Curve-ball #6 – Where is Jesus now? posted by jwatson on Jan 11, 2012

Where is Jesus now? How would I answer that? How would you answer this question?

After Jesus’ resurrection  he spent the next forty days with his disciples. At the end of this time, he went out the Mount of Olives near Bethany with his disciples. He lifted his hands and blessed them, promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to be with them, and was taken from their sight as he ascended in the clouds to heaven.

It was necessary for Jesus to return to heaven  for a number of reasons:

• Heaven is the seat of his authority. In heaven he ascended the throne from where he rules the universe.
• He was able to send his Holy Spirit to earth, to his disciples, so that he could physically be with them, everywhere, all the time, as he had promised them.
• His ascension was a powerful visual reminder of the fact that he would return one day, in the same way that he went to heaven.
• In heaven his glory, his radiance would no longer need to be veiled. In heaven he would be openly glorified before all the creatures of heaven. Because of believers’ unity with Jesus, they too are glorified with him in heaven.
• In going to heaven, Jesus, in his unity with his believers, lifts them into heaven with him, and we enjoy all the benefits of being co-heirs with him. At his birth, he brought the divine nature to earth. At his ascension, he takes the human nature to heaven, having made us acceptable to God by his substitutionary sacrifice.

Jesus is now in heaven, preparing a place for those who love him, and making ready to return to the world in glory, majesty and power at the end of the age.