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speaks of His resurrection from the dead.  Every section of the purpose of the
ages depends for its fulfilment on the exaltation of the Saviour.  At first,
remembering the opening chapters of Matthew and of Luke, we might have imagined
that it was the Divine intention that the Lord, born at Bethlehem and declared
to be the son of David and heir to his throne, should at that time in those
circumstances ascend the throne and introduce the reign of peace.  That this was
not the Divine programme both the events themselves and also the Scriptures make
clear.  Psalm 2, which speaks of the earthly rule and the earthly inheritance of
the Son of God, nevertheless refers to Him as raised from the dead; otherwise
what do the words of verse 7 mean:
`Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee'?
They cannot refer to the miraculous begetting that preceded the birth at
Bethlehem, for the words `this day' could not be thus spoken.  They refer, as
the New Testament declares, to the Resurrection:
`He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm,
Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee' (Acts 13:33).
To the same effect, Peter refers to other prophetic statements of David
saying:
`Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to
him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the
resurrection of Christ' (Acts 2:30,31).
`The God of our fathers raised up Jesus ... Him hath God exalted ... to be
a Prince and a Saviour' (Acts 5:30,31).
If we turn to the book of the Revelation, the title that stands out in the
opening of the book is `the Prince of the kings of the earth', and the whole
apocalyptic imagery, involving heaven as well as earth, is made to bear upon the
moment when the seventh angel sounds, and:
`The kingdoms of this world' become `the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His
Christ' (Rev. 11:15).
What is true in the earthly sphere, is true of the heavenly calling of
which the epistle to the Hebrews is an exposition (Heb. 3:1).  When the apostle
at the opening of chapter 8 would sum up his teaching, he said:
`Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an
high priest, Who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in
the heavens' (Heb. 8:1).
Without the risen, ascended, seated Christ, Abraham and his seed would
look for the heavenly city in vain.  So, when we come to the third and highest
sphere of blessing, that of the Mystery, we still find that the risen, exalted,
seated Christ is the one and all comprehensive guarantee for the access and
acceptance into that most wonderful of all spheres of blessings for the
believer.  We have touched lightly upon Psalm 2, Acts 13, Revelation 11 and
Hebrews 8, but we must look more carefully at the statements of Ephesians 1:20-
23, for they are vital to the high calling of the church of the One Body of
which we are members.  Christ is said to have been set at the right hand of God
`in the heavenly places' (Eph. 1:20).  This phrase has been considered with some
degree of fulness on pages 41 to 45.  It was there shown to be unique, being
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