The Significance of Our Savior’s Session: What Jesus is Doing Now and Why It Matters

Much of our focus on the life and ministry of our Lord centers on what He has already done in the past. On His marvelous and magnificent work of redemption accomplished for us in His perfect, sinless, obedient life, sacrificial death as our substitute, and victorious resurrection. And we definitely should spend our time meditating on and being reminded of such. We can’t do so enough. But have you ever given much thought to Jesus’ work presently? What He currently is doing right now in heaven? When I was in school, the WWJD bracelets were very popular. Everyone was wearing them. WWJD stood for “What Would Jesus Do?” Well, in my newsletter article this month, I want to look with you at WIJD. “What Is Jesus Doing?”

 

One of the things Jesus is doing this very moment as I type and as you read is SITTING. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that after Jesus “having accomplished cleansing for sins,” He “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” This is often referred to as Jesus’ “session”. A fancy Latin word that basically means “the act of sitting.” Of course, this is a metaphor as other places Jesus is spoken of as standing at the Father’s right hand (Acts 7:56) or walking among His churches (Revelation 2:1). It is a symbol of something important concerning His ongoing work on His people’s behalf. It dramatically pictures the completion of His work of salvation.

 

Imagine someone coming home after a long day’s work, having finished all of their assigned tasks at their job, and then sitting in their chair. The person was on his feet all day but can finally sit down now that he was done with his work. That’s what this sitting down of Jesus communicates to us. That He has finished what He had come to do. The author of Hebrews compares Jesus’ work to that of the Old Testament high priests when he writes, “And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God” (10:11-12). Do you know what one piece of furniture was missing from the tabernacle and temple? A chair. There was nothing for the priest to sit down on or any place for them to. Because their work was never done or completed. They always had another sacrifice to offer up on behalf of the people. Then that would be followed by another sacrifice and yet another sacrifice and so on. But, after Jesus offered up Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of His people, He was able to sit down because no other sacrifice ever needed to be made. His was, at long last, sufficient to cover the sins of those who would trust in Him. No other sacrifice ever needs to be made. Jesus’ was enough! That’s why He can be sitting down right now.

 

Also, this sitting at the right hand of the Father says something about Jesus’ present reign and authority over all of creation. Sitting at a king’s right hand is an expression that means the person in such a position shares the same power and royal status as the king. Ephesians 1:20 tells us that God the Father seated Christ “at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” Likewise, 1 Peter 3:22 says that Jesus “is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.” This is exactly what the Father promised to do as Psalm 110:1 prophetically predicted. How good it is to know that in a world where things often appear to be spiraling out of control and resulting more and more into chaos, that Jesus is still sitting at the Father’s right hand ruling and reigning over everything that takes place down here below. He is not pacing back and forth worried or not sure of what to do. But sits having everything in control.

 

Now, don’t think that this must mean that Jesus is just passively sitting up in heaven presently at the Father’s right hand doing nothing. That’s not the case at all. He is very active at the moment in PRAYING for us. According to Isaiah 53:12, Jesus would “bear the sin of many, and intercede for the transgressors.” Interestingly, the word for “bear” in the Hebrew is in what is called a perfect tense indicating a completed action. Something that was done in the past never to be repeated. That refers to Jesus bearing the guilt of our sins in His death. However, “intercede” is in the imperfect tense, which means that the action is ongoing and not done yet. Jesus’ sacrifice is finished but not this work of intercession or praying. It continues on in this time of His session or sitting. The author of Hebrews picks up on this saying, “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (7:25).

 

What an encouragement it is to know that Jesus is praying for us at this very moment. Let this blessed truth sink in! The perfect sinless Savior whose prayers the Father surely will answer, and which certainly will be according to the Father’s will, is praying for you. Scottish pastor Robert Murray McCheyne once said, “"If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; he is praying for me." As to what specifically Jesus might be praying for us right now, I think we find some clues to that by paying attention to what He did pray for His people during His time on earth. Things like forgiveness for them on the basis of His atoning death (Luke 23:34; 1 John 2:1-2). What Moses’ intercession for the people of Israel and the Angel of Yahweh/the LORD for Joshua the High Priest (Zechariah 3:1-5) pointed forward to. The sustaining of our faith as He had prayed for Peter (Luke 22:31-32) is another prayer He must be praying for us today as well. I am convinced that had Jesus not prayed for Peter’s faith not to fail that it surely would have. The same is true for us. Left on our own, in our own strength, without Jesus’ continual fervent prayers on our behalf, we all would easily abandon the faith and walk away from it. The only reason we can have confidence that such will not be the case with us is due to Jesus’ present prayers. He more likely is still praying for the unity of believers in the church as He did in what is known as His “high priestly prayer” in John 17. Also, in that same chapter as part of the same prayer asking the Father for protection from the devil for His people (v. 15) and for their sanctification or being made holy (v. 17). All of these things are still very much needs for us today so I see no reason why He would not be continuing such prayers now in heaven.

