[After thirty-three and a half years, He went to the cross to be crucified to accomplish the redemption in God’s eternal plan. This is the third great thing He did, solving, once and for all, the problem of everything that God had condemned in the universe, such as Satan, sin, the world, the flesh, the old man, and the old creation. He did this for God and for those who are chosen by God, who will eternally inherit His salvation.]
Christ gave up His own life, and He Himself took it back by rising from among the dead (John 10:17-18). This is the fourth great thing He did, which accomplished justification, resurrection, and regeneration for us. “Jesus...was raised because of our justification” (Rom. 4:24-25). His resurrection is the proof of our justification. His resurrection is the receipt of our justification. We are raised up together with Him in His resurrection (Eph. 2:5-6). His resurrection also released His life into us, thus regenerating us to be the new man.
[After Christ rose from among the dead, He ascended into the heavens. This is the fifth great thing done by Him.] “Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8). [Those taken captive refers to us, who were captured before by Satan and death. Now Christ, in His triumphant resurrection, has captured us from the hands of Satan and death, bringing us to the heavens to make us God’s gift to Christ that Christ may give us as gifts to the church.] “And seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). [The ascension of Christ also brought us, who have believed into Him and have been joined to Him to be one, to the heavenlies, that we may attain to a heavenly position and live in a heavenly atmosphere and state.] What wonderful things Christ has accomplished for us in His ascension!
[Upon His ascension into heaven, Christ proceeded to accomplish His heavenly ministry. He was anointed by God to do this sixth great thing, continually performing the following four matters on our behalf: After Christ enacted the new covenant (Matt. 26:28) through His death on the earth, He ascended to the heavens to be the Mediator of this new covenant, executing it upon those who believe in Him (Heb. 8:6). Christ is also the Minister of the true tabernacle in the heavens today, ministering to His believers the heavenly life and the divine, heavenly supply (Heb. 8:1-2). Today, Christ is also our great High Priest in the heavens, interceding before God on our behalf that we may be saved to the uttermost (Heb. 4:14; 7:24-26). Christ in the heavens today is also our Advocate before the righteous God. If we sin after we are saved, based upon His being our propitiation, He pleads for us in order to recover the broken fellowship between God and us (1 John 2:1-2).]
[When Christ completes His heavenly ministry, He will come back to accomplish the seventh great thing as God’s Anointed, which includes the following three matters: When Christ comes again, He will rapture all believers to the air, whether they are resurrected or living, to meet with Him, that they may always be together with Him. This is the first matter He will perform in His second coming (1 Thes. 4:16-17).] The second matter Christ will perform in His second coming is that He will save all of Israel (Rom. 11:26). The third matter the Lord will perform when He returns is that He will judge all the living unbelieving nations.
After Christ cleans up the earth at His coming, He will set up the millennial kingdom and will reign with His overcoming believers in it for a thousand years. This is the eighth great thing He will accomplish as God’s Anointed (Rev. 20:4, 6).
[At the end of the millennial kingdom, the old heaven and the old earth will be abolished. Christ will be the center of eternity in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth to come. This is the last great thing to be done by Christ as God’s Anointed in fulfilling God’s eternal plan. All those redeemed by God throughout the ages will then be with Him, enjoying the bountiful issue of God’s work throughout the ages in God’s eternal life forever and ever] (Rev. 21:23).