Just as Paul might say about the resurrection “if Christ has not been raised…you are still in our sins” (1 Cor. 15:17), so too, we might say about the ascension “if Christ has not ascended into heaven itself, we are still in our sins.” Even after the work on the cross, there remains the phase of Christ’s exaltation in order to apply the benefits of redemption.

Evangelical Christians often spend time considering all the benefits won for us on the cross and in the resurrection but spend little time pondering how the ascension further secures and confirms these salvific benefits. We typically give little thought to the question: How does Christ’s ascension into heaven benefit us? (Heidelberg Catechism Q.49). In this post*, we hope to consider this very issue in order to better understand how central the ascension to salvation.

The general failure to understand the importance of the ascension for the life of the believer leads to a truncated view of soteriology and the application of soteriology. While there is always the looming danger that we existentialize the objective truths of Christianity, making them mere subjective realities, there is the opposite danger that we as believers fail to recognize that these objective realities that happened to Christ in history have occurred for the benefit of those who are in union with Christ. As believers, we cannot contemplate what God has done ‘in the fullness of time’ without our hearts being warmed. We recognize that Good has brought the benefits of this once-for-all work unto us in order to nullify all human effort, boasting, and self-glorification. Similarly, we cannot contemplate what has been done for us in the application of salvation, without immediately considering that God has accomplished the benefits in the once-for-all of the work of Christ at the center of history.

The Ascension as an Event in the History of Salvation

At the core of salvation history is the work of the Triune God in the death-resurrection-ascension[of Christ]-and Pentecost. This event complex is divided into the two states of Christ: (1) his humiliation and (2) his exaltation. While it is certainly true that Christ cried out on the cross “It is finished”, referring to his self-offering as the sacrifice to pay for sin, Christ’s role in redemption continues. Just as Paul might say about the resurrection “if Christ has not been raised…you are still in our sins” (1 Cor. 15:17), so too, we might say about the ascension “if Christ has not ascended into heaven itself, we are still in our sins.” Even after the work on the cross, there remains the phase of Christ’s exaltation in order to apply the benefits of redemption. The Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck has wisely stated, “Without application, redemption is not redemption” and “In his state of exaltation there still remains much for Christ to do.”1

The Ascension and Christ’s Kingship in Glorified Humanity.

Hebrews is arguably one of the most Christological books of the New Testament. It is an exposition of the person and work of Jesus as the Son of God. From the very beginning the book of Hebrews is concerned with the reality of ascension of Jesus Christ and the implications that flow from this reality. We find the Son is the one whom the Father “appointed heir of all things” (1:2) and has now “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (1:3). He is the Son ascended.

The Son in his humanity was at one time lower in status than the angels. But now, after his suffering death, in his humanity he has been exalted up and crowned to rule over them and all of God’s creation. He fulfills the Adamic vice-regency and the kingly mediatorship that was given to David and David’s descendants. The eternal Son now incarnate fulfills the role that God intended for all humanity in the first Adam. The point is that in the exaltation (both resurrection and ascension) Jesus Christ as a true man is crowned with glory and honor.2 It is this Son, in the experience of true humanity that the Father says “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

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