The Stages of Christ's Exaltation

Today we're on lesson number nine in Christology. Last week we looked in lesson number eight at the exaltation of Christ. Well, today we're going to be looking at the stages of His exaltation. We talked last week how His exaltation began in His quickening and in His resurrection. And it continued in His ascension, it continues currently in His heavenly session, and it will reach its crescendo in His judgment. So let's begin by looking at the stages of His exaltation with Bible point number one.

In the exaltation of Christ, the eternal Son resumes His independent exercise of His divine attributes and His divine glory is unveiled. We talked about this last week — that during His humiliation in His servant form, Christ laid aside His glory, His glory was veiled, and He laid aside the independent use of His divine prerogatives. He did that always in obedience to the Father through the Holy Spirit to accomplish the salvation of us. Well, in His exaltation He resumes the independent exercise of His divine attributes and His glory is now on full display. The first stage of His exaltation began at His resurrection. That's the first blank. So it begins at His resurrection, His quickening and resurrection.

In His earthly ministry Christ predicted His death. Death is the second blank. He predicted His death and resurrection. The God-man laid down His life in His humiliation and took it up again by His own power. Power is the third blank. Power in His exaltation. So the first blank is resurrection, the second blank is death, the third blank is power. Let's look at John 10:17 through 18.

"Therefore my Father loves Me because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down Myself. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it again. This command I received from My Father."

Christ is saying here that He is God, that He is the power of life and death in His hands, and that He laid down His life that He might take it again. Now before Christ there were others that had been brought back from the dead. If you remember in the Old Testament, we have studied before about Elijah, right? And bringing the widow's son back to life. We look at the ministry of Christ, and when He said these words in His earthly ministry, we can think of three different resurrections that He performed. One would have been the widow's son who lived in Nain. Remember he was dead and He brought that widow's son back to life. Remember the daughter of Jairus. Christ brought that young girl back to life. And remember His dear friend Lazarus. Christ brought him back to life.

But in essence He was really reviving them, so to speak, because they would die again. Christ is the first fruits — the first to raise from the dead and to never die again. He has the power of life within Him. And we discussed the nature and attributes of God. We talked about God being the living God, He's the ground of all being. We talked about the aseity of God, that He is life in and of Himself. So Christ had the power to lay down His life and to take it again.

Now all three persons of the Trinity were involved in this. We see some passages in Scripture that attribute the resurrection to the Father who raised Christ from the dead. We also see the Holy Spirit attributed in this work, by saying the same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work within you — that is what Scripture says. So all three are given this work because all three are involved in every work of God, whether it's creation, whether it's providence, or whether it's redemption. But specifically given here in John 10:17 through 18, to show that Christ in His exaltation simply took back what He had laid down in His humiliation.

Flip over on the back. Reference point number one. We have John 2:19 through 22. This is very early in Jesus's ministry. In the book of John we find that He cleanses the temple at the beginning of His ministry. And He's being questioned: by what authority do you have to do this? By what sign do you do this? And He answers in verse 19. "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.'" Then the Jews said it has taken 46 years to build this temple and you will raise it up in three days. They were very proud of the temple that Herod had rebuilt for them and it had taken a long time to construct. And they said you're going to destroy this and then raise it back up. Verse 21: "But he was speaking of the temple of his body. Therefore when he had risen from the dead his disciples remembered that he had said this to them and they believed the scriptures and the word which Jesus had said."

The application for number one is simply this: believe that Christ is the resurrection and the life. That's the blank — the life. Remember when Jesus spoke to Mary and Martha after Lazarus was dead? What did Jesus say? He says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he dies, yet he shall live, and he who lives and believes in Me will live forever. Do you believe this?" Of course, we know she made her great confession or profession to Christ: "I believe that You are the Lord, that You are the Messiah."

