Him Did God Exalt
One cannot read through the Acts of the Apostles without being struck by the fact that the centre of the message given by the apostles was Christ in exaltation. It is a vital part of the Gospel, that one Man pleased God so perfectly that He not only accepted the satisfaction that Christ made in His death, but has exalted Him to sit on the Throne of Glory for ever and ever, all power now placed in His hand, the whole universe being subject to Him.
Moreover, Christ has taken up this position as our Lord and is therefore, for the welfare of His people, working all things after the counsel of His own will, as Advocate for all who obey Him and interceeding on their behalf.
The intercession of Christ is of vital importance to the believer.
First, because His intercession is based on indisputable merit and therefore must prevail in the High Court of Heaven; on which account He must, in very righteousness, be granted that which He purchased for the people.
Second, His intercession is fully assured by the fact that He asks only that which is agreeable to the Father, who, therefore, is always ready to grant that which our exalted Lord requests for His people.
Third, the success of Christ’s intercession is found in the fact that He is the Beloved of the Father, who delights to please His Son and will give to Him all His desire for His people.
Fourth, the success of Christ’s intercession is fully assured by the fact that nothing can hinder or counteract it, hell may rage, sin may rise against the throne, but the work of the Lord stands and prevails; “Therefore also He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (R.V. Heb. 7:25).
Yet a friend writing recently from U.S.A. remarked that he had listened to over two hundred evangelical broadcasts and only one had mentioned Christ in His exaltation and only six mentioned His resurrection.
Things may not be as they should be, and never will be so as long as sin is in the world, but all our hope is in Christ exalted. Therefore this should be proclaimed. If only a dead Christ is presented to the world, there is no hope; indeed “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable” (R.V. 1 Cor 16-19). Our whole hope is in our risen exalted Lord, who now occupies the throne of God for us and who is interceding for us as our Advocate.
It is of vital importance that the world should hear of Christ in His exaltation, so that the attention should not be occupied with just a cross or a dead Saviour, but with One who has all power and can give repentance, faith, and victory over sin to those who look to Him.
To get men occupied with the cross is good as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough; and to tell them to go to the cross for salvation is misleading, because when they arrive at the cross they will not find the Lord there, for He is on the throne of God. Rather may we learn a lesson from the Apostles and ever point men to our exalted Lord, who having died and risen again, can save from the guilt of sin, the power of sin, the pleasure of sin, the penalty of sin, and the presence of sin, now and for ever.
To Him be glory for ever and ever. AMEN.