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JESUS' ASCENSION
AND GLORIFICATION
Two of Jesus'
followers walked home the afternoon of the day of His Resurrection to the
village called Emmaus, their Risen Lord joined them, finally when
their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, they rushed back to the
other disciples to tell them. That evening the disciples met behind locked
doors, in fear of the Jewish Leaders, when suddenly Jesus was standing
there amongst them.
One of his disciples, Thomas, was not there and he refused to believe unless
he himself touched Jesus' nail pierced hands and put his hand in
the wound in Jesus' side, which was made by the soldier's spear.
Eight days later, just as before, behind locked doors, Jesus stood
among them. Thomas was present and he did see and touch his Risen Lord.
Later Jesus appeared to his disciples beside the Lake of Galilee. A group of them had gone fishing, not having any success, Jesus directed them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat and their nets were filled. They all realized it was Jesus and Peter jumped into the water and went to Him for he needed reassurance from his Lord because Peter had denied Jesus three times the night Jesus was arrested. Jesus ate breakfast with them on the shore. They saw Him as a person with flesh and bones but His body was different in that He could appear and disappear at will. Jesus opened their minds so that they could grasp the scriptures. He spent forty days with His disciples and gave them their commission to make disciples of the nations.
Until Jesus appeared to them, the disciples refused to believe that Jesus had risen, but they started to remember what He had said, would happen concerning Himself.
There were numerous witnesses who saw Jesus after His Resurrection, in many different places, even a group of 500 together saw him. He stayed on earth for 40 days teaching the disciples and followers about the Kingdom of Heaven.
His new spiritual/human body is a sample of which all resurrected believer's bodies will also be like.
Jesus did many miracles that were not recorded and He appeared after His resurrection to many hundreds of people. Jesus, The Servant King rules over the Kingdom of God while not visible to mankind of this world, all authority in heaven and in earth are His.
Before Jesus returned to
heaven, His disciples asked if He was going to establish the promised earthly
Kingdom. Jesus told them that no one will know the date or time,
but to concentrate on their mission and promised to send The Holy Spirit
to each believer-they would receive power to testify about His Death
and Resurrection to all nations on the earth. At the Mount of Olives, outside
of Jerusalem, Jesus ascended back to heaven and was seated at The Right
Hand of God, The Father.
His disciples strained their eyes for another glimpse of Him when suddenly
two angelic beings appeared and told them, "Just as he went, He
will return".
Jesus' Ascension back to heaven
marked the end of His earthly ministry, but it was also a continuation
and a fulfillment of God's establishment of His Kingdom. It was the assurance
of His Victory over evil and His enemies which he shares with His disciples,
freedom from the wages of sin, death, and is assurance of where all of
His disciples will go, for he has entered and prepared a place ahead for
each of them.
It was important for the followers of Christ to watch Him ascend
to grasp without any doubt that He was God and was returning to
His and their Heavenly dwelling place. This was the object lesson for them,
He was returning, leaving this physical world and re-joining The Father's
presence.
The Exalted Christ in a glorified human
body left earth to go back to heaven to sit at The Right Hand of God, The
Father, to rule and reign. He ascended physically and visibly and was overshadowed
by a cloud. Today, Christ is alive and enthroned at The Right Hand
of God, The Father, still continuing to save people's lives and helping
them in their daily living.
God raise Him up to the heights of heaven and gave Him a name which is
above every other name, and that at that Name every knee shall bow, in
heaven, and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God The Father.
Christ is The Highest Ruler, with authority over every other power, and all mankind has benefited from the blessings that have been heaped upon those whom God has created.
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The Name, Joshua is the equivalent
in English as Jesus. Both also mean The Lord Saves. The High
Priest Joshua is seen a prototype of Christ, who removed the
sins of the people in one day, the once and for all sacrifice. With Christ
as High Priest, every Christian is a Priest unto God in His Kingdom, offering
their lives to be co-workers with God.
The Branch is a Messianic Title.
Not only is The Messiah to reign as a Righteous King but also a
Priest who establishes true worship in Spirit and in Truth. The High
Priest oversees those who are cleansed, sanctified, restored, the life
of those redeemed and judges the nations.
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King David who prophesied
about a future ruler, whom he knew to be The Messiah, in Psalm
110, proclaimed that The Messiah's Kingdom would extend far
beyond the area of Jerusalem.
Jesus acknowledged this Psalm to be about Himself and mentioned
this, referring to Himself to the Scribes and Pharisees and silenced them
in their disputes for if they had admitted what David had prophesied
was true, they would have acknowledge that Jesus was their Christ,
for whom they had waited, for they knew this Psalm to be about their
Messiah.
It is also declared and explained in the Book
of Hebrews that His Kingdom would last forever. God guaranteed his promise
by swearing an oath, an unbreakable promise that The Messiah's Kingdom
of righteousness and peace after the Order of Melchizedek would
reign forever.
It is also a reference to The Son of God in heaven, seated at God's
right Hand, the right hand is not only a sign of authority and power but
a position of exalted honour.
The Psalmist tells of the reign of Christ on earth, His Priestly
Ministries for His people, and also speaks of the end times and The
Messiah's role. The prophecy expands that The Messiah was not
only to be a priest but to come from King David's lineage, which
caused great confusion and a complex problem for the Jewish teachers and
scribes for they could not understand how a priest could not come from
the Levi tribe, Aaron's descendants. Melchizedek was a priest of The Most
High God and appoint by Divine Decree and was not from the human
lineage of Levites. Melchizedek blessed Abraham, The Father of The Jewish
Race and Spiritual Father to all who believe God's Word.
It was decreed that The Messiah's Priesthood and Kingship would
be superior to King David and superior to the Levitical Priesthood.
God's oath established The Messiah's Kingdom to be world wide and
assured Him of Victory over all powers that would oppose Him. His reign
would be approved, upheld, was permanently legalized, and unchangeable.
The Levitical priesthood had a High Priest who was a mediator, and Jesus
is the Only High Priest and Only Mediator between God and man, with in
the New Covenant.
No one can go to the Father except through Christ.
Jesus is a superior High Priest, instead of cleansing rituals for
the people daily and coming before God, once a year, for atonement, like
the old Testament priests who each lived and died, were only instated for
a period of 1500 years. Jesus is a permanent living High Priest
who is always interceding on behalf of believers.
He is the High Priest after the Order of Righteousness and Peace of
The Covenant of Spirit and Grace.
Melchizdek means King of Righteousness was the King and Priest of the
City of Salem, meaning Peace (Jerusalem) all which are Titles ascribed
to The Messiah. It is Jesus who makes peace between mankind and
God, and through His Righteousness, mankind is reconciled to God, we have
peace with God, sins are forgiven because of Jesus, The Christ,
The Only High Priest of the New Covenant.(NEED TO KNOW TEXT)
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