It was also by the ascension that Jesus became the official Savior. God declared to the heavens, to the earth, and even to the unbelieving Jews that Jesus of Nazareth has been officially appointed by God to be their Savior. Therefore, He was authorized by God to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:30-31). Hallelujah! Our Savior is not a secret Savior. Our Savior today is an official Savior. He was officially inaugurated in the whole universe.
Jesus was inaugurated to be the Lord, the Christ, the Originator, and the Savior. Moreover, He was inaugurated to be the Head over all. “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). Christ is the Head that heads up all things. I may illustrate with my own body. It seems that my two legs support my body, but if you were to cut off my head, my body would fall. It is not my two legs that hold my body, but my head.
The man Jesus was appointed the head over all things. If we were to take away Christ as the head, the whole universe would fall apart. He heads up all the universe, not simply to maintain its existence. No, Christ is the head over all things tothe church. He is not the head over all things for the church, but to the church. He is heading up all things to produce and build a church that will be God’s eternal dwelling place.
Once, after a meeting in a certain place, a lady rebuked me saying that I spoke too much about the church life and not enough about the family life. I told her that she already knows the family life and does not need me to tell her anything about it. I said that the thing she does need is the church life. For years she had been a member of a certain denomination, yet no one had ever told her about the church life. It was too bad that she was so distracted by the family life that she did not care to hear about the church life. In the Lord’s recovery today we are for the church life. I realize that some may argue by saying that the church life needs the proper family life. In a sense I agree, but if you would have the proper family life, you must have the proper church life. If you say that the church life requires the family life, I would say that the family life needs the church life more. Why is it rare to find the proper family life today? Simply because the church life is not known. Anyone who really knows the proper church life will have a proper family life. The Lord Jesus was not inaugurated as head over all things to the family, but to the church.
Praise the Lord for His exaltation. Through His ascension He has been given a name that is above all names. He was inaugurated the Lord, the Christ, the Originator, the Savior, and the Head to the church. Now this Christ has the position to receive all the gifts from the Father. In His inauguration as the Lord of all, as God’s appointed one, as the Originator, the Savior, and the Head of all, He has the position to receive from the Father the gifts for the producing and building of the church. These gifts include all the members of His Body, In His ascension, God not only gave the Holy Spirit to this inaugurated one, but also all the gifts as His members. He was given all of God’s chosen people. Before the foundation of the world, in eternity past, God marked us out to be His chosen ones. We became God’s elect. Then when the Lord Jesus ascended to the heavens, in that inauguration, the Father gave Him all His chosen people, including you and me. Therefore, on the day of Pentecost He came to anoint His Body, His members. We will see something more about this in the next chapter.
We have seen Jesus as a wonderful Person, inaugurated into His position as the Lord of all, the appointed One, the Author of everything, the Savior, and the Head of all things to the church! Here in His inauguration He was given the Holy Spirit of promise, all the gifts from the Holy Spirit, and all the members. Then after ten days He came back to produce the Church and build up the Body. This is the real meaning of the ascension of Christ.