WORSHIP NOTES
Volume 20, No. 5 ( May 2025)
“The dust of the earth is on the throne of the
Majesty on high.” (John Duncan)
“Complementing the Incarnation in which the eternal God himself condescends to be one with us in our hurt and creaturely disintegration in order to redeem us from all evil and re-create us from within the ontological depths of our existence, and complementing the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus in which he accomplished this saving mission, is the Ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God the Father. There he who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh ever lives as our High Priest who through the consummation of his self-sacrifice as the Lamb of God makes intercession for us. As such he is enthroned at the summit of all being as the reconciling center of all things visible and invisible. He is none the other than our Lord Jesus, the incarnation of the Love of God, into whom and around whom all things revolve in the revelation of God to humanity and humanity to God, whose Kingdom, as the Nicene Creed affirms, will have no end.” (Thomas F. Torrance, “The Christ Who Loves Us,” A Passion for Christ, 18)
“Although the cross is the critical point in the perfecting of Jesus, the climactic moment happens as the crucified but risen Jesus of Nazareth ‘enters heaven itself’, the sanctuary of God’s presence, the holy Sabbath rest of the fulfillment of God’s purpose for all that he has made. He enters as the pioneer who goes before us (3.1; 12.2) and as a priest to ‘appear in the presence of God on our behalf’ (9.24). This is the beginning of eschatological time.” (Christopher Cocksworth, “The Cross, Our Worship and Our Living,” Atonement Today 115-116)
“The God who came into our midst as a baby and dwelt among us experienced all things, even to the most severe forms of oppression and suffering; that experience was not a transitory episode to be forgotten by God after thirty years. No, that experience is carried into heaven, that we may know the Most High identifies always even with the least and the lowest. . . . When celebrated in its fullness, the ascension is a source of great strength to all who suffer.” (Laurence Hill Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church, 70-71)
“For Hebrews the ascension is the great liturgical moment for humanity. It is the pinnacle of Christ’s redemptive work because a human being enters the heavenly place of God’s presence and sits at his right hand.”(Christopher Cocksworth, Holy, Holy, Holy: Worshipping the Trinitarian God, 157)
Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious;
See the Man of Sorrows now;
From the fight returned victorious,
Ev’ry knee to him shall bow:
Crown him! crown him!
Crowns become the Victor’s brow.
The significance of the Ascension includes these profound results:
- Jesus completed His incarnation and returned, as He prayed to the Father in John 17:5, to “the glory that I had with You before the world existed.”
- Jesus took His rightful place of authority at the Father’s right hand, and rules from there.
- He has gone before us into heaven (in Jesus, there is now a MAN at the right hand of the Father;; and He is there preparing a place for us (John 14:1-3).
- As our heavenly High Priest, He represents us in heaven as His brethren (Hebrews 2:11), and is constantly interceding for us (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:24-25).
- As our High Priest and “minister [lit. “liturgist”] in the holy places (Hebrews 8:1-2), and as our brother in our midst through the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 2:11-12), Jesus leads us in our worship. (See Worship Notes 1.8).
- Because the Father receives His death and His life on our behalf, Jesus’ ascension signifies that we, too, have access to the Father in heaven (Heb 10:19-25), and from that privileged position, Jesus leads us in every act of worship. He is ultimate liturgist (Heb 8:2), preacher (Heb 2:12a; Rom 10:14), singer (Heb 2:12b), intercessor (Heb 7:25; Rom 8:34), and table host (Heb 13:9b-10; 1 Cor 10:16).
(Michael A. Farley, “Jesus’ Ascension and Christian Worship,” 2-3)
The ascension is the foundation of the Bible’s theology of worship. Jesus’ ascension means that he is not only the God and King whom we worship but also the human high priest who leads worship for us and in us through the presence and power of his Spirit. In worship, we experience the union of heaven and earth made tangible and explicit in the concrete actions of worship through which Jesus promises to serve us.
(Michael A. Farley, “Jesus’ Ascension and Christian Worship,” 3)
SCRIPTURES ON JESUS’ ASCENSION/EXALTATION
Mark 12:36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet.”’
Mark 16:19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
Luke 24:51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
John 3:13 “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”
John 6:62 “Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?”
John 14:2–3 “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 20:17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Acts 1:9–11 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Acts 1:22 “ . . . beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”
Acts 2: 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
Acts 2:34-35 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”’”
Acts 5:31 “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”
Ephesians 1:20–21 . . . that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
Ephesians 4:8–10 Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Philippians 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name . . .
1Timothy 3:16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.
Hebrews 1:3b After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Hebrews 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Hebrews 10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
1Peter 1:21 . . . who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
1 Peter 3:22 . . . who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
SCRIPTURES ON JESUS’ PRESENT REIGN/SESSION IN HEAVEN
Matthew 26:64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Mark 14:62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
Luke 22:69 But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”
John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
John 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Acts 7:55–56 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Romans 8:34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
1 Corinthians 15:25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Hebrews 1:13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Hebrews 8:1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven . . .
Hebrews 12:2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
1 Peter 3:22 . . . who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.