 

We really don’t need any departed saints or Mary to be praying for us in heaven right now because we have Jesus and His prayers are so much better anyway. It would make no sense to pray to them or put our trust in them praying for us. The comfort comes in Christ and His prayers being brought up to the Father on our behalf continually.

 

And the final thing we know that Jesus is doing right this very minute is WAITING. Waiting in particular for His enemies to be put under His feet as Psalm 110:1 and Hebrews 10:13 tells us. Since this will occur at Jesus’ return (Revelation 19:11-21), this waiting really is for that appointed time when He comes to earth in full and final victory over those enemies and they are nothing more than a footstool His feet would rest on. So, Jesus is sitting and praying in heaven in anticipation of that time to come.

 

As we look back to what Christ has done for us during His time on this earth in the past, let’s not forget what He is presently doing for us now in heaven. His sitting, praying, and waiting. Without which we would all be lost and have no hope of the completion of our salvation. Praise God for our Savior’s session and its significance!

 

Love in Christ,

Pastor Lee

What Happens to Our Believing Loved Ones When They Die?

Are our saved believing loved ones who have died up in heaven right now running, dancing, and jumping with Jesus? Have they become angels or earned their wings? How many times do we hear it said at a funeral something to the effect, “God must have another angel now” or “They have been given their wings”? Do our departed believing loved ones sometimes send us messages or appear to us as a butterfly or a specific bird? I’ve been with people when a butterfly started flying around them and they concluded that it must be so and so from heaven who either sent that or appeared as such. Or they see a cardinal or another bird that their loved one had liked show up so it has to be somehow connected to the person. As is the case with a lot of things, several superstitious and unbiblical ideas have developed with this issue. Many of these are in an attempt to provide comfort to those who are grieving and we certainly can understand that. However, we always want to make sure that our thoughts on these things line up with Scripture. The truth of God’s Word always brings us the greatest comfort. (Of course, if something is not true, it really can’t give us any real comfort much at all because it is no more than wishful thinking that will never be the reality.) My goal in this article is to look at what the Bible actually says about our unbelieving loved ones who have died and gone to heaven. The condition they are in now and whether or not we should ever interpret things or occurrences as being signs or visits from them.  

It is absolutely true that our believing loved ones will indeed one day be running, dancing, skipping, and jumping with Jesus in ways they had not been able to during their time on this earth for a while. However, that day has not yet come. The Bible tells us at death the spirit or soul of a believer departs from their body to be with the Lord. (If you do a study of the words “spirit” and “soul” in the Bible, you will discover that they are used interchangeably to refer to the inner part of who we are in contrast to our outer body. Our inner man or inner woman we could say.)  When Jacob’s wife, Rachel, is dying, we are told in that process that “her soul was departing” (Genesis 35:18). Some of Stephen’s last words, following those of His Savior, were “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (Acts 7:59). There is a separation that takes place at death between the spirit and the body. This is why the corpse in the casket is so lifeless and just an empty shell. The person’s spirit or soul has already departed or left it.

Right now, the spirits or souls of our departed believing loved ones are with Jesus in heaven while their bodies have been laid to rest in the ground. Paul is clear that for the believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Obviously, he must be talking about our souls or spirits here. Likewise, Paul tells the Philippians that he desires to “depart and be with Christ” in death but recognizes that his remaining “in the flesh” or body would be more beneficial to them (Philippians 1:23-24).  The author of Hebrews describes those who are presently in the heavenly Jerusalem as being “the SPIRITS of the righteous made perfect” (12:23). And I believe we very well may have a present picture of our believing loved ones in heaven now in Revelation 20:4-6. There John is given another glimpse into heaven. (Every time the word “thrones” are used in the book, it indicates that God has pulled back the curtain for the apostle to gaze into a heavenly scene instead of an earthly one.) We are told that he saw the “SOULS” there of those who had given their life for Jesus and refused to worship the beast and be marked as belonging to him, not their bodies (v. 4). And they are doing exactly what both Jesus and Paul promised believers would be; reigning with Christ (v. 6; 2 Timothy 2:12).

