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]. 

What the Resurrection Does

The resurrection of Jesus

• serves as indisputable proof that the message the he is Judge and Saviour is true (Acts 17:31; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 20).
• demonstrates his victory over death (Acts 2:24; 1 Corinthians 15:54-57).
• vindicates him as righteous (John 16:10).
• indicates his divine identity (Romans 1:4).
• guarantees the believer’s present forgiveness and justification (Romans 4:25).
• provides the basis of resurrection life in Christ for the believer here and now (John 11:25-26; Romans 6; Ephesians 1:18-2:10; Colossians 2:9-15; Colossians 3:1-4).

I’ve been doing research for my next post at Out of the Ordinary. While taking notes from the section on the resurrection of Jesus in J. I. Packer’s Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs, I found this list [page 127]. 

I changed things up a bit, formatting it as list and adjusting the wording to make the items parallel, but the info and prooftexts are all Packer’s.

Three Features of Typology

I’m posting this, first, because it’s good, and second, because I want to link to it from the theological term page for typology. It’s taken from Stephen J. Wellum’s chapter on The New Covenant Work of Christ in From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective. This was originally one longish paragraph which I’ve reformatted as an ordered list.

1. [T]ypology is symbolism rooted in historical-textual realities. As such, it involves an organic relation between “persons, events, and institutions” (i.e., the type) in one epoch of redemptive history and their counterparts in later epochs (i.e., the antitype).

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