The Exaltation of Christ

Tonight we're at our halfway point in our study of Christology. We have 15 lessons and we're on lesson number eight. And we're going to be looking at the exaltation of Christ. The last two weeks we focused on His humiliation, how Christ humbled Himself in order to save us. He left heaven, He veiled His glory, He came, took on humanity, added that to His deity. He suffered as a man with all the limitations that a man would go through. He was rejected by His own, He was crucified, He was buried.

And that's where we ended. So now we're on the turning point. Tonight we're looking at His exaltation. And next week we'll be looking at the steps or the stages of His exaltation. So let's begin on Bible point number one.

The exaltation of Christ is the resumption — that's the first blank. That's kind of a big word, but after what Hannah just did, I don't think any of our homeschooled kids are going to have trouble spelling resumption. The exaltation of Christ is the resumption of the eternal Son's independent exercise of His divine attributes and the restoration — restoration is the second blank. The restoration of the glory that He shares with the Father. Remember that in His humiliation, He set aside both His glory in taking the servant form of a man, and also He set aside the independent exercise of His divine prerogatives or His divine nature. He only took on, so to speak, or exercised His divine right by the will of the Holy Spirit in obedience to the Father to accomplish our salvation.

In Christ's humiliation, the eternal Son of God set aside His divine glory with the Father. In Christ's exaltation, His glory with the Father is fully restored and made manifest. This is the third blank — manifest means made known to the universe. And we're going to read Philippians 2:6 through 11. We've read this in part the last two weeks, but now we'll read the entire passage that looks at both His humiliation and His exaltation.

Speaking of Christ as who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation. This is emptying, so to speak. Taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Verse 9, "Therefore God has also highly exalted Him, and given the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

In His exaltation, He is set above all creation — every created thing, whether it's angels, whether it's men, whether it's the living or whether it's the dead. He is Lord of all. He's reinstated as King. He already was King before His incarnation, but remember He set aside that divine glory, and He took the humble form of a man in coming to earth. And in His exaltation, that is restored, and He is declared the King of the universe. Look what it says in verse 11, "And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

You know what glorifies God? When we exalt the Son.

Many of you may be using a catechism to explain Christianity to your children, and one question that you may come across is, "What's the chief end of man?"

To glorify God.

That's true. But I add a little asterisk there. It's to glorify Christ. And when you exalt Christ and give Him the preeminence, you're glorifying God the Father, because Their glory is one and the same, and Christ is the image of the invisible God, and it pleases the Father, according to Philippians 2:11, that Christ should be confessed as Lord, that He should be exalted. Flip over on the back.

Let's look at two passages from John 17. This is the upper room discourse where Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, He has the Lord's Supper, and He's giving His disciples some last-minute instruction before He's about to be betrayed and crucified. He says, "I have glorified You on the earth." He's praying to the Father. "I have finished the work which You have given Me to do."

"And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was." This was before His crucifixion. He's yearning to share in the glory of the Father again. The same glory that He knew from all eternity, that same communion with the Father, the same unbroken fellowship, the same transparency, the same angelic cry of holy, holy, holy — He wanted to experience that with the Father again.

Look at John 17:22-24, last few verses here. It says, "And the glory which You gave Me, I have given them." Who is the "them"?

Believers, right? The context is those who will believe — not just His disciples, but you and me, right? Not just His immediate disciples, but those who will believe. "And the glory which You've given Me, I've given them, that they may be one just as We are one. I in them, and You, Father, in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me." He wants to share the perfect love of the Father for the Son, which is His glory. He wants to share that with us, right? The same love that He perfectly experienced from all eternity, He can now impart to us, because in His resurrection, He'll be sending His Spirit, and His Spirit communicates the presence of the Father and the presence of the Son to us. He says, verse 24, "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."

Christ is longing for our faith to be made sight. He wants us to taste and see the perfect love of God for the Son and experience that, so He longs for us to be with Him in heaven. And when Christ ascended into heaven, what did Christ tell His disciples? "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also," right? Because our home is with Him, right? Flip back over on the front. The application for number one is this: exalting Christ above all glorifies the Father.

Exalting Christ above all glorifies the Father. It is exalting His perfect love that He showed us on the cross, saying, "What love is this, that the Son of God would humble Himself to die in my place?" When we exalt that love, it exalts the Father, glorifies the Father, because the love of the Son is the exact same love of the Father.

