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Finding Yourself (Ascension Sunday 2018)

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Ascension Sunday

The Text

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Mt. 16:21-28)

Introduction

Today is celebrated as Ascension Sunday throughout the Christian Church, marking the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father as Lord and King of all. In an important sense, this celebration marks the day on which all that Jesus did in this world was fulfilled. He was born as Lord, lived as Lord, died as Lord, rose as Lord, but the ascension marks His enthronement as Lord. In this sense, we can speak of Jesus arriving where His entire life was aiming toward. Or using the language of our sermon text, in the ascension, Jesus found His life.

Summary of the Text

We pick up right after Peter’s famous confession of faith, and from that point Jesus began regularly saying that He was going to Jerusalem to die and rise again (Mt. 16:21). At some point, Peter, having so recently been praised for his correct answer about Jesus, begins rebuking Jesus for talking this way (Mt. 16:22). But Jesus says that this rebuke is a satanic temptation to prefer the things of man over the things of God (Mt. 16:23). Jesus says that His mission is to gain the glory of His Father, and He invites all men to follow Him in preferring these things over his own things, his own life, or even the whole world (Mt. 16:24-26). This path will be vindicated when Jesus comes in the glory of His Father and rewards men according to their works (Mt. 16:27-28).

Finding Yourself

In our world, we are bombarded with messages and advertisements for finding yourself, for finding happiness, success, fulfillment. And in many ways, what we are talking about is glory. Glory is how the Bible describes someone really shining, doing and being what they were created to be (Ps. 8:5). And this glory really is something unique, something without comparison, something different (Prov. 30:18-19). But in a random world, success and glory are necessarily random. Finding yourself is like winning the lottery. Therefore, in a random world, the mantra: be different! really is the best advice. While the odds may not technically be in your favor, if you know that the people with glory are different and unique, then you might as well start trying now. The funny thing is that the images and suggestions given are self-contradictory: be yourself and be different and buy this Coke, wear these clothes, have this phone plan, go organic (like everyone else). Jesus is interested in answering the same question, but He is refreshingly honest and straightforward. He knows that people can never find themselves all by themselves. Finding yourself, finding what you were made for is always found through following others. The only question is who are you following? Who are you trusting?

A Bad Bargain

Jesus says that we are naturally inclined to make deals with the devil, settling for more now in exchange for less later: more life now for less life later, more profit now for less profit later, more glory now for no glory later (Mt. 16:23-26). But this is to assume that there is no ultimate justice in the universe. It is fundamentally atheistic. Notice also that the Satanic offer isn’t the offer of sin on a platter full of worms. Satan comes in this episode in the voice of a close friend, a faithful disciple, and an apostle. As Paul says elsewhere, Satan transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). False apostles, deceitful workers transform themselves into apostles of Christ (2 Cor. 11:13). Satanic ministers transform themselves into “ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:15). In other words, what Satan offers is typically some good thing. The bad deal is what that other good thing is taking you away from, what you are losing in the process. Satan is the thief who comes over to give you a welcome basket only to rob you. But Jesus says that the way to true life, profit, and glory is through following Him with a cross, losing your life for His sake, and being willing to forfeit the whole world (Mt. 16:24-26). One of the ways Christians get this wrong is by assuming that the way of Jesus must be whichever way looks worse. But that isn’t what Jesus says. He says to follow Him, to lose our lives for His sake. This means fundamentally that the way to find your life is through obedience. And what this means is leaning in. The pagan instinct is to pull away, to try to be different, but the way of Jesus is to follow.

A Few Different Applications

For young people, one of the temptations is to find yourself primarily in comparison with your parents. The temptation is to carve out your own space, to try to be different from your mom or your dad. But the fifth commandment is straight forward: honor your father and mother. Lean in, follow their example. Some of you come from broken families, and of course, you must not follow sinful examples. All of us have sinful fathers and mothers, but God knew about sin when He gave us the fifth commandment. Find what there is to honor, and honor it. Let your heart be free to embrace the gifts of your family. Lean in and find yourself.

