Left Curl Lesson 49 Right Curl

Question

Where is Christ now?

Answer

Christ rose bodily from the grave on the third day after his death and is seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling his kingdom and interceding for us, until he returns to judge and renew the whole world.

Scripture

…and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

—Ephesians 1:19–21 (ESV)
Divider

Commentary

“God, he is, ‘I am that I am,’…and Christ he is ‘yesterday, to-day, to-morrow, and the same for ever’.… A man cannot say of any creature in the world, that it was yesterday, and shall be to-morrow and for ever. We may say it of Christ, ‘he is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, he was, and is, and is to come,’ and, therefore, those that are founded upon him, that have their happiness in him, they are firm as he is firm; and those that build upon any other thing, they vanish as the thing vanisheth. There is nothing in the world hath such a being, but it is subject in time not to be. It is only a Christian that is in Christ, who is as firm as Christ is; and Christ can never be but that which he is; for of necessity God must be always like himself. He is Jehovah, ‘I am, I am’ at all times; and Christ he is Jehovah. A Christian therefore, and none but a Christian, hath a firm establishing in Christ. Without this establishing in Christ, what are we? what are wicked men? Chaff, that the wind blows away! They are grass, &c., things of nothing, carried away with every blast. But a Christian is a stone, a rock, built upon Christ Jesus.”

Footnote

Richard Sibbes (1577–1635). An English Puritan theologian, Sibbes was known in London in the early 17th century as &“;the Heavenly Doctor Sibbes.&”; Preacher at Gray’s Inn, London and Master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge, his most famous work is The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax.

Attribution

From “Commentary on 2 Corinthians Chapter 1” in The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 3 (Edinburgh, James Nichol, 1862), 426.

Further Reading

“Session” in Concise Theology, by J. I. Packer.

Song

Video

Prayer

Adult

“O God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs!”

Footnote

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758). A colonial American preacher, theologian, and philosopher, Edwards became pastor of his church in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1726. He is widely known for his famous sermon “A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections”. Edwards died from a smallpox inoculation shortly after beginning the presidency at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University).

Attribution

From Edwards’ prayer quoted in Holman Old Testament Commentary: Psalms 76–150, by Steven Lawson (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2006), 81.

Child

Our God, we believe Christ died and rose again and is seated at your right hand. Three days after his death on the cross he rose from the dead, just as he had promised. We believe in his physical resurrection. We believe in eternal life. Help us, God, to remember eternity; stamp eternity on our eyeballs! Amen.

Attribution

Derived and adapted from Jonathan Edwards’ prayer quoted in Holman Old Testament Commentary: Psalms 76–150, by Steven Lawson (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2006), 81.

“O God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs!”

Footnote

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758). A colonial American preacher, theologian, and philosopher, Edwards became pastor of his church in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1726. He is widely known for his famous sermon “A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections”. Edwards died from a smallpox inoculation shortly after beginning the presidency at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University).

Attribution

From Edwards’ prayer quoted in Holman Old Testament Commentary: Psalms 76–150, by Steven Lawson (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2006), 81.

Our God, we believe Christ died and rose again and is seated at your right hand. Three days after his death on the cross he rose from the dead, just as he had promised. We believe in his physical resurrection. We believe in eternal life. Help us, God, to remember eternity; stamp eternity on our eyeballs! Amen.

Attribution

Derived and adapted from Jonathan Edwards’ prayer quoted in Holman Old Testament Commentary: Psalms 76–150, by Steven Lawson (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2006), 81.