ARTICLE VI. HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, AND SITTETH ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY. THE first care of our blessed Lord, in consequence of His resurrection, was, to satisfy His disciples fully of the truth of it; the next to fit them for instructing mankind in His religion, of which it was one principal doctrine and evidence. 66 He (therefore) showed himself alive to them after his passion, by many infallible proofs; being seen of them forty days; and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God'." : This being done, as He had now gone through the whole of His work on earth, it was proper that He should return to that happy place, from whence His compassion to a lost world had brought Him down according to the words of His own prayer: "Father, the hour is come: I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with the glory which I had with Thee, before the world was2." There did not remain any further reason for His appearing personally amongst men, "till He should come again to judge the quick and the dead." Many ages were to pass "before that great and terrible day of the Lord3." It was fit, therefore, that, as St. Peter speaks, "the heaven should receive him, until the times of restitution of all things." And though the redemption of mankind was completed by Him so far as, in the lower world, it 1 Acts i. 3. 2 John xvii. 4, 5. 4 Acts iii. 21. could be, yet there was left an important part of it, to be accomplished above. The Jewish dispensation, as the Epistle to the Hebrews more especially informs us, "was a shadow of good things to come1." As, therefore, under this, the great sacrifice of atonement was yearly slain without the sanctuary first-and then the high priest entered alone, with the blood of it, into the most holy place, there to offer it before the Lord, and atone for the sins of the people-so, in the Gospel age, was our blessed Saviour, first, as the Lamb of God," to be sacrificed for our sins on earth, and then, as the "High Priest of our profession3," "to enter with His own blood into heaven-the true holy place, of which the other was a figure-there to appear with it in the presence of God for us1:" and thus having offered one sacrifice for sins, he was for ever to sit down on the right hand of God5." 66 66 When the time, therefore, was come for this purpose of divine wisdom to take effect-having gradually prepared the minds of the Apostles to bear His departure, He, in the last place, with His usual tenderness, gave them all a solemn blessing: the words of which, indeed, are not delivered down to us but probably, they might not be unlike, and certainly they could not well be more affectionate, than those which we find He used for their consolation, even before His sufferings, on a more distant prospect of His being taken from them: “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. I go to prepare a place for you; and I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give 1 Heb. x. I. 2 John i. 29. 3 Heb. iii. I. you another Comforter, that he made abide with you for ever. Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." "It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world2." Undoubtedly with such like words of grace and affection, which every good Christian may, and ought to consider as spoken to himself, did our Lord, before His departure, comfort His disciples under the immediate view of that interesting event. "And it came to pass (the Evangelist informs us) that as he was yet blessing them, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sights." It is hardly possible to conceive stronger or more various emotions of mind, than those with which the breast of every one of His followers must have been filled, on this occasion of surprise and astonishment at what they had seen-of gratitude and tenderness, in return for what they had heardof grief and fear, concerning their now solitary condition; yet mixed, at the same time, with submission, and hope, and faithful trust in their dear Lord. But, as He Himself hath told them, "If they loved him they would rejoice, because he went unto the Father;4" so, in fact, amidst all the passions working within them, this prevailed above the rest and triumphant gladness of heart was the feeling that took possession, and dwelt with 2 John xvi. 7, 22, 33. John xiv. 28. 1 1 John xiv. 1, 2, 3, 13, 16, 27. 3 Luke xxiv. 51; Acts i. 9. them. "They worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God'." 66 66 2 Let us then rejoice, also, in this glorious exaltation of Christ, our head. Let us consider the opportunity it gives us of exercising that faith in Him, which the Apostle justly calls the "evidence of things not seen ";" and of obtaining a reward suitable to the greater virtue and piety that we show, in conducting aright our understandings, our hearts, and our lives, under a lower, and yet sufficient degree of evidence for our holy religion. Because thou hast seen me (saith He Himself to St. Thomas) thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed3." This blessedness, therefore, by His ascension, He hath left to His whole Church the means of acquiring, that the trial of your faith (as St. Peter expresses it) may be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ; whom, not having seen, ye love; and in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory; receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls"." Let us consider, too, that if His absence tries our faith, the manner of His going away powerfully confirms it. For the Apostles were eyewitnesses of His ascending into the clouds; and what stronger proof need we of His coming from God, than His being thus taken up to Him again, according to His own repeated predictions; besides the remarkable though obscurer intimations of the same thing in the Old Testament? Nor let it seem strange, that the Scripture should speak of one especial place as the peculiar and appropriated residence of God. We acknowledge that ? Heb. xi. I. 66 Heaven He is, and cannot but be, everywhere. and earth are full of the majesty of his glory1: yea, "the heaven, and heaven of heavens, cannot contain him2." "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I go down to hell, thou art there also. If I take the wings of the morning, and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Yet, notwithstanding this, the Scripture constantly mentions Him, as having condescended to establish His throne in one particular place; and exhibit Himself there, in the symbol of light inaccessible : where, therefore, His holy angels attend upon Him, and see His face; from whence He issues forth His commands, as princes do theirs from the royal palace; and is represented as viewing and observing the actions of His creatures; and pouring down blessing or vengeance, as their behaviour requires. "The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord's seat is in heaven; his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men." Here it is, that "thousand thousands minister unto him; and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him5," celebrating His praises, and rejoicing in the light of His countenance. "For, in his presence is the fulness of joy, and at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Into this blessed place, then, did our Saviour ascend; and there, as the Creed, in conformity with Scripture, teaches, "sat down at the right hand of the Father." Not that God, who is an infinite Spirit, and by the word of His power doth whatever He pleases, both in heaven and earth, 1 Te Deum. 3 Psal. cxxxix. 7-10. 21 Kings viii. 27. * Psal. xi. 4. 6 Psal. xvi. II. |