One of the ways you know Jesus and Peter were friends is by this sharp confrontation and correction. “Faithful are the wounds of a friends, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Prov. 27:6). “Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you” (Prov. 9:8). “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Prov. 27:17). Not wanting to offend or not wanting to let friends down can be some of the most powerful forces in the world, and in the name of friendship and kindness great evil can creep in. Are you trying to find yourself in your friendships? Or are you committed to following Christ in obedience no matter what?

Similar temptations can creep into young families or other new ventures, like a new second service. The temptation can be to zero in on the differences. In our family, what makes us who we are is that we don’t…  (fill in the blank) like our parents. In this new service, what makes us different is … But this is to buy into the world’s way of finding glory. You don’t find your identity by highlighting your differences. You don’t find yourself by strict conformity. You find yourself by following Jesus and following those who have followed Him well (1 Cor. 4:16-17). The point is that we are following Christ, obeying Christ together, trusting that this is the best investment in the world.

How did Jesus find Himself? He obeyed His Father. He knew His duty, and He could not be distracted by the offers of the devil. How did He do this? “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). He considered the joy of the glory of the Father, the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore at His right hand (Ps. 16:11).

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Series of Coronations

Ben Zornes on

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Introduction:
On Ascension Sunday, we mark the departure of the Lord Jesus into Heaven, where He was received in great glory, and where He was crowned with universal dominion. This is our celebration of His coronation proper. But there were a series of glorifications prior to this, each one building on the last—at each stage of the gospel. The Ascension, rightly understood, is the crown of the gospel.

The Text:
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13–14).

Summary of the Text:
The one place in the Old Testament where Son of Man was plainly a Messianic title was here in this place. Elsewhere it was commonly used to identify a human prophet, for example. Here the one like the Son of Man is a figure of infinite dignity, and He is granted an everlasting kingdom.
When we read the phrase coming on the clouds, we think of the Second Coming, as though it were speaking of Jesus coming to earth. But the phrase refers to the Ascension—it speaks of Jesus coming into Heaven, coming into His crown. “Came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days . . .” The passage tells us where He comes. He comes into the throne room of Heaven, and there He is given universal dominion.

And this is what Jesus self-consciously refers to when He was on trial before the Sanhedrin. Within a few months, He would be standing before the Ancient of Days, with everlasting honors bestowed on Him, but right then He was standing before the petit principalities, who were filled with malice and poured out every form of dishonor they could think of. And when the high priest asked Him if He was the Christ, the Son of Blessed, Jesus said, “I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62).

And notice the reaction to this:

“Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death” (Mark 14:63–64).
For Jesus to say that He would be seated on the right hand of power, and that He would come to that right hand of power on the clouds of Heaven, was reckoned by them as blasphemy, and was worthy—or so they thought—of death.

Glory Stages:
What Jesus received at the Ascension is what we normally think of when we think of a coronation. It was glorious beyond anything any of us could imagine, but what we can imagine was a miniscule amount of the same kind of glory. But we arrived there in stages, and the earliest form of Christ’s glorification

Think of these elements of the gospel. Christ was crucified. He was buried. He was raised from the dead. He ascended into Heaven. Let us meditate on the gospel progress of those four words—crucified, buried, raised, and ascended.

Building to the Ultimate Crescendo:
Crucified—we begin with the glory of His humiliation. “And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matt. 27:29). The Bible teaches that the cross was a moment of glory (John 12:27-28). The purest man who ever lived laid down His life for millions of the grimiest. Not only so, but God calls it a glory.

Buried—the Lord Jesus was glorified in His burial through the love of His forgiven followers. “For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her” (Matt. 26:12–13). So the preliminary ointment of burial is part of this stupendous story, not to mention what Nicodemus did (John 19:39). So another glory, another part of the wonder of this story is the fact that God gathers up the tears of the truly repentant (Luke 7:38), and stores them in His treasury (Ps. 56:8). This is yet another glory. But the tears that adorn His burial are only possible because of His burial.

