Sermon Central
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Where Is He Now? Series
Contributed by Russ Barksdale on Mar 1, 2016 (message contributor)
Summary: Jesus is with God in heaven preparing for his final return
Where is He now? John 14:1-3(mother’s day)
Where is Jesus now?
He’s seated at the right hand of the Father.
His redemptive work is done.
His authority is supreme.
What is Jesus doing?
He is interceding for the redeemed.
Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; Colossians 2:14
He is heading up the church.
He is preparing a place
When is Jesus coming back?
Where is Jesus now? There have been lots of theories put forth thru the years. One immediately after the resurrection was put forth by the Jewish religious leaders, that the disciples had stolen his body and buried it in an unknown grave. That’s crazy because in the 40 days after He walked out of the tomb that 1st Easter morning, Jesus appeared to over 400 people, many, if not most, were killed for insisting they had seen the resurrected Messiah.
Another prominent theory was that Jesus went to other planets that had living beings on them and preached the gospel to them. This is crazy! There are no other planets with inhabitable life. God created the entire universe as a backdrop and the earth as a stage to display His redeeming grace and love. Said this a few weeks ago: I’ll eat every chair in here if they find life on another planet.
So where is Jesus? Turn to John 14:1-3. We conclude our series this morning entitled ‘Vintage Jesus.’ We’ve asked and answered 3 questions thus far: Why did Jesus come? Who is Jesus? What did Jesus say about Himself? And this morning, “Where is Jesus now?”
The context of this passage this morning is that Jesus is less than 12 hours from being crucified on a Roman Cross. He’s gathered His 12 disciples into an upper room to break bread and give some last minute instructions. And part of what He says gives us some direction as to where He is this very moment.
“Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.
You’ll notice that Jesus encouraged them not to be troubled about this. Death and what happens after death is not something to be feared. Well, let me qualify that statement: if you have surrendered your life to Jesus and by faith asked that His blood shed on the cross cover and pay for you sinfulness, then there’s nothing to fear about death and what happens after it. On the contrary, if you’ve never surrendered and never asked that His blood cover your sinfulness, there’s PLENTY to worry about!
Also you’ll notice that Jesus again asserts His equality with God the Father. You believe in God the Father? Believe in God the Son. Believe in Me.
So on to the question:
Where is Jesus now? He’s seated at the right hand of the Father. (build)
Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to be with the Father. After His resurrection and after His appearances those 40 days, the Bible says: “Then after speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” Mark 16:19 Colossians 3:1 “So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God.”
I had you fill in which word in the blank? Seated. The Bible refers to Jesus being at the right hand of the Father over 20 times and in 7 of them the Scripture says that He is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Why seated? Because being seated indicates that His redemptive work is done. Remember His last words on the cross? It is finished!” My work is done. I’ve accomplished the redemptive act of paying for the sins of humanity and my work is done. Have you appropriated His redemptive act in your life? Your heart?
He’s also seated because His authority is supreme. In ancient times, and still in parts of the world, the person who sat on a throne had complete power and authority. If you were in the presence of a king, he would be sitting, and you would be standing.
We talked about this a couple of weeks ago when we studied Colossians 1.
“For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together…so that He might come to have first place in everything. Colossians 1:16-17, 18
