![]() ![]() He has become a permanent member of the human race. The Ascension of Jesus can be defined as the transfer of his risen, glorious body to heaven, that is, to the world of the divine. Colossians 3:1, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. He will reign over the New Earth as the God-man. 1 Peter 3:21b-22, Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. So Jesus became a man (first coming, incarnation), defeated death and assumed his eternal body as a man (resurrection), and went back to Heaven as a man (ascension) and will return as a man (second coming and as our firstfruits raising our self-same bodies as bodies like his). He could have “dissolved” or “disappeared,” but instead, he physically ascended to a place from which he will physically return to earth in the same physical body. But still, it could be wondered if having defeated death in the resurrection, when it came time to going back to Heaven, Christ might have said, “time’s up, no sense in being a man any more” and shed himself of a body and retake the form (or lack of form) inherent in being the second member of the Trinity. He appeared to be supported by the cloud. The Greek word received is hupolambano, to take or bear up by supporting from beneath. ![]() Verse 9b tells us a cloud received Him out of their sight. ![]() The resurrection demonstrates the incarnation is not temporary. The ascension was an act of exaltation and an affirmation of Christ’s person. The truth is not that Jesus became a baby at Christmas, and then 33 years later came the resurrection and ascension and then he stopped being a man. Some Christians imagine that Christ shed himself of his humanity and returned to being a completely spiritual being when he went back to Heaven. This is what the creeds call his “self-same body,” stating that likewise our self-same bodies will be restored in our resurrection. One remarkable thing about the ascension is that it affirms Christ’s physical body went into Heaven following his resurrection. Forty days from the day he rose from the grave, Jesus ascended into heaven. Did Jesus lose His Humanity at the Ascension? ![]()
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