describes it differently in Acts 1:9. It says, there, “He was lifted up, and a cloud received him.”
So in Acts, Luke is describing the manner of Jesus’ departure, but it’s here in his Gospel account where Luke records the fact of his departure. And in stating the fact of Jesus departure, Luke wants us to see that Jesus leaves of his own accord. In other words, Jesus wants to leave.
Now why would he want to do that? If he loves to be in the company of his disciples, and he does; if he loves to be in fellowship with his people, and he most certainly does; well, then, why did he depart from them and go away?
I’m going to give you my thesis that answers those questions up front, just a bottom line statement, one sentence that answers that question and then I’ll use the remainder of our time this morning to unpack this sentence for you. Here it is: Jesus wanted and has gained an improved condition so that he could perform an improved ministry in anticipation of ministering to an improved people. I’ll repeat the sentence, and we’ll break it down into its four component parts that we’ll use for outline points, okay?
So I’m going to repeat these. You don’t have to write it all down furiously fast, but Jesus wanted an improved condition, and he has gained that improved condition so that he could perform an improved ministry in anticipation of ministering to an improved people. So if you want to put a, a word next to the word ascension or the idea of ascension in your mind, in your notes, it’s the word improvement. There is an improvement not for Christ only, but improvement for you and for me as well.
His improvement points to our own improvement since, Colossians 3, “our life is hidden with him.” Our life is intertwined with his life. We’re no longer the same. He’s done something radical to us, and “our life is hidden with Christ in God. So when Christ, who is our life, he’s revealed, we also will be revealed with him in glory.” The more we understand that fact, the more our joy increases, the stronger our motivation is to participate in his current ministry as we anticipate a glorious future with him.
But listen, this is not how we tend to think, is it? It’s not how we tend to feel. His departure feels like a net loss to us. It feels like abandonment. And though it’s true that his return is going to be the culmination of all things, so it’s not insignificant that we are separated physically from him now, what is true is that his position and his condition now in his ascension, beloved, this is gain.
This is a marked improvement, and this accrues to our benefit. And when you understand this, dear believer, his love for you, his joy over you, this is going to comfort your heart like no other fact, like no other truth. He delights over you, beloved, and you will one day share with your Lord in his ascension joy as you are also glorified, and you live out the rest of your forever with him.
So why did Jesus go away? Let’s just break down those points and talk about a first point, number one, Jesus wanted an improved condition. Jesus wanted an improved condition. Jesus predicted that improved condition. He explained it to his disciples, somewhat, anyway. Obviously, it would be impossible for them to comprehend it fully, just as it’s impossible for us to comprehend it fully. But he did predict it, he did explain it, and then he anticipated his improved condition in prayer. Those are three little sub-points.
We’ll start with this, first: his prediction of an improved condition. And for this we’re going to go back in Luke’s Gospel to Luke chapter 9. So if you have your Bibles in hand, take them, get your fingers limbered up a little bit, and get ready to turn some pages, all right? To strengthen the assurance of his closest disciples, “He took Peter, James, and John up high on a mountain where he was transfigured before them.” This is the Transfiguration text, Luke 9, starting in verse 28. “Moses and Elijah also appeared with Jesus and they were talking with him.”
And it’s Luke who tells us the subject of their conversation. Very interesting. Luke 9:28 says, “Now it happened some eight days after these words,” the words just spoken before, “that taking along Peter and John and James, he went up on the mountain to pray. And it happened that while he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, and his clothing became white and gleaming. And behold, two men were talking with him, and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of his departure which he was about to fulfill at Jerusalem.”
That word departure is éxodon, or exodus. So this is his own personal exodus that Luke is writing about, his exodus that he would soon accomplish. And note the fulfillment language: it was what he “was about to fulfill at Jerusalem.” The verb pleroo is there, fulfillment, his exodus. It looked beyond dying on the cross for the sins of his people. It looked beyond the burial, and it looked to the resurrection and a glorified state. And he fulfilled all of this in his ascension.
Exodus, you may know, literally means going out, going away. And that is the connection that Luke is making when he comes in Luke 24:51, at the very end of the Gospel, and uses the very same departure language, “he parted from them.” He could have written it this way: “he accomplished his exodus.” Luke is intentional, there, describing the ascension as an exodus to demonstrate the fulfillment of this verse, Luke 9:31.
So as Jesus anticipated the time of fulfillment drawing near, skip down to verse 51 in Luke 9, and you see his attitude toward this. “It happened that when the days for him to be taken up were soon to be fulfilled,” that is, the ascension, he concluded his Galilean ministry, wrapped that all up, and “he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
Now he knew he was predicting, repeatedly, about what he was going to face, there: rejection, delivered over to the Gentiles, suffering, abuse, eventual crucifixion. And yet he’s eager to depart for Jerusalem because it means the culmination of this life or act of humiliation. His rejection, suffering, death, burial, it means the end of that humiliation state and the start of his glorification, first, by means of his resurrection, and then his return to heavenly glory.
He desires to ascend to his home in heaven, which means entering into the greatest phase of his mediatorial work. Here, there’s a limitation. There, no limitation. He is unhindered, and that’s what he seeks. That’s what he longs for.
