Finally, our Lord’s ascended work on our behalf isn’t just to help us in the present but also to prepare an eternal home for all His people:

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:1–3)

How is Jesus doing that, and what does it look like? Well, we can’t be certain, but we at least know that our Lord is readying more than enough rooms for all His children—and one day soon, He will return to gather us to His heavenly mansion.

When we drag ourselves before the ascended Christ’s throne, embarrassed and bedraggled and feeling weak and inadequate, we discover it to be a throne of grace—a throne at which He gives us far better than we deserve.

With Us Evermore

Yes, Jesus left the earth, but the ascension doesn’t mean that He is absent. Quite the opposite! It actually means that Jesus is present. He’s absent from us physically because He’s seated at the right hand of the Father on high, but through the Holy Spirit He sent after His ascension (John 16:7), He is with us now and forever—“always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

And what’s more, from His place in heaven, “he always lives to make intercession for” us (Heb. 7:25). So when we drag ourselves before the ascended Christ’s throne, embarrassed and bedraggled and feeling weak and inadequate, we discover it to be a throne of grace—a throne at which He gives us far better than we deserve.

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Adapted from “The Ascension — Part One and Part Two” by Alistair Begg