Raised—why did the Lord Jesus tell the demons, and also tell His followers, not to proclaim His identity? I believe it was because He was jealous to have the first great proclamation be made by His Father. “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). We are starting to approach the threshold of unspeakable joy, and full of glory (1 Pet. 1:8). The disciples staggered in their joy (Luke 24:41). They were as those who dreamed (Ps. 126:1-2).
Ascended—telling the gospel story faithfully prevents us from trying to circumvent God’s pattern. Apart from the cross, no sinner should ever be trusted with a crown. Our tendency is to go straight to the triumph, by-passing the difficulties. But the Lord established a better pattern for us than this.

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Phil. 2:8–10).

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Sermon #1936: Authority & Power

Ben Zornes on

INTRODUCTION:

We always mark and commemorate what we believe to be important. From birthdays to anniversaries, from independence days to holidays, we will take note. The issue, therefore, is what we find to be important. Attempts to banish this reality will only have the effect of selecting the wrong things to commemorate.

THE TEXT:

When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:6-11).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT:

The disciples asked the Lord, now that He had conquered death, if he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus replied that it was not for them to know the (eschatological) times or seasons, for that belonged to the Father. But He then said the disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. But before the power was given, the authority for that power had to be established, and that is what the Ascension is all about. Jesus was taken up into heaven until a cloud received Him. While they were looking up, two men appeared and asked why they were doing that. Jesus, who was taken up, will return in the same manner. Now note two central points that we learn from this passage. First, the end times are not our direct business. Second, heaven-gazing is not our business either. We do not escape to “the end,” and we do not escape “up.” Rather, in the meantime, our time on earth is defined by these realities.

NOT QUITE REFORMED?

For some, the logic is compelling. If we do not celebrate the festivals of Christ, then our year will be full of secular holidays. But if the logic is compelling, they somehow assume that this is a place where the Reformed tradition got it wrong. In other words, the strict regulative principle, as interpreted by some, says that we must not celebrate anything that is not directly commanded in Scripture. First, most importantly, this is not consistent with Scripture. But we should also note (incidentally) that it is not consistent with the history of the Reformed faith.

In the late medieval period, the calendar had become clogged with saints’ days, and this meant, of course, that meaningful commemoration became impossible. Try to imagine your family observing some kind of birthday celebration for someone every day. But when the Reformation was established, there was a strong desire to commemorate what really mattered. Under the

heading of “The Festivals of Christ,”the Second Helvetic Confession “highly approved”of the practice of religiously celebrating “the memory of the Lord’s nativity, circumcision, passion, resurrection, and of his ascension into heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit.” This was important because the definition and ownership of time belonged to the First Table of the Law.

AUTHORITY AND POWER:

Authority without power is meaningless and impotent. But power without authority is manipulative or tyrannical. And this is why the doctrine of the Ascension is so important. Without it, attempts at evangelization are bound to degrade into various forms of deception, manipulation, or coercion.

AUTHORITY:

The Scriptures settle this question, beyond all question.

First, the Ascension was prophesied by Daniel. “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a king- dom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13-14).

We see the same thing in the second Psalm. “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Ps. 2:7-8).

Jesus assumes it in His Great Commission. “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power [exousia, authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matt. 28:18-20).

And the early Christians understood it this way. “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power” (1 Cor. 15:24).

JESUS IS LORD:

And this is why we must return, again and again, to the basic Christian confession of faith, which is that Jesus is Lord. This does not assume a fragmented universe, with Christ put in charge of some of the pieces. Jesus is Lord is the basic personal confession, but it is only true and sound because it is the cosmic confession. In other words, Jesus saves the individual only because He has been given authority over heaven and earth.

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Ascension Humility (Ascension Sunday 2015)

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

On Ascension Sunday, we mark and remember the coronation of the Lord Jesus Christ. This crowning was the coronation of the ultimate example of humility. Now the Bible teaches us that in Christ, we are kings and priests (Rev. 1:6; 5:10). We will rule with Him, and in Him (Rev. 2:26-27). And the Scriptures also teach that our path to our little thrones will be just like His path to His great throne (2 Tim. 2:12). This means that we need to make a point of studying what actual humility is like, and how it actually desires what God promises us.