Now turn over to John’s Gospel, and we’ll go directly to the upper room. I’m going to continue showing, I told you we’re going to turn some pages, so turn over to John’s Gospel, the upper room discourse, Jesus’ final night with his disciples. And we can start right there in the beginning, John 13 and verse 1, the opening verse where John sets the scene for us. It says in John 13:1, “Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come,” not that he would die on the cross, but look, “that he would depart out of this world to the Father.”
Interesting. We know what’s coming. We know the big event in our minds. We’re Gospel people. We understand Gospel means death for sins. But what does John say? “Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he would depart out of this world,” his exodus, “that he would go to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end,” or “to the very uttermost.” So he’s got the ascension on his mind even before he starts the Passover meal with his men, even before he washes their feet, it’s what’s coming in the text.
During the meal, turn over to verse 31, John 13, even right there during the meal, he reveals to them what has been on his mind about this departure to the father. He says, “Therefore, when he had gone out.” Who’s he? It’s Judas Iscariot. “When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. And if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him immediately. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, where I am going, you cannot come.’”
Jesus waited until Judas Iscariot departed before telling them about his glorification because that truth was not for Judas. This is for his men, where he starts to unveil his ascension glory, his departure that’s drawing nearer. And the revelation of this coming ascension, it starts slowly at first, but gains momentum gradually as Jesus then interacts with Peter’s question. Look at verse 36. “Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where you going?’ And Jesus answered, ‘Where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.’”
That troubled them. Look at John 14 verse 1, “‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many dwelling places. And if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.’” Guys, this is good news. My departure is good. I long for it, and I want you to long for it, too.
The plainest prediction of his ascension comes at the end of the upper room discourse, John 16:28, if you’d like to flip over there. He says in John 16:28, “‘I came forth from the Father, and I have come into the world and I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.’” Could he be any clearer than that? Can’t get much plainer or more straightforward than those words.
So he’s predicting with increasing clarity, with gradual clarity about his ascension, and he also in the upper room explains the reason for it. So go back to John 14 and verse 25, John 14:25. Having predicted his ascension, he starts to explain in John 14:25, we find, second, an explanation of his improved condition. He begins to give that in John 14:25. He says the Holy Spirit, who is the promise of the Father, he is the promise of the new covenant, he will only come if he is sent, and he will only be sent at the accomplishment of redemption. He will only be sent at the improvement of Christ’s mediatorship.
Look at John 14:25, “‘These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things. he’ll bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. ‘You heard that I said to you, “I go away, and I will come to you.” If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I’ve told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe.’”
What’s better than seeing Jesus face to face? What’s better than being in his physical presence and in his company? What’s better than walking with him, talking with him, hearing him speak, observing his ways, watching his miracles, hearing his teaching as the disciples did in his presence? I mean, isn’t all that necessary for knowing him and loving him and worshipping him and imitating him? Yes, but we’re mistaken if we think that we’re somehow hindered or we’re less well off than those disciples were. According to what Jesus has done, what’s better for us now is to have Jesus take up residence there, and then by his Spirit to take up residence within each and every one of us. That’s better.
He sent his Spirit to cause us to love God from the inside out and to love one another with the love of the father, to do his will because we understand his will and know his will. All this because of the Spirit’s indwelling ministry, teaching us to walk in his ways, because of his indwelling presence, Jesus’ indwelling presence, by his Spirit.
Evidently, that is better by far. For some of us who are having a hard time with our feelings in this matter, we need to just believe. Let the truth wash over our minds and our intellects, understand it. We assent to its truthfulness knowing the truth-teller, Jesus Christ, is saying it, knowing that he has done what he’s done because it’s best, that we need to call our feelings to line up underneath the truth that we know and understand, underneath the reality that he himself has executed. We need to trust him.
And that’s why in the next discourse, John 15:1-11, all about abiding in him, isn’t it? Look what he says there. He talks about “it’s better that I go to the Father, and if I go to the Father, I’m going to send the Spirit. That’s good for you.” He says, “‘I am the true vine. My Father is the vine-grower. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes it away. Every branch that bears fruit, he cleans it so that it may bear more fruit. You’re already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. And as the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.’”
Skip down to verse 7, “‘If you abide in me, my words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish, it will be done for you. My Father’s glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I’ve kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I’ve spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.’”
This is an improvement, folks. This is improvement that comes by virtue of the fact that he is ascended on high, and he and the Father have sent the Holy Spirit to us to indwell us, causing us to long for him, to love him, to see him clearly, to look upon his atoning work and be satisfied. The Holy Spirit indwells us to teach us about him, to reveal his truth to us, to illuminate the truth to us and teach us to walk in his ways and long to do so. That’s the heart of every believer.
And when we long to walk in his ways, you know what happens? Fruit is born out of our lives, abundant fruit, evidently. The Father is glorified in this, that we bear much fruit and so prove to be Jesus’ disciples. This is such an improvement! It would not happen if he did not ascend into heaven.
The ability to abide in him and he in us, it results in answered prayer, participating in his work, bearing fruit to God’s glory, giving evidence that we’re his disciples, abiding in his love, fulfilling our joy, all because of Jesus’ improved condition. This is what he’s trying to explain to his disciples right now, really hard for his disciples to grasp at this point, prior to the cross, prior to the resurrection. Their understanding itself awaited improvement after his atoning death, after his resurrection.