But point number two, the exaltation of Christ was initiated at His quickening and resurrection. That's the first blank — resurrection. Christ did not stay dead. He humbled Himself to the point of obedience all the way to death. But He was quickened. He was made alive. He was resurrected. So His exaltation began at His resurrection.

It was shown in His ascension into heaven.

As we know, we read in Acts chapter one that Christ ascended into heaven, just as He said He would, to the Father's right hand. And there He's enthroned. That's what we mean by His enthronement. He's placed on the very throne of God. We see this prophesied, actually, in the Old Testament in Daniel chapter seven, talking about the Ancient of Days — God — and before God, who's sitting on the throne, the Ancient of Days, the Son of Man comes on the clouds. The Son of Man is a messianic term, the favorite term of Christ in describing Himself. And as He enters the throne room of God, He is given the throne of God. And every person bows down before Him — all the angels, all the people, the whole world, right? Christ is seated right now at the right hand of the Father. Now, remember, God doesn't have a body. He's a Spirit, right? We use terms of His hand to describe His might. And at His right hand means He rules and reigns in God's sovereignty. He's equal with God on the throne, okay? So sometimes you'll see God or Christ pictured as sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. Other times you see Him as standing at the right hand of God or at the throne of God. But all those are the same thing, expressing His sovereign rule over the universe. He's King of kings and Lord of lords.

It continues in His heavenly session.

Session is maybe a term you haven't heard before or used much, but that just means His present rule. Right now, Christ is ruling over both the kings of this earth, over the angels, over everything, right? He's holding this world into existence by the word of His power, right? And part of His heavenly session, which we'll read about — or we'll discuss next week — is His intercession for the saints, right? And also His sending of the Holy Spirit to empower the church to do the work of His ministry, right? That's His heavenly session. And it will be fully displayed to all in judgment. That's the third blank.

Christ is going to return the exact way that He ascended. He's going to return on the clouds, right? And when He does, it will be to judge the world, to separate the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats. He will judge all — both the living and the dead. And at His voice, the grave will give up its dead and everyone will stand before the Lord to give an account before Him. This is all part of His exaltation, okay? Luke 24:26, this is where Christ has been resurrected and He's appeared to His disciples. He has a couple of disciples who have been confused by the Lord being crucified and dead and buried in the tomb. And He appears to them. And what does He say here? He says, "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"

This was all predicted in the Old Testament. I mentioned Daniel seven already as a prophetic utterance referring to His enthronement, right? His resurrection was not an afterthought. This is all part of the divine plan from the very beginning to reconcile humanity — the humanity who was estranged from God, who had shaken his fist at God.

Christ came down here to save us. And not just to save us from our sins, but to carry us back to heaven, right?

And that's what He will do at His final appearing.

Flip over on the back. Bible reference number two here.

Mark 16:19, the longer ending of Mark, says, "So then after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven. And He sat down at the right hand of God."

Acts — this should be chapter one. I have chapter two there, forgive me. That's a mistype. Acts chapter one, verse 32.

No, I'm sorry, this is right. This is part of Peter's sermon, I'm sorry. Peter's sermon here. "This Jesus, God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear." Peter's speaking on the day of Pentecost when everyone is speaking in other languages that they didn't know beforehand. And he's explaining to them that these men are not drunk, but they are receiving the blessing of the Holy Spirit, which Christ is bestowing upon them from heaven.

Hebrews 10:12-13 also speaks of His exaltation. "But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. From that time, waiting till His enemies are made His footstool." In other words, right now He's reigning over both the heavens and the earth, and it may seem like God tarries. It may seem like evil goes unpunished, but it will not. One day, His enemies will be made His footstool, and that will be taking place at His judgment, right? He will put down all evil. All wickedness will be punished. No one will be able to get away with murder. No one will be able to get away with lies. It'll all be exposed, and it'll be punished from the very throne of God.

Let's look back over on the front. The application for number two is this: do you live your life to exalt Christ? The blank is exalt Christ. As Christ is in His state of exaltation right now, sitting at the right hand of the throne of God, ruling over the universe, waiting for the day when He comes again — as He's in a perpetual state of exaltation among everyone in heaven who are crying out, "Holy, holy, holy" — how about you?

