👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽 #Ascension (He Ascended to the Right Hand of the Father with Glory and Thanksgiving)
Part 3
Brethren beloved in Christ,
Let us lift our hearts on high and ascend in contemplation, not by bodily flight but by the wings of the Spirit, to behold that great and divine mystery the Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. With fear and reverence, let us behold Him, not only risen from the dead but gloriously enthroned at the right hand of the Father, with power, majesty, and unspeakable thanksgiving. Let us, like the holy Apostles, fix our gaze upon the heavens and prepare our hearts for a teaching so sublime that the angels tremble in awe, and yet so near that our own flesh is glorified by it.
“He Sat at the Right Hand of the Father”
O faithful, when we confess in the Creed that “He sat at the right hand of the Father,” do we understand the infinite depth of this mystery? Let us not be deceived to think it is a matter of posture or location, for God is beyond all bodily confines. Rather, “sitting at the right hand” declares equality in glory, majesty, and authority with the Father.
Before the divine union, our flesh yes, this frail, mortal, and humiliated flesh was under the power of sin and corruption. It was subject to shame, disease, and death. But after the union, after God the Son took on our nature without confusion, He raised it, sanctified it, glorified it and placed it at the right hand of the Father.
Behold the mystery! He who once was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger now sits robed in divine glory, enthroned with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Let all creation tremble, for the Judge of the world, the giver of all grace, and the sovereign Lord of all is one with us in flesh, yet utterly above all in divinity.
What Does “Right Hand” Mean?
The “right hand” in Holy Scripture signifies not mere direction, but power, righteousness, and glory. As the prophet David cried out,
“The right hand of the Lord has done power” (Ps. 117:15).
And the Lord Himself, in His final judgment, declares:
“He will set the righteous at His right hand” (Matt. 25:33).
This is no arbitrary placement; it is a divine acknowledgment of intimacy, authority, and exaltation. Thus, when Scripture says,
“The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool’” (Ps. 109),
we see a prophetic utterance pointing to the enthronement of the Son, not in subordination, but in equal majesty with the Father.
The Gospels and Epistles echo this revelation:
“You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power...” (Matt. 26:64)
“Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56)
“When He had made purification for our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens.” (Heb. 1:3)
“We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” (Heb. 8:1)
“He endured the cross, despising shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2)
Ascension—The Hope and Type of Our Own
The Ascension of our Lord is the image of our own ascension. His resurrection foreshadows our resurrection; His glorification is the pledge of our future glory. When Christ ascended, He did not leave our humanity behind. Nay, He took it with Him! He took our very flesh, sanctified by His divinity, and enthroned it above the cherubim, higher than the seraphim, above every principality and power.
Can the devil accuse you now, O believer, when your nature has ascended above him and sits at the right hand of God? Can the world shame you now, when your flesh is glorified in Christ? Hearken to St. Paul’s blessed words:
“Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:17)
Continues 👇🏽