The previous lesson dealt with the humiliation of Christ. Now the steps of His exaltation will be discussed. In this lesson, the following aspects of it will be discussed: His resurrection, His ascension into heaven, His sitting at the right hand of God in heaven, and His coming again at the end of time as Judge over all people.

Q. 45. What doth the resurrection of Christ profit us?
A. First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, that He might make us partakers of that righteousness which He had purchased for us by His death (a); secondly, we are also by His power raised up to a new life (b); and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection (c)

(a)　Romans 4:25, 1 Peter 1:3, 1 Corinthians15:16;
(b)　Romans 6:4, Colossians 3:1,3, Ephesians 2:5-6;
(c)　1 Corinthians 15:20-21.

The miracle of the resurrection of Christ.

In the first place, it is striking that the catechism does not speak about the fact of the resurrection, but the profit of it for believers. The event is an indisputable truth. In the early morning hours of Easter, after Christ had been in the grave for three days, He arose from the dead! His body arose from the grave. Now it was a glorified body, which could not suffer or die anymore. What an awesome wonder! He appeared unto His disciples and others. He ate before their eyes, and showed them the prints of the nails with which He was crucified. Then they said, "The Lord is risen indeed" (Luke 24:34).

Prior to that time He had raised certain persons people from the dead: a youth in Nain, the daughter of Jairus, and His friend Lazarus, just as the prophets Elijah and Elisha also had both raised a youth from the dead. These were signs of the power given them by God.

But now God the Father raised Christ from the dead. This provided proof that Christ had fulfilled the demands of His Father and had completely borne the punishment for the sins of His people. However, Christ Himself also arose from the dead, because He Himself is also God. That is the difference between His resurrection and the other resurrections mentioned.

He conquered death for others

If Adam in Paradise had remained obedient to God's command, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would have merited for himself and all his posterity, the whole human race, the right to eternal life. Adam, however, did not obey God, but yielded to the temptation of Satan and did eat from the tree. As punishment for this sin, Adam and all his posterity were subjected to death: they became mortal. They were driven out of Paradise and lost the right to eternal life.

But now Christ by His resurrection shows that He has conquered death for all His children. He bore the punishment in their stead and secured their acquittal. If He had remained in death, they would not have known that the sacrifice was accepted. And if He had not conquered death, He would not have been able to give them eternal life. But now that He lives, He can, through Word and Spirit, give them everything He merited for them. He does not only display this to them, but He also gives it to them! He takes care that they through the workings of the Holy Spirit are partakers of the blessings He acquired for them.

Through His suffering and death, He merited forgiveness of sins for them. And by His perfect obedience, He merited righteousness and the right to everlasting bliss for them.

As a living Savior, Christ also by the power of His resurrection raises His people from spiritual death. By His Spirit He regenerates them to be a new people. He works faith in the forgiveness of sins in their hearts. He effects conversion: He slays in them the dominating power of the sinful lusts and awakens in them a new life. Thereby they desire to again live according to God's law.

The resurrection of Christ a pledge

In earlier years, a part of that to which somebody had a right, (e.g. a selling price), was given as security. That was the guarantee that he, or his heirs, would also receive the balance. Likewise Christ's resurrection is ultimately the pledge, the guarantee, for all His children that they one day will also rise from the dead. He is the Firstborn from the dead. Thus He Himself is the guarantee that His people will follow.

In the resurrection on the last day, when the last judgment will take place, Christ as Judge will then also acquit all God's children. And He will also cause them to enter eternal life according to the body.

Therefore the apostle Paul rightly said, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Corinthians 15:20-21).

Q. 46. How dost thou understand these words, "He ascended into heaven"?
A. That Christ, in sight of His disciples, was taken up from earth into heaven (a); and that He continues there for our interest (b) until He comes again to judge the quick and the dead (c).

(a)　Acts 1:9, Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51;
(b)　Hebrews 9:24, 4:14, Romans 8:34, Colossians 3:1;
(c)　Acts 1:11, Matthew 24:30.

The ascension of Christ

The risen Christ in His glorified human nature remained yet forty days on the earth. At various times He appeared unto His disciples and others of His children to comfort them and to give them instructions for the future, when He would no longer be with them.

On the fortieth day, He ascended in His human nature to His Father in heaven. Before their eyes, the disciples saw that from earth He went upwards into heaven, until a cloud received Him out of their sight.

The ascended Christ in heaven does not forget His children. He always thinks of His children and He prays for them. From heaven He cares for them (see Question & Answer 49-51). He is there their Prophet, High Priest and King.