The Text

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:5–11).

Summary of the Text

We are told in the previous verse that our gaze should be outward—we are not to spend our time gazing on our “own things,” but rather on the “things of others” (v. 4). In doing this, we are not starting from scratch. We should have a mind within us that was previously in Christ Jesus (v. 5). If pressed for an explanation of what He did, Paul explains that though he was in the form of God (morphe, characteristic shape), He did not consider His equality with God something that He should grasp (v. 6). Rather, He emptied Himself and took the form (morphe) of a servant, that servant form being the likeness of men (v. 7). And being found in human shape (schema), He humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross (v. 8). As a consequence of this great act of obedience, God has exalted Him highly and given Him a name that is above every name (v. 9). The result of this gift is that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow—in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth (v. 10). Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and this in turn will redound to the glory of God the Father (v. 11).

Humility is Ambitious

If God did not want us to be motivated by thought of reward, then why did He offer so many of them? In this passage, God sets before us the exaltation of Jesus, pointing to that as part of the story. When we are told to imitate Him in His humility, we are being directed to the glorious destination of all such humility. Jesus didn’t tell us to ban seats of honor at weddings; He taught us a trick for how to get into them (Luke 14:7-11). But there is a trick within the trick. The trick is that we have to die. Jesus didn’t say to rip out the chief seats in the synagogues—He pointed out the inglorious behavior of those who loved those seats (Luke 20:45-47). He promised us long life in the land if we honored our fathers and mothers (Eph. 6:1-4). But we have to pursue our inheritance of land the way He instructs (Luke 14:25-26; Mark 10:29-31). So we honor our fathers and mothers rightly by hating them rightly.

So humility is defined by what we are ambitious for, and not by whether we are ambitious. Those who pretend to want nothing at all are those who have entered on a deep course of self-deception. “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God” (John 12:42–43, ESV). There are two, and only two, possibilities for us. We will either love the glory that arises from man, or we will love and seek after the glory that comes from God. We were created to pursue glory, and so we can do nothing else. Because we are fallen, it is easy to pursue the wrong kind of glory—but the problem is not that it is glorious, but rather because, at the end of the day, it is not glorious.

“Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath” (Rom. 2:6–8).

In short, there is a way of striving for glory, seeking it, that is not self-seeking. It is to follow the path that Jesus established.

So Humility is Not Craven

Humility is a perfection of grace, and so it is not surprising that the devil wants to counterfeit it. Just as he offers counterfeit glory, so also he offers a counterfeit path for getting there. But true humility does not crawl; it is not a quadruped. C.S. Lewis captured the biblical view perfectly when he said this: “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” Remember our text—we are to be thinking of the things of others. That is not the same thing as thinking of our “own things,” provided we do it with a morbidly self-critical eye. The egoistic self has an enormous gravitational pull; it is an ego-centric black hole. And so it is that we find the possibility of someone thinking about himself all the time, and believing for that entire time that he is being humble. But this self-focus is arrogance and pride, not humility. If you are in the center of that little television screen in your brain all the time, it does not matter if you see a creeping little worm or a glowing celebrity. The problem is pride.

Back to the Ultimate Example

Jesus did what He did for the joy that was set before Him (Heb. 12:2). The glory that Jesus now has is the glory that we have been promised. We are not told to wait and think about something else until the glory is dropped on top of us. No, we are told, commanded, summoned, to pursue that glory. And that is how we can understand affliction rightly. The Puritan Thomas Bridges said it well when he said that affliction is nothing but a dirty lane leading to a royal palace. And that lane is one that Jesus walked down, and He summons us to pursue glory by following after Him.

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Many Mansions

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

Today is Ascension Sunday, the time when we remember the ascension of the Lord Jesus into the heavenly realms, where He was ushered on the clouds of heaven into the presence of the Ancient of Days, where He was given universal power, authority, and dominion. From that place, He rules on earth, but also in that place, He is doing something else.