Look ahead to John 16 and verse 5. he says, “‘But now I am going to him who sent me. And none of you asked me, “Where are you going?” But because I’ve said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it’s to your advantage I go away. For if I don’t go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.’”
Look down to verse 12, “‘I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he’ll guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears, he’ll speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come. He’ll glorify me, for he’ll take of mine, will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore, I said, ‘He takes of mine and he’ll disclose it to you.’”
He rejoices in this. It’s not yet at this point, not yet happening, can’t happen, but he longs for it to happen. He can’t wait until it happens. He wants to execute on all this because it means full disclosure of his mind, his heart for his people, to his people. So the Lord predicts his ascension. He’s explaining a bit about it, this improved condition that’s going to come about as a result.
Man, we really hear about this improvement that he sought when he prayed to his Father in John 17, that high priestly prayer. It’s in his prayer that we hear, third, his anticipation of an improved condition. So we talked about his prediction, his explanation, now his anticipation of this improved condition. Look at John 17:1-5. “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, ‘Now.’”
By the way, can he pray silently as we do? Absolutely he can. When he would wander into the mountains away from his disciples to be alone and pray on the mountains and walking on the Sea of Galilee, indeed, he was praying, and he was talking to his father. Is he praying out loud when he’s all by himself? No. Here he prays out loud. He’s praying to the father.
He’s praying out loud for their benefit. He wants them to listen in. And he says, “‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. ‘And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I’ve glorified you on the earth, having finished the work which you’ve given me to do. Now, father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was.’”
Whoa! There’s some mystery in that verse. That is deep. And some time, some way, I will come back and preach this if God gives me life. At the rate that I am going, we’ll just trust for an Abrahamic length of days for me that I can come back and preach this precious text.
But skip down to verse 11, first part of the verse. “‘I am no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world. And I come to you.’” Also verse 13, he says, “‘But now I come to you; and these things I speak in the world, so that they may have my joy made full in themselves.’” Look at the final petition, verse 22, “‘The glory which you’ve given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, just as we are one, I in them, and you in me.’”
Again, how does that happen? By the Spirit whom he promised, John 15, abiding in him, and we abide in him, and he in us by his Spirit. “‘I in them, you in me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.” Perfection in unity, the glorification of the Father’s love for elect believers, for the Son, that believers see Christ’s glory, his eternal glory.
Thomas Manton writes about John 17:5, that part of the petition. He says, “The person of Christ was hitherto beclouded during the time of his humiliation; now he desireth to be glorified, that is, that the divine majesty may shine forth in the person of the mediator; and that laying aside the form of a servant, he might return to the form of God, that he might appear in his whole person, the human nature not excluded, as he was before the foundation of the world.”
That’s what Jesus wanted, no longer beclouded glory, but now a shining, bright glory. That’s good for him; it’s good for us. It’s what he anticipated throughout his earthly ministry as he plodded along among sinners, being subject to the weaknesses and the frailties that we all are; experiencing the sorrows and griefs and disappointment of a world with sin, not yet crucified to pay for that sin.
He endured that. He felt it, but it was “for the joy set before him,” Hebrews 12:2, “that he endured the cross, that he despised the shame.” He looked right past that. He looked forward to the day when he would sit down at the right hand of the throne of God, no longer beclouded in his glory, but now shining brightly for everybody to see.
And what he wanted, what he prayed for, he received. What he asked for, sought, knocked at the door for, just as he told us to do, he found the door open to him. He found what he sought for, an improved condition for the sake of an improved mediatorial ministry, mediating between God and man, standing between us to bring us together, not to drive us apart, but to bring us together in his own flesh, in his own self, in his own soul.
So we come to a second point, number two, Jesus gained what he sought. He gained an improved condition. For Jesus Christ the state of humiliation came to an end at his death and burial, and the state of his glorification began. Remember, he said, “‘Today you will be with me in paradise.’” He rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven, glory, exaltation. And to understand the change and discern the nature of the improvement, we need to consider what it meant for Christ to be in a state of humiliation to begin with.
It’s really hard for us to wrap our minds around that because we ourselves are saturated with the sin that he came to save us from. We’re like fish swimming in water. We don’t know we’re wet. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he is truly a fish out of water, having no sin in himself, and he walks among sinners and sees the effect of sin, and the heartbreak of sin, and the tearing apart of sin. He sees sin mangling people’s souls, dehumanizing people. He sees death, death, death everywhere.
And his pure heart and soul, to see that, we cannot understand the sorrow, the grief that he experienced as a man. He sought to be glorified, of course he did, because at the time of his humiliation during his earthly ministry, as the Puritan Thomas Manton said, “His human nature was subject to natural infirmities, hunger, thirst, fear, sorrow, anguish” and to a degree that you and I will never ever know or understand.
Manton writes that his mediatorial office had been “managed as suited his humiliation, and all his actions of prophet, priest, and king, could not be performed gloriously, but in a humble manner,” had to be performed in a humble manner, “as suited with his present state.” That is to say, he had to be like us in all ways, yet without sin.
His humiliation was appropriate to his task. It wasn’t some mistake, wasn’t some foul part of the plan. This was necessary to accomplish redemption through his death for sinners like you and me. But once he died on that cross as an atoning sacrifice for sins, his humiliation had served its purpose. It was done. Humiliation was not to continue, could not continue, because it limited the full perfection of his mediatorial ministry.