Till He comes again

Christ will return once more from heaven. On the last day of this earth's existence, He shall suddenly be seen. He foretold this to His disciples, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30). Then everyone will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged by Him regarding everything they have ever done. In that judgment, Christ will grant the one, on the basis of Christ's own merits, to enter into heaven, the everlasting bliss. And the other, because of all the sins committed, Christ will cause to enter into hell, the everlasting destruction.

Q. 47. Is not Christ then with us even to the end of the world, as He hath promised (a)?
A. Christ is very man and very God; with respect to His human nature, He is no more on earth (b); but with respect to His Godhead, majesty, grace, and spirit, He is at no time absent from us (c).

(a)　Matthew 28:20;
(b)　Hebrews 8:4, Matthew 26:11, John 16:28, 17:11, Acts 3:21;
(c)　John 14: 18, Matthew 28:20.

Christ remains with His Church

Christ's ascension raises an important objection. After all, He Himself told His disciples, "And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). How can He then leave them?

The answer is simple, although it is beyond our comprehension. Christ is, at the same time, in one Person, God and man. Well, as man He is no longer with us. As man He is only in heaven. But as God He is always with His children. As God He is omnipresent. By His Divine majesty He protects and helps His people. He is their Advocate and Intercessor with God the Father in heaven and with His majesty, but also with His grace, He is with His children. He is gracious to them, and always full of love and benevolence for them; always, also when they don't see and believe it, and also when they don't deserve it.

Christ lives by His Spirit in His Church.

Christ is also with His Spirit with God's children. The Holy Ghost, who, with Him and the Father is the one only God, proceeds from the Father and the Son to work as the Comforter in the hearts of people. It is by His Spirit that Christ guides His children. In this way He keeps them on the right part, or again brings them back upon it. By His Spirit, Jesus Himself is present with believers. He has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). The Good Shepherd, who gave His life for the sheep, does not leave them, but feeds and leads them into eternal glory.

Q. 48. But if His human nature is not present, wherever His Godhead is, are then not these two natures in Christ separated from one another?
A. Not at all, for since the Godhead is illimitable and omnipresent (a), it must necessarily follow that the same is beyond the limits of the human nature He assumed (b), and yet is nevertheless in this human nature, and remains personally united to it.

(a)　Jeremiah 23:24, Acts 7:49;
(b)　John 3:13, 11:15, Matthew 28:6.

Are the Godhead and the humanity of Christ separated?

There is yet a difficulty remaining. Previously, it was said that Christ was God and man at the same time. If Christ according to His divine nature is with His children, but not according to His human nature, because His human nature is only in heaven, are these two natures then not separated?

Some solve this difficulty by teaching that Christ, at His ascension, also became omnipresent in His human nature, although not visible to the human eye. Thus Martin Luther taught that He is also present at the Lord's Supper in His human nature. And the Roman Catholic church even teaches that the bread and wine change into the body and blood of Christ. However, there is no proof in the Bible to be found which supports either opinion.

There is actually no difficulty. According to His human nature, Christ is bound to one place, but not according to His Godhead. According to His human nature, He is in heaven, inseparable, in one Person, united with His Godhead. However, according to His Godhead He is all-knowing, omniscient, and omnipresent. "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord" (Jeremiah 23: 24).

Q. 49. Of what advantage to us is Christ's ascension into heaven?
A. First, that He is our advocate in the presence of His Father in heaven (a); secondly, that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that He, as the Head, will also take up to Himself, us, His members (b); thirdly, that He sends us His Spirit as an earnest (c), by whose power we 'seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, and not things on earth'(d).

(a)　1 John 2: 1,Romans 8: 34.
(b)　John 14: 2 and17: 24 and 20: 17, Ephesians 2: 6.
(c)　John 14: 16 and 16: 7, Acts 2: 33, 2 Corinthians 1: 22 and 5: 5.
(d)　Colossians 3: 1.

An Advocate in Heaven

What advantage to the believer is Christ's ascension into heaven?

It is mentioned first that in heaven He is the Intercessor or Advocate for His people in the presence of His Father. A person has never had a better advocate, for that for which He pleads, He also acquires for His children. For He does not plead on the basis of their merits, but on the basis of His own merits. The apostle John said, "And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous" (1 John 2:1).

A pledge in heaven

By His ascension, He brought our flesh, that is, our human nature, into heaven. That is a pledge, a sure evidence, of the heavenly glory which all believers will one day receive, for with Christ they form one spiritual body. Paul testified, "And He is the Head of the body, the Church: who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18). They are so united with Him, that it can be said, as it were, their flesh, their body, is already in heaven. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "And (God) hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6). In Jesus' ascension lies the promise that one day all believers will truly in their body be united with Christ.