Does your tongue join in His exaltation?

When we praise the Lord and we sing hymns as we've done tonight, is that not exalting the name of Christ? When our young ones play the piano, using their talents for the glory of God, is that not exalting Christ?

When, Mike, you go do a construction job and you treat people fairly and ethically and you're showing them a man of integrity, is that not exalting the character of Christ, keeping His commandments? Yes. Whether it's obeying our parents, whether it's spending time with the Lord and calling upon Him as Lord, let our lives exalt Christ. Because whether we do it now, eventually we will — every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Christ Jesus is Lord.

Bible point number three, the exaltation of Christ includes the withdrawal of all limitation — that's the blank, limitation or limitations — in His communication of the divine fullness to the human nature of Christ.

His divine nature is no longer obscured.

His servant veil has been removed — removed is the second blank. In His humiliation, we talked about this, how He could act and do as God, His divine nature, but only in accordance with the will of God in saving humanity and in obedience to the Holy Spirit. So we didn't see His divine glory all that often in His ministry, because it was veiled, right? It was hidden, if you will. We see a glimpse of it in the transfiguration, do we not? That's often referred to as one of the miracles of Christ. He took Peter, James, and John up to the mountain, right? And remember what happened — all of a sudden He was transfigured, He shone with the very glory of God, His clothes became whiter than any launderer could ever do.

But that wasn't really the miracle.

The miracle was that His glory could be veiled for 33 years.

The glory of God that outshines the sun, the God who lives in light that is unapproachable — that could be hidden, that could be veiled. That was part of His humiliation, right? In His exaltation, that veil is lifted. It is no more. Look what we see here in Acts chapter one, verse 11.

"Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." If you read the couple of verses before that, you'll see that He ascended up into heaven on the what?

On the clouds, right?

In scripture, clouds is a reference to the Shekinah glory of God. Remember when Moses went up into the mountain to commune with God and receive the Ten Commandments? Clouds descended. It was a fearful thing — there was thundering and there was lightning, right? It was an impenetrable darkness that was there, causing the people of Israel to quake in fear when they heard the voice of God. They said, "Moses, you speak to Him, not to us, because we're going to die if we hear His voice, right? And you weren't even allowed to go to the mountain." Think about Solomon.

David wanted to build a temple. God said, "No, let your son Solomon build a temple." David rounded up the provisions. Solomon built a fine temple for the Lord. And at the dedication of the temple, what filled the temple?

His Shekinah glory. So thick that they couldn't even enter the temple, right? It was symbolic of God's presence, of His holiness, right? And this is the cloud with which Christ ascended into heaven, right? And in that same cloud, He's going to be coming down in judgment. Flip over on the back.

This is in small print here for reference number three. This speaks of the exalted Christ in heaven — back, I think it was in December, I had the privilege of preaching on this passage here. If you go to YouTube, you'll find that. It's a description of Christ as He is now, the exalted Christ. And look at this — it sounds just like the picture of the Ancient of Days that we've discussed in Daniel 7. It says, "And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to His feet and girded about the chest with a golden band, His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And His eyes like a flame of fire, His feet were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace." That's war language there for trampling the enemies. "And His voice as the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength."

It's an incredible picture of the exalted Christ in His full glory. That is how Christ appears now.

And when He rips the heavens open and He returns again, that's going to be His appearance then.

Flip back over on the front.

Application is this: how can you reflect — reflect is the blank — the glory of Christ?

Think about Moses, when under the old covenant, he went up to the mountain of God and he came down.

What was it about his face? It almost glowed, right? You had to put a veil to hide it. Listen, you cannot hide being filled with the Holy Spirit. You cannot hide being filled with the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart. Have you ever met someone, a stranger, and you just instantly knew, that's a believer, right? It's not that you have ESP or some sense of the force or something like that, not at all. It's just that it's written all over them like a book. You can see their joy, you can see their peace, and you can see it in the way they carry themselves and in their words, right, and in their actions. So should we reflect the glory of Christ. When you're at work and the coworkers are cursing, talking about stuff that's carnal, and you walk up, conversation should change.

