How is it possible? It is so because he is present with us, as we say, by his deity, his majesty, his unconditional favor (grace), and his Holy Spirit. He has kept his word. He has fulfilled his promise. He is with us. He shall be with us. No one can dissolve the bond, the union between Christ and his people. No one is closer to us than Jesus. No one is more present with us all, everywhere, in all times and places than Jesus.

As a boy I attended a grammar school down the street from an orphanage. I remember one of the boys saying, “I saw my mom drive by. She’ll come by to pick me up soon.” I did not fully understand why some boys lived in “the home” and others had homes with two parents but even then I could sense that there was a difference between us. I suspected that the boy, who missed his mom so much, was probably kidding himself. As the years went on it became clear that the “Home Boys” (before that word took on different sense) knew it too. Some of them became angry. Disappointment and fear sometimes turned to bitterness and lashing out. Being orphaned hurts.

In emphasizing the reality of Jesus’ ascension we need to make sure that we do not create impression that Christians are orphans. We are not. Nevertheless, there are certain mysterious truths of the Christian faith that believing, catholic Christians must affirm first because they are taught in God’s Word and secondarily because they are affirmed by all believers everywhere, in all times and places.¹ Among the more central truths of the faith is the incarnation of God the Son. Jesus Christ is true God and true man, one person with two distinct, unconfused, inseparable natures. This is the biblical, catholic (universal) Christology (doctrine of Christ). In the previous post we looked at the teaching of Scripture, as summarized in Heidelberg Catechism 46 that, in his ascension Jesus left us bodily. This raises an immediate problem. Matthew says:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:16–20; ESV).

How can it be that Jesus is both away from us and with us at the same time? In his ascension, did he abandon us and thereby break his promise?

47. Is Christ then not with us even unto the end of the world, as He has promised?

Christ is true man and true God. According to His human nature He is now not on earth, but according to His Godhead, Majesty, Grace, and Spirit, He is at no time absent from us.

Christ has two distinct, inseparable natures united in one person. What is true of his natures is true of his person. It is true that Christ is away from us. Jesus did say “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father” (John 20:17; ESV). The subject of the verb is Jesus. When the woman poured the expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet some complained. Jesus replied, ““Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me” (Matt 26:10–11; ESV). He testified that he was going to the Father (John 16:28; 17:11). He said, “A little while, and you will see me no longer” (John 16:17)

He also said, “I will be with you always.” He said ““I will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:18). Jesus This is why we never, ever say Jesus is “part God and part man.” That’s not only false, it’s heresy. Jesus is not a composition. Period. Full stop. This is why we don’t speak in quantitative terms, e.g., “Jesus is %100 man and %100 God.” No, Jesus is true God and true man. As we say in the Athanasian Creed, the properties of his deity and the properties of his humanity are unchanged in the incarnation. His deity does not become human and his humanity does not become deified. Jesus is away from us and is with us simultaneously.

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