A pledge in the heart

Parallel to this pledge in heaven, believers also have a corresponding pledge in their heart. Christ has given them His Holy Spirit. By this Spirit, they exercise communion with Christ in heaven. The workings of the Spirit in their hearts and lives is also experienced by them in that they do not seek after worldly pleasures, honor, and riches, but that their hearts and minds are busy with the things above. Through the power of this Spirit, they also long for their homeland, that is, heaven. This communion with Christ, and the longing after the complete communion with Him in eternal life, is the corresponding pledge in their hearts.

Seeking the things which are above

Paul refers in Colossians 3 to the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart, when he writes concerning the things which are above, where Christ is. Then these sinful inclinations are mortified: sinful passions, evil desires, sexual sins, and covetousness, but also bitterness, filthy language and hateful thoughts, and words about and against our fellow beings. In place of this comes mercifulness, humility, meekness, forgivingness, patience, and forbearance. This gives peace in the heart, a foretaste of the eternal peace in heaven.

Q. 50. Why is it added, "and sitteth at the right hand of God"?
A. Because Christ is ascended into heaven for this end, that He might appear as Head of His Church (a), by whom the Father governs all things (b).

(a)　Ephesians 1:20-23, Colossians 1:18;
(b)　Matthew 28:18, John 5:22.

Christ's sitting at the right hand of the Father
In the twelve articles, the event of Christ's ascension is confessed. To this is added that He now sits at the right hand of God. However, God the Father is a Spirit, said Jesus to the Samaritan woman (John 2:4), and He cannot be thought of as being at a particular place in heaven. Sitting at His right hand cannot be spoken of in a literal sense. Why is this then said?

It is here spoken of figuratively. In earlier times a person to whom the king wanted to give the highest honor received a place at his right hand. In this way the king indicated that such a person was, under him, the most important person in his kingdom. Sometimes such a person was privileged to reign with him in his kingdom. It was in this way that Joseph was governor under Pharaoh. In like manner Solomon let his other Bathsheba be seated at his right hand (1 Kings 2:19). It was foretold that the Messiah would sit at the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1).

And so Christ, figuratively speaking, sits at the right hand of His Father in heaven. He Himself has said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18). By sitting there He proves that He is, under His Father, King of His Church, but not only of His Church, for it is by Him that the Father governs all things.

Q. .51. What profit is this glory of Christ, our Head, unto us?
A. First, that by His Holy Spirit He pours out heavenly graces upon us His members (a); and then that by His power He defends and preserves us against all enemies (b).

(a) Acts 2:33, Ephesians 4:8;
(b) Psalm 2:9, 110:1-2, John 10:28, Ephesians 4:8.

The exalted Christ gives graces

Christ does not sit at the right hand of His Father only to be honored. As a king who returns from victory on the battlefield distributes the spoils, this King may distribute the graces He has acquired. He has received them through His suffering and death and by His perfect obedience to His Father's law. He gives these gifts to all His children. Christ continues His work in heaven. He performs this through the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do? He pours out heavenly graces. These graces are the charismata, the extraordinary gifts. The principal ones are now no longer the gifts of tongues, faith healing and such like. No, first of all are the gifts of repentance and faith (Acts 5:31). By His Spirit, God's children are called unto His grace. They are, in a spiritual sense, begotten again unto a lively hope. They are justified and sanctified: the Holy Spirit applies the merits of Christ's suffering and death and perfect obedience unto His children. They therefore stand again before the Father as without any sin. The Holy Spirit works faith, hope and charity in their hearts. However, they also receive all the graces which they need in order to be able to live as Christians in this world to the honor of God. Paul calls these the fruit of the Spirit, "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Galatians 5:22).

The exalted Christ protects His Church

Their heavenly King, to whom is given all power in heaven and in earth, also protects His people against all enemies, against the devil, but also against all people who persecute them or spiritually oppress them because of their faith and their new walk of life. Sometimes they appear to succumb in the strife: many of God's children have been burned and killed. However, then this King carries them through death into eternal life. Q. 52. What comfort is it to thee that "Christ shall come again to judge the quick and the dead"?
A. That in all my sorrows and persecutions, with uplifted head I look for the very same Person, who before offered Himself for my sake to the tribunal of God, and has removed all curse from me, to come as Judge from heaven (a); who shall cast all His and my enemies into everlasting condemnation (b), but shall translate me with all His chosen ones to Himself, into heavenly joys and glory (c).

