What is Jesus Doing Now?

Sometimes a friend moves abroad to live. He may have been there for years, but because he is our friend we can wonder what he is doing. Depending on what we know about where he lives, we could imagine him driving down a freeway or driving on a dirt track road. Of course, we could imagine him doing many different activities, depending on his abilities or his employment. We may even wonder if he ever thinks about us. It is possible, although we could not verify it, that we and he could be thinking about one another at the same time, and if that happened we might regard it as quite special.

The fact of the matter is that we do have a friend who has moved to another country. That friend is Jesus. While we may not know everything that he is doing, the Bible does provide details of some of his activities. The Bible also assures that he is thinking about us, and not just occasionally, but all of the time. Indeed he has been thinking about his people in numerous ways. This means that whenever we think about him, we should realise that he is think about us, and the realisation of that reality should make us regard it as quite special.

So what is he doing?

Adding

Jesus told his disciples that he would build his church and that its growth would continue, no matter what the devil and his agents did in order to prevent that taking place. So when we come to the Book of Acts, which describes for us some of the activities of Jesus in heaven, we are told that the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. This should cause us to ask what it means for people to be saved.

We know how this happens, or at least we should. Jesus, through providence, arranges for people to hear the gospel, the good news of divine grace that is summarised in such verses as John 3:16. At the same time, he sends the Holy Spirit to enable people to understand the gospel and to respond to the gospel. The peculiar feature of this activity of the Spirit is that the listener of the gospel just thinks that he or she now understands the message. They don’t usually get bogged down in obscure theological issues connected to how that happens. If we understand the gospel and want to trust in Jesus as our Saviour, that is evidence that the Holy Spirit has been at work.

What happens when a sinner trusts in Jesus for the first time? Heaven rejoices, as Jesus indicated in his story of the lost sheep. Celebration takes place because by believing in Jesus they have become members of God’s family. Or to switch to the picture of building the church, Jesus has added another stone to the building, with each stone representing a person. I wonder how many stones have been added today. Those people will have come from different ethnic groups, will be of different ages, will have various abilities, but they have all been forgiven.

If that has happened to us, what should we think of our friend who has moved away? We have proof that he has not forgotten us, indeed he remembered our greatest need, and provided us with great blessings. Surely our response to him should be a mixture of wonder and gratitude. He thought upon us, had his eye on us, and arranged for us to receive the initial incredible blessing of grace expressed in total pardon for our sins.

Advocating

The role of an advocate is very important when a person is in court. And heaven is a court because it is the location of the King, the place where God reigns and from where he administers justice. When we think of justice in everyday life, we could see it is denied, delayed, or delivered. How about what takes place in heaven? It is never denied, but it can be delayed, but often it is delivered. The group to whom it is delivered every day is God’s people.

Believers are still sinners and sinners must face justice. Yet the apostle John assures his readers that ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9). We should note the word ‘just’ in that statement. We might have expected John to say that God is faithful and merciful, or God is faithful and kind. But what he says is that God is faithful and just. He says that we receive what is deserved when we confess our sins. How can this be?

The answer is found a couple of verses later. ‘My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous’ (1 John 2:1). The ‘little children’ have an advocate who is looking face to face at the Father (that is the meaning of ‘with’ in the phrase ‘with the Father’).

When we think about his functioning as an advocate, we can see that it is constant (we are always sinning), corporate (it is on behalf of all the people of God who are living on the earth), concise (the argument that he presents on behalf of the people of God is what he did on the cross), compelling (it always works as far as God’s people are concerned), and clear (John expects his readers to know why it is effective. We could add another word beginning with the letter C and observe that it is part of the communion that the ascended Saviour has with the Father.

Since this is happening to us if we are Christians, what do we think of our friend who has moved to another country? Here is further proof that he has not forgotten us, indeed that he remembers our great need, and provides us with great blessings. Surely our response to him should be a mixture of wonder and gratitude. He thinks about us, has his eye on us, and arranges for us to receive restoration despite our sins.

Arranging

The apostle Paul reminded the Ephesians of another activity of Jesus in heaven when he wrote these words: God ‘seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church’ (Eph. 1:20-22). What does that mean? It means that he has universal power for the benefit of his people.

Remember what Jesus said to his disciples in the Great Commission recorded at the end of Matthew 28. He told them that he wanted them to go into all the world and make disciples from all the nations. That must have seemed an impossible task for the disciples who probably did not know how many nations there were in the world. What words of encouragement did Jesus give to them? At least two.

First, he said that all power (or authority) had been given to him in heaven and on earth. He did not say some power or most power, but all power. He has universal authority despite all the attempts to resist or hinder his rule. The powers of darkness try and resist him, but they cannot prevent him doing his will. The world will oppose the reign of Christ and try and promote their kingdoms, but although they may seem strong for a while, eventually they disappear but the kingdom of Jesus remains. And even our sinful tendencies can bring about ways of resistance against the exalted Saviour, but he remains in his position of power. In other words, he knows how to use providence for the benefit of his kingdom.

Second, he said that he would be with them all the days between his ascension and his return, which is a marvellous reality even although he is in heaven until then. He is with his people by the presence of the Holy Spirit whom he has sent to be with them as the Helper who is exactly like him, the One who can be with all of them wherever they are in the world, to help them with whatever they are facing at any time, no matter how difficult their circumstances might be.

There is something else that we can see in his exalted position, which is that he is there as the second Adam, our representative who has won back the inheritance of the new heavens and new earth for his people. At the moment, he is adding to the number of the heirs, and he is their advocate in the presence of God as he anticipates the moment when he and his fellow-heirs shall inherit the kingdom in its perfect state.

Since this is happening to us if we are Christians, what do we think of our friend who has moved to another country? Here is further proof that he has not forgotten us, that he rules on our behalf, with an eye on the great future that he is going to bring about. Surely our response to him should be a mixture of wonder and gratitude. He thinks about us and uses his power on our behalf.

Awaiting

The final activity that we can consider at this time about Jesus in heaven is that he is waiting for some things to happen. No doubt there are different matters in this category, but I would highlight two of them.

The first is that he is waiting for the time when all his enemies will be made his footstool. This expectation is connected to what his Father said to him when he ascended to the heavenly throne. The Father said to him to wait at his right hand until all his enemies had become his footstool. Not that the waiting is passive. That is a reference to the Day of Judgement when Jesus will be recognised by all that he is the One who has been highly exalted. He will have complete power on that extraordinary day when he will be seen for who he is.

The second concerns the arrival of his people in heaven. Luke describes the posture of Jesus as his servant Stephen was being executed for his faithful witness to his Saviour. Luke tells us that Stephen saw Jesus standing at the Father’s right, and one reason for him standing was to welcome Stephen into the world of glory. Paul reminds us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, that to depart and be with Christ is far better. What will it be like to find ourselves there with the One who loved us and gave himself for us? One thing is clear, we will be satisfied with what he says as he meets us and greets us.

Since this is happening to Christians as they die, what do we think of our friend who has moved to another country? Here is further proof that he has not forgotten his people, and that he will welcome them into his Father’s house, into the world of glory. Surely our response to him now should be a mixture of wonder and gratitude as we anticipate what he will do for his people in the future. He will think about us then, he will have his eye on us then, and he will arrange for us then to receive a great and personal welcome home.