Bible point number two. The resurrection declared Christ as the perfected and glorified man. That's the first blank. There are several blanks in number two because the resurrection tells us many things about Christ. First of all, it declares Christ as the perfected and glorified man. Also as the conqueror of sin — that's the second blank. The resurrection declares Christ as the conqueror of sin. The resurrection declares Christ as the Lord of death. Lord is the third blank. The resurrection declares Christ as the justifier of men. Men is the fourth blank. The resurrection declared Christ as the giver of life. That's the fifth blank. And the resurrection declared Christ as the Son of God. That's the sixth blank. So it speaks of a lot of things about Christ. We're going to look at these individually.

First of all, it declared Christ as the perfected and glorified man. And we see this in Colossians 1:18. It says, "And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence." He is the resurrected man, the first man, the God-man, the first man to come back from the dead and never die again. And so in all things He has the preeminence. He is glorified man, and that is what the resurrection declares.

It also declares that He is the conqueror of sin. Romans 6:9: "Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him." What does Romans also tell us? That the wages of sin is what? Death. Exactly right. Well, Christ has paid that price. It was not His own price — it was our price, because Christ had never sinned. He was our perfect sacrifice who willingly paid our price and laid down His life for us. And He's taken it again. Death cannot hold Him, for He is sinless. So He is the conqueror of sin.

The resurrection declares Christ as the Lord of death. Look in Revelation 1:18: "I am He who lives and was dead. And behold, I am alive. Behold I have the keys of Hades and of death." You see, He's got the keys of death and Hades, of the grave. He holds them in His hand — they are the very keys. In fact, we see later in the book of Revelation chapter 20, what does Christ do to death and Hades? He throws them where? Into the lake of fire, right? Because He is the conqueror of sin and He is the conqueror of death. He's the Lord of death.

The resurrection also declares Christ to be the justifier of men. Look in Romans 4:25: "Who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification."

Christ's death was for our offenses, and He was raised because Christ was the perfect Son of God. Death cannot hold Him. So in the resurrection the Father is declaring the Son to be just — the One for whom it would be an injustice to remain in the grave. And every single believer is said to be in Christ because He is the just One. He's the one who is proven justified in His resurrection. Just as He died and rose again, so shall we. His death is for us and His resurrection is for us. Our justification is in His merits. It is in Christ Himself.

We also see that the resurrection declares Christ to be the giver of life. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 15:45: "And so it was written, 'The first man Adam became a living being'" — speaking of Adam, even in the garden — "'the last Adam'" — speaking of Christ, the second man, or the last man. That's what Adam means: man. "'The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.'" We studied before, when we studied anthropology, that in Adam all fell, right — we all became sin bearers. Our nature was corrupted. We are fallen humanity because of Adam, and in Adam we all die. But in the second Adam, in Christ, whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

We also see that the resurrection declares Christ to be the Son of God. And we see this in Romans 1:3 through 4: "Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." In His resurrection Christ is shown to be the Lord of all things. His resurrection is tied, of course, to His ascension and to His heavenly session. He is seated at the right hand of God Almighty. He's a conqueror of death, conqueror of all nations, and the reigning Lord.

Look over on the back. Acts chapter 2, reference point number 2 on the back, says: "But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep Him in its grip." Christ is the One who has the keys of death in His hands. It was impossible for Him to be held in death's grip, for Christ is the resurrection and the life. 1 Corinthians 15:17 shows the importance of the resurrection. It says: "And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins."

Because we would still be in the grave. We'd still be under the curse. But Christ paid that price. He rose, defeating death, and His victory is ours. I want to speak especially here to our younger children who are in school and will be going to high school and college.

One thing that your philosophy teachers in academia love to do is to try to discredit the resurrection. Because as we just read, "If Christ be not risen, your faith is in vain. Your faith is futile." And they try to do so in various ways. One way is called the stolen body theory — they say that the disciples simply stole the body to try to deceive the others.