(a)　Philippians 3:20, Luke 21:28, Romans 8:23, Titus 2:13, 1 Thessalonians 4:16;
(b)　Matthew 25:41, 2 Thessalonians 1:6;
(c)　Matthew 25:34, 2 Thessalonians 1:7.

Christ the Judge of the quick and the dead

The coming again of Christ will be an awesome event. Then the last judgment will be pronounced upon all people. This can fill us with alarm. And yet the Catechism speaks here of comfort! For God's children do not have to be afraid of that day. Why not? It is because the Judge who will pronounce the last judgment is their King, who had delivered them from sin, death, devil, and hell. Paul said, "Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us" (2 Corinthians 1:10).

Deliverance is coming!

As long as believers still live on the earth, they so often become disheartened. From without, it is because of ridicule, misunderstanding, and opposition. From within, it is by the assaults of the devil, who tells them that God is still angry with them. Satan says, "You are a cursed one." They also become distressed because of the many sinful desires which live in them against their will, and because of sins which they still commit. Time and again, there are periods when they are actually persecuted. However, when they by faith look upon Christ, their King, they may lift up their head. Then there can still be peace and joy in their heart, for they do expect the coming of their King. And He will certainly come, for He has conquered all His and their enemies.

As a condemned one in their stead, He once submitted Himself to God's tribunal because of sin. In their place He bore the curse of God's wrath. The curse was removed from them because He bore the punishment. He, who loved them so much, will soon come to deliver them forever from all those who mocked, hated, and persecuted them because of their faith.

Eternal damnation

What will Jesus do when He returns? He will cast all His enemies into everlasting damnation. "All His and my enemies" says the catechism. This does not involve my personal enemies, for, according to the commandment of Christ, I must love them so that they might perhaps be won for Christ and His blessed service. It involves in the first place the enemies of Christ, those who do not love Christ, but hate Him, and who therefore are also enemies of believers. They are therefore those who also hate, mock, oppose, persecute and kill all those who belong to Christ unto the end of times. Christ will judge them in the last day and cast them into everlasting damnation.

Everlasting damnation! Dreadful words and a terrible reality! The word "damnation" means "condemnation." It is the condemnation to eternal punishment. They will eternally be under the curse of the wrath of God. In plain but sincere words the Savior spoke about this several times: "Outer darkness: there shall be weepling and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:12); "Where their worm (remorse) dieth not, and the fire (the wrath of God) is not quenched" (Mark 9:44).

Everlasting glory

All those who have loved Christ will one day forever receive heavenly joys and glory. Christ will take them unto Himself. For this is the most important thing for them in heaven: they will be forever with Christ.

The believers are here called the chosen ones, for they did not choose for Christ and love Him by themselves, but were from eternity chosen by God and therefore brought to faith and repentance. They are also called the chosen ones because they did have not merited it above others. Of themselves they were just as sinful as all other people. It is only free, that is undeserved grace, which has brought them to salvation.

Questions with Lesson 7 (Lord's Day 17-19)

1.　On what day did Christ arise? (Luke 24:1)
2.　Could every one of His disciples immediately believe in His resurrection?
　　(Matthew 28:16-17, Mark 16:9-11, Luke 24:10-11, 13-24, John 20:24-25)
3.　How did Christ convince them of His resurrection? (Matthew 28:18, Mark 16:14,
　　Luke 24:12, 25-32, John 20:26-28)
4.　What are the consequences of continuing unbelief in Christ's resurrection?
　　(1 Corinthians 15:14-18).
5.　What threefold profit do believers have from Christ's resurrection? (Answer 45)
6.　Where and in what manner did Christ ascend into heaven? (Acts1:4-12, Luke 24:50-53)
7.　Where is Christ now according to His human nature? (Answer 47)
8.　What threefold advantage do believers have from Christ's ascension? (Answer 49)
9.　What does Christ do in heaven for His children? (Answer 49)
10.　By whom does He pour out His graces upon His children? (Answer 51)
11.　Paul mentions in Colossians 3 the fruits which are definitely from the Spirit as opposed
　　to qualities and behaviors which are not from the Spirit. Name three of each.
12.　Why are God's children here on earth often disheartened and why can they at the same
　　time still have peace and joy? (Answer 52)
13a.　What does the word 'condemnation' signify? (Answer 52)
13b.　How did Christ speak about it? (Answer 52)
14.　When only can we look forward to the return of Christ without fear? (Answer 52)
15.　What does heaven mean for God's children? (Answer 52)