An Alphabetical Analysis
Volume 6 - Doctrinal Truth - Page 182 of 270
INDEX
words the Lord at present is nowhere, then The Man Christ Jesus cannot be,
for a body must occupy space.  We read of the actual Ascension of the Lord in
Acts 1, thus:
'And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was Taken
Up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight'.
'This Same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall So Come
in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven' (Acts 1:9,11).
Identity and continuity of person is here implied.  He was the Man,
Christ Jesus, and when He comes again He will be still 'this same Jesus'.  Is
He not 'this same Jesus' Who now sits at the right hand of God in those
heavenly places to which He ascended?  Can a man be 'nowhere', or are we, to
quote the writer we have in mind, 'grabbing at the first idea that appears on
the surface?'  We are glad, however, that we have not used such ungracious
terms of one whose teaching we believe to be most dangerous and unscriptural.
Those readers who may be fortunate enough not to have come across this
evaluation of Ephesians 4:8 -10 in the attempt to explain away the 'place'
element in 'heavenly places', must allow the occupation of so much space in
the refutation of the teaching that heavenly places has no reference to a
sphere of blessing 'in heaven'.  We feel like echoing the cry of Mary as we
contemplate the dread possibilities of this spiritualizing system, when she
said 'They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him',
but we find reassurance as she did, in the reply of the Lord Himself, 'Go to
My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend ...' (John 20:13,17).  If epouranios
can be translated 'mighty' in Ephesians 1:3, what is to prevent anyone
suggesting 'mighty Jerusalem' (Heb. 12:22), or 'mighty gift' (Heb. 6:4) or
'mighty country' (Heb. 11:16)?  In plain language the only thing we learn
from the LXX translation of Psalm 68:14 is that El Shaddai is 'The heavenly
One', which has no bearing either way on the phrase, en tois epouraniois.
We are told that those who use Philippians 3:20 to teach that the
destiny of these Philippians was heaven, 'are guilty of expunging the real
message in order to read into it some idea of their own'.  Most expositors
see in Paul's exhortation a call to those members of a Roman colony, to live
accordingly, remembering that the only difference between the Philippian
Roman and the actual citizen of Rome itself, was just this, that while the
Roman was in Rome itself, the Philippian Roman was at a distance, but, as the
apostle wrote:
'Our conversation (citizenship) is (exists all along, Greek huparcho)
in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour' (Phil. 3:20).
The word 'heaven' here is plural, the words 'from which' are singular and
refer to the citizenship which is in heaven.  If the Saviour is to come from
heaven, He must first of all have returned there from the earth, and anyone
who denies this must not object if the words quoted above return like a
boomerang upon themselves.  All attempts to explain away the heavenly city or
country, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to limit it to the restored earthly
city, must be prepared to deny what John says he saw in Revelation 21:2, or
the description he gives at the dictation of the Lord in Revelation 3:12,
both affirm that this heavenly city 'cometh down out of heaven', which by no
possibility can be made to mean already, and only, existing on the earth.