The Lord Jesus Christ As The Church’s Ultimate Source Of Authority: Spiritual Reflections On Christ’s Ascension Into Glory

And hath put things under Christ’s feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23)

May God have mercy on me as I reflect on the importance of our Lord Jesus Christ’s Ascension and how this event has a great bearing and impact on the ministry of His Body, the Church. Matthew 28:18-20 reads; “Jesus came and spoke to them saying, All authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye, therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the age”. In these passages, we see that since our Lord Jesus Christ has already ascended to glory and is now royally seated at the right hand of the Father, we, as living members of Christ’s Church, has already been given authority by Christ to minister on his behalf and to represent Him and His Heavenly interest on this earth.

Factually speaking, our Lord Jesus Christ is now gloriously enthroned in the Heavens in His Transcendent Body. Experientially speaking, in the hearts of all believers who received Christ’s Divine Life by faith, Christ’s Immanent Presence remains on earth by the power of the Holy Spirit Who indwells within us; in our spirit—this is the profound truth of mutual abiding, Christ is in us and we are “in Christ”. And as Christ is in the Father by the working of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45); we who united ourselves in Christ are also in the Father. Christ now dwells amongst us (St. John 1:14) as the Life-giving Head of His Spiritual Body, the Church (Ephesians 4:15). This Transcendent, Immanent, Ascended and Glorious Christ is now working today in our regenerated individual spirits and corporately, in His spiritual Body, the Church. He, as the Head of the Church has given us the authority to minister on His behalf, through His Church (St. Matthew 28:18-19).

Brothers and sisters, what authority do we (as His Church, which is the increase of Christ’s Own Divine Life) have when we for instance; speak and share Christ to others, pray for one another, preach Christ to the needy world, partake of His Holy Table or baptize new believers into Christ? The authority that we received is none other than the authority derived from the immeasurable merits of our Ascended, Transcendent, Immanent, and Glorified Christ! As the Ascended, Transcendent, Glorified, and Immanent Lord, Christ has the plenitude of authority in the whole universe. However, when our Lord was still on earth, His humble ministry was limited by time, space, place, and circumstance. But now, since He is already gloriously and majestically seated in the Heavens, His power and authority is full and unlimited (St. Matthew 28:18).

According to St. Paul, with our baptism, Christ caused us to sit with Him in the Heavens; so if we are also seated with Him in His glory, then we (as His Mystical Body, the Church) also in many senses, have become unlimited like Him (Ephesians 1:20). Since our Lord has already ascended to the Heavens and since He has given his life-giving Spirit as His only True Vicar on earth, Christ is always with us. If our Lord was still in the human body here on earth; if He were not clothed with the glorified Body in His Resurrection, then as a human being, He would be limited; but because He has ascended above all dominions, principalities and powers (Ephesians 1:21) and because He is so freely available to us as the indwelling Holy Spirit within our spirit (Romans 8:16), He will always be with us “even unto the very end of the age” (Matthew 20:20). We as the many members of His corporate Body, the Church are given the authority to minister Christ to the world in Christ’s behalf and on account of Christ’s Blessed Ascension.

As the Church, we need to take this God-given authority in our daily life. We need to “reign in life” (Romans 5:17) with Christ’s Life and with Christ’s authority and plenitude of power. We need always to be under the authority of our Ascended Christ. We even need to take this God-given authority in our daily circumstances and in our daily living. Philippians 2:12-13 says: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure”. The Lord Jesus Christ worked for our redemption on the cross, he works within us by His Holy Spirit. He works through us as His mystical corporate Body (the Church) to rescue this sinful world from both individual and structural sins, death and the devil. Brothers and sisters, even the Church’s authority to minister Christ to others comes from the Lord’s Ascension into Glory! We can minister Christ to others because we have an Ascended Savior Who is now in glory, crowned with royalty and divine prerogatives, and who has already overcome the world for us.

As I prayerfully reflect Matthew 28:18-20, I felt that the Spirit of God gave me a strong impression regarding three (3) “all” found in this text: “all authority is given to me” (v.18), “go to all nations” (v. 19) and “I will be with you all the way (v. 20). These 3 “all” show the All-inclusive Authority and the plenitude of power of our Ascended Christ. Since He is the Head of the Church and we are His corporate Body the Church, incorporated into His Divine Life by our confession of faith in Christ through baptism, we can therefore take our full authority to minister Christ to the world. The Holy Spirit as Christ’s sole True Vicar on earth; this Life-Giving Spirit is always with us to strengthen, empower and energize us so that we can take our God-given authority and utilize it to the fullest to build up his Body the Church, which is His spiritual Kingdom on this earth.

Upon our Lord’s Glorious Ascension; “He hath made us come alive, raised us up together with Him and made us sit together with Him in the Heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6). Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the basis of the Church’s spiritual authority. The Church’s enablement and energy comes from the Ascended Christ. May the Lord Jesus have mercy upon us so that we may fully experience, realize and exercise this authority, this divine ministry of “God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19)! Oh Lord Jesus, we ask Thee to release Thy Power into us and into our insignificant lives so that by this transcending authority of your Glorious Ascension, we may be able to fulfill Your heart’s desire to make Thy Church victorious over all the earth and to make it as Your Beacon and Lighthouse of universal salvation to all nations! Oh Lord Jesus; we take authority from the power of Thy Blessed and Glorious Ascension. Amen, a thousand times Amen!