In this message we want to see more concerning the move of God in man in the ascension of Christ. Christ today is ministering, is working, in His ascension. Ephesians 2:6 says that God raised us up together with Christ and "seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus." We may have the thought that Ephesians 2:6 says that we are seated with Christ in the heavens, but it does not say this. It says we are seated with Him in the heavenlies. Note 64 on Ephesians 2 in the Recovery Version says, "The heavenlies are the highest position, into which we have been saved in Christ. In the book of Romans, Christ as our righteousness brought us into a state in which we are acceptable to God. In the book of Ephesians, Christ as our life has saved us into a position in which we are above all God's enemies. Here in the heavenly atmosphere, with a heavenly nature and a heavenly characteristic, we are a heavenly people." Christ today is ministering in the heavenlies. The heavenlies refers to His ascension. The heavens refers to a certain place, but His ascension does not denote any place. It is more significant that Christ today is ministering in His ascension in the heavenlies than in the heavens.

Today Christ ministers as the resurrection in His ascension. Actually speaking, today Christ is in His ascension. He is in you and He is in me in His ascension as the resurrected One.

In this series of messages, we are talking about God's move in man to write His own history. God today is writing His own autobiography in us. We may think that our Christian life is our autobiography, but actually it is God's writing of His autobiography. Christ today is ministering, working, and moving within us in His ascension.

His ascension gives Him the statuses for His move within man. In the previous message, we saw that in His ascension He is the Lord, the Christ, the Leader, the Savior, the High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec, the Minister of the new covenant, the Mediator of the better covenant, the surety of the better covenant, the Advocate, the great Shepherd, and the Head over all things to the church. Christ also has the status of a Prophet. In Acts 3:22-23 the apostle Peter quoted from Moses, who predicted in Deuteronomy 18 that God would raise up another Prophet, and this Prophet is Christ. Christ has the status of the Prophet, but He does not need to be in ascension to be qualified for this status. Actually, before His death when He was on the earth, He was a Prophet. For all the other eleven statuses of Christ mentioned previously, He needs the qualification of being in the heavens in ascension.

For Him to be the High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec, He needs to be in ascension. For Him to be the Advocate, the Paraclete, He must be in ascension. For Him to be the Head over all things to the church, surely He must be in His ascension. Ephesians 1 says that He transcended to the heavenlies far above all (vv. 20-21). This is ascension. It was in His ascension that He was made the Head over all things to the church. Christ today is in His ascension. He is the Lord in ascension. He is the Christ in ascension. He is the King of kings, the Ruler of all the kings, in ascension. He is even the Savior in ascension. If He had never ascended, He could not be such a dynamic Savior today. Acts 2 tells us that He needs to be in ascension for Him to be the Lord and Christ (v. 36). Acts 5 tells us that He needs to be in ascension to be the Leader and the Savior (v. 31). His ascension qualifies Him. His ascension gives Him all these statuses and positions. Christ needs a position to minister as the High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec. When we say that He ministers in the ascension, we mean that He ministers with all His qualifications, with all His statuses, and with all His posts, His offices.