The Threefold Doctrinal Significance of the Ascension

More notes from my research for my next posts at Out of the Ordinary. 

The ascension of Jesus 

1. “clearly embodied the declaration that the sacrifice of Christ was a sacrifice to God, which as such had to be presented to Him in the inner sanctuary; that the Father regarded the Mediatorial work of Christ as sufficient and therefore admitted Him to the heavenly glory; and that the Kingdom of the Mediator was not a kingdom of the Jews, but a universal kingdom.”
   
   
2. “was … exemplary in that it was prophetic of the ascension of all believers, who are already set with Christ in heavenly places, Eph. 2:6, and are destined to be with Him forever, John 17:24; and also in that it revealed the initial restoration of the original kingship of man, Heb. 2:7, 9. 
   
   
3. “was … instrumental in preparing a place for those who are in Christ. The Lord Himself points to the necessity of going to the Father, in order to prepare a place for His disciples, John 14:2-3.”

Quoted from the section on Christ’s state of exaltation in Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof [page 351].