Sermon on Lord’s Day 19 Q&A 50-51⤒🔗

50. Q. Why is it added, And sits at the right hand of God?
A. Christ ascended into heaven to manifest Himself there as Head of His Church,[1] through whom the Father governs all things.[2]
[1] Eph. 1:20-23; Col. 1:18. [2] Matt. 28:18; John 5:22, 23.

51. Q. How does the glory of Christ, our Head, benefit us? A. First, by His Holy Spirit He pours out heavenly gifts upon us, His members.[1] Second, by His power He defends and preserves us against all enemies.[2]
[1] Acts 2:33; Eph. 4:7-12. [2] Ps. 2:9; 110:1, 2; John 10:27-30; Rev. 19:11-16.

Scripture Reading: Revelation 5; Acts 16:6-34

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 93:1,2
Psalm 99:1,2
Psalm 2:3,4
Psalm 47:1,2,3
Hymn 31:1,4,5

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

It is, I think, common in our midst to look into the future with a measure of apprehension and pessimism. The Scriptures tell us that we live in the latter days, and we understand that to mean that the place of the Christian in this world becomes increasingly difficult. We remind each other that wickedness will increase, and we see it happening in our own land. Abortion on demand is long accepted, euthanasia has raised its ugly head already, forces are pushing to make homosexuality a legally recognized alternative lifestyle. All the while, respect for authority deteriorates, as does appreciation for the morals and standards of previous generations. What life will be like for God’s people in Australia in 20/30 years time?? Who can say? "It doesn’t look good," we tell each other.

In the face of such developments, I can understand that there’s some apprehension about the future. Yet, brothers and sisters, there is no place for pessimism! On the contrary, the material of our Lord’s Day this afternoon gives us encouragement to be distinctly optimistic about the future! After all, our Savior is King! And do you really think that He who laid down His life for His own will permit events in this world to unfold in such a way that His people no longer have a life?!

I summarize the sermon with this theme:

Christ is King and therefore the future is secure

1. The nature of Christ’s kingship,
2. The purpose of Christ’s kingship,
3. The response to Christ’s kingship.

The nature of Christ’s kingship←⤒🔗

When our Savior entered heaven’s courts at His ascension, congregation, the Lord God did not give Jesus –may I say it this way- a spot in a distance corner of heaven. Instead, the Lord God gave the Son a place at His right hand. That’s Mark 16, where the Holy Spirit tells us of the ascension like this: "So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God" (vs 19).

Why? What is the significance of Jesus’ sitting at the right hand of God? The Bible describes the right hand as the position of honor and power. To sit at the right hand of God is to receive a place of heavenly honor and divine power. Jesus knew that He would receive this place in heaven, and so He explained its significance to His disciples before He ascended. Mt 28: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me" (vs 18). We understand: that is very great authority, this is absolute authority over all things. On the day of Pentecost the apostle Peter draws out clearly that link between the seat at God’s right hand and Jesus’ almighty authority. Says Peter in Acts 2:

Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ vss 33ff

Of significance for our Lord’s Day today is Peter’s use of the word ‘Lord’. That Jesus may sit at the right hand of God, says Peter, spells out that God made this Jesus ‘Lord’ – and the term ‘Lord’ means Master, Owner and therefore Ruler.

Paul develops the same concept in Ephesians 1. God, he says, has "seated [Jesus] at His right hand in the heavenly places," and that means, he explains, that Jesus has a place "far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come" (vss 20f). So exalted is the place God gave to Jesus Christ that John in the Revelation he received could describe Jesus like this: Jesus Christ is "the ruler over the kings of the earth" (1:5).

As I lay out these data about the sovereignty and authority of the ascended Christ, congregation, it all strikes us as so true and Scriptural – and yet stays a bit remote from the world we see on the news and read about in the papers. Let us try then, beloved, to taste something of the climate in which the apostle John spoke the words I just alluded to, where he says that Jesus is "the ruler over the kings of the earth." When John wrote those words, he was (according to Rev 1:9) on the island of Patmos because he was persecuted on account of his work in the churches. Probably the one authorizing the persecution was none less than Nero, emperor of the Roman Empire. Everybody knew it: you just didn’t mess with Nero. To cross his paths was to ask for trouble. This man was king. And by his wish the church was persecuted, the preachers silenced. Talk about demoralizing! Jesus had said before His ascension that all authority in heaven and on earth was given to Him, and Yes, the early conversions at Pentecost pointed up that reality. But so many years later, in John’s day, the evidence was distinctly to the contrary; John, the preacher of Christ’s triumph and sovereignty, was silenced on Patmos by the will of the world’s most powerful man! Jesus Lord of all?? Jesus seated at the right hand of God?? The hard facts spoke so differently!

