Mission Venture Ministries

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God. (Mark 16:19)

It is plain from Scripture that Jesus’ ascension was a literal and bodily return to heaven. He rose up from the ground gradually and was received into a cloud while His disciples and other astonished onlookers gazed in wonder. Then two angels appeared and said to them: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). 

Christ in His famous Olivet discourse warned us about His future second coming, right after He had predicted that many “false christs” would come, deceiving many (Matthew 24:24). He cautioned them ahead of time not to listen to these false prophets, “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it” (Matthew 24:26). 

One point to reflect on, is, that we should correctly understand that when we say for Jesus to come into our heart that we clearly understand that He is there symbolically in the presence of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. In this way, “God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts” (Galatians 4:6) so that “Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:17). 

Jesus had told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them and for all believers John 14:2-3. And in John 16:7-15, Jesus told the disciples that He had to go away and He would send the Holy Spirit. So the coming of the Holy Spirit in the upper room on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13) was proof positive that Jesus was indeed in heaven seated at the right hand of God. This is confirmed in Romans 8:34 where the Apostle Paul writes that Christ is sitting at God’s right hand making intercession for us. 

Another point to focus on is when we celebrate communion in remembrances of what Jesus did for us. We need to understand that the whole context of the last supper is symbolic. We do not partake of Jesus by physically eating His body and drinking His blood. Rather, we partake of Jesus by coming to Him in faith, trusting that His broken body and shed blood on the cross was sufficient to pay for our sins. The elements of bread and wine commemorate His broken body and shed blood, and when we eat them, we affirm our faith in Christ. 

After His resurrection and ascension into heaven, Jesus took on the role of our great High Priest, interceding on behalf of believers before God the Father (Hebrews 4:14-16). As High Priest, Jesus serves as the mediator between God and man, having offered Himself as the perfect and final sacrifice for the sins of humanity. 

Currently, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is physically present in heaven, seated on the cosmic throne next to God the Father in royal splendor, power, and majesty as the glorified God-man. The Bible says that because Jesus lives forever, His priesthood will never end (Hebrews 7:23-25). This means that He continues to be our advocate before the Father, pleading our case when we sin and fail. 

Hebrews 7:25 declares, “Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.” And, Romans 8:27 says: “He makes intercession for the saints according to God’s will.” 

The Bible contains numerous prophecies about Jesus Christ’s eventual return to earth. Several Old Testament prophets, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, foretold that the Messiah would one day come back to establish God’s kingdom on earth (Isaiah 9:6-7; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Zechariah 14:4-9). 

We need to understand that the Lord Jesus Christ, still in His physical but now immortal body, is at “the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3) and will remain there until He returns physically back to earth to establish His millennium kingdom and to fulfill all the remaining promises in the Scriptures. 

So according to the Bible, Jesus was resurrected after dying on the cross and ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9-11). He now sits at the right hand of God the Father (Mark 16:19; Ephesians 1:20), and is expected to descend bodily back to earth at some future point. 

Additionally, Jesus Himself made several statements affirming His future return (Matthew 24:27-31; John 14:3). The New Testament writers also frequently mentioned Christ’s second coming and ultimate triumph over evil (Titus 2:13; Hebrews 9:28; 2 Peter 3:3-4). 

The Bible refers to this event as the “second coming” because it will be a second time of Jesus personally appearing on earth in human form. Until this takes place, Jesus expresses His unlimited authority both in heaven and across the earth by perpetually interceding for His people (Romans 8:34) and pouring out the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:33) until the glorious consummation when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24-28). Amen! 

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