When you're with your fellow ladies and they begin to gossip and they begin to murmur, your presence, reflecting the holiness of Christ, should bring about conviction, right? That's what it means to reflect the glory of Christ. In a very finite way, we can reflect Christ — with fire coming out of His eyes and a sword out of His mouth — because our words should be dripping with scripture, right? Our patterns of language should be shaped by His holy Word.

Bible point number four, the exaltation of Christ includes the corresponding exercise of His human nature

of those powers which belong to it by virtue of a union with the divine. Let me explain what I mean by that. That's a long sentence there. It means that in the exaltation of Christ,

God's divine nature in Christ is passed over perfectly to His human nature. He did that always under the obedience of the Holy Spirit in His earthly ministry. But now that He is resurrected,

His human nature is fully energized, so to speak, by His divine nature constantly.

Christ's human nature is now derivatively possessed of divine attributes in His free exercise of the divine nature. Free is the second blank. In other words, He's not just waiting now to be able to show glimpses of the divine according to the will of God in the salvation of mankind. Now, it's His natural course to always fully reflect the divine because that veil has been lifted, right? He's now free to always exercise who He is. He is divine nature with a human nature added to it. And His human nature is now fully, so to speak, activated by the divine nature.

Because of the union of the divine and human natures in the God-Man, it's eternal and indissoluble. Indissoluble means it can never be separated. Both natures are exalted in the one person of Christ. In other words, Christ is in heaven right now on full display as a Man, even though He is divine — He still maintains His human nature.

And His exaltation is not just of His divine nature, it is of His human nature too. Everything He does, He does as the God-Man. Both His human nature and His divine nature together are both exalted. Perfect humanity is exalted to the throne of the universe along with His divine nature. Because it's not the human nature made in the image of God in the first place? Yes, and that's what we see in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 7:26 says this, "For such a high priest was fitting for us, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens." We have a High Priest who is indeed human. A High Priest who has been through every suffering and temptation that we've been through, except without sin. And now He's been exalted to the right hand of the throne of God, where He still mediates the presence of God for us. He is still our Prophet, He is still our Priest, He is still our King and forever will be. And human nature has attained the throne of the universe in Christ. Flip over on the back.

1 Timothy 3:16, "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in glory." This is a summation of both His humiliation and His exaltation, but notice that when He was received up into glory, He's received up as a Man, right? As perfected humanity.

The application for number four is this: how does Christ's ascension give us hope?

How does Christ's ascension give us hope?

He ascended into heaven as a Man, right? He's the firstfruit of the resurrection, right? We are made in His image and we are redeemed. So we too will join Him in heaven, right? He's proved that humanity can have access to heaven, right?

Through His perfect righteousness. So it should give us hope to know that He's ascended to heaven to be with God forever, and so shall we, right?

Bible point number five, Christ is exalted above all powers — that's the first blank. Christ is exalted above all things — that's the second blank. Christ is highly exalted to be the Head of the church — church is the third blank. The fullness of Him who fills all in all. Christ is exalted above all powers. Let's look at Ephesians chapter one, verse 20 through 23. By the way, I had the privilege of preaching on this last December as well, in a separate sermon on the exaltation of Christ. He raised Him from the dead — this is His exaltation — and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named.

When He says principality and power and might and dominion, that includes all earthly authority.

That includes all earthly positions of power. There may be people who are not politicians, but they have great power because of their wealth or because of their position or their influence. Christ is above that. Christ is also above every heavenly principality, everything in the unseen realm, whether it's a demon or whether it's an angel. We don't understand the heavenly realm completely. We do know, when we discussed angelology, that there are a couple of angels that are referred to as archangels — perhaps there's a hierarchy there, we don't know, it's not explicitly told us in scripture — but that tells us that every power, whether in the heavenly realms or the earthly realms, Christ is above. He's exalted above all powers. He's exalted above all things. He says, verse 21, far above all principalities and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that age to come. So not only is He Lord of everything and above everything right now, but He's also above everything in the future. There never will be someone who will supplant Christ. There never will be a power greater than Him. Verse 22, "And He put all things under His feet."

We often are bound by things, right?

For example, maybe we're limited in our bodies because of health — we don't have our mobility perhaps. Maybe we're limited in our location because, for example, maybe we have family that's nearby, dependent on us, and we don't want to leave because of that. Maybe we are limited because of our finances. We would like to be in a better neighborhood or get our kids into a better school or something, but we have our limitations. We're sometimes limited through loss and suffering, right? You lose a loved one and it cripples you emotionally and spiritually.

