The final part of God’s plan is the ascension of Christ. The New Testament reveals that Christ’s ascension had two parts, the secret part and the open part. Most readers of the Scriptures have not realized that there was a secret part to Christ’s ascension. This secret part took place early in the morning on the day of resurrection. On that morning the resurrected Christ did not see anyone but Mary. After Mary realized who He was, she tried to touch Him, but He would not allow her to do so because He had not yet ascended to the Father (John 20:17). Later He came back to His disciples and offered Himself to be touched by them (John 20:27). Before His coming beck to the disciples, He did not allow anyone to touch Him, because the freshness of His resurrection should be presented to the Father for the Father’s satisfaction, that God might taste His freshness in resurrection. This was typified by the firstfruit of the harvest (Lev. 23:10-11).
There was also an open part to Christ’s ascension. A number of the Lord’s disciples saw His open ascension. At that time the angels came to declare that Christ would come back in the same way as they saw Him ascend to the heavens (Acts 1:9-11). The open part of Christ’s ascension was for Christ to be crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:7), to be made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), to be made a Leader and Savior (Acts 5:31), and to be made Head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:22). Such an ascension is the consummation of Christ as the Savior. A little man, a Nazarene, was made the Lord of all and the Christ, the Accomplisher of God’s economy. Christ was made the top Leader among all the leaders so that He also could be a Savior. If He were not a leader, He would not have the capacity to save us. As a leader, He has every kind of capacity to be our Savior.
If the Lord needed a war between America and Russia in order that one hundred people may be saved, the Lord could arrange a war just for the salvation of those one hundred chosen people. When I was a young person, my mother had a very close relationship with the missionaries. Through her I came to know quite a lot about America. I loved America, and I thought about it frequently. But I never had the thought that I would come to America. Rather, during the Second World War, I thought that after the war China would be freed, and that it would be helped by the United States to build up a great democratic republic that would match the United States in order to secure the Pacific. Having such a view, my thought was to develop Inner Mongolia. However, eventually I came to the United States. My coming to this country was accomplished through the Second World War. If there had been no Second World War, I could never have come here. This is not a small thing. Many Chinese people of high quality have come to America because of that war. This shows that the Lord Jesus is the One who was managing that war.
Each day I wait with anticipation for the newspaper. Recent political changes in Russia indicate that the Soviet Union is becoming a democratic country. I am waiting to see whether Red China might also become democratic before long. The great image in the prophecy in Daniel chapter two has a head of gold, breasts and arms of silver, an abdomen of brass, and two legs of iron. The feet of that image are partly of iron and partly of clay (Dan. 2:32-33), that is, of iron mixed with clay. When the Communist Party was the only party governing Russia, all the “clay” was annulled. Now the clay has risen up to say something. This helps us to see the fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel 2. According to that prophecy, the Lord Jesus will come back as a stone hewn not by man’s hands but by God. This stone will smash the feet of the great image, on the ten toes of clay mixed with iron (Dan. 2:34). Without the events of this previous year, the prophecy in Daniel 2 could not be fulfilled. Hallelujah, Christ is the Leader who manages all things!
Christ is also the Savior. To become the Savior He accomplished everything. He passed through death, entered into resurrection, and ascended to the heavens. He was glorified; He was crowned with glory and honor. He was made the Lord and Christ and was also made the Leader and Savior. Furthermore, He was made Head over all things to the church. Now He is fully consummated as the Savior, the One who is able to save (Heb. 7:25). Christ is also omnipresent. He is the life-giving Spirit. Like the air that surrounds the globe, He is waiting for people to believe in Him and to receive Him.
The first four basic steps of God’s plan include incarnation, the all-inclusive death of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the ascension of Christ. The Triune God has been completed, and our Savior has been consummated. These are the things that the apostles’ teaching covers. We need to learn to know all these things. The first step in God’s plan is the incarnation of the Triune God. The incarnation of the Triune God was God’s being born in a virgin. Matthew 1:20 tells us that that which was born in Mary was begotten of the Holy Spirit. God was born in a virgin, and He stayed there for nine months. This God partook of man’s blood and flesh. We may not like blood and flesh, but God desired to partake of man’s blood and flesh so that He could be the same as we are. He became a man to bring God into man. Before the incarnation, God was God and man was man. But through incarnation, God entered into man that God may mingle Himself with man. The result of this mingling was a God-man; God and man became one. Then He passed through human living. During Jesus’ years, there was a man who was God living on this earth.
We need to go around the globe to teach all these things. We should not teach concerning the kind of water in which people should be baptized, or concerning the use of grape juice or wine at the Lord’s table. We should learn all the main things contained in the apostles’ teaching.