There is also another similarity in these two Gospels. Neither John nor Matthew mention the Lord’s public ascension. Almost all Christians have common knowledge that the Lord Jesus went to the Father after His resurrection. There is no record whatever in Matthew of Jesus going to the Father. This Gospel ends by the Lord telling us that He will be with us unto the completion of the age. Suppose you were to go to Mongolia to preach the gospel with only one book of the Bible, and that book was Matthew. After the Mongolians read this book, they would be certain that the Lord Jesus was with them forever. Not one Mongolian would know that Jesus went to the heavens unless you brought them this doctrine. There is not such a thing as Jesus going to the heavens in Matthew. It is mentioned, of course, in other Gospels, but not in Matthew. Why? Because in this book Jesus came to be Emmanuel. He came to be God with us, and He promised that He would be with us unto the completion of the age. Jesus is still here, and He is with us all the days. This means He is with us every day until this age is completed.
Is the ascension mentioned in the Gospel of John? In Matthew it is certain that there is no record of Jesus’ ascension, but in John we must be careful. There is no public ascension, but there is a secret ascension which lasted less than a day. It is found in John 20. In this chapter, Mary saw Him early in the morning after His resurrection. She attempted to touch Him, but He forbade her, saying that He had not yet ascended to the Father (John 20:16-17). He must present the freshness of His resurrection to the Father for the Father’s satisfaction. The Father must be the first to enjoy the firstfruits of resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20). So early in the morning of the day of resurrection Jesus went to the heavens. This was not the public ascension which was forty days later. This was a secret ascension. Jesus went to the Father on that day in a secret way. On the evening of the same day He came back and showed Himself to His disciples. After this it was permissible to touch Him (John 20:27). Before His secret ascension He told Mary not to touch Him, but afterward it was allowed. This was because between the time He appeared to Mary and the time He came back to the disciples He ascended to the heavens to present the freshness of His resurrection to the Father for His enjoyment. After He presented Himself to the Father, He returned to the disciples and never left them. He went up secretly, and He came back secretly. Therefore, in the Gospel of John there is no public ascension. Why? Because the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus will be in us as the Spirit of reality. In the Gospel of John He asks us to abide in Him and He will abide in us. How could He go away if He is in us in such a way. This is why His going away was only for a short time. It was not more than seventy-two hours altogether. This going away was to take a further step for His coming. He had to become the Spirit through death and resurrection in order to come into us.
The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John both tell us that this wonderful Person, Jesus, is with us, and neither one of them mention the public ascension of Christ. The reason they do not mention this is because they both tell us that He is going to be with us and in us all the time. Praise the Lord!
What is the reason that Jesus is with us and in us? What is the purpose? We must all see that Jesus is with us and in us for the preparation of the Bride. The Lord has come into us in order to build up the Bride. Some say that Jesus is in us to sanctify us, to be our life, to comfort us, to strengthen us, and to lead us. All of these things are true. But they are all for the producing of the Bride, which is the building up of the temple of God.
We must all see that His goal is not simply to be our life, our comfort, our strength, and so many other things. All of these things are procedures that we may reach the goal. The goal is the producing of the proper church, which is the building of God’s temple and the preparation of the Lord’s Bride. Praise the Lord that He is doing it!
It is wonderful to be saved, and it is really wonderful to be sanctified, to be spiritual, and to have abundance of life. But they are not the goal. We should not be for any one of these things in a separate way. We must be for the church life, the preparation of the Bride, and the building up of God’s temple. God’s temple, the Bride, the church, this is the goal!