The blessed hope for the Christian is that such a separation of body and soul/spirit is only temporary. There will be a glorious reunion of the two when the Lord returns. Daniel spoke of the day when “many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to reproach and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). And to comfort believers who were concerned about their believing loved ones who had died, Paul informs the Thessalonians that Jesus will bring their souls with Him at His return and their bodies will be resurrected with their soul reentering them and enduing them with life again (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). It will be a body the same in substance but new in nature (1 Corinthians 15:35-53). One that has been transformed and glorified from the decaying or decayed state their body had been left in over the years to be like Christ’s glorified body (Philippians 3:21). Then, they will literally be running, dancing, and jumping with Jesus in that new transformed resurrected body which they currently do not have. One of the church’s earlier catechisms or teaching tools summarizes this well. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.”

There is no indication anywhere at all in Scripture that believers ever become angels in heaven when they die. That’s more from the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” than it is the Word of God. Angels are a distinct creation of God who did not originate from man. In fact, they were created before man and the creation of the world (Job 38:7). Now, Scripture says we will be “like” the angels in heaven at the resurrection in the sense of not being married, but only in that sense. Not that we will be like the angels in appearance or form. In the Hebrews passage I mentioned earlier, we see that there is a distinction in the heavenly Jerusalem between the “myriads of angels” and “the spirits of the righteous” (12:22-24). The two are not one and the same.

And, as for the supposed signs from our departed believing loved ones, we are never told in Scripture that we should expect or interpret a butterfly fluttering around us or a bird swooping down in front of us to be some sort of communication to us from them. In fact, Jesus tells a parable in Luke 16:19-31 which reveals to us the opposite. In the story, the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to his family to warn them of the punishment he is presently experiencing (v. 27-28). The answer he gets is that basically such is not necessary since they have the Word of God itself and that is enough to tell them about it (v. 29). Such a sign or wonder will persuade someone about the truth no more than a resurrection from the dead (v. 31). While this more likely was a story made up to communicate a point, there is no reason to think that Jesus would not have had the details in the description of it accurately correspond to the true spiritual reality of the state of the deceased. There is actually only one case recorded for us in the Bible where someone who had died did send a message to someone still living and it is an extraordinary one granted by God only for the purpose of judgment. It happened when King Saul went to the medium in En-dor to ask her to conjure up Samuel’s departed spirit for advice (I Samuel 28:8-11). Interestingly enough, the woman herself screams apparently in shock when she actually sees Samuel’s spirit show up (v. 12). This leads us to believe that she really didn’t expect it to be him. Some translations describe mediums as “those with a familiar spirit.” The idea is that there is a specific demon who must appear to impersonate the person who had been conjured up. That is who the witch or medium thought would be there speaking instead. Not the actual spirit of Samuel or any one else she had been asked to bring back with a message.

So, the comfort we have for our loved ones who have went to the grave holding fast to Jesus and His work as their only hope of salvation is not found in them having a physical body at the moment being able to do things they were not able to while on this earth, serving as an angel in God’s presence, or communicating to us through some sort of sign of a butterfly or bird. The real comfort is that their souls are ultimately with Jesus right now, experiencing the unimaginable bliss of being in His wonderful glorious presence, awaiting the day of their resurrection when they will have that physical body yet again but so much better in a new and more improved edition. They are doing just fine right now. In fact, better than fine and much better than us at the moment. And, if we have trusted in Christ as well, we will have that great reunion with them when it is our time to join them as we await our resurrections together or to with our resurrected bodies should the Lord return beforehand. We don’t need to create any other kind of comfort. The truth of our departed believing loved ones revealed to us in Scripture is enough. Let’s hold fast to that as we long for our being with Christ one day and our future resurrection as well.

