In the promise of God’s redemption, Christ not only died for us and was resurrected for us, but He also ascended for us. Through His death He solves all of our problems; through His resurrection He imparts God’s life into us; and in His ascension He brings us into a heavenly position.
Christ shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high (Isa. 52:13; Eph. 1:20-21). The ascended Christ is far above all rule, authority, power, lordship, and dominion in the universe. He has ascended to the highest place in the universe, the third heaven, where God dwells.
Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men (Eph. 4:8; Psa. 68:18). “Those” refers to the redeemed saints, who, before they were saved through the death and resurrection of Christ, were captured by Satan. In His ascension Christ captured them; in other words, the Lord delivered them from the captivity of Satan unto Himself. Then in His ascension and through His resurrection life, He turned these rescued sinners into gifts. These gifts are the gifted ones mentioned in Ephesians 4:11—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. He then gave them to His Body for the building up of the Body.
In His ascension, He sits on the right hand of God (Psa. 110:1; Acts 2:33-35). This Jesus, the Son of Man who was made a little inferior to the angels, was crowned with glory and honor, and was set over the works of God’s hands (Psa. 8:4-6; Heb. 2:6-9). In His humanity, He was crowned with glory and honor. He was a man who ascended to the height, and He was also a man who was crowned.
God further promised that the ascended Christ would pour out the Holy Spirit. Joel 2:28-29 says, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh;...and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.” This promise of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit has already been fulfilled partially in the disciples on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:33), and it will be fulfilled completely in all the repentant Israelites (Zech. 12:10).
In the promise of God’s redemption Christ’s second coming is clearly mentioned: “one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven” (Dan. 7:13; Matt. 24:30; 26:64; Rev. 14:14). This refers to the open aspect of Christ’s second coming. In His first coming, Christ manifested His power in healing the sick and in casting out demons, proving that He is the heavenly King. However, in His second coming He will come with full authority and power to execute God’s judgment, to destroy Antichrist and his army, and to bind Satan, thus building up His kingdom on earth.
“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east” (Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:10-12). Before the Lord’s coming, all the surrounding nations will gather their armies together to the valley of Jehoshaphat for a battle (Joel 3:9-13), which is also called the battle of Armageddon (Rev. 16:12-16). At that time all the nations will gather together against Jerusalem to battle (Zech. 14:1-2). At the pressing moment, Christ will come with myriads of His saints (Jude 14; Zech. 14:5), and His feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives. Then the Mount of Olives will be split in two, the north and the south, due to a great earthquake. All the persecuted chosen ones will flee from the valley, and they will look up and see their Savior, the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, the One “whom they have pierced” (Zech. 12:10). They will ask Him: “What are these wounds in thine hands?” Then He will answer, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends” (Zech. 13:6). Then the whole house of Israel will repent, crying and mourning for the sin of forsaking their Messiah. God will open a fountain of grace for them for sin and for uncleanness (Zech. 13:1). Christ will also fight for His people. He is the stone to smite the nations, and the nations will be scattered like chaff from the threshing floor (Dan. 2:34-35; Rev. 19:11-21). This stone will become a huge mountain, that is, the kingdom of God, filling the whole earth. Christ will be the King to build up His kingdom on the earth (Zech. 14:9-11; Rev. 11:15), just as Genesis 49:10 says, “Until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” The meaning of the word Shiloh is “a peace-giver,” denoting the coming Christ. When Christ comes again He will be the King of peace, the Peace-giver. The whole earth will be full of peace in that age. Isaiah 2:1-3 and 11:10 also show that at Christ’s second coming, at the beginning of the millennium, all the nations will become obedient to Christ. They will come to worship Him and to receive His instruction.
Thus, in the Old Testament, God has made clear beforehand every aspect of His redemption: that He would become a man, that He would live a human life on earth, that He would bear man’s sins and suffer death on the cross, that He would be raised from among the dead that man may receive His life and become His brothers, and that He will come again to execute God’s judgment against Satan, terminate the age, and bring in His kingdom. All of these have been clearly spoken and promised to us in the Old Testament.
After man’s fall, God immediately came in and promised redemption to fallen sinners. First, He promised that Christ would come as the seed of woman to destroy Satan who had poisoned man; later, He promised that Christ would come as the seed of Abraham, that all the nations on earth would be blessed; again, He promised that Christ would come as the Lion of the tribe of Judah to defeat God’s enemy; He also promised that Christ would come as the seed of David to establish God’s kingdom. The clear promise concerning Christ’s birth, human living, death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming was also given by God in the Old Testament to the people He intended to redeem.