WHAT IS JESUS DOING NOW?

Sermon of the Week #200625 – June 23, 2006

The book of Acts begins by telling us we can read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and find out what Jesus began to do from the time He was born of the virgin, until the day He ascended back to Heaven. During His life on earth, He restored sight to the blind, cured many of terminal diseases, raised the dead, demonstrated His mastery over the elements by walking on water, and after being crucified, raised up from the dead, spoke as no other man had ever spoken. It sounds as though what He did on earth is only the beginning. So if what He did on earth is what He began, what is Jesus doing now as He continues His work in Heaven? Here is a short list of some of the things Jesus is doing in Heaven since He left us and went back to glory.

HE ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH

For one thing He established the Church. Before He ascended to Heaven, He told the Apostles not to depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father. The promise was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Ten days later after He ascended, the power Jesus promised arrived as the rushing of a mighty wind. The rushing of the mighty wind did not come from the East, or the Middle East, or the West, North or South, but straight down from Heaven. The rushing mighty wind was not the wisdom of men from any direction on earth, but the wisdom that came straight down from God.

           The day this happened was the Day of Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection; and on that day the Church was born, and I would have to say that was a pretty good day’s work the Lord did after He went back to Heaven.

Not only that, but it seems that the Lord Jesus had a pretty hectic schedule, because He added to the Church day by day those that were being saved. Those that were saved were those who heard what He had done for them before He ascended. He was crucified, and died on the cross for the sins of all humanity, then raised from the dead, then ascended back to Heaven. Peter told all people gathered there that day that believed the story, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” There may have been some that day that did not quite understand what that meant. Peter did not bother to explain, since what he said was so plain anybody could understand, and he figured if he tried to explain it better they probably would not understand the explanation either, so why bother. He just let it stand as he said it, being led by the Holy Spirit. And think of the work it took. The Lord added to the Church that day those that were saved. There was no angelic secretary to do the adding; the scripture says the Lord did the adding. Think of all that work, writing thousands of names to the Lambs book of life before the computer was invented. I am not being flippant about this because, there are some people who don’t think the Lord can do anything they can’t do. They can’t walk on the water, so they don’t think the Lord can either.

Oh what a pace the Lord did set. Three thousand here, five thousand there, then He sped up the pace, and it was said the number was multiplied, and still continues until this day.

Then add to this the organization of an innumerable host of angels, dispatching some to open jail doors to deliver apostles, and directing others to go and guide preachers to preach to particular persons, and on top of all that, sending angels in all directions ministering unto millions of Christians doing service on behalf to them that would inherit salvation. Jesus was indeed busy following up on what He began to do before He ascended. WOW! And this is what Jesus is doing now.

HE MADE SPECIAL APPEARANCES

Then Jesus, some time later, took time out of His busy schedule to make a few personal appearances. One notable appearance was at the stoning of Stephen. Stephen saw Him standing at the right hand of the Father. It seems that no one else saw the Lord, but the inspired Word says He did appear.

Then a short time later He made a special appearance to Saul of Tarsus and lined him out. What a day’s work that was! The result was a hundred chapters of the New Testament, and hundreds of Churches established. And not only that, Jesus also told Paul He would make other appearances to him. One such appearance was at Jerusalem in Acts twenty-two when He stood by Paul as he prayed in the Temple and told him to depart far hence unto the Gentiles. That appearance resulted in a riot when Paul told about it.

Another special appearance was to John on the Isle of Patmos. It was on the Lord’s Day and John said he was in the Spirit and heard the blast of a trumpet then a voice, and when he turned he saw Jesus walking in the midst of seven golden candlesticks. Jesus told him the candlesticks represented His churches and he told John what He had found out about them. What a job that must be. He is still walking in the midst of His churches today and the job is getting harder all the time. That must have been a lengthy appearance since it took John twenty-two chapters to tell about it. And this is what Jesus is doing now.

