What Gifts Does the Ascended Jesus Send Us?

Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended to the right hand of His Father. St. Paul writes that “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). The apostle also encourages us to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1). And the Epistle to the Hebrews states in regard to the Son of God: “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).
When Jesus ascended, He did not thereby travel to a distant place in our physical universe. As far as the location of God is concerned, God is everywhere. Therefore, the “right hand” of God is also everywhere. In His ascension, Christ was exalted from His previous state of humility to a full use of His divine power. Jesus is still a human being—the son of Mary and our brother. As the ascended Lord, He is no longer in “the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7) as He was during the time of His earthly ministry. Jesus is also still present with His people, but He is present in a different way—a way that allows Him to be with all of His people, all over the globe, all of the time.
From the “right hand” of God, Jesus also bestows wonderful gifts upon His people. He sends His Spirit into us so that we can confidently believe in Christ and boldly confess Christ. On the day of Pentecost, St. Peter proclaimed: “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts 2:33).
As Jesus continues to send the Holy Spirit to us through the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments (see Acts 2:38–42), He also gives to the church the servants who administer these Means of Grace for our forgiveness and salvation. When the church issues a call to a minister of the Word, it is not merely “hiring” an “employee.” Rather, it is functioning as the voice and instrument of Christ in authorizing a servant of Christ to bring the saving message of Christ to Christ’s people. When a congregation calls a pastor in Jesus’ name, it is actually receiving a pastor from Jesus.
St. Paul explains this in his Epistle to the Ephesians, where he also describes the reasons why Jesus gives such public servants to His church. Paul writes that Christ is the one who “ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things,” and that “he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:10–12).
As Jesus gives us His Spirit and as He gives us the pastors and teachers who proclaim His Word among us, He thereby also continually gives us Himself. We cannot have the Spirit of Christ without also having Christ: “By this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us” (1 John 3:24). Jesus says to those whom He sends forth to teach in His name: “The one who hears you hears me” (Luke 10:16, emphasis added).
In His ascension, Jesus does indeed continue to abide with His church and to provide for His church. In faith, we receive, with joy, all that our glorified Savior gives. In faith, we receive Jesus Himself as He comes to us in and through His gifts!
David Jay Webber is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is a member of the ELS Doctrine Committee.