He Sits at the Right Hand of God

 

 

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"He sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty." What a short statement for such a great truth. Everything about Jesus that goes before this statement in the Creed is past tense. His conception and birth ; his suffering , death and burial; his descent into hell , his resurrection and ascension . All these things are history. What comes after this statement is in the future. He shall come. This statement alone sums up the present tense - the present work of Christ. Nearly 2000 years of earth's history. And all that time Christ has been, and still is, seated at God's right hand.

Does this mean that for 2000 years Jesus has been sitting around doing nothing?

Of course not. His position, seated at God's right hand, indicates 2000 years of constant and untiring ministry on our behalf.

What is his role now?

Ian Macpherson in his " The Faith Once Delivered " recognises the following six roles for the ascended Lord.

Victor

In this role, as in some others, we must recognise that there are senses in which Christ is already Victor and others in which victory is yet to come, a future certainty not yet fully realised.

The following passages speak of Jesus having already been raised to the throne of the Victor.

Dan 7:13-14
(13) "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. (14) He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Eph 1:20-21
(20) he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, (21) far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Phil 2:9-11
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Rev 1:5
and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
Rev 3:21
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

However, these passages refer to Christ as being in the place of awaiting the final declaration of his Victory.

Psalm 110:1
The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
1 Cor 15:25
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
Psalm 89:27
I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth.

Ruler

These passages, along with a great many more, bear witness to Christ as Ruler.

Heb 2:8-9
". . . and put everything under his feet." In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. (9) But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Rev 19:16
on his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

This role we will discuss further in the section on His Kingly Rule

Intercessor

As part of Jesus' role as Priest he continually intercedes for us.

Rom 8:34
Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Heb 4:14
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
Heb 9:24
For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.
Heb 7:25
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Jesus is still praying for us. He has been praying for us for 2000 years!

"In the days of his flesh, he prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail. Now in his ascended state, he prays for every Peter, weak and apt to stray." ( Arthur Skevington Wood ).
"Always the Christian lives between the Accuser and the Advocate" ( Macpherson )

1 John 2:1 says

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Or as the AV puts it, an "Advocate with the Father".

Donor

That is the Giver of gifts.

Psalm 68:18; Acts 2:32-33; Eph 4:8

Preparer

Jesus said he had gone before us in order to prepare a place for us.

John 14:2; 1 Cor 2:9

Precursor

That is the Forerunner. He is the one who has gone before. He is the first of those who will rise to everlasting life.

Heb 6:18-20; Heb 2:10

The great ancient hymn of the Church, the Te Deum says:

"When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers" ( Te Deum Laudamus )

His Prophetic Ministry

During his earthly ministry, Jesus was proclaimed, amongst other things, as a prophet. Inasmuch as the role of the prophet is to bring God's word with power to the people his was certainly a prophetic ministry. But his prophetic ministry did not stop at the grave or when he ascended. He is still a prophet for he has called to himself a Church whose responsibility is to be his prophetic voice. All too often that voice has grown dim as we have told ourselves that all that needs to be said has been said. But the preaching of the Gospel must be prophetic, the celebration of the sacraments must be prophetic, the work of the Church in Society must be prophetic and the stand against the evils of our age must be prophetic or we fail to be the community that Christ called us to be.

His High Priestly Ministry

The letter to the Hebrews is full of reference to Jesus' priesthood. In many instances it refers to him as High Priest, a Great Priest or a Priest after the Order of Melchizedek. (Melchizedek was unique so a "Priest after the Order of Melchizedek" will be equally unique. As High Priest he delegates authority to his saints. For he has called the church to be a kingdom of priests.
 

Rev 5: 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Here we do not find a two tier Christianity with priests and laity but a "priesthood of all believers" serving under our Great High Priest, the risen, ascended and reigning Christ.

His Kingly Rule

Again, there is a sense in which Jesus' Kingship has yet to find it's total fulfilment.

The most quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament is Psalm 110:1 'The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."'

The kingdoms of this world are not yet seen to be the Kingdom of our God and of his Christ. ( Rev 11:15 )

Yet in another sense he acceded to the throne when he ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is Lord, Christ is King.

This overlap of the age that is and the age to come is clearly seen in Heb 2:8-9.

Heb 2:8 In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. (9) But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

We do not see everything subject - yet we see him crowned.

He is King yet his reign is not universally accepted.

Phil 2:9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

He is exalted - and every knee shall bow, though it has not happened yet.

His Magisterial Authority

There is a time to come when Jesus will once again descend from the highest place to judge the living and the dead. At the same time, Jesus already has a place at the right hand of God as Judge. The wonderful thing about this place of judgement is that he aquits those who are his, not because of their own righteousness, but because of his grace and the pardon wrought through the cross. He is a redeeming Lord who "justifies". And the expression, justification, is not to say that he finds reasons or excuses for our sin but that he has wiped our sins from the charge sheet. They are as if they had never been.

His Headship of the Church

Eph 1:20 "he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, (21) far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (22) And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, (23) which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."

See also Col 1:18

We often tend to think that the Church is being ruled by Popes, Bishops, Elders, or Generals, call them what we like but if that is true we are lost for the only Church that God instituted is the one body of Christ of whom he is the Head.

We must not assume from that statement that there is no room for leadership in the Church. The "Body of Christ" is a "Priesthood of all Believers" but Jesus himself has instituted a structure of leadership

Eph 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, (12) to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

We are answerable to each other and we are "under authority" but apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are roles that are carried out under God and with other leaders. They are not status, they are job descriptions and responsibilities.

Jesus is Lord, not only of all creation in general but of the Church in particular.

(All full biblical quotations in this article are taken from the New International Version and have been inserted into the text using "QuickVerse for Windows" from

Parsons Technology .)