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Life in the Bible Club
Maple Woods College

Bible Study Outlines

April 11, 2007

The Mystery of Christ in His Process and Work - Ascension, Part 1

  1. Introduction
    1. For the past three weeks we studied the matter of resurrection. Through it we discovered the wonderful facts that we were not only crucified with Christ but that we were raised with Him too. We were thoroughly impressed that through this resurrection we were regenerated (or re-GENE-erated) with the divine life. We were also designated sons of God and saw that Christ also dwells in us as well as still being on the throne.
    2. So how did Christ get to the throne? By his ascension Christ with a resurrected body was uplifted to the throne. Now there is a Man in the glory! By resurrection Christ changed in form somewhat to become the life-giving Spirit. Thus Christ on the night of his resurrection breathed into His disciples and said, "receive the Holy Spirit." The fact that the disciples prayed for 10 days after Christ ascended to the heavens proves that the strengthening of the Spirit was a force and motivation to be reckoned with. We could hardly pray of 10 minutes without the strengthening Spirit. In addition, before the Lord went to the cross in the garden of Gethsemane the disciples could not even stay awake!
    3. There was still a need for the church to be empowered with the same power and authority that Christ gained by being positioned as a man on the throne. Ascension seats Christ and crowns Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.
  2. Crucial verses and footnotes in the New Testament Recovery Version Bible.
    1. (Secret) John 20:171 - Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.
    2. (Public) Mark 16:191 - So then the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God.
    3. John 6:621 - Then what if you saw the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?
    4. Luke 24:511 - And while He blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
    5. Hebrews 7:261 - For such a High Priest was also fitting to us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners and having become higher than the heavens,
    6. Philippians 2:91-3 -Therefore also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name
  3. Questions
    1. What does it mean to "sit on the right hand" in the Bible?
    2. Why do you think that the Father wanted a secret ascension before the public one some 37 days later? Why do you think that he appeared to the women before he appeared before God?
    3. What is the name bestowed upon Him, which is above every name?

 

NOTE: The footnotes referenced in the outlines are from the The Holy Bible, Recovery Version © 2003 Living Stream Ministry. An online Recovery Version may be searched for verses and footnotes at: The Holy Bible, Online Recovery Version. You may also obtain a free Recovery Version New Testament by filling out a request form on the Bibles for America website.