The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-05-20


cut the ascension,
Just as that event awaits the fruition
Of its purpose in his return again To
the earth; for it is not till then that
the divine plan concerning his man
ifested kingdom will begin to ap-
proach fulfillment
But that which gives peculiar inter
est to Christ's ascension is its bear
ing on our spiritual life today, for il
We are being established in the faith,
enlightened in the knowledge of God,
sanctihed in our souls and anointed
by the Holy Spirit for service, all
blessings are the result of our Sd
yiour's presence in heaven as our in
terceding high priest at the right
hand of God
At the ascension the body of Jesus
did not vanish into nothing, for not
only did the disciples see him as he
went up, but Stephen beheld him af-
forwards, standing at the right-hand
of God (Acts VII. $3.50. Moreover.
the angels on Mount Olivet said to the
disciples that he would SO come in
like manner as he was seen to go
| Acts, 1-1D. In other words, heaven
is locality and Jesus Christ, the
glorified Goldman, is there. We can
not understand how the original body
of Jesus was transmitted into his res
direction and glorified body, any more
than we can understand how heavy
waited is changed into light vapor. or
| dark flint into transparent glass, by
| heat; but we know that he is in the
same body, although now in another
form of existence and standing under
other laws. How the thought digni-
ties our conception of human nature
and broadens our idea of the scope
of the atonement! The presence of
his glorified body in heaven takes
away any vagueness as to our own
glorified bodies being there, if we
have been united to him by a living
faith-because he lives. we shall live
also.
Was it not the reward of his ODE
dience to the father in his sufferings
and death on behalf of guilty men?
Was it not the joy set before him for
which he was willing to endure the
!
there is more to follow, when. in the
regeneration Of the heavens and the
earth, he shall sit upon the throne of
his power in the sight of the whole
universe, and every knee shall bow to
him and every tongue confess that he
is lord, to the glory of God the father
philippians II. 9-1D.
OF course we speak now, only of his
human nature. of the Goldman consid-
cred as the mediatorial prince. Such
terms do not pertain to his deity. in
which sense his glory could not be
enhanced and the thought OF reward
is entirely excluded.
But the ascension of Jesus Christ
means great things for US who believe
on him as well as great things for
himself. 1t means the reinstatement
of our nature in all its lost honorS,
in reconciliation with God It means
our reception into Paradise and par
ticipation in endless felicity. If Christ
had risen from the dead and still re-
manned on earth, we might have been
assured of deliverance from the grave.
and possibly a protracted residence
here; but what we desire before all
things is reunion with God, the hab-
itation of glory and the communion
of his presence. The ascension Sc
cures this.
Oh, you to whom these truths have
no meaning, in whose esteem they are
as foolishnesses, think what you are
losing now, and shall forever lose, if
they be true! / would have you fol-
low the example of John Keble, who,
conscious of his groveling thoughts
which lay half buried. roamed lawless-
~ around this earthly waste. ex-
claimed.
Chains of my heart. avaunt, / say
:. / will arise. and in the strength of love
Pursue the bright track ERE it fade away,
My Savior's pathway to His Home
II above"
But it is useless to urge man to
do this without telling him how to
do It. When, or how. can one obtain
this strength of love- of which the
poet speaks? How can he pursue '.the
right track whose eyes are blinded
by sin other things of the present
world" Wiz will seek the home
above" unless he shall be awakened to
its glories? 1t is God only who can
accomplish these things in human ex-
perience. and he begins the work by
weakening the ties of earth, and re-
vealing the loathsomeness Of sin and
| the peril OF unbeliet