Christ’s Ascension and Heavenly Session: Where Is the Lord Jesus Now and What Is He Doing?

Ascension: Where is the Lord Jesus Now?

After Jesus’ resurrection, we are instructed that he spent “forty days” teaching his disciples “about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).[1] Then our Lord Jesus “was taken up . . . into heaven” by His Father (Acts 1:11). The authors of scripture consistently predict and testify of the reality of Christ’s ascension into heaven (Gen 5:24; Gen 28:12; Deut 30:12–13; 2 Kings 2:11; Ps 68:18; Ps 110:1; John 20:17; Acts 2:33–34; Rom 10:6; Eph 1:10; Eph 4:8–10; Heb 9:24; Heb 4:14; 1 Pet 3:22;). Christ himself prepared His disciples for His coming departure from the earth. In the upper-room discourse from John 14–19, Jesus explains to his disciples that he will soon have to “go away” and leave them (John 16:7). He says, “now I am leaving the world and going to the Father” (John 16:28).

However, Luke is the only the author that records the ascension in any detail. In his gospel, Luke reports that, in Jesus’ final earthly hours, he led his disciples “out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them” (Luke 24:50). Then, he departed: “while he was blessing them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” (Luke 24:51–52). In Acts, we get a fuller version. There Luke records the words of the blessing that Jesus gave his disciples:

you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

And then we also hear more details about the way that Jesus was taken up into heaven: “as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). After that, two angels appear with explaining that “this Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

What is clear from the above accounts is that Jesus ascended into heaven. Heaven is where Jesus is now. And from heaven He will one day return for His people (Acts 1:11; 1 Cor 1:7; 1 Thess 1:10; Heb 9:28). What is not clear is exactly where that heaven is relative to our physical universe. That is a mystery. But we know that this heaven a real place and that Jesus is really and bodily present there. Not only is this heaven a real place, but Jesus goes to “prepare a place” for us there (John 14:3).

Heavenly Session: What is the Lord Jesus Doing Now?

Scripture gives us great clarity as to what the Lord Jesus is now doing in heaven. Here are seven tasks that Jesus is now completing.

1. Jesus is sitting at God’s right hand. The author of Hebrews explains that after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3). A person who sits is having a session. So, it is from this imagery of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God in His courtroom that we speak of Jesus’ “heavenly session.”
2. Jesus is preparing a place for us. We have already mentioned this one. John explains, “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Jesus is in heaven for our sakes getting it ready for us.
3. Jesus is putting all His enemies under His feet. In heaven, Jesus is presently reigning over the universe according to His purposes. He is asserting His dominion over all His and our enemies. Paul says, “he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor 15:25).
4. Jesus is interceding for His people. In Romans, Paul says that while Jesus is “interceding for us” as the one seated “at the right hand of God” (Rom 8:34). Or again, the author of Hebrews explains that Jesus “always lives to make intercession” for His people. He is pleading his righteousness for them so that God would “save us to the uttermost” (Heb 7:25).
5. Jesus is giving gifts to the church. In Ephesians 4:7–16, Paul draws on Ps 68:18—”when he ascended on high. . . he gave gifts to men”—to show that the ascended Christ is currently giving gifts to the church. His ascension up into heaven enables him to send gifts down to earth. “And he gave, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints,” says Paul (Eph 4:11–12).
6. Jesus has sent the Spirit on His mission. Together with His Father, Christ sends the Spirit to earth to convict the world, reveal truth to his people, put God’s love in their hearts, and bring them to God. Jesus says, “when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26; cf. John 14:26).
7. Jesus is readying Himself for His return. Jesus has promised us that He will “come again” (John 14:3). John writes in Revelation, “behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” (Rev 1:7). He is “coming soon” to judge the world and save his people (John 5:28–29; Heb 9:28; Rev 22:20).

Having been resurrected, Jesus is currently in heaven. He is reigning at the right hand of God and accomplishing these seven tasks. Moreover, he is ready for his imminent return to earth. What about us: are we ready for Christ’s return? Jesus instructs us to prepare: “you must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming” (Matt 24:44). We can make ourselves ready for His return by “drawing near to God through Him” and “eagerly waiting for Him” (Heb 7:25; Heb 9:28).

[1] In studying for this pastor’s post, I benefitted from the reflections of Wilhelmus à Brakel (1635–1711) and Petrus van Mastricht (1630–1706) and Herman Bavinck (1852–1921) on the ascension. See Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 1992–2012), 1:635–51; Petrus van Mastricht, Theoretical-Practical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2018), 1.5.16; Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. John Bolt and John Vriend (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 3:418–82.