That’s the greater thing. His mediation for us is not just ending at the cross. It didn’t just go up to the cross, and then he’s, like, done mediating. Okay, now that I’ve reconciled God to man, shake hands, you two, and I’m going to walk away. That is not the case at all. He continues in a prophetic, priestly, kingly ministry to his people. His abiding presence is improved in his current condition. His intercession for his people, improved. His sanctifying, perfecting, and glorifying his people, all improved. But for the rest of his work, he had to leave that humiliation behind and enter into a state of glorification, which he did when he ascended on high.
Now and forevermore, Jesus exercises his mediatorship as a perfected Christ, resurrected Christ, glorified Christ. Christ is in heaven. He’s no longer on earth. He is an improved mediator with a greater mediation than during his time of humiliation. It was in the time of his flesh that his feelings of pity could come from his own sense of sorrow and grief. But now, in his ascended and exalted state, Christ no longer suffers the pain of any negative emotions, nor will he ever again.
Jesus wanted an improved condition, and he has gained that improved condition so that he could perform an improved ministry in anticipation of ministering to an improved people. Travis Allen
Some people portray Jesus as if he’s just, like, sad and really moping about the fact that you sin and hurt him. Don’t let that kind of talk infect your mind. Do not think of Christ as some weak, like a Roman Catholic Jesus, still hanging on the cross, still being beaten, still being tortured, still being tormented, spat upon, humiliated. Not true. That’s why our cross, all evangelical crosses, it’s empty. It’s a reminder that our Christ is no longer there. He’s in heaven.
He’s ascended on high, his pity and compassion for us elevated to a whole new level, his care for us forming, impassioning his prayers for us. His affections, even, are glorified. No longer hindered by a body of humiliation, his heart is elevated in glory in a manner that benefits his improved condition, in his state of glory. He’s improved in every way.
Puritan Thomas Goodwin wrote a lot about this theme in a very important, helpful treatise called, The Heart of Christ in Heaven Toward Sinners on Earth. And Goodwin’s pastoral aim in that treatise is to lay open the heart of Christ and to show him, as he says, to show him, “as now he is in heaven, sitting at God’s right hand and interceding for us; how [his heart] is affected and graciously disposed toward sinners on earth that do come to him; how willing to receive them; how ready to entertain them; how tender to pity them in all their infirmities, both sins and miseries.” End quote.
So yeah, he exercises an improved ministry because he’s ascended on high, because glory is gain and the improvement of his condition. So Goodwin considers Jesus’ improved situation. Several points he makes; I’m just going to isolate two. He considers Jesus’ improved condition from a negative standpoint and a positive standpoint.
First, “negatively, Christ’s affection of sympathy is not the same now as during his earthly ministry.” It’s not the same. Hebrews 5:7, the writer to the Hebrews says this, that “in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears.” Remember the Garden of Gethsemane, him praying prior to the cross, the battle before the battle? “Loud cries and tears”: that was the days of his flesh. And by “flesh,” here, “it’s not referring to Christ’s human nature,” per se. It’s referring to quote, “the frail quality of subjection to mortality.” “Loud cries and tears”: “frail quality of subjection to mortality, the feeble passability of the state of his humiliation.”
Goodwin goes on to explain that in the days of his flesh, while Jesus is still subject to weakness and to death and frailty, he says this: “Frail passions and affections… did work a suffering in him, and a wearing [out] and a wasting [away] of his spirits.” Remember he had to be refreshed by the angel that came to minister to him. Going on, he says, “Now these days of his flesh being over and past… hence, therefore all such concomitant passionate overflowing of sorrow, fear, et cetera, are ceased therewith, and he is now no way capable of them, or subjected to them.” So negatively speaking, in Christ’s improved condition, his sympathy is no longer subject to frailty. It’s not hindered by feelings of sorrow. His affections are now strong, glorified.
And so positively, secondly, “Christ has gained a new, resurrected body, which is an untold improvement,” one we can only comprehend in kind of the most superficial ways, but we’ll try. Paul tries, 1 Corinthians 15:44-45, “Our Lord was raised in a spiritual body. His natural body was sown,” in, like, planted into the earth; “he was raised a spiritual body.” We observed that in our study of Luke 24. His body now possesses these new remarkable qualities.
We just observe, say, Interesting. That’s going to be us, too, passing through walls. Not merely, though, circumventing laws of physics in the material world, but in his care for us, a new remarkable quality in his sympathy toward us. That all informs his intercession for us, his prayers for us.
Goodwin points out that Jesus Christ, though glorified, he says, He remains “a true man, and the same man that he was, both in body as well as in soul,” and the spiritual body that he has, it’s “spiritual in respect of power,” Spiritual in respect to “likeness to a spirit, [but] not in respect of substance or nature.” That is to say, he didn’t just become an angel. He still is man: flesh and blood. As he told his disciples, “‘A ghost doesn’t have flesh and blood, as you see that I have.” I can digest food, still can happen.
He didn’t cease to be material in his new body. He remains a human being, truly, composed of body and spirit, composed of material and immaterial, but now, in this new and much improved condition, being a spiritual body, yet still a body, but the soul of Jesus Christ our Savior, our Lord, our Mediator, is vastly improved and for our benefit.
