In this message we want to see the move of God in man in the ascension of Christ. Most Christians pay their attention only to the ministry of the Lord on earth when He was in the flesh. His earthly ministry is basic and foundational. In those three and a half years, the Lord laid a good foundation for God's redemption, God's salvation, God's economy, and God's building up of the church, the Body of Christ. But we all know that once the foundation is laid, something needs to be built upon it.

Upon the foundation laid in the Lord's earthly ministry, all the additional works are to be done in His heavenly ministry. This heavenly ministry is the Lord's work in His ascension. When we use the term ascension we are not just referring to His ascending but to His stay in His ascension. The term ascension covers the span from the ascending of the Lord to His descending for His second coming. At least approximately two thousand years are covered in the span of the Lord's ascension. Where is Christ today? Actually speaking, He is in the ascension. To say He is in the heavens is too shallow. We have to learn to say, "The Lord today is in His ascension."

When He was crucified on the earth, He stayed in His crucifixion for six hours, from 9:00 A.M. (Mark 15:25) to 3:00 P.M. (Matt. 27:45-46). In the first three hours, He was persecuted by men for doing God's will. In the last three hours, beginning at 12:00 noon, He was judged by God to accomplish our redemption. He was in His crucifixion for six hours, but after His resurrection, He ascended to enter into His ascension.

His ascension is a big realm of His work for building up. From His incarnation through His crucifixion, He only laid a foundation of God's plan. During that period of time, there was no building up. Before Pentecost even the leading apostle, Peter, was not built in. He was saved and was with the Lord in the foundational work, but he was not in the building until the day of Pentecost, which was the beginning of Christ's move in His ascension.

In the beginning of Christ's move in ascension, He poured out Himself as the economical Spirit to start the building up of the church. That was the beginning of Christ's heavenly ministry in the building, not in the laying of the foundation. This building is still going on today and will continue until the end of the last seven years of this age, the end of the last week referred to in Daniel 9:24-27. The second half of these seven years will be the time of the great tribulation, at the end of which Christ will descend from the heavens to the earth. At that time His heavenly ministry in His ascension will be finished.

The Lord's work for His new creation is in three stages. The first stage was for about three and a half years while the Lord Jesus was on this earth. We may include incarnation as a part of the Lord's work. At the Lord's crucifixion just before He died, He said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). At that time He finished the work of His all-inclusive death by which He accomplished redemption.