Yet John, congregation, is emphatic: Jesus Christ is "the ruler over the kings of the earth." John thinks of Nero and his government, thinks of all the Neros of the past and the future, and he puts them all in a row, one a bit stronger and the other a bit weaker, the one a bit kinder and the other a bit more cruel, and he from his prison on Patmos declares that the ascended Savior is Ruler over them all. We understand: that’s quite a claim! Nero has a place under Jesus Christ? In today’s language: Saddam Hussein had a place under King Jesus, was subject to Him? Kim il Jung has a place under King Jesus, must do Jesus’ will? President Bush, Kofi Annan, Mr Howard, Prime Minister Sharon: all have a place under Jesus Christ my Savior?? Really? On what grounds can John be so convinced that Jesus Christ is Ruler over them all?!

The grounds, brothers and sisters, are given us in chap 5. John saw God sitting on His throne (cf Rev 4), holding in His right hand a scroll. That scroll has written in it God’s plan for the history of the world. A strong angel invited anyone to come forward to open that scroll, and that’s to say: to make its contents come to pass, to make history happen. But no one stepped forward…. Vs 3: no one in heaven, not even Michael the archangel, could open it. No one on earth, not even Nero the emperor, could make God’s plan come to pass. And no one under the earth, neither the devil himself nor any deceased tyrant, could do it either. Yet John wasn’t to despair, for (said one of the elders), "Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll…" (vs 5). That, we understand, is the Christ who lived on earth but ascended into heaven! "He came," says vs 7, "and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne."

The reaction was instant! The creatures around God’s throne, angels and elders, realized the significance of Jesus taking that scroll. He controls history, Jesus is King over every ruler on earth! Hence their song: "You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals…" (vs 9). That burst of praise attracted more praise in turn. Vs 11: an innumerable multitude of angels, ten thousand times ten thousand, sing out their praise: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!" And in turn every creature in heaven above and on the earth beneath and in hell under the earth joined in exalting this King of kings, this Ruler over the kings: "Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him to sits on the throne…." Your Savior, beloved: He’s King over all and therefore all in heaven and on earth and in hell beneath praise Him!

That is why the church in Lord’s Day 19 makes bold to confess the significance of Jesus’ ascension. He did not ascend into heaven (as Calvin so pointedly put it) to sit down and count the stars, but to rule over all the world, to direct all history. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, and that’s what’s caught in the phrase "sits at the right hand of God." Sunday by Sunday we confess with the Apostle’s Creed that Jesus Christ ascended and "sits at the right hand of God", and that confession is not a dream or a hope, but it expresses the conviction that God the Holy Spirit has worked in our hearts, the conviction that our Savior is Lord in today’s world, sovereign. So: that two trains should collide in North Korea and hundreds be killed occurred under Jesus’ watch and in His control. That Ian Thorpe fell off his starting block and yet ends up going to Athens for the 400 m swim occurs under Jesus’ control. That the UN and so many other world leaders allowed themselves to be bribed by Saddam Hussein occurred because the ascended Savior permitted. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me," Jesus declared, and we have to keep that fact in mind as we read the newspapers of today.

We come to our second point:

The purpose of Christ’s kingship←⤒🔗

Why is it, brothers and sisters, that the Father has given so much authority to the Son? Why did He seat Him at His right hand? With this question I’m not asking how Jesus earned this authority. That, of course, is through His work on the cross, when He triumphed over sin and Satan. Rather, I’m asking now about the purpose of Christ’s authority. For what purpose, for what goal, has the Father given Him so much power? To put the question differently: how does Jesus use the absolute authority the Father has given Him?

To answer that question, I draw your attention to John 17. Already Jesus had told His disciples that He would go away, would go to Him who sent Him (16:5). After He’d comforted the disciples with the promise of the Holy Spirit, Jesus turned to His Father in prayer. John 17:1: "Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.’" Here Jesus acknowledges in prayer to the Father what He later told His disciples before His ascension: the Father has given all authority to Jesus. All flesh, big and small, kings and peasants, have a place under Jesus. But now listen: in His prayer Jesus relates also the reason why the Father has given Him all authority. Jesus puts it this way: "that [Jesus] should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him." That is the purpose for Jesus’ authority; Jesus should use His authority to bring to salvation all those whom the Father has given Him.