JESUS STANDS BY HIS PEOPLE

Here is something else the Lord is doing now for His people; He stands by them. In Second Timothy Paul said, “All forsook him, but the Lord stood by him.” Will He not stand by us today in time of need? How else can you explain the success of the Church? When the Lord ascended to Heaven and left the Apostles to go into all the world and preach the gospel, they had no money and no credentials. But they did have one thing; they had the promise of Jesus when He said, “I will be with you always even unto the end of the world.”

Does He not work with us today? When the GIJAPA radio program was started, a prominent preacher in the brotherhood said, “You can’t do it.” Another man of faith said, “You can’t do it, because you don’t have any money and nobody knows you.” They were both right, we can’t do it, but Jesus can! And this is what Jesus is doing now.

JESUS IS INTERCEDING FOR THE CHRISTIAN

Here is something else the Lord is doing today. He is interceding for us before the Father. Paul tells us is Hebrews seven, “He is able to save unto the uttermost them that draw near to go through Him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Actually Jesus is our only intercessor. One notable musician in the process of dying with a terminal disease prayed to somebody named saint Antony. Paul informs us in First Timothy, “There is one God and one mediator between man and God himself man Christ Jesus.” That task of Jesus, all by itself, is enough to keep the Lord busy in Heaven fulltime interceding for me alone. If the Heavenly Father ever entertains the notion of taking this world and slam-dunking it into Hell, it is the nail-scarred hand of Jesus that stays Him from it. And this is what Jesus is doing now.

JESUS IS PREPARING FOR HIS RETURN

Then again Jesus in Heaven is making arrangements for His Second Coming. Several items of interest are mentioned in preparation for this great production of the Second Coming. We mention them here without comment.

Number 1: John says in Revelation one, “Behold He cometh with the clouds and every eye shall see Him, yea and they that pierced Him.”

Number 2: Matthew 25 says, “The Son of man will come in His glory and all the angels will be with Him.” The gathering together of an innumerable host of angels for this trip will be extensive in itself.

Number 3: A trumpet will sound as a signal to the angels to gather together the elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other, and just before this the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the Heavens.

Number 4: Another aspect of the Second Coming in Second Thessalonians says that His coming will be as flaming fire as He takes vengeance on them that have not obeyed the gospel. Along with this is the statement in Matthew 13 that the angels will be sent forth to gather the wicked from among the righteous and cast them into the furnace of fire.

Number 5: As to when it will happen, Paul says in First Thessalonians that the day be as the coming of a thief, when they are saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.

Many other items could be mentioned, but these are enough to give us some idea of the tremendous preparation being made even now for this great event. And it should be noted that the Lord Jesus will not send an angel to call us home; He will come in person. The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven. It might be noted that it will be a great day for the Christian. Peter said that we should earnestly desire the coming of the day of the Lord. Paul said that we look for the blessed hope of the appearing of the coming of the Great God our Savior, and John in the last prayer of the New Testament said, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Peter said to desire it, Paul said to look for it, and John said, to pray for it. And this is what Jesus is doing now.

WHAT JESUS DID WHEN HE ASCENDED

And now we need to note the first thing Jesus did after He ascended into Heaven. In Acts chapter one, as He was speaking with the Apostles on the Mount of Olives, He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Many today cannot see Jesus because of the cloud. To some it is a cloud of unbelief. To others it is a cloud of prejudice, to others a cloud of ignorance, to others a cloud of their sins. However, there is no doubt that Jesus could see them, cloud or no cloud.

At the moment He was out of sight of the Apostles he came in sight of a host of an innumerable host of angels who saw the King coming home, and cried out in the words of the twenty-fourth Psalm, “Lift up your heads O ye gates, and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in.” Then the gates of Heaven seem to be personified and cry back, “Who is this King of Glory?” Again the angels answer, “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors and the King of Glory will come in.”

