I cannot enter into how God must have felt, when He sent His only Son into the world to be our Saviour. He knew the journey that He would have to tread to deliver us from sin and Satan’s power. He knew that He would be ill-treated, abused, rejected and LIFTED UP upon a cross. Yet, He also knew that He would not fail and that He would finish the work He had been given to do. There was absolutely no doubt that the time would come, when He would return to heaven, from whence He came. Men cast Him out and cried, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us’, Luke chapter 19 verse 14. All they would give to Him, in response to His love and grace towards them, was a cross and a tomb. John tells us in his Gospel that, ‘He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him’, John chapter 1 verse 11.

However, it is encouraging to move away from the critical and dismissive responses of His own people and to discover that heaven gave Him the position, praise and honour that He deserved. Following His death and resurrection:

• Luke tells us in his Gospel that, as He blessed His disciples, ‘He was PARTED from them and CARRIED UP INTO HEAVEN’, Luke chapter 24 verse 51.
• Mark tells us, ‘He was RECEIVED UP into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God’, Mark chapter 16 verse 19.

Such language reveals the warmth and affection that His Father had for Him and the willingness with which He was welcomed back to heaven. Before His crucifixion, He had prayed, ‘And now, O Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was’, John chapter 17 verse 5. Such was the perfection of His work that His Father answered His prayer and placed Him on His throne, at His right hand.

Lifted up! Raised up! Received up! And He will soon come again. Are you ready? For more information, please contact us. We will gladly send you a Bible and other helpful literature. We will pray for you. Come back again for another Message of Hope.