Goodwin goes on to say this, that “his affections of pity and compassion do work not only in his spirit or soul, but in his body, too, as their seat and instrument, though in a more spiritual way of working, and more like to that of spirits, than those in a fleshly frail body are.” Goodwin goes on to say, His resurrected body “is so framed to the soul that both itself and all the operations of all the powers in it are immediately and entirely [under the full control] and dominion of the soul; and that as the soul is pleased to use it, and to sway it and move it, even as immediately and as nimbly, and without any clog or impediment, as an angel moves itself, or as the soul acteth itself.”
If you didn’t catch all that, went by pretty fast, that’s okay. Goodwin is just trying to find words to express that our resurrected Lord in his current condition has no impediment whatsoever to his condition. Have you ever longed to help somebody, seeing them in desperate need, help a sick child, help a suffering friend, a relative, and you just can’t do it? Maybe you’re sick yourself and you can’t lift yourself up out of bed. Maybe you want to bring something to somebody, and you’re just hindered, limited.
What he’s saying is that for Christ, all those longings for good, all those longings for help and succor and comfort and consolation, nothing’s hindered in him, nothing hindered as it was in the days of his humiliation. In the days of his glorification, his body fully, perfectly serves his interests of his soul, of his spirit.
His spirit now moves with the ease and the speed of angels, and his body, rather than hindering now, it helps him now in mediating for us. Wasn’t always like that, wasn’t always like that. Goodwin says, “in this life he was troubled and grieved ‘without sin’ or inordinacy,” yet still hindered, kept from the fullest expression of His longing to minister. Now, when he is in heaven he pities and compassionates without the least mixture or tang of disquietment and perturbation, which yet necessarily accompanied his affections whilst he was here, because of the frailty in which his body and spirits were framed.”
No longer in frailty. Positively, Christ’s affections have improved beyond his capabilities while sojourning here. His affections, his desires, his longings and his spirit, his body serves those perfectly. No more frailty or weakness of an unglorified flesh because he now has a resurrected body, a spiritual body.
And so Goodwin says this, “There is, instead of that passionate frailty, a greater capaciousness, a vastness, and also a quickness in his affections now in heaven,” and, “so … no less effectually to stir and quicken him to relieve us, than those former affections did. For it is certain that as his knowledge was enlarged upon his entering into glory, so his human affections of love and pity are enlarged in solidity, strength, and reality, as true conjugal love useth to be … They are not less now, but are only made more spiritual.” End quote.
Joel Beeke and Mark Jones in their book, On a Puritan Theology, they interact with this from Goodwin. They describe Christ’s ascension in glory in this way. They say, “On the one hand, we should not think of Jesus suffering in heaven as He did on earth. He is no longer subject to any frailty, weariness, tears, exhaustion, or fear.” But, “on the other hand, He remains a person with human emotions and a human body. He’s not a spirit or a ghost. And His frailty is replaced with a vastly expanded capacity for the affections of love.” End quote.
So much more we can go into and say, but we transition now to the ways in which Jesus sought these improvements for our sake, and the benefit that accrues to us, his people. Number three, Jesus performs an improved ministry. Jesus performs an improved ministry. To illustrate the improvement of Christ in his ministry, I want us to turn to Hebrews, the letter to the Hebrews, where the writer urges us to draw near to Jesus, our great high priest, our mediator, our intercessor. And it’s, he wants us to draw near in light of the superiority of his ministry, his improved condition, his improved ministry.
We’ll start in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10, Hebrews 2:10 and following, “It was fitting for him for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one. For which reason he is not ashamed to call them ‘brothers,’ saying, ‘I will recount your name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly, I will sing your praise.’”
That’s one of the things I’m looking forward to in Heaven. I love singing with you all, love singing in our church. Can’t wait until we do it there, and to not have any of us feeble choir directors, song leaders, but have Christ himself leading the choir, us, all of us being in the great choir, none of us being tone deaf. Off key. Perfect pitch, singing his praises, singing praises to God. He’s going to lead us. “‘In the midst of the great assembly I’ll sing your praise.’”
And “Again,” verse 13, “‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again, ‘Behold, I and the children whom God has given me.’ Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
“For assuredly he does not give help to angels, but he does give help to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of his people. For since he himself was tempted, in which he has suffered, he is able to come to help those who are tempted.”
His improvement, beloved, is for your sake. It’s to benefit you. He wants you to know his love, his delight over you. And sin is a hindrance. He wants it gone. He doesn’t want you to be tempted, distracted, carried away and enticed by sin. He wants you delivered. He wants a holy people. Why? Because he’s a Pharisee that loves rules? No. Because he’s a God who loves holiness and purity for the sake of his people’s love.
Jesus, the author of our salvation, sanctifies us. He makes us holy. And he’s not ashamed to call us brothers, to identify with us. He’s not ashamed to take on our flesh and blood, he himself being the creator of it, and he went through death to deliver us from death and to set us free. In that final verse, verse 18, “he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered,” notice the past tense. No longer the case, it’s no longer the case he’s tempted, no longer the case that he is suffering in a passive way, no longer passable in that sense.