Those whom the Father has given Him: that’s a reference to election. Because of the fall into sin all men are by nature on Satan’s side. From the entire human race on Satan’s side God has chosen some to eternal life, and passed others by. Those whom the Father has chosen He has given to the Son. The Son in turn went to the cross to pay for the sins of these elect persons. On the cross He satisfied the Father’s justice, paid for sins, reconciled sinners to God. But, my brothers and sisters, that work of Jesus on the cross does not automatically bring you to heaven! I mean: Christ’s triumph on Good Friday is not a ticket in your hand that gives you a guaranteed entry pass into heaven. God created people in the beginning with responsibility, and God holds us to that; we are not sticks and stones. What responsibility do we have? This: we must believe in Christ crucified! Without faith, says the Bible, no one will see God. Whoever believes, says the Bible, will be saved, but he who does not believe is condemned already. That is why I say: Christ’s work on Calvary does not automatically bring you to heaven. On the cross Christ has obtained salvation for the elect, and now that salvation needs to be applied to these elect.

Well now, there is the purpose for Jesus’ almighty power. God has given Him a seat at His right hand, God has given Him all authority in heaven and on earth, so that Jesus might apply to the elect the salvation He obtained for them.

How does Jesus do that? To be saved, one needs faith. And where does faith come from? The Christ who ascended into heaven is pleased to work faith in the elect through His Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit does not just pour this faith into a person when he’s walking on the beach. The means the Holy Spirit is pleased to use is the preaching of the gospel. That preaching in turn comes not from the birds, but through the labors of men called to that task (cf Canons of Dort, I, 3).

So: amongst the elect which the Father had given to the Son were a lady living in the city of Thyatira on the western shores of present day Turkey, and a man employed as a jailor in the Macedonian city of Philippi in present day Greece. On Good Friday Jesus Christ laid down His life to pay for the sins of these two persons. But, though they were both living on the day Jesus died, His sacrifice did not save them, for they did not yet believe in Jesus Christ, let alone know of Him. It was for the ascended Christ to use the authority and power God gave Him to bring these elect persons to faith and preserve them in the faith over the years of their continuing sojourn on earth.

To accomplish that goal, the Ruler over the kings of the earth did a number of things. He organized a preacher to the Gentiles in the person of the church’s First Persecutor, Saul of Tarsus. While Saul was breathing threats and murder against the elect of God, Jesus Christ from heaven on high grabbed Saul by the scruff of his neck on the road to Damascus, made him see the folly of what he was doing, brought him to faith, and equipped him to preach the gospel.

But to have a preacher isn’t enough; that preacher must also meet up with that elect lady from Thyatira and that elect jailor of Philippi. So the ascended Christ, Ruler over the kings of the earth, used the emperor of Rome to build roads that link Jerusalem with Philippi some many hundreds of miles away, roads that are safe for travel. More, the Ruler over the kings of the earth used the emperor of Rome to establish a single international language that most people of the time could understand – Greek. More still, the Ruler over the kings of the earth arranged economic circumstances in such a way that this lady from Thyatira should migrate to Philippi and there set up shop as a merchant of purple. More still: the Ruler over the kings of the earth led Paul to preach the gospel throughout Phrygia and Galatia, and when Paul thought to preach in Asia the ascended Christ through His Holy Spirit forbade him and instead directed the apostle’s path to Troas. In Troas the ascended Christ gave His servant a vision to go across the Aegean Sea to Philippi. And in Philippi the Lord caused the path of His servant the preacher to cross the path of that lady of Thryatira whom the Father had earlier given to Him. And see: she came to faith, believed in Christ crucified, and so could be saved.

Do you see, beloved, how the ascended Christ uses His almighty power to give eternal life to those whom the Father had given to Him? The hard heart of the persecutor Saul was no obstacle for the King of kings. The enormous distance between the bearer of the gospel in Jerusalem and the elect lady in Philippi was no obstacle for the King of kings. The hostility of tribes and highwaymen along the road were no obstacle for the King of kings. The difference in language between Jews and Greeks was no obstacle either. Peace and security, infrastructures as transportation and communication, even the economy is all under the control of the King of kings. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." So the ascended Christ arranges kings and economies, roads and languages, so that the gospel comes to those whom the Father has given to Him – and these elect of God receive salvation!

Let me tell you also of the Philippian jailor. That Paul was in the city didn’t help the Philippian jailor, because they’re paths didn’t meet. But the ascended Christ organized that; that, after all, was the reason why He received this power from the Father. Christ used the testimony of a slave girl to bring about the imprisonment of His preachers – and so put the preacher in the proximity of the elect jailor. Then the King of kings organized an earthquake – and you know what happened next, how the jailor came to faith and was baptized, together with his family. Again, beloved, do you see how the ascended Savior uses His authority and power to bring about the salvation of His chosen? This is the import of what the apostle writes to the Ephesians: God "has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church" (vs 22). "To the church," says our translation, and the point is that the church benefits from the position God has given to Christ as King of kings.