Now that's a very old lie. We even see that recorded in Scripture. That was a fear among the unbelievers. And so what did they do? They asked for an extra guard to be set at the tomb. And His tomb was guarded day and night, lest someone tried to steal the body of Christ. Let's say that the disciples stole the body of Christ and Christ was not resurrected. Would they be willing to die for a lie? If you know the story of the apostles and the first disciples of Christ, they all died horrendous deaths. James was run asunder. We know that Peter was hung upside down. Paul was executed. All these men suffered deaths. Would they do that for a lie? Not simply to deceive another. No, they wouldn't give up everything for a lie.

Another theory they try to use to discredit the resurrection is called the swoon theory. They say that Christ in His exhaustion on the cross merely fainted. They thought He was dead. So they put Him into the tomb and later He regained consciousness and walked away.

That, of course, is balderdash. If you follow the biblical account, the historical account of the crucifixion — to make sure He was dead, what did they put into His side? A spear. Now out came water and blood, right? If He had been crucified and pierced with a spear and laid in the grave, He would have been too weak to roll that stone away. It was a huge, heavy stone. Scripture tells us that it took angels — they were there, who had rolled away the stone. And there was an angel who was pictured as sitting on top of it saying, "Look what I did." Man couldn't do that, but an angel sure could. And if He had merely revived and not died, what did He do? Go into hiding for the rest of His life? He was a young man, 33 years old. Total bogus, the swoon theory.

Third theory that they try to use to discredit the resurrection of Christ is called the vision theory. They say that in the excitement of the Passion Week of Christ — in His trial and in His sufferings and His scourgings — the disciples had an excited mind and they simply hallucinated. They saw something that wasn't there. But what does Scripture tell us? That the resurrected Christ made multiple appearances. Thomas was invited to touch His wounds. He ate and drank with the disciples. He was seen by over 500 witnesses at one single time. So eyewitness testimony simply negates the idea of the vision theory.

And then fourthly, the most recent attempt is called the mythical theory. They say that Christianity never happened to begin with and that it was simply a derivative religion from other myths and other pagan religions that would talk about a god who couldn't die. Well, if you know anything about world religions, Christianity is unique. There's no religion other than Christianity that shows that God became flesh and lived a human existence here on earth to die as a substitute for us, for our sins. And that not only did He die, but He rose again, because He is the author of life and He is the master of death. So all those mythical theories fall apart upon just a cursory examination.

But back around to the front, the application for number two is simply this: you are justified because the Just One is risen. That's the blank — the just One. Christ is just, He is perfect, and He is risen from the dead, and His resurrection is your resurrection. His justification is your justification. You are in Christ, you are found to be innocent. He is perfect.

Bible point number three. The second stage of the exaltation of Christ is His ascension. The God-man's transition to the higher life of glory began in His resurrection, but was completed in His ascension to the Father's right hand. That's the first blank — hand. Christ predicted His ascension often in His earthly ministry. Just as He predicted His death and His resurrection, He predicted His ascension. Christ ascended into heaven locally, visibly, and bodily. Bodily is the second blank.

Look at John 6:62. This is one of the times where Christ predicts His ascension. He says, "What then, if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?" They were taken aback by His figurative language — He had said, "Unless you eat of Me and drink of Me, you have no part of Me, you have no life in you. Your fathers ate manna from heaven and they died. But if you eat of Me" — in other words, if you have faith in Me, if you trust Me, if you are one with Me — "then you will have life eternal." And they stumbled at those words. And so He says, "What if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?" Right? Of course, the Son of Man is Jesus's most favorite appellation, a term He used to describe Himself. And it was a messianic term coming from Daniel 7, where the Son of Man comes before the Ancient of Days and is given a kingdom that will never end. And all the angels and all creation worship Him. He's given the very throne of God. And so that's what He's claiming here. What if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?

Look over on the back. Luke records the ascension of Christ in two different places — in the Gospel of Luke and also in Acts, which he wrote. Luke 24:50 through 53 says: "And He" — Christ — "led them out as far as Bethany." You see, this was a local place, a real place. This was not a spiritual ascension or a figment of their imagination. "He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them." This was a real, bodily ascension. He has hands. He blesses them. "Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen." It filled them with joy. They worshipped Him because they knew He was God. He ascended to the Father's right hand. And so that inspired their worship and their service.