The Text

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him” (John 14:1–7).

Summary of the Text

The immediate preceding context for this passage is Peter’s claim that he would lay down his life for Christ. Jesus responds by saying that Peter will deny Him three times before the cock crows. His statement right after that, no doubt because of the consternation among the disciples, was “let not your heart be troubled” (v. 1). He summons them to believe in Him the same way they believed in God (v. 1). His Father’s house contains many mansions—Jesus would have told them if it were otherwise (v. 2). He is going away to prepare a place for them there. If He goes to prepare a place, then that means He will come back to take them there (v. 3). He tells the disciples they know where He is going, and they know the way (v. 4). Thomas responds that they don’t know either of those things (v. 5). Jesus says in effect that they knew without knowing. He said that Heis the way, the truth, and the life. He is the way to the Father (v. 6). If they know Him, which they did, then they know where He is going (to the Father), and they know the way to the Father (Jesus). To know Jesus is to know the Father (v. 7). To attempt to know God apart from Jesus is to try to be a philosopher, instead of a Christian. A Christian knows God through Jesus.

Honest Thomas

We sometimes like to patronize the apostles, as though we would have done any better than they did. Peter once walked on water five yards farther than any of us could have done, and yet we goho, ho, ho at him because he looked at the waves and sank. Thomas is called Doubting Thomas because he refused to believe the resurrection unless he saw and touched Christ’s wounds for himself. But here he is the member of the class who refuses to pretend that he understands when he doesn’t. This is a disciple who will not blow smoke. He is the one saying what we all ought to be saying here— what do you mean?

A Promise for All

Jesus here is talking to the Twelve, and yet Christians naturally and easily (and rightly) apply these words to every saint in the history of the world. “My Father’s house” is obviously Heaven. The word rendered as mansions here is μονή (monay), and simply means dwelling places within a larger house. The English word mansion is only misleading to those who don’t know the history of the English word—it can refer to a spacious apartment in a much larger house, as in a king’s palace. “My Father’s house” is the palace, and Jesus was preparing the rooms for His disciples. The spiritual logic of understanding the afterlife requires us to apply this to ourselves. We are all given the words of the Bible for a reason. We are not supposed to think that while the apostles get the spacious apartments, we will get the bunkhouses on the back 40.

Faith in the Midst of Trouble

First, consider the Lord’s faith. He knew what was about to happen to Him, within hours, and yet He commands the disciples to believe in Him. He says that He is the way, when He will be nailed to a cross within hours. He says that He is the truth, when He will apparently be outmaneuvered by all the lies the world ever told. He says that He is the life, when His body will soon be a lifeless corpse. But Jesus saw through and past all that. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame (Heb. 12:2).

Then think about what Jesus was telling the disciples to do. The disciples were about to go through a maelstrom of trouble. Jesus was going to be arrested, betrayed by one of them, they were going to be scattered, one of them would deny Him, and just one of them—John—would stay with Him. In that context, Jesus commands them to believe in Him.

He tells them that they will be in trouble, but should not let the trouble be in them. Let not your hearts be troubled. They had left all behind them for Jesus. They had burned the bridges behind them to go with Jesus. And now He announces that He was going to leave them. Not only that, but He would depart from them in what appeared to be a spectacularly disastrous way.

Many Mansions, Many Rooms

There is therefore a two-fold meaning to the Ascension. From the right hand of God the Father, the Lord Jesus is ruling all the nations of men (Dan. 7:13-14), preparing the earth for His return. But this passage means that He is also preparing Heaven for the “arrival” of earth. When the rooms are ready, He will come to get us, and take us there.

Bring this down to the individual level. While Jesus is fitting Heaven out for us, His governance of all the circumstances of our lives (including the afflictions and big troubles in it) is an essential part of the process of preparing us for the rooms we will dwell in. He is working both ends toward the middle. Our longing and our prayer should be for that glorious meeting in the middle.

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