But Christ is exalted above all things. In other words, He has power over everything — not just rulers, but over everything in this life. Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. He says, "And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church." Christ was exalted to have all power over everything in this age and the age to come, over all principalities. He gave Him that authority to be Head over us, the church.

To be Head means to be the one who's responsible for the nourishment and the care of the body, right? We just had some delicious barbecue and slaw and beans and cookies, right? Your head nourished your body, right? That's the way it came in — your eyes saw it, your mouth ate it, and it was good and it nourished you.

That's what Christ does for His church. He has all power over all things at all times for your benefit, for your care. And just as you care for your own body, right — none of you are going to say, well, I don't need my hand, I'm going to stick it in a meat grinder — no, you care about your body because it's yours. You belong to Christ. He's that near to you because you're united to Him through faith. He is the Head of the body.

Application for number five is this. You are — you as a blank — you are more than conquerors. Let me read this passage to you from Romans. Many of you love Romans chapter eight. It's one of those high points in scripture. And in verse 37 through 39 says, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any of the created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Praise God that He is our Head and that we are inseparable from our Head and we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.

Bible point number six, Christ's ascension is not inconsistent with Christ's omnipresence.

The whole of God is ever present at all times and in every place. That's what we mean by God's omnipresence. He's all present. The whole of God always in every place. Christ has not left the world in His ascension to the Father any more than He left the Father in His descent into the world. Descent is the first blank. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Caleb taught us that even in His humiliation

in the person of Jesus Christ, divinity was narrowed down to that of a baby, right? With the powers and the understanding of a baby. But even at that time, Christ was still omnipresent. He was upholding the whole universe, governing the whole universe at the same time. When we use the example of God at the burning bush with Moses, He was in the burning bush, was He not? He spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He manifested Himself in the burning bush, but at the same time, He was filling the whole universe and ruling everything, holding it together so it would not fall apart, right?

The same with the exaltation of Christ. His body is in heaven, right?

Calvin had the famous quote that Christ is incarnate even in heaven, but He's not incarcerated.

And here it says, "Christ is forever incarnate, but not incarcerated. His human body" — body is the second blank — "may be confined to a place, but Christ's human soul" — that's the third blank, soul — "is ubiquitous." Ubiquitous may not be a word we use a lot, but it simply means it's everywhere. Right now, pollen is ubiquitous, right? You go outside, you touch your car, you see it on the sidewalks. Christ is ubiquitous. He fills both heaven and earth. We talked about this when we discussed the attributes of God, and we talked about the immensity of God. His immensity means that God fills all space everywhere, and at the same time, He's unspatial. He's above space and our even conception of existence, and how that speaks of His transcendence, right?

Christ said — it says of God in the Old Testament that heaven is His throne, and the earth is His footstool. Where is the place that you're going to build for Me? The heavens cannot contain our Lord God, and the same is true of Christ, because Christ is divine God, right?

Christ has ascended into the heavens and manifested Himself there, but Christ has gone far above all heavens that He might fill all things. Even though Christ's glorified human body has manifested in heaven, His human soul by virtue of His divine nature is at the same moment present with all His people everywhere. Everywhere is the fourth blank. So even though the human body of Christ is in heaven, His soul lives within me, lives within you — Christ in you, the hope of glory — because His human soul is forever joined to His divine nature, right? Therefore, it takes on the qualities of the divine nature, and God is omnipresent. There's nowhere that He is not. You can go down to the deepest well, and Christ is there. You can go up to the highest mountain, and Christ is there. You can be in jail, and Christ is there. He's with us right now, praise God.

Flip over on the back.

Matthew 28:20, this is reference number six here.

"Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." It's part of the Great Commission that underscores our mission to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. Christ promises that He will be with us even until the end of the age.

Ephesians 4:10 says, "He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things." We often conceptualize Christ sitting on a puffy cloud, maybe playing a harp or something like that. The Bible says He's also above the heavens, right? He fills all things.

The application is this for number six: does Christ dwell in you?

