1. Rest is... Knowing Who's in Charge 2. Rest is... Living in the Presence 3. Rest is... Responding to a Special Invitation Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – He is the King of glory. [Psalm 24: 7-10] We are living in turbulent times, but Jesus is still Lord! Next Thursday is Ascension Day, the day when many Christians celebrate the ascension of Jesus into Heaven. Even if we don’t follow a liturgical tradition, it is really valuable to have regular times and seasons when we reflect on—and celebrate—the foundational truths of our faith, and this is one of them. Last year, on a beautiful Ascension morning, with the larks carolling overhead, I walked up a nearby hill which has a small ring of standing stones at the top. These stones were set in place by ancient Britons probably for some pagan religious purpose. It seemed an appropriate place to consider the ascension. Why? When Jesus ascended into Heaven, He sat down at the Father’s right hand, having declared that all authority had been given to Him in Heaven and on earth. All authority. He had battled the principalities and powers of darkness, all that held sway over human affairs, and had overcome; even death itself could not hold Him. …He raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. [Ephesians 1:20-21] Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [Philippians 2:9-11] Christ ‘has gone into Heaven and is at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him. [1 Peter 3:22] That morning I wanted to declare over my life, my family and my circumstances that Jesus is Lord – and I wanted to declare over the surrounding area that no matter what has gone on in the past, Jesus is Lord! And that there is no power of darkness, no human wickedness, no national crisis that can stand against Him and the fulfilment of His purposes. Christ is on His victory march and the gates of hell have not and will not hold out against Him. But there’s more. Jesus did all this as a man, taking back what the first man, Adam, lost. And just as we by faith identify with the death and resurrection of Christ, becoming new creations, so we identify with His ascension, for God has ‘raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus’ [Ephesians 2:6]. Heaven is not just somewhere we go when we die; Heaven is our natural habitat now. (Let’s pray for the revelation to see it!) This means we live from Heaven to earth. We have a charge to release the blessings of Heaven on our spheres of influence. Each of us is a member of a new priesthood, after the order of Melchizedek, and each of us (no exceptions) has a priestly function. In the Torah [Deuteronomy 10:8], this was defined as
In New Covenant terms we can express this as carrying His presence, worshipping Him and pronouncing the blessings of Heaven in His name. Rest begins with knowing who is in charge. Then from that place of rest we can live fruitful lives—seeing the Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven. NEXT WEEK: REST IS... LIVING IN THE PRESENCE Living in rest is about being restored to the presence of God... TALK TO ME![Photo credits: Joshua Earle (man on rock); Ivan Diaz (lion); Daniel Gutko (flag) @ Unsplash, with thanks]
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