After His Resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ said to His Disciples,
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28.16-20, NKJV)
Forty days after Christ’s Resurrection from the dead, the Disciples witnessed their Lord being taken up into heaven. They watched Him go up until a cloud hid Him from their sight. (This is called the Holy Ascension.) Although as God, the Son had always been seated on the heavenly throne with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God loved us so much that after raising our human nature to immortality, He proceeded further to lift up our human nature to the heights of heaven. Having ascended into heaven, Jesus Christ sat down our human nature at the right hand of God the Father, that is, in the place of highest honor with God.
At the end of the present age, at the conclusion of time, our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ will return to earth from heaven in all His radiant Glory. At His return, Christ will raise all the dead and judge the world as the Holy King. Our Divine Physician Who came to save the world from death and accomplished everything that we might be healed, will receive into eternal Life all those who have believed in Him and who have submitted to be healed by His Grace. Through His Holy Ascension, Jesus Christ has shown us our ultimate and never-ending potential and purpose as human beings.
Read: Luke 24.50-53; Acts 1.9-11; Mark 16.14-20; Matthew 28.16-20; Ephesians 1.15-21; Mark 13.24-27; Matthew 25.31-46; 26.57-68; Romans 2.1-16; Revelation 20.11-18; 21.23-27; 22.1-5
Text copyright © 2017 by Fr. Symeon D. S. Kees