Every good narrative has an ending. This universe, too, will eventually end. The ramifications of sin in many aspects of life have led many individuals to question whether there is meaning in existence. However, everything that God created serves a purpose. He created all things and oversees them, guiding them toward their intended destination. This implies that our salvation has an aim or goal as well. Everything exists for the aim of glorifying God. God most wonderfully glories Himself through Christ’s work of purchasing our salvation and the Spirit’s work of applying our salvation. Creation is on its way to perfection and glorious culmination in Christ at the resurrection and final judgment (Romans 8:18-26; Col. 1:20).
While many things are wrong in the world now as a result of sin, God will eventually make everything right when Christ returns to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31). The elevated Christ will finally exalt God’s glory in all ways, both in heaven and on earth.
Christ’s exaltation includes more than only resurrection and ascension. According to Westminster Larger Catechism 54-56, God exalts Christ by His session, intercession, and return in judgment. These things are significant because Jesus’ position in heaven ensures ours, His intercession for us makes our prayers acceptable to God, and He will return as Judge to receive us to Himself.
How Is Christ Exalted Throughout His Session? *(1)
After making atonement for sin, Christ sat at the Father’s right hand (Heb. 1:3). Christ sat at the Father’s right side and rested from His work, just as a worker would after a long day’s work (4:10). However, Christ did not stop working because He was exhausted, but because God exalted Him by seated Him. His session is thus an expression of His grandeur. The catechism addresses this in two ways. First, Christ gained the Father’s favor and praise. Sitting at a monarch’s right hand is the highest level of honor. Nobody can add or subtract from the eternal Son’s grandeur. However, as the incarnate Son, He was “advanced to the highest favor with God the Father” (Phil 2:9). Christ Jesus gained in wisdom, stature, and favor with both God and man (Luke 2:52). The highest favor God bestowed upon Him was the “name that is above every name,” insuring that every knee would bow and every tongue confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord,” to the glory of the Father (Phil 2:9-11). Just as He rejoiced in spirit at the Father’s will on earth (Luke 10:21), He now experiences “fullness of joy” at the Father’s right side in heaven (Ps. 16:11). In His session, the Father responded to Jesus’ petition that the Father would honor the Son and the Son would glorify the Father (John 17:1) by glorifying Him with the glory He had with the Father before the creation of the world (v. 5). The Father invested Jesus, the Son of Man, with “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18; also Dan. 7:13-14). Just as He rejoiced in spirit at the Father’s will on earth (Luke 10:21), He now experiences “fullness of joy” at the Father’s right side in heaven (Ps. 16:11). In His session, the Father responded to Jesus’ petition that the Father would honor the Son and the Son would glorify the Father (John 17:1) by glorifying Him with the glory He had with the Father before the creation of the world (v. 5). The Father invested Jesus, the Son of Man, with “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18; also Dan. 7:13-14).
Everything God produced serves a purpose. He created all things and oversees them, guiding them toward their intended destination
Second, Christ is seated to lead and defend His church. His activity in doing so symbolizes His tripartite role as Prophet, Priest, and King. As King, He subdues us to Himself through His Word and Spirit, and He subdues His and our enemies by bringing them all beneath His feet (1 Cor. 15:25). The kingdoms of this world are those of the seated and reigning Christ (Revelation 11:15). As Prophet, He provides “his ministers and people with gifts and graces” (WLC 54; Ps. 110:1; Eph. 4:10-12). He teaches through His ministers (Romans 10:11-17), and those who hear Him are taught by God (Isaiah 54:13; John 6:45). As a priest, He intercedes for His people (Heb. 7:25). The sitting Christ stood to meet Stephen (Acts 7:56). The seated Christ still stands in our place, ensuring that there is room for us in God’s eternal dwelling (John 14:2). Christ’s three offices merge during His session. To fulfill His prophetic vocation, He is the King who captures prisoners and bestows teaching talents on the church. The fundamental focus of this prophetic function is His priestly activity, which culminates in His death on the cross (1 Cor. 2:1-5).
Christ is sitting at the Father’s right hand, securing our place in heaven. Do we seek our elevation in His exaltation, and our protection in His defence? We cannot lose our seats at the Father’s table any more than Christ can lose His seat by the Father’s side.