The second place that Luke describes the ascension of Christ is found in Acts chapter 1:9 through 11. "Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight." This was His Shekinah glory. The Shekinah glory — remember that — rested on top of the mountain in the Old Testament where Moses went up to converse with God and to receive the Ten Commandments. Remember the Shekinah glory that came upon Solomon's temple when it was dedicated. It filled the temple. It was so thick that they couldn't go into the temple, because it expresses the glory of God. Well, this is the cloud that received Him up out of their sight, ushering Him into heaven to His throne. Verse 10: "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel."

These were angelic beings who also said, "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." When Christ returns, He will not be coming gentle and lowly, riding on a donkey in His human form. Instead He is going to be human, but He's going to be the glorified man, as we see pictured in Revelation chapter one. In fact, let me read to you just briefly from Revelation chapter one, the picture of Christ. Verse 13: "And in the midst of the seven lampstands, there was One like the Son of Man" — we see that term from Daniel there — "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, white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass" — treading upon the enemy — "as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars" — that's a symbol of the church — "out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength." His visage is bright and blinding like the sun, a sword coming out of His mouth, fire in His eyes — that's the way Christ will be returning. The same way that He ascended. When He returns, it's going to be in glory.

Flip back over to the front. The application for number three is simply this: set your mind on things above. As Christ ascended into heaven, we must set our minds on heavenly things. I'd like to read to you from the book of Colossians chapter three. It talks about this in the context of the ascension. "If you then were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, and not on the things of the earth, for you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." So we see that our mind should be set above, where Christ is, because that is where we are to be looking for His soon return.

Bible point number four. In the ascension, Christ was declared as a glorious God restored to His rightful honor, the possessor of universal dominion, the omnipresent object of worship and prayer, and the ground and reality of our eternal home. First blank is honor, second blank is dominion, the third blank is worship, and the fourth blank is home. Let me reread that. The ascension declared Him to His rightful honor, the possessor of universal dominion, the omnipresent object of worship and prayer, and the ground and reality of our eternal home.

Just as the resurrection declared many things about Christ, so does His ascension. We see first of all that it declares Christ as a glorious God restored to His rightful honor. We see that in Mark 16:19: "He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God." The right hand of God is a place of honor. Do you remember James and John? Their mother had kind of put them up to asking Christ, "In your kingdom can we sit at your right hand?" And Christ says, "That's not mine to give you." In other words, you don't need to be worried about that right now. He asked them, "Are you able to die with Me?" Basically, "Are you able to drink the cup?" And they said, "I am." And of course they did in their lives. But the right hand of God is the seat of honor, and Christ was restored as a glorious God to His rightful honor.

The ascension also declares Him as the possessor of universal dominion. Flip over on the back. We see this in Ephesians 2:4 through 6: "A 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 — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Saying that His ascension is ours, and in a very real way, as we are united to Christ through faith by the Spirit, we are said to sit with Christ in the heavenly places. And the throne that He sits upon in the heavenly places is the highest throne. We spoke about this last week in Ephesians 1 — that He's raised above all power, above all principality, above all things, all thrones whether on earth or in heaven, in this age and in the age to come. He sits on the very throne of the universe.

We also see that the ascension declared Christ not only to have His rightful honor and His universal dominion, but to be the omnipresent object of worship and prayer. And we see this in Hebrews 4:14: "Seeing that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." Christ is our high priest who figuratively passed through the veil — He's passed through the heavens, and He sits at the right hand of God Almighty. And so we're to hold fast our confession. We're to come before Him in prayer, knowing that He is God. This verse, if you continue to read the next few verses, says let us come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain help in time of need. We're supposed to pray to Him, and He intercedes for us there. He is the omnipresent object of worship for all men.