Does Christ dwell in you? We just read from John chapter 17 how Christ said, "I in them, and You, Father, in Me, that they may be one just as We are one." Every single believer, at the moment of your conversion, you're united to the Savior. There is no salvation apart from union with Christ. Knowing Christ is not a future thing — it is in the sense of the consummation, yes, it'll be a great wedding feast, and our faith will be made sight. But it's the fact of every single believer that the moment that you're regenerated, you're united to Christ in a supernatural, spiritual way such that His benefits are accredited to you. And your failings, your shortcomings are accredited to Christ retrospectively on the cross. He died for you, right? And you're filled with the Holy Spirit at that moment, the moment of your salvation. That means you're sealed with the Holy Spirit. That's a down payment of our heavenly hope, right? So every single one of us who have our faith in Jesus Christ are united to Christ. And that's a present hope that energizes and penetrates our soul. We are said to be in Christ and Christ is said to be in us. That's not just flowery language. That is a reality of every single believer.

Bible point number seven. The Christ who is with us always is not simply the Holy Spirit, who indeed is called the Spirit of Christ.

We're going to be teaching on pneumatology after we finish Christology. And we'll learn that the Holy Spirit is sent by both the Father and the Son, or sent through the Son. So He's sent by both. He comes from both the Father and the Son. And He's even called the Spirit of Christ.

But Christ's dwelling presence isn't just the Spirit of Christ.

The Christ who abides with us is not simply the Logos — in the beginning was the Word — or the divine nature only.

When Jesus promised His continuing presence, He spoke as the God-Man.

This means His divine and human natures are inseparably united. United is the blank — forever. Christ is Man as well as God. When He says, "Lo, I am with you always," even to the end of the age, He was speaking as the God-Man. He had already become incarnate. He had added humanity to His deity. So He's promising He's going to be with us as a Man and as divine, forever. Christ is Man as well as God. Our elder brother and sympathizing Savior is forever with us. That's the third blank — is forever with us. Christ has not forgotten what it's like to suffer.

He has not forgotten human frailty.

He is always cognizant of that as a Man. He has scars in His palms that remind Him of the suffering, right? Even in His glorified body. And He's the one who is your High Priest. He's the one who is at the right hand of God the Father, pleading and interceding on your behalf. He totally understands your weaknesses. He totally understands your sufferings. In fact, He knows your sufferings better than you do. Because He suffered to a greater extent than any one of us could ever imagine. He went through the infinite suffering on the cross of bearing the wrath of God that we deserved on our behalf. Romans 8:34 says this, "Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us." Praise God for that. When you fail — and you'll do that,

we all fall short of the glory of God. Paul writes about this in Romans 7. The things I want to do, I don't find within myself to do, and the things I don't want to do, those are the things that I do. It's real easy to get down on yourself. It's easy to say, I failed again. Maybe I'm not even a Christian.

I've so disappointed God. I have so fallen short. Will He still love me? Will He still call me His own? Is He going to turn His back on me?

We have a perfect Savior

who is interceding on our behalf.

So run to Him. Come boldly to His throne of grace. Flip up on the back.

Hebrews 2:10-11 says, "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things

and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect 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 brethren."

So much in those two verses. In verse 10, he says that the captain of our salvation was made perfect through sufferings — proved to be perfect through immense suffering. So He understands our sufferings, right? When we pour out our hearts before Him. Verse 11, "He who sanctifies" — what does a priest do? Sanctifies, right? That's part of the priestly function. That's why Pastor Casey has been teaching us from Ephesians five, that the husband has that priestly role in his family — supposed to sanctify his wife with the Word of God, right, wash her with the Word. Christ is the one who sanctifies us. And those who are being sanctified are all of one. In other words, we share the same humanity, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Christ is not ashamed of you.

He's not ashamed of you. When you're dirty and you're filthy, He'll wash you.

His grace abounds and knows no limits.

The application for number seven is rejoice — I know it's kind of tiny here — rejoice in the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul.

The one who cares for you, who provides for you, who calls you to find green pastures, the Overseer who's watching out for you. He is glorified humanity added to His deity, right? And He knows and He understands.

Bible point number eight, in the exaltation of Christ, glorified humanity has a great place. And in Christ, glorified humanity has attained the throne — that's the first blank — the throne of the universe. As Christ is the Head of a new humanity,

we are united to Him, because we're in Christ. We are new creatures in Him. He will deliver us from corruption and have us sit with — that's the third blank — with Him on His throne.