He can no longer be tempted, no longer suffer. He’s now in an exalted condition and in that exalted condition, verse 18 says, “He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” There’s a before and there is an after in that verse. Next, turn to Hebrews 4 and verse 14. Hebrews 4:14, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been,” past tense, “tempted in all things like we are, and yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
He has passed through the heavens, quite literally. In the ascension account that Luke recorded in Acts 1:9, he literally passed through the heavens, was received by a cloud, went into his state of exaltation, and there he carries the knowledge and the experience of living in humiliation with us. He ministers to us now with full understanding, with full sympathy. That encourages us, doesn’t it, to draw near to him in confidence. He knows us.
Next, Hebrews 5, verse 7, “He, in the days of his flesh, offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. And although he was a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered. And having been made perfect, he became to all those who obey him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Now we could read so many more passages, each similar to these, but the main point to draw out is this, Jesus was heard because of his piety. He was rewarded with glory. He ascended to an improved condition at the Father’s right hand. He no longer pleads with loud crying and tears. His humiliation is over, and over for good, and now in his exalted, improved condition, he intercedes for us now with power and in glory and to full effect of his will. Christ, in heaven, no longer on earth, he’s an improved mediator. As such, he performs an improved ministry to us.
Goodwin, who wants to assure us of Christ’s desire for us and so that we’ll draw near, and we’ll do so even when we’ve sinned. And let me say it this way, beloved, especially when we sin. He doesn’t want our sin to keep us from him one second. And yet it does, doesn’t it? When we sin and we sense we’ve sinned, we’re struck with that feeling of shame, aren’t we? And what does shame do? It divides. Shame causes us to want to hide, just as it did with Adam and Eve in the garden, to hide from God and hide from one another.
It’s the shame that we sense of our own sin that causes all kinds of havoc in relationships, vertical and horizontal. And Christ wants to assure us, oh, when you sin, beloved, I’ve paid for that sin. You come to me. You come to me and seek the cleansing of your conscience. Beloved, that’s why we do that every Sunday. Every Sunday we take time, a few minutes, just a few moments to for you to silently pray, confess your sins, have your conscience cleansed because of Christ’s work, his finished work on the cross. We want there to be nothing hindering your understanding between you and him.
Goodwin spends time trying to explain this to us so that we will draw near even if we sinned, and especially if we’ve sinned. Because whenever we sin as Christians, we aggravate sin against God, don’t we? Our sin, now that we’re Christians, is worse than any sin we committed before we were Christians. Why is that? Because we sin against the light. We sin against his mercy. We sin against his grace. We know better, right?
Ever thought about that? All of our sins now, post-salvation, are aggravated offenses. They’d receive extra years on our sentence if we’re in a human court. When we sin now, we no longer sin in ignorance. We can’t say, I didn’t know. We’re not sinning in a state of unregeneracy or in the darkness of unbelief. We know better.
So now when we sin, we sin against the light God has given in the Word and the Spirit. We sin against the kindness of Christ. We sin against his tender mercy. We sin against the affection of his friendship, the friendship that he extends toward us, I call you brothers. I call you friends. I’m bringing you to the great assembly. We’re going to sing together. And yet, dear believer, because of his ascension, because of his improved condition, because of his exaltation as a reward of his earthly humiliation, he bids you, Come, seek my help.
Goodwin says, “Your very sins move him to pity,” pity, “more than to anger.” He goes on, “Christ he takes part with you, and is so far from being provoked against you, as all his anger is turned upon your sin, to ruin it; yea, his pity is increased the more towards you, even as the heart of a father is to a child that hath some loathsome disease, or as one is to a member of his body that hath the leprosy: he hates not the member, for it is his flesh, but the disease, and that provokes him to pity the part affected [all] the more.” End quote.
You got it, beloved? If you’re sick with sin, he doesn’t hate you. He hates that sickness. He turns all his anger, all his fury, and all his power, and turns his spirit to go after your sin, to destroy it, to eradicate it, to mortify it, to kill it. But you, you he pities. You he cares for. He sees you suffering under the fever of a sin. He sees you when you’re entering the temptation. He sees you to deliver you. He doesn’t want to go, you to go down that soul-mangling route of destruction. He doesn’t want you to live in death. He saved you for life. He doesn’t want you to live under the domination of the devil. He delivered you from the devil. He wants you to live under the yoke of his kind heart.
He and the Father have sent the Holy Spirit to us to indwell us, causing us to long for him, to love him, to see him clearly, to look upon his atoning work and be satisfied. Travis Allen
Take heart, beloved Christian. Jesus came to reveal the heart of God to you. He died to rescue you from sin’s eternal penalty, deliver you from the fear of death, set you free from your enslavement to sin, and he overcame death in the grave. He removed the sting of death, which is sin, and he overcame the power of sin in the law. Now Jesus lives. He rejoices to help you. He delights to deliver you still from all temptation, from all enticement to evil, from all corruption, so that you no longer enter into temptation, but you escape the snares of the devil. He’s your perfect mediator, and he’s exalted now for you.
Thomas Manton writes this; he says, “ All Christ’s mediatory acts were for our sake, and so are his prayers, … [to] comfort his disciples against his sufferings, … [to] give the world an instruction, that suffering for God is the highway to glory, … [and for] the advantage of his members. Christ knew it could not go well with the church unless it went well with himself,” His ascension was for our profit.