Love in Christ,

Pastor Lee

The Real Lost Son

        One of Jesus’ best known and most loved parables He told is often referred to as “The Prodigal Son” found in Luke 15. The story of the younger of two brothers who demanded his inheritance from his father early and went off into a far country to waste it all (vv. 11-13). Then, after being brought to his lowest where even what the pigs were eating looked appetizing to him, he “came to his senses” and goes home back to his father where he is welcomed enthusiastically by him (vv. 14-21). A celebration is had as the lost boy has returned (vv. 22-24). This actually is the third of three scenes in the parable, each dealing with something that is lost, found, and results in rejoicing. A picture of the rejoicing in heaven every time a sinner repents and is saved (vv. 7, 10). In the first scene, it is one lost sheep (vv. 3-7). A lost coin in the second one (vv. 8-10). And here a lost son in this third and final one (vv. 11-32).

Now, normally, when someone teaches or preaches on this parable, the focus is on the prodigal who ran away or the father and his extravagant love to readily receive him back. But really neither one of them is the point. The one Jesus draws our attention to is the one He ends with. The angry grumbling older brother who refuses to celebrate the lost son’s return (vv. 25-32). We must remember that these three pictures were given in response to the Pharisees grumbling over the fact that Jesus welcomed and ate with sinners which was taking place just before He teaches this (vv. 1-2). He clearly wants the Pharisees to see themselves in this older brother. They are doing the same thing as him. When they should be celebrating the prodigal tax collectors and other sinners coming home, they are complaining. Thinking they deserve Jesus to eat with them instead because of how righteous and faithful they had been. How much they have “slaved” Him and never neglected any of His commands (v. 29).

 

What is often missed in this story is that there are actually two lost sons in it. One who was lost in a far country and the other who was lost at home. And the most dangerous is to be lost at home because you don’t realize you are lost and need to be found. This older brother thought himself to be okay, not recognizing the alienation or separation brought about by his pride and self-righteousness. He is the moral rule keeper just as lost as the wayward brother. It is evident the younger brother is lost due to his lifestyle. The upright and outwardly obedient lifestyle of the older one masks his lostness but cannot take it away. Not to be crude, it is just like putting lipstick on a pig. Or lipstick on a sinner in this case. The ground is always level at the cross as Jesus died for both younger brothers who show their sin through immoral living and older brothers who wrongly attempt to earn God’s favor through their righteous living. Both are just as in need of God’s grace and Jesus’ righteousness. But only the younger brother comes to see such. The older brother remains lost.

 

There are a number of older brothers out there today. They go to church every Sunday and do everything they are supposed to do. Who live an exemplary moral life but are spiritually lost because they think that will earn them favor with God. In essence, they are saying to God, “I have been serving You for so many years and never neglected a command of Yours. What are You going to do for Me?”

 

We like to identify ourselves with the prodigal in this story, but even as believers, we can still resemble the older brother at times. We do so whenever we begin to look at ourselves and our obedience to be justified before God instead of Jesus and His righteousness. Or when something bad happens to us and we want to say to God, “Why would You bring this upon me when I have been so faithful to You? I don’t deserve this. But I can think of someone who does that isn’t experiencing it.” Is that not the attitude of the older brother? What if a known prostitute or promiscuous woman or a homosexual would walk in the building on a Sunday morning? Would you celebrate that they are in a place where they can hear the gospel and get saved or shoo them away, saying that they don’t belong here because they are not like us? That’s kind of like what the older brother was saying in refusing to join the party for his brother’s return. “He doesn’t belong here anymore. We shouldn’t be celebrating him because of what he has done regardless of God’s grace shown to him and the repentance demonstrated by him.” Like so many of Jesus’ parables, this hits all of us somehow. The Spirit can use it to reveal the little older brother in each of our hearts.

 

We actually are left with a cliffhanger at the end of the parable. In the last two verses, the father points out to this older son how he was always with the father and everything the father has is already his. The reason to celebrate and rejoice over the brother is because he was in a sense dead but now alive and lost but now found. That’s it! There is nothing more said. We do not know if the brother decides to remain outside continuing to grumble or whether he will see his father’s perspective and join the celebration. The reason for the open-endedness is because it all depends on what the Pharisees who are listening will do. The real older brother in this story. It depends on what we will do with it. Will we welcome and rejoice over the repentant prodigals like ourselves who come to Jesus as our Father does? Or stay outside grumbling over the amazing extravagant grace God continues to show to other sinners? Let’s pray that God would give us more of the heart of the father in the parable rather than that of the older brother which we probably already too much reflect at times.

 

Love in Christ,

Pastor Lee