And He's the ground and reality of our eternal home. And we see this in John 14:1 through 3. Jesus told His disciples this between the Last Supper and going to Gethsemane. He says, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Christ, for 2,000 years, has been preparing a place for us. His ascension declares to us the reality of our eternal home. And what a glorious day that will be when He comes for us and we live with Him forever. The application for number four is this: look forward to your heavenly home.

This should be something that every Christian looks for. This world is not our home. This world is temporary. We are strangers, we are pilgrims here, all right? But our heavenly home is going to be beyond imagination. Peter actually describes it in 1 Peter chapter 1. I'm going to read to you verses 3 through 5. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." The inheritance that we have to look forward to isn't like an earthly inheritance. An earthly inheritance — maybe you receive money or wealth or a company from your parents or grandparents at some point. Money flies away, does it not? Companies fail. You receive a nice home — great, praise the Lord. What a nice thing it is to leave an earthly inheritance. But doesn't that home eventually need a new roof? Does it eventually crumble and rot? Everything here will be defiled, everything here will fade away. But the inheritance that we've been left is undefiled. It's incorruptible and it's reserved in heaven for you.

Have you ever been to a wedding or a reception or an awards ceremony and you had a reserved seat at a table — had a little placard with your name on it? Well, you can be assured that you have a home in heaven if you trust in our Lord Jesus Christ. And He is gone to prepare it, and He's going to receive you to Himself.

Bible point number five. The third stage of the exaltation of Christ is His session. It's not a term that we use a lot, but it simply means He's in court and He is reigning as king. Have you ever heard of a judge who calls his court into session? Or a king who is starting a session where everyone comes before him — the lower magistrates — and he gives them edicts and gives them law? Well, that's what Christ is doing right now in heaven: His heavenly session. The third stage of the exaltation of Christ is His session, which is His universal reign — that's the first blank — over all things, places, and men. He rules over everything.

Christ spoke of this session in His earthly ministry. Psalm 110 is quoted most often in the New Testament to celebrate Christ's reign. We've talked about this before. Psalm 110 is a messianic psalm where David is speaking of the reigning Christ, and it's quoted in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament passage, because it's emphasizing that Christ our Lord is truly King of kings and Lord of lords. The session does not make Christ king — that's the second blank. It doesn't make Christ king, for He always is. Before Christ's humiliation, before His incarnation, before His taking on of human flesh, He ruled in heaven with the Father and with the Holy Spirit from all eternity.

So it doesn't make Him king. The session is the inauguration of the God-man upon God's throne. It's the restoration of His kingship that He had laid down — as far as His glory and His independent use of His divine prerogatives — He laid down in His humiliation, restored in His exaltation. And when He's exalted to the right hand of God, He's not restored just as God, but He is restored into heaven as an incarnate man, as the God-man. So humanity — perfected humanity — has attained the very throne of the universe in Christ. The right hand of God is everywhere — that's the third blank. He is sovereign.

When we see passages that describe the session of Christ, Christ at the right hand of God, sometimes He's standing at the right hand of God. Sometimes He's beside the throne, walking among the churches, as He's pictured in Revelation chapter one. All these are talking about the same thing. It's talking about the rule of God. The right hand of God is everywhere. Remember, God doesn't have a body like men do, right? God is spirit. We talked about this in the nature and attributes of God. We may say that the eyes of the Lord are running in every place. We may say the hand of God is mighty. But those are anthropomorphic terms that are describing His character in a way that we can relate to, that we can understand. When we see Christ at the right hand of God, it means literally He's everywhere, because is there any place where God is not sovereign?

Remember Abraham Kuyper — he talked about God's square inch. He says there's not a single square inch in all of the universe that Christ does not say is His. He's Lord everywhere. He's Lord of those who are in the prisons. He's Lord of those who are in hell. He's Lord of those who are in kings' palaces. He's Lord of those in the highest places, those in airplanes, those in the bottom of the sea. He's Lord of those in China, and He's Lord of those who are here with us today. The right hand of God is everywhere. Psalm 110:1 says, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'" This is God being pictured as crowning His Son in His exaltation.

