FRIDAY October 6th
1 Peter 3:21–22
‘. . . resurrection of 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’.
The good news of the gospel continues with more, after the resurrection, Jesus went back up into heaven and is at the right hand of God. I like the words of the hymn that pens the ascension of Jesus for us
See, the Conqu’ror mounts in triumph;
see the King in royal state,
riding on the clouds, his chariot,
to his heav’nly palace gate.
Hear the choir of angel voices
joyful alleluias sing,
and the gates on high are opened
to receive their heav’nly King.
Who is this that comes in glory,
trumpets sound with jubilee?
Lord of battles, God of armies,
he has gained the victory.
He who on the cross did suffer,
he who from the grave arose,
he has conquered sin and Satan,
he by death has beat his foes.
We read in Acts 1:11 that the disciples stood gazing as Jesus was taken up from them into heaven, Peter who has written this epistle was one of them, he along with the others had witnessed the death, they had seen both the empty tomb and the risen Jesus and they watched him return to heaven. Therefore Peter could write with authority our text today. He saw Jesus go up.
And as amazing as seeing the ascension take place must have been to witness, what followed would have been even more amazing, for Scripture tells us that Jesus went to be at the right hand of God and as Paul tells us in Philippians 2 that Jesus was given the name which is above every other name. Other Scriptures affirm to us that he is there and what happened when he arrived. For example, Stephen the first Christian martyr saw Jesus in the moments when he was being stoned to death and he cried out exactly what it was that he saw ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’ (Acts 7:56), it was confirmation to the crowd gathered around as he was being stoned of what Peter had already preached on the day of Pentecost ‘This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God’ (Acts2:32-33).
Now we could refer to other Scriptures, but for now I want the devotion to lead us to the wonder that the man who ascended, is also the man who is appearing in heaven on our behalf, in the words of another song, Jesus is King, we have verse 2 and 3
We have a hope that is steadfast and certain,
Gone through the curtain and touching the throne.
We have a priest who is there interceding,
Pouring his grace on our lives day by day.
We come to him, our priest and apostle,
Clothed in his glory and bearing his name,
Laying our lives with gladness before him;
Filled with his Spirit we worship the King.
The One who died, rose and ascended is not only our wonderful Saviour, he is also our great High Priest.
We will continue with 1 Peter 3:21–22 again.