And so, beloved, draw near to him. “He always lives to make intercession for you,” Hebrews 7:26. By his prayers of intercession, by the mighty working of his Spirit through his Word, Christ, our intercessor, is going to render sin powerless for you. If you ask him. If you seek it. You’ll only need to “draw near to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in your time of need.” It’s all you need to do. He’s eager to perform his improved ministry for you.
Thankfully, as we look to the pattern in our Lord Jesus, of humiliation and then exaltation, suffering and then glory, we can take heart, knowing that our own humiliation isn’t going to last forever. Our improvement in glory, shared with Jesus our Savior, now that will last forever and ever and ever and ever. Jesus seeks that. He seeks that.
So number four, final point: Jesus anticipates an improved people. Jesus anticipates an improved people. I’ve been asked before quite a number of times about my favorite passages in the Gospel of Luke, having gone through it. And that’s kind of like asking which of my children is my favorite. I love them all, but whoever I visited most recently and shared fellowship with most recently, that love may be the freshest on my mind. And so whatever passage I’m preaching is the freshest on my mind.
But if I was forced to choose one passage, I really love Luke 10:22. In fact, go ahead and turn to that section, Luke 10, Luke 10:22. I love that passage because of the promise that it holds forth, the high expectation that it sets for our eternity with him. It gives me a glimpse of the eternal treasure that is ours in Christ.
But I want to read Luke 10:22 in its context. So backing up to Luke 10:17. This is right after Jesus, in Luke 10:1, sent out the 72 evangelists throughout the cities of Judea to herald his coming, to prepare Judea and its cities for his eventual entrance into their city, into their village. So he sent them out, sent them out with power, sent them out in the power of the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel, to heal.
And it says in verse 17 of Luke 10, “Now the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.’” How cool is that? “He said to them, ‘Yeah, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I’ve given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice in this, that your names are recorded in heaven.’
“‘At that very time, he rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I praise you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you’ve hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in your sight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him.’
“Turning to the disciples, he said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see. For I say to you that many prophets and kings wish to see the things which you see and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear and did not hear them.’” Right after saying that, a lawyer, one who is accomplished and studied in the law, skillful, experienced, he approached Jesus to put him to the test. That’s the kind of man that Paul wrote about in 1 Timothy 3:7, one who is always learning, but sadly, with all that study, he’s never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Great study, lots of degrees, lots of time, study even the Bible, doctrine avails you zero, zilch, zippo if you have not the Spirit of God, if you have no relationship with God. This man didn’t. Sad story, but better things are in store for us though we’re mere children in the eyes of the world and quaint simpletons, soft-headed fools, in their judgment. That’s not how Jesus thinks of us. “‘Fear not, little flock,’” he says, “‘for it’s your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’” Jesus speaks tenderly to us, assures us of his love, and he always lives to make intercession for us.
He anticipates improved mediatorship, first because he himself is in an improved condition, but soon he anticipates us joining him, when we with him, we, too, are improved to the uttermost. That’s what he looks forward to.
That’s what he looks forward to: no longer troubled by sin, no longer pursued by temptation, no longer enticed, no longer distracted, no longer led astray, but now, like him, with a resurrected body, and our affections and our body in perfect alignment, so that our body serves our desires, which are all godly desires.
Seventeenth-century reformer Wilhelmus à Brakel, Dutch man, gives a glimpse into our improved condition. He says, “God cannot be seen with physical eyes, for he is the invisible one. (cf. 1 Timothy 6:16, Hebrews 11:27)” God’s the invisible one. “The Lord Jesus, according to the body, will, however, be seen with physical eyes with overwhelming joy and love by all the citizens of heaven.” Got that? We’re going to go there. We’re not going to lose our bodies. We’re going to have improved bodies, resurrected bodies, spiritual bodies, but with eyes and vision and sensation. And we’re going to see the risen Lord Jesus with our physical eyes.
Returning to à Brakel, “Believers will see Jesus in His glory, and they will speak with Him and He will speak with them face to face. God, however, will be seen with the enlightened eyes of the understanding.” That’s what Jesus was praying for, John 17:24, “‘Father, I want that those you’ve given me may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you’ve given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.’” I want them to see me with their physical eyes.
Jesus wants us to see both by physical and by spiritual sight, or in the language of Thomas Manton, to see “by ocular and mental vision.” In glory, our vision is going to improve. No longer wearing these glasses, able to see my notes and you without glasses. Wonderful day! But our vision will improve, both our physical or ocular vision, but also our spiritual or mental vision as well. No hindrance of body, no hindrance of spirit.
Manton says, “In our glorification, by ocular vision,” by which he means physical sight, “we will behold Jesus face to face.” We will behold, “the excellency of his person,” the “union of the two natures in Christ’s person,” and the “clarity of his human nature,” and “to see Jesus Christ upon his white throne.”
“When that happens, our transformation from glory to glory, (2 Corinthians 3:18),” that transformation from glory to glory will be perfected, “for by mental vision or contemplation, we will be able to ‘see’ the God who is by nature invisible. This is called the ‘beatific vision.’” Maybe you’ve heard that before. Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Our glorified physical sight of the glorified Christ will give us spiritual sight of God, the invisible one, mental sight of God, the invisible one, the ocular and the mental vision of Christ.