The exalted Christ, who sits on the very throne of God — what did He say in His high priestly prayer? He says, "I want them to be where I am, and I want them to see the glory that I've had with You from the very beginning." And how does He do that? He shares Himself with us. And He shares His very throne with us. You think, well, no, that can't be. That's too amazing to think that the God of the universe would want to share His throne with me, a puny failure, a blasphemous sinner.

But He sees His own blood. He sees His own righteousness. Look what it says in Revelation 3:21. "To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with" — who? — "with Me on" — what? — "on My throne. As I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne."

God, in the person of Jesus Christ, sits on the same throne as His Father. And do you know what He says? He says, "Come to Me."

He can take what is broken.

He can take what is contaminated by sin. He can take what is weak and what is frail and make it a perfect, glorified vessel. Because He is glorified, He is sitting on the throne. We too will rule and reign with Him forever. Flip over on the back.

Show you three verses really quick. Romans 8:16-17, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs — heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."

This is our union with Christ. We suffer with Him and we are glorified with Him. We are heirs with Him. What does Christ have as an heir? To God the Father: "This is My Son in whom I am pleased," right? And we become joint heirs with Christ. You can have all the gold in this world, you can have all the wealth in this world — and we'll set it aside for a second — it won't add up to even the slightest moment with our heavenly Father. We'll have eternal blessedness for all eternity. That's what it means to be an heir of God: to receive Him and to know Him, His perfection, His wonder forever.

Ephesians 2:4-8, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." Here again is our union with Christ. Not only were we buried with Him, but we were resurrected with Him. When Michael gets baptized in a couple of weeks, he'll be picturing this — our death with Christ and our resurrection with Christ, right? "He made us alive together with Christ" — by grace you are saved — "and raised us up together." It's as if we were in the grave with Christ, and He has exalted us with Him. "Raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." In a very real way, we already are sitting with Christ, because Christ is our Head, and we're united to Christ, and His exaltation is ours, right? He's preceded us in time, but the reality is there, and one day our faith will be made sight, right?

"That in the ages to come" — this is what heaven is going to be. You may think, well, heaven's going to be Bible study, or heaven's going to be singing, or heaven's going to be working. "That in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." For all eternity, He's going to be pouring out His love on us, pouring out His grace, pouring out His favor — things that our minds can't even comprehend.

Gifts that are worthy of the Son are going to be shared with us.

Look at Revelation chapter one, verse five and six. "And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth, to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." He has made us kings and priests. He is our Prophet, our Priest, and our King. He shares that with us, right? And we can go before the Father as a priest. Remember in the Old Testament, only the high priest could go into the Father, but we have access to the Father because of Jesus Christ, right? And we reign with Christ even now in this life. Flip over on the front.

Romans 5:17, this is the application. Reign in life — now is the blank — now, through Christ.

Our reign is not just in the future. Even now we sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And look how that works out. That isn't just flowery language that we pat ourselves on the back with. "Ooh, we're reigning in heaven" — with no symbol of reality. Look at Romans 5:17.

It says, "For if by one man's offense, death reigned through the one" — speaking of Adam, in other words, in Adam we all die, right — "much more those who receive abundance of grace, of the gift of righteousness" — in other words, those who are in Christ, who by grace receive His righteousness — this is what it says: "will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ." Saying if you have been a recipient of the grace of God, receiving Christ's righteousness, you will reign in this life through the one Jesus Christ. What do you reign over? Don't you reign, can't you reign over sin?

Sin shall not have dominion over you, right? Can't you rule and reign over all principalities and powers? What can Satan do to you, right? If God is for you, who can be against you? Can't you reign over all things as Christ is exalted above all principalities and all powers? What can death do to us, but usher us into the kingdom of God, right? We can do all things through Christ. We reign with Him in this life. Christians should be the most triumphant folks in this world, having our heads up high, full of hope. And that includes conquering the world for our Lord Jesus Christ. When you think there's no way this customer of mine could ever be saved — he is too twisted, he's too bitter, he's a royal pain in my backside — you know that the Holy Spirit can regenerate his heart, right? So every single person is not an obstacle, is not unconquerable through Christ, through the gospel. We can turn this world upside down, right? And that's what it means to reign in Christ Jesus in this life.