Look over on the back. Matthew 26:63 through 66. This was Jesus when He stood before the high priest in His trial right before His crucifixion. He was accused of all kinds of things, but He kept silent. Verse 63 says: "But Jesus kept silent, and the high priest answered and said to Him, 'I put You under oath by the living God. Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.'" Jesus said to him, "It is as you said." He said, "You said it?" He says, "Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, you have heard His blasphemy. What do you think?" They answered and said, "He is deserving of death." He was claiming, as a mere man, what would have been deserving of death, because they understood what He said. He was claiming to be God, sitting at the right hand of the Power of God and coming on the glory clouds in judgment.

The application for number five is simply this: bow down and worship Christ the Lord. Because He is king everywhere. He is worthy of our worship. Worship is that blank — worship Christ the Lord. Walk before Him humbly. Live before Him humbly. Do everything that you do as an act of worship to Christ the Lord, who is the king of the universe.

Bible point number six. The session of Christ declares Christ's completed work of redemption. It also declares Christ's preeminence over all things. The session of Christ declares Christ's governance over all things. And Christ's constant activity on behalf of the church as our ongoing mediatorial prophet, priest, and king. So let me reread that. The session of Christ declares Christ's completed — that's the first blank — completed work of redemption; Christ's preeminence over all things — all is the second blank; Christ's governance over all things; Christ's constant — that's the third blank — constant activity on behalf of the church as our ongoing mediatorial prophet, priest, and king.

So let's unpack that. His session, just like His ascension and His resurrection, tells us many things about Christ. First of all, it declares Christ's completed work. Hebrews 10:12 says: "But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God." After He had offered Himself as our sacrifice and was accepted by God, He sat down at the right hand of God because His work is done. Have you ever had a long day where you got up early and you worked hard all day long? You didn't get a break at all. Finally, at the end of the day — maybe it's late at night, nine or ten o'clock at night — you're finally done with your work. You get to sit down for just a moment. That's a picture of what Christ did, because His work was complete. And so the session of Christ declares that His sacrifice was accepted, that His redemptive work was complete.

It also declares His preeminence over all things. Philippians 2:9 through 11: "Therefore God has also highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow — of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth — and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Before Christ's throne, every knee bows. In heaven continually the angels are crying out, "Holy, holy, holy." We see in the book of Revelation the spirits that are in heaven. We also see angelic beings in heaven that are continuously worshiping Christ. And one day, every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that He is Lord. So He is preeminent over all things.

It also declares — the session declares — His governance over all things. Acts 2:34 through 36. Peter, using the throne of David to say this is where Christ is now sitting, says: "For David did not ascend into the heavens, for he says himself, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'" He's quoting Psalm 110. Verse 36: "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ." He is Lord over everything, governing everything.

And the session of Christ declares Christ's constant activity on behalf of the church. He's not just sitting on the throne, eating grapes, and being entertained by jesters as we may think of an earthly king. His rule is for His church. It is for our benefit. He continues His ministry as a mediator between God and man, as prophet, priest, and king. And over the next six weeks, we're going to look at this in detail — Christ's ministry as being our prophet, as being our priest, and as being our king.

If you flip over on the back, Revelation 1:5 through 6 says: "From Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and 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." Christ sits on the throne of God, and He sits on the throne of God for our benefit. And He continues to rule and reign over His people — first and foremost as His beloved bride. The application is this: trust that the King of Kings is always for you. That's the blank — always for you. God never takes His eyes off His bride. He lives to make intercession for His saints.

Bible point number seven. The fourth stage of the exaltation of Christ is His return and judgment. Christ returns to judge — that's the first blank — the wicked, and reward — reward is the second blank — the just. Christ's return is the high point of His exaltation, as He who suffered at the hands of men will return — return is the third blank — will return to judge the living and the dead. The God-man's return is called the parousia. Now this is one of three terms used to describe His return. That's a Greek term, means His coming. That's the most common word used to describe His return — that Christ is coming. Don't lose heart. Christ is coming. Look for Christ's coming. Work with the understanding that Christ is coming.