To see physically our risen Lord and to see spiritually our God is going to transform us fully, to the uttermost, leading to an eternal satisfaction of both Christ and us. Christ will be fully satisfied as well, and we, too, his glorified Bride. Listen to this again from Thomas Manton, who traces the path from physical to mental vision and beyond. Listen to what he says comes from the fullness of love and delight and eternal satisfaction. All of that comes out of this vision, beatific vision.
Listen, number one: Ocular vision makes way for mental. We go to heaven to study divinity in the Lamb’s face… We need no other books than beholding his glory. We converse with Christ that we may know more of God.” And, “thus we come to knowledge without labour and difficulty; Christ in his glory and eminency is Bible enough.”
Number two: “Mental vision maketh way for likeness and conformity to God. Knowledge in this life changeth us… Much more are we sanctified and made holy by the light of glory.” So you get it? We’re going to see Christ physically with our physical, ocular vision, and we’re going to study him, and we’re going to see God in the face of Jesus Christ. So knowing God through Christ gives us mental vision, spiritual vision that makes way for likeness and conformity to God.
Number three, “This light and conformity maketh way for love, that is, knowledge increaseth love.” Isn’t it true that now in our current state, knowledge doesn’t always increase love? Knowledge sometimes puffs up. Knowledge sometimes hardens. It ought not to do that, but it does. Knowledge is going to enlighten conformity based on mental vision of God and physical vision of Christ. This enlightened conformity makes way for love. That’s what knowledge is always going to produce in us, is greater love, greater love, greater love, greater love.
Number four, “Love makes way for delight.” When we love more, we delight more. “Can a man cleave to God,” he says, “and not rejoice in him?… There is an inconceivable delight in seeing, knowing, and being beloved of God.”
And then, finally, number five, “Delight maketh way for fruition.” Fruition. Everything fulfilled. “For the more we delight in God, the more doth God delight in us, and giveth us the actual fruition of himself for our blessedness, so that we are fully satisfied.”
When in glory, we will know then what Christ is longing for us to know and understand right now. But this is his heart for us, laid out. This is the attitude of his ministry toward us right now, laid out for us. And then it will be in glory, as Wilhelmus à Brakel says, “Our souls will know what it means to see God’s friendly, glorious, loving, holy, gladdening, and satisfying countenance.”
All this is true right now of God. This is how your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, how your mediator, how your friend, this is how he thinks about you, right now. This is what he sees now. And he’d have you know it, too. He’d have you be assured of it, to come to him in humble and bold confidence because he calls you to come. He bids you to come and partake in his kindness.
It’s coming back to the question we began with: Why did Jesus go away? Because he wanted an improved condition. And now that he’s gained that improved condition, he performs an improved ministry toward us and eagerly anticipates our glorification. When we’ll join him, we’ll share in that glory.
This is some of what was on Jesus’ mind when he said, again, in one of my favorite passages in Luke’s Gospel, he rejoices greatly in the Holy Spirit. He said, “‘I praise you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you’ve hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and you’ve revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, but this way was well-pleasing in your sight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal them.’” Let that encourage your hearts, beloved.
But briefly I want to say this, that all this favor and love and joy and delight of the ascended Christ, all of this that I’ve described this morning, it’s for true believers only. It’s not for unbelievers. It’s not for false professors of religion. It’s not for pew-warmers, bench-sitters. It’s for Christians.
And so if any of those negative terms describes you, I don’t mean to insult you. I mean to invite you, because currently you’re outside the fellowship, outside a relationship with God in Christ. You’re a stranger to this ministry of his. I long to see you reconciled to your God, to the ministry of Jesus Christ, because if you remain in this estranged condition, all you should expect from him and can expect from him is judgment and disfavor and wrath.
So, my friend, give your heart to Christ, and do it right now. Don’t let another moment go by. He’s given himself freely and fully for all who repent and believe. And so he bids you to come and seek him while he may be found, for he’s a God of mercy and grace. He’s a perfect man who can sympathize with all your weaknesses and mine, and loves us. It’s been a great joy, beloved, studying Luke’s Gospel with you. Please bow with me now, and let’s share in a word of thanksgiving for what we’ve received from him.
Our Father, sometimes thank you doesn’t seem to be enough. What can we say to these eternal riches that are ours in Christ Jesus? And what we’ve heard even now and what we’ve experienced all through the study of Luke’s Gospel has just been, it’s just been so beyond our comprehension. How do we, how do we get our minds around it? How do we get our hearts around it?
We confess ourselves to be too weak and sinful at this current state and this current state of our humiliation. We confess ourselves to be so needy. And so we do come, Lord Jesus, to the throne of grace to find mercy and help and grace for our time of need. And our time of need is not only now, but it’s always, as we seek your prophetic and priestly and kingly ministry in our lives, in our church. Every faithful church needs you in those ways. So please continue to perform your improved mediatorship toward us. And let us respond with hearts of thanksgiving, lips of praise for the Father who sent you, in gratitude, humble gratitude for the Spirit whom you’ve caused to dwell within us. And let us keep in step with the Spirit, walking in him, walking with you, abiding with you that we may bear much fruit, proving to be your disciples and bearing fruit to the glory of the Father. It’s in your name, Lord Jesus, we pray