Jesus fits the description, strong and mighty, mighty in battle. Jesus had won the battle that no other man had won. He defeated sin by resisting every temptation; He defeated death by the resurrection from the dead as the first fruits of them that slept. Truly the Lord was strong and mighty, the Lord is mighty in battle. Again the gates answer, “Who is this King of Glory?” And then the angels say, “The Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory.”

Then in Hebrews chapter one, we learn of the first thing He did after the ascension. He sat down at the right Hand of the majesty on high. Then in Hebrews chapter nine he said, “Christ entered not into a Holy place made with hands like in pattern to the true, but into heaven itself to appear before the face of God for us.” That is the first thing Jesus did after He ascended; He appeared before the face of God for us in the Holy Place.

The Holy Place in the Temple was a room where only the high priest could go, and he only once a year with blood not his own. Jesus did not enter into a Holy Place in the Temple that was a copy of the real thing. He entered into the original Holy Place in Heaven. Jesus applied His blood to the mercy seat in the heavenly Tabernacle, not the blood of bulls, goats and heifers, which could not take away sins. And now once at the end of the ages He hath been manifested to put away sins by the sacrifice of Himself.

We don’t need to build again the Tabernacle of the Old Testament, and offer up heifers, bulls and goats. These were all types of the blood of the Son of God who gives us redemption by shedding His own blood. And this is what Jesus is doing now.

JESUS IS PREPARING A PLACE FOR US

And now for the last look at what Jesus is doing is what He said He would do in John fourteen. He said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” Just before this, He had told the Apostles He was going away, and whither He went they could not come, but you shall follow after. Peter said he wanted to go right now, and asked why he could not go. Peter could not go right then because the place was not yet prepared. It was then that Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” Heaven will be a place prepared for a prepared people.

Then too, we consider He said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” Evidently there was no place in Heaven for us at that time. Before we could have any hope of going to Heaven, Heaven would have to be renovated for our occupancy. But Jesus said, “Fear not, I AM working on it. I will prepare a place for you.”

Heaven obviously belongs to Jesus, and no one goes there unless He says so. When Thomas told Jesus he did not know the way, Jesus told him, “I AM the way, and the truth, and the life, no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” There is no statement in the Word of God more plain than that. There is no promise of anyone going to Heaven except by Jesus. Peter also said in Acts four, “There is therefore now none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”

The preparation of this place in Heaven would begin that very night when Jesus went out to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, then the trials before the High Priests, King Herod, and Governor Pilate. After this the march along the Via Doloroso to a place called Calvary, then on to victory at the resurrection from the tomb of Joseph on the first day of the week.

In spite of His promise they were afraid for He said, “Fear not.” He tells us today the same thing, “Let not your heart be troubled.” Through the inspired Apostle Paul we are told in Philippians, “In nothing be anxious, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your request be known unto God, and the peace of God that passeth all understanding shall guard your thoughts and your hearts in Christ Jesus.” We can be just as sure of Heaven as we can be sure that Jesus told the truth.

Jesus referred to Heaven as a place. Heaven is not just an imaginary idea; it is a place where people can go, and Jesus said He was going there and He wants us to go, too.

Some times we show our lack of faith with the attitude expressed in the gospel song, “Just Give Me a Cabin in the Corner of Glory Land”. We sing that song because we don’t feel worthy. Actually nobody is worthy. If we got what we deserved we would go to Hell. There won’t be any Cabins in the corner, or anywhere else in Glory Land for anybody. Those who go will receive the best accommodations that Heaven can provide. And this is what Jesus is doing now.

Oh they tell of a city far up in the sky, I want to go there I do.

Tis built in the land of the sweet by and by, I want to go there don’t you?

There Jesus has gone to prepare us a home, I want to go there I do.

Away from that place we never shall roam, I want to go there don’t you?

When Jesus is crowned the King of all Kings, I want to be there I do.

With shouting and clapping till all heaven rings, I want to be there don’t you?

We will sing hallelujah again and again, I want to be there I do

And close with the chorus, Amen, and Amen, I’ll want to be there, don’t you?