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at the ascension, they maintain that this right hand (which is merely a symbol of power) is
everywhere. Lutherans, however, do not all think alike on the subject of the ubiquity of Christ’s
human nature. Some deny it altogether, and others believe that, while the ascension resulted in
the ubiquity of Christ, it also included a local movement, whereby Christ withdrew His visible
presence from the earth.
d. The doctrinal significance of the ascension.
Barth says that the question may well be asked
why the ascension should have a place among the main articles of the Christian faith, seeing
that it is mentioned less frequently and emphatically than the resurrection, and where it is
mentioned appears only as a natural transition from the resurrection to the session at God’s
right hand. It is exactly in this transition that he finds the real significance of the ascension.
Hence he does not care to stress the ascension as a visible exaltation, a “vertical elevation in
space” before the eyes of the disciples, since that is evidently not the way to the session at the
right hand of God, which is no place. Just as the historical facts of the virgin birth and of the
resurrection are regarded by him merely as signs of a revelation of Christ, so too the ascension
as a sign and wonder is merely a “pointer to the revelation, that occurred in the resurrection, of
Jesus Christ as the bearer of all power in heaven and earth.”[Credo, p. 113.]
It may be said that the ascension had a threefold significance. (1) It clearly embodied the
declaration that the sacrifice of Christ was a sacrifice to God, which as such had to be presented
to Him in the inner sanctuary; that the Father regarded the Mediatorial work of Christ as
sufficient and therefore admitted Him to the heavenly glory; and that the Kingdom of the
Mediator was not a kingdom of the Jews, but a universal kingdom. (2) It was also exemplary in
that it was prophetic of the ascension of all believers, who are already set with Christ in
heavenly places, Eph. 2:6, and are destined to be with Him forever, John 17:24; and also in that
it revealed the initial restoration of the original kingship of man, Heb. 2:7,9. (3) Finally, it was
also instrumental in preparing a place for those who are in Christ. The Lord Himself points to
the necessity of going to the Father, in order to prepare a place for His disciples, John 14:2,3.
3. THE SESSION AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.
a. Scriptural proof for the session.
When Christ stood before the high priest He predicted that
He would sit at the right hand of power, Matt. 26:64. Peter makes mention of it in his sermons,
Acts 2:33-36; 5:31. In both of these passages the dative tei dexiai may have to be taken in its
more usual instrumental sense, though in the first of the two the quotation in verse 34 favors
the local interpretation. It is also referred to in Eph. 1:20-22; Heb. 10:12; I Pet. 3:22; Rev. 3:21;
22:1. Besides these passages there are several that speak of Christ’s reigning as King, Rom.
14:9; I Cor. 15:24-28; Heb. 2:7,8.