The second word that's used is apokalypsis, which means revealing. The idea behind that word is that Christ's return is not just His coming, but it's His coming in glory. His glory that was veiled in His first advent will be on full display in His second advent, coming on the clouds in a glorious array to rescue His church and to defeat the enemy. And then epiphaneia is a third term that's used to describe Christ's return, and it means appearing. And it's used in the sense that the church looks forward to His appearing, that our faith will be made sight, that we long to see Him, and we long to be with Him where He is forever.

Acts 17:31 says: "Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." There is a day that you have an appointment, and you cannot change that appointment. You cannot avoid that appointment. It is a day that all men have an appointment with Christ the judge, and He will judge all men. And the standard will be His perfect character, right? Those who are in Christ, those who have faith in Jesus — His character will be given to us in that day. And we'll say, not my robes are clean, but Your robes are clean, and I stand clothed in Your righteousness.

The application for number seven is: work. That's the blank. Work to present everyone complete in Him.

Work to present everyone complete in Him, because we know that this day is certain, that this appointment is coming. We must work, we must strive to present every man complete in Him. We don't want to see the wicked judged in their sins — we would love to see them redeemed. We would love to see them repent and turn from their sins and confess Christ as their Savior. This begins, of course, with us. We work to present ourselves complete in Him, first of all — to repent of sins and believe in Christ for ourselves as individuals, and then for our children and our family, and then for our neighbors and our friends. Colossians chapter one speaks of this.

"Him we preach," verse 28, "warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

Bible point number eight. The return of Christ declares Christ as the just judge of the wicked. It also declares Him as a glorious king. And the return of Christ declares Him as the hope of the church. So the first blank is wicked, second blank is glorious, third blank is hope. Let me reread that. The return of Christ declares Christ as the just judge of the wicked, the glorious king, and the hope of the church.

He is the just judge of the wicked. All throughout history — we see this in the Psalms, we see this in our lives — we often ask, why did the wicked go unpunished? It seems as if they get away with murder. They get away with oppressing the widow, with taking advantage of the poor, and they slip through the cracks of the justice system. In this earthly life there is no perfect justice. We try our best. Justice is being delegated to humans, and humans are fallible beings. There is no perfect justice in this earth. But when Christ comes, there will be perfect justice. He will be the just judge of the wicked.

Revelation 22:20 says: "He who testifies of these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly.'" Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The church affirms Christ's saying that He is coming quickly and longs for Him to return. Because we long to see wickedness punished. We do not want to see the innocent oppressed. We do not want to see women raped. We do not want to see children taken advantage of. We do not want to see the poor being run over. We don't want to see lies exalted. We don't want to see theft embraced. We want to see Christ's perfect righteousness. We love what conforms to the character of Christ. So Christ is going to be the just judge of the wicked, and the return of Christ will show that.

He will also be the glorious king. He will be arrayed in glory, and we will ride with Him. What a glorious promise we see there in the book of Revelation. And He's going to be the hope of the church — the One that we long for.

Flip it over on the back. Paul writes to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 1:6 through 10: "Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you" — he's saying it's just for God to protect and defend His bride, to give tribulation to those who are troubling you. Which of you men, if someone came up and cursed out your wife or your daughter, or physically accosted them or harmed them in any way, would not be enraged? Would you not rise to their defense? Christ rises to the defense of His bride. "So since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." In that day when Christ returns, we will be on His side and we'll be saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord," when He comes in judgment. "These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes in that day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed." It's going to be a glorious day for us — to see evil punished, to see the glory of Christ, and to revel in His coming. Let us all look forward to that day.

The application for number eight is this: trust that Christ will perfectly — that's the blank — perfectly judge all wickedness. We trust that God will always do right. And when He comes, what a glorious day and what a glorious appearing that will be. Thank you for coming tonight.