How Is Christ Exalted in His Intercession? (2)
Christ is elevated by His intercession for who He is and what He does. While we use words to intercede for others in prayer, Christ requires none. He appears “in our nature continually before the Father in heaven” (Heb. 9:12–24). The same human nature that separated from God through sin is now seated at God’s right hand in righteousness. His session is the most important aspect of His intercession since He sits at The Father does not require convincing via Christ’s intercession. He sent His Son in lieu of His elect, and He sees the elect’s completion in the finished work of His Son (Col. 2:10), who is always present. Christ’s intercession ensures our position before God in paradise. We don’t know if Jesus employs words in His intercession, but we do know that it has many magnificent repercussions. He intercedes for us, “answering all accusations against” us (Zech. 3:2). These allegations do not originate from the Father. Christ’s intercession is not a cosmic wrestling match between the Son, who defends us, and the Father, who is constantly attempting to get His hands on us. The entire Trinity works together to design, purchase, and implement our salvation. Christ silences all external accusations against His people by sending out Satan, who “accused them before God day and night” (Revelation 12:10). Who can make an accusation against God’s elect if Christ intercedes for them (Rom. 8:33-34)? If God is for us, who could be against us?
Christ’s intercession ends all internal accusations against us by obtaining what we require for salvation. As a result, He gives us “quiet of conscience, notwithstanding daily failings” (Romans 5:1-2). Despite our indwelling sin, we can approach God with full certainty of faith, “with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22). This is because He gives us “confidence [to] draw near to the throne of grace” (4:16), where we can obtain grace for forgiveness of sins and power to overcome sin. Christ intercedes for us, ensuring that God accepts both our service and our personalities (1 Peter 2:5). God embraces us not just as reconciled judges, but also as loving fathers. He is the God of Adoption, Justification, and Sanctification. Isn’t it amazing that, even with so many flaws in our greatest acts, Christ will one day say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matt. 25:21)? Is it any surprise that we will ask, “Lord, when did we do these things” (25:37)? God overlooks the dross in our deeds and sees the pure silver of Spirit-wrought righteousness because Christ intercedes for us.
We cannot lose our seats at the Father’s table any more than Christ can lose His seat by the Father’s side
Christ’s intercession makes our prayers and other acts of service acceptable to God. Shouldn’t this motivate us to pray, serve, and pursue glory?
How Will Christ Be Exalted When He Returns to Judge the World? (3)
Christ’s return marks the conclusion and culmination of His glory. The Father vindicated or justified His righteous Son through the Spirit in Christ’s resurrection (Rom. 1:4; 1 Tim. 3:16). However, Jesus’ ultimate vindication occurs when “he who was unjustly judged and condemned by wicked men” will justly judge both the wicked and the righteous (Acts 17:31; 2 Corinthians 5:10). He will come again “to judge the world in righteousness.” This will be the last day, of which no one knows the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36), despite many in the past and present claiming to. Presuming to know the hour of Christ’s coming is an act of incredible hubris, as is ignorance of or faith in God’s word. Scripture teaches us more about the basic reality of Christ’s return in judgment than about the exact timing of His arrival. We should listen to what God reveals and ignore what He conceals (Deuteronomy 29:29).
The manner of Christ’s exaltation in judgment will be magnificent. He will come “with great power” (Matthew 24:30; 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10). He will appear “in the full manifestation of His own glory, His Father, and the holy angels” (Luke 9:26; Matt. 25:31). He will appear “with the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). When Christ returns in judgment, the Father will show to all unambiguously what and who Christ is, using every appropriate circumstance to the occasion. The hosts of heaven will herald Jesus’ return. Christ’s exaltation in His return to judge the will is God’s final and most spectacular act of revelation. When Jesus returns in judgment, He will receive us into Himself so that we can be with Him wherever He is (John 14:3). So we will always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:17). This fact turns what might otherwise be a frightening situation into a pleasant one. Do we rejoice in Christ’s session and intercession now, anticipating His elevation at the judgment?
Conclusion
C.S. Lewis’ science fiction novel Perelandra depicts the end of history on another world as the start of a wonderful new history. Something new and more glorious began as something old and less glorious ended. The end of the first world war marked the beginning of a false start. The end of the smaller story marked the beginning of the greater story.4 So it will be at Christ’s coming. When Christ arrives to judge the world in righteousness, the beginning ends and the end begins. We must be satisfied with nothing less than the Father honoring the incarnate Son to the fullest extent. Do we know His heavenly splendor now through His session and intercession, and do we yearn to see it completed when He returns? Meanwhile, we should live in light of Christ’s return and the power of His intercession. Christ sits at the Father’s right hand, securing a place for us. He intercedes for us, ensuring that we arrive safely. He will return in grandeur to receive us into Himself and judge the world. All of life has significance and purpose because it is centered on Christ’s ultimate exaltation, which includes the salvation of His people.