This is also the point of the Catechism. Q 51: the glory of Christ our Head benefits "us" – that’s the church- how? Like this: "by His Holy Spirit He pours out heavenly gifts upon us, His members." The heavenly gifts the Catechism refers to are first of all the preaching of the gospel and the labors of the elders and deacons (cf Eph 4:7ff). And as a result of the preaching, the Lord gives faith. And with the gift of faith the Lord gives regeneration, changes sinners’ hearts so that these sinners produce fruits of the Spirit. People like Paul, haters and persecutors, become men of love and joy and peace. People like me and you, by nature selfish and spiteful, become people of patience and kindness and gentleness. Radical changes these are, and they speak of the great power God has given to Christ. But the picture is bigger still: the ascended Christ uses the kings of the world and the economies of the nations to bring together the preacher and the elect, so that those whom the Father has given to Him may inherit eternal life.

This is how we need to read the papers today. What is behind the events of September 11, 2001? Why does the ascended Christ permit a war in Iraq? Why that massive explosion in North Korea? Make no mistake, beloved: the Ruler over the kings of the earth is hard at work causing the gospel to cross the paths of those whom the Father has given to Him. He’s hard at work preserving the elect in the faith He through the Spirit has worked in their hearts. I know: the newspapers don’t report this angle, don’t even consider that this is behind it all. But what do you think: did the newspapers of Philippi explain the earthquake of Acts 16 in light of Christ’s sovereignty, and in light of His words in John 17:2?! As such an analysis was foolishness to the people of those days, so a parallel analysis is foolishness to the unbelieving of our day. But that doesn’t change the accuracy of that analysis!

Equally, to suggest that Christ is behind the events of North Korea and Iraq and New York and whatever else happens in this world, and is pulling the strings with a view to gathering the church, is ludicrous to the world – and that’s why you won’t hear a word of it in the newspapers. But that doesn’t change the facts any!! Your Savior, beloved, is hard at work, using His God-given authority to give eternal life to all whom the Father has given to Him. To achieve that goal, He determines the events that happen in our day – whether big or small, whether horrible (we say) or not. Revelation 6 speaks of the opening of the seals, and the things that happen –plagues and calamities included- when Christ opens those seals. He is Ruler over the kings of the earth, Ruler over big men and small, rich and poor, and He exercises His authority in such a way that all whom the Father has given Him come to faith and persevere through thick and thin.

Here is enormous comfort for the church of all ages, ourselves included. It’s our last point:

The response to Christ’s kingship←⤒🔗

Given all we’ve said, beloved, is there place for us to be anxious about what the future may hold? Shall we be pessimistic about the environment in which our children will become parents? Shall we fear for the church?

O yes, it may very well be that in 20/30 years time the people of God in Australia will be persecuted as their brethren in China are persecuted today. It may well be that we loose the freedom to teach God’s children-by-covenant in the way of the Lord – be it at school or at church or even at home. And to be honest, no, I don’t look forward to that kind of a future. But be anxious about it? See the future as dark? Avoid marriage or have small families or hide ourselves securely in our little corner because the world is too dangerous and threatening? No, beloved, no! The One who died for us on the cross loves His own, and He’ll preserve His own always. More, the One who died for us on the cross is exalted, is at the right hand of God, has all authority in heaven and on earth, is Ruler over the kings of the earth. If He in wisdom determines that the gathering of the elect requires a stint of persecution, shall we despair at the persecution? If He determines that the road to bringing to faith all whom the Father has given Him includes that the homosexual agenda receive a measure of success in Australia, shall we despair? Beloved, your Savior is using His almighty power for the good of the church! (cf Phil 1:12f). That gives peace, that gives reason to be optimistic about the future. Christ is King!

No, brothers and sisters, we don’t know what the future brings, and we don’t have to know. Christ could come back tonight, and He could delay another ten centuries. The world could see a new Great Reformation as in the days of Luther and Calvin, and even a Christian emperor over all the world again as Constantine. Equally, the world could revert to global paganism and the church be so oppressed as to become invisible. Either way is OK, for Jesus Christ has full authority, and He uses it –I don’t understand the details- He uses it to give eternal life to all whom the Father has